Happy New Year, and Here's To A Great 2020

Happy new year to all our readers and Twitter followers. 2020 looks to have worked out rather nicely as not only will it mark 30 years since The Crystal Maze debuted on our screens, it also marks the debut of a new incarnation of the show for US TV on Nickelodeon. That starts on January 24th so we'll try and have a spoiler-free review up as soon as we can afterwards.

There's more episodes of the UK version waiting to be shown so we'll have more 'Who's Who' posts to accompany them when they get scheduled, plus we'll relay UK broadcast info for the US show the moment we find out where you can watch it.

We aren't 100% saying it wont be Nickelodeon UK, but it 95% won't be Nickelodeon UK.

Maybe 96%

Beginners Guide to The Crystal Maze

If you've recently seen Adam from Adam Ruins Everything talking about doing a game show for Nickelodeon that's been on British TV for 30 years, you've thought one of three things:

• I've seen that on YouTube, he's perfect for it.
• Oh cool, never heard of it, but looks pretty good.
• What? 30 years? What is it? What's with the bald guy in animal print? Did I just see the guy from that Ben Stiller alien movie?

Well there's a lot more to it than this, but here's the basics:

'The Crystal Maze' comes to Nickelodeon Jan 24th 2020

At long last, we've seen officially released material regarding Nickelodeon's incarnation of The Crystal Maze (and not just us borrowing from industry sites). Thankfully I can say that what we've seen so far looks like a rare case of an American remake done right.

Some Resources for Teachers Planning Crystal Maze Themed End of Term Stuff

It's getting to the time where teachers give up because it's close to Christmas and usually just throw a  movie on. I remember my RE teacher's go-to movie was Terminator 2, and that wasn't even for Christmas. One thing I've seen a lot of on Twitter has been teachers and schools having TCM themed events for their pupils making use videos and graphics online so I thought why not group the suitable stuff together and throw some suggestions in:

Christmas Twitter Advent Collection December 2019

On Twitter this month for advent, we're sharing some Christmas specials so on this post we'll be keeping them all in one place to easily find later. Enjoy.

#21 'The Crystal Maze' Channel 4 1991

Christmas Gift Ideas For The Discerning The Crystal Maze/Puzzle Fan

'Tis the season where for one day a year, it's socially acceptable to drink with breakfast. And, unless your name rhymes with Jebeneezer, it's quite common to buy your loved ones/not as loved ones/the couple next door/your sister's partner's niece's goldfish a present. So should they have even a passing interest in our favourite challenge based game show, then perhaps these ideas will stuff a stocking or two:

Taskmaster: The Crystal Maze Joined At Channel 4 By Another Game Show Phenomenon

Channel 4 was today confirmed as the new home of the hit celebrity game show 'Taskmaster', taking the show from UKTV channel 'Dave' after 9 series.

A Rare In-Depth Crystal Maze Interview With Ed Tudor-Pole

Second maze master Ed Tudor-Pole is usually reluctant to talk about his time on the show, preferring to talk about his music rather than his film and TV career. A few interviews I've read and listened to over the years have all featured mentions of The Crystal Maze being moved on from very quickly. One that particularly sticks out in my memory is the one from Demon FM from 2009 which features Ed's responses to a series of Crystal Maze questions being "You've got to bear in mind I did it for 5 weeks about 12 years ago and I've only seen one and a half episodes so I'm not an expert on it" and also "Frankly I wasn't sent to this world to present gameshows". 

Who's Who in the Christmas Special Line Up

As reported by The Sun this week, we may have a line up for this year's Christmas Special.

Returning for a second adventure is captain Scarlet Moffatt, alongside Strictly judge Shirley Ballas, choir leader Gareth Malone, Coronation Street alumni and Strictly contestant Catherine Tyldesley, and Mash Report host and comedian Nish Kumar. Also featuring is a cameo from One Foot in the Grave's Richard Wilson

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but for the uninitiated, let's see who they are:

The Paper Labyrinth: Got A Puzzle Lover In The Family? Get This Book Under Their Tree Next Month

Following on from his releases 'Make Puzzles Great Again' and "Not Another Crossword", friend of the blog Charle Wheeler has released another puzzle book ideally timed to get it in amongst your puzzle-loving loved one's pile of presents next month.

"The Paper Labyrinth" is a book-wide adventure across 157 pages of puzzles and riddles.

Available from Amazon for £6.99

Ayoade Returns To Travel Man For One Last Run, And Starts Off With His Predecessor In Tow

It's been a few weeks since a Friday blog, real life's getting in the way. However this Monday saw the return of Travel Man to Channel 4 and Richard Ayoade is taking four last weekend trips before Joe Lycett takes over.

This week saw 48 hours spent in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and this week's travel partner was none other than his TCM predecessor Stephen Merchant.

The episode sees them take in the sights, sounds and tastes of the city; eating oysters by the sea, visiting filming locations from Game of Thrones (despite neither of them having seen the show) and shopping for the clothing item Croatia is apparently known for: cravats.

Merchant sporting his shaved head from the filming of 'Logan' whilst in the TCM Live Experience venue in Angel

Click here to watch the show (UK users only)

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/travel-man-48-hours-in/on-demand/69151-001

The Crystal Maze Board Game Eastern Expansion/Standalone Now Available To Preorder

The Crystal Maze Eastern Mini Game Expansion Pack we revealed in August is now available to preorder on Amazon.

Graphic Designer Julia Siemon and Possible Pitches For TCM US Title Sequence

Just another quick one, something to share with you all

Last night @FrasyBaby on Twitter brought to our attention some graphic design work for a title sequence for Nickelodeon's Crystal Maze created by designer, animator and director Julia Siemon.

Copyright Julia Siemon

Don't Forget Your Toothbrush - No Adventure But Suitcase-fuls of Excitement courtesy of @achrisevans

Saturday night TV is a tricky product to master. Sometimes producers get it right and a format comes along people remember for decades such as Gladiators or Noel's House Party. Then again sometimes they make Scavengers.

Over the years there's been a range of variety shows that have gathered audience participation, games, surprises and excitement in one weekly show to generate some fun on a Saturday night. Noel Edmonds invited us all to a House Party with a surprising amount of gunge and his big pink lodger. Ant and Dec have invited us to win the contents of ad breaks, prank celebrities and win holidays with dozens of other competition winners. Michael McIntyre has even been in on the act luring unsuspecting members of the public on stage, surprising his audience, and hijacking celebrity phones.

One show I rediscovered through the magic of Youtube, however, is Chris Evans' (not the Marvel one) first show post-Big Breakfast: Don't Forget Your Toothbrush.

Missing Fort Boyard? Putin some effort and there's more to watch (sorry, that was terrible)

Just a quick one before today's main Friday blog. Crystal Maze is on a break, Fort Boyard finished a few weeks ago, and we've no idea when Boyard Land is starting, so we've been struggling for something to watch. But without wanting to sound too much like Professor Farnsworth:

Good News Everyone!

It looks like Russian Fort Boyard is getting the official YouTube upload treatment much like it's French counterpart.

Doesn't run as long as the French version, and again it's not in English, but as with the French version you can still follow along easily, you might even pick up some of the language.

EDIT: just seen they've made it private, spoilsports

The Crystal Maze 30th Anniversary

In 1989, around this very time, the first-ever series of The Crystal Maze was recorded at Shepperton Studios, which was transmitted for the first time on 15th February 1990. We are fast approaching the 30th Anniversary of this amazing TV show, one of the UK's most successful entertainment shows of all time.

We are unsure yet what plans are in the pipeline if any to mark this incredible milestone. The Crystal Maze idea came about due to the fact that the studio to Fort Boyard was unavailable at the time. Fort Boyard, TCM's sister show, meanwhile has recently marked its own 30th Anniversary.

Will we see a special show to mark the 30th Anniversary of The Crystal Maze in the UK? Let's all hope so. I would love to see a special C4 episode, featuring all four original Maze Masters. Each Master could take a zone each. Richard O'Brien in Aztec, Edward Tudor-Pole in Futuristic, Stephen Merchant in Eastern and Richard Ayoade in Industrial. They could also bring back Medieval for the occasion.

Richard O'Brien made a Cameo appearance in the 2016 Stand Up to Cancer Special, on a TV screen message. But I think the ultimate delight for fans, would be to see him, and Edward Tudor Pole at the new Maze set in the flesh, present one or two games. This would be the best way to mark the 30th Anniversary of the show. It would be especially cool if us fans were invited on to mark it as well. Some of us have props and outfits from the original Maze hangar set, which could make fantastic fan Easter Eggs in the 30th Anniversary episode.

The Crystal Maze, as original Producer David Croft once described, was a "flag on the TV landscape" - it was such an iconic and innovative show, way ahead of its time. It was fun, fresh, exciting and thrilling. So many items of merchandise have been released from the back of the show, from puzzles, books, games and more. This momentum continued into the 21st Century, with many repeats on Challenge TV of the original series. We then eventually saw the live experience venues open across the UK, which pushed for the revival series to be made. It's now confirmed that The Crystal Maze will definitely reach it's 30th anniversary year, as an American version of the format has just recently been recorded. It's enduring and unrelenting nature is a testament to the format. Let's hope this momentum continues into 2020 and beyond. We have the USA version to look forward to, an Eastern Zone Board game expansion pack that is due to be released, as well as the second half of UK celebrity episodes, including a Christmas Special still to air. Let's hope another civilian series is commissioned for its 30th Anniversary year.

The Crystal Maze is here to stay, and let's hope Channel 4 celebrates it's iconic show in a BIG way next year. Channel 4, get that invite sent out to Richard O'Brien's agent NOW! This chance will never come again.

Competition: Fancy a Sleepover In the London Live Experience Venue?

The Crystal Maze Live Experience London, Wayfair and Tripadvisor.com have teamed up to offer one lucky winner a night for two in a specially built pop up bedroom in the Aztec Zone of the London live venue.

The Desert Forges - Deeply Dippy In The Jordanian Dunes

This month (September 2019) sees the filming of 'Boyard Land', a winter offering of Fort Boyard with the format transposed to a theme park rather than the chills of the English Channel. However, it's not the first attempt for FB's host network TF2 to have a second adventure game show filling the winter schedule. In 1999, they commissioned Adventure Line to produce "Les Forges Du Desert" which was set in the Wadi Rum region of Jordan, an area with an average high temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The show was not successful and despite a high budget with an experienced producer behind it, low viewing figures led to TF2 cancelling it midway through its series.

Channel 5 weren't put off by its colossal failure in its home broadcast nation and in 2001 broadcast their own version of 'The Desert Forges'.

First Copy of Eastern Zone Expansion

Rascals very kindly sent us their first Eastern Zone Expansion pack today to look at. It is currently not on sale yet, but soon. They are just waiting on a batch to arrive. The pack is very high quality and features Eastern Zone themed games, which can be played combined with the existing Crystal Maze Board game, or as a standalone game. The pack features the new zone cut out which can be placed over the former Medieval Zone (or over any other zone you fancy, as it's double-sided

Testing games for this year's series of The Crystal Maze - my story

My name is Neil and I write regularly for this blog, as a massive fan. I was extremely lucky to once again be invited down to the Crystal Maze TV Studio to test the games again for this series (2019), and also see the new Eastern Zone for the first time.  

@adamconover : For Those Who Have No Idea

In the same way that Americans are very likely to be totally unfamiliar with the work of Ed Tudor Pole, the vast majority of Brits are unlikely to be aware of the career of Adam Conover, the man taking ownership of the keys to The Crystal Maze for Nickelodeon.

"Adam Conover, 36, he's a TV host and comedian from Wading River, New York, USA"

Jungle Run: Playing Games In Themed Areas To Obtain Items Worth Time For The Final Game, Familiar?

Warning: The following contains mentions of Keith Chegwin in a state of undress towards the end. Consider this a customary nut allergy warning.

In what could easily be classified as the Jacques Antoine genre (play some games to dictate how easy the end game will be), CITV dipped their toe with ‘Jungle Run’. 

Starting 20 years ago this week (see, there is some planning goes into these posts, it's honestly not a complete coincidence brought to my attention on Twitter) in 1999 and initially hosted by Dominic Wood. Jungle Run invited a team of three kids to play a few games in a series of themed areas to collect as many MacGuffins as they can to have as much time as possible in the final game where they could win something... well, something.

Adam Conover named as Maze Master of The Crystal Maze for @Nickelodeon

Adam Conover, of Adam Ruins Everything, has been named the host of Nickelodeons incarnation of The Crystal Maze.

The First Official Image From The Crystal Maze For Nickelodeon

Thanks to @Danny_L_Kerner for bringing to our attention the first promo image for the US version of The Crystal Maze

Image taken from c21media.net

...And That's A Wrap on The Crystal Maze for @Nickelodeon

Judging from a couple of Instagram posts, filming for Nickelodeon's incarnation of The Crystal Maze has wrapped down in Bristol.

First, I'd say this is a pretty good indicator:

Scavengers: ITV's Entry In The History of Adventure Game Shows, and John Leslie's Entry in 'Who Can't Act'

"The time: The Future. The place: Deep Space. Aboard the mothership Scavenger, the shuttlecraft Vulture prepares for takeoff. At the helm, Commander John Leslie..."

And thus ended all credibility this show had within 30 seconds. 

In 1994, ITV wanted a piece of the adventure game show pie and, in association with 20th Century Fox, came up with a show that had the working title "Aliens: The Game Show". Ridley Scott got wind of the idea and told them in no uncertain terms: "No." Thus Scavengers was born.

Incredible Games. Remember The One With The 'Dark Knight' That Wasn't Batman, That One

In the early 90's, with the success of The Crystal Maze doing wonders for Channel 4, it was inevitable that others would jump on the adventure gameshow bandwagon. So I thought I'd make my next few Friday posts all about the shows that sprung up on TV that had a lot more imagination behind them than a simple process of standing at some podiums and answering questions.

The first show that sprung to mind was a childhood favourite of mine from CBBC, and the one that is normally the answer to "What was that kids game show I don't really remember?"

Take 3 kids and shove them in a lift that could take them to different games within a tower block, each with elaborate settings ranging from a giant soup bowl to a dungeon to a Victorian school classroom, and you've got yourself 'Incredible Games'.

The Crystal Maze US Production for @Nickelodeon Is Underway (We Think)

We've got no idea what 'Day 1.' entails but all indicators point to production having started. We knew it would be the end of August based on a job listing that was dated around now and this picture has popped up on a social media feed (anyone know what app it's from? EDIT: found it, Instagram story)

ID removed in case she/he shouldn't be posting

The Crystal Maze - USA

We've heard from sources that The Crystal Maze USA is currently in Production in Bristol. (I never dreamed I would write that - who could have possibly thought). I'm still coming to terms with the fact that the show is back and filmed on my doorstep, let alone the fact the Maze is going to be exported to America for the first time.


We won't be able to post anything else about it for now as it's all kept firmly under wraps. We don't even know who the American Maze Master will be. (Unless they decide to use Ayoade again). Right now, it's hard to believe that American teams of intrepid adventurers are being flurried across the Atlantic on jets to become Crystal Maze Contestants...in a studio in Bristol.

In the original series, Richard O'Brien used to joke that another team was arriving into the Crystal Maze, whenever there was the sound of an aircraft flying overhead. This was to cover the fact they were filming the show at North Weald, an active airfield.

Will new games be devised for the American version, we wonder. Or will they reuse and recycle games from our own current UK series? What tweaks will be made, if any?

I am interested to see how the American version develops, and how American audiences take to the format. We are also going to be expecting a lot more website traffic from Americans across the pond, once the Crystal Maze is aired over in the USA. Including bloggers, YouTubers and more. It's certainly an interesting time. Maybe the Crystal Maze was part of the Brexit Trade Deal!  In other news, another UK 90s' classic game show Supermarket Sweep is currently in Production as well.

Game Shows That Crossed The Pond #4 - Fun House

Cards on the table here: for years, for some reason, I was under the impression that Fun House was a Nickelodeon show. Turns out it isn't, but nuts to it I'm going to talk about it anyway. This mid-series break is dragging on and there are weeks that need filling with posts. Plus it's Fun House and it was a building block in the television habits of 90% of the UK population that grew up in the '90s.

Interview With Games Designer David J. Bodycombe

In another entry in our series of interviews, Phil Newton-England talked to a fellow designer of games for the original series in David J Bodycombe

Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself.

I grew up in the North-East of England. I lived in Darlington and studied maths at Durham University. At the end of the academic year, it was normal for there to be quite a lot of dead time waiting for exam results to come out, in addition to the usual summer holiday lull. So, there was often lots of time to do something creative. I wrote a few puzzle books which were published by a company called Robinson Publishing (now 'Constable Robinson') who were able to use my Crystal Maze credits as part of the blurb. After university, I lived a double life for a while. By day, I was a management consultant. By night, I was still writing puzzles for various books and magazines. After three years, I was earning enough to work in games and puzzles full-time, and have been working as a freelance TV producer, games consultant and question writer/editor ever since. 

 When did you first become interested in designing games/puzzles? 

A French Language Look At Adventure Game Shows by @Meeea

Here's a little something for the 13 of you reading this in France, and for anyone else who understands French. I've been picking the language up from watching Fort Boyard every Saturday night recently but not enough to fully appreciate this video. Here's a 40-minute history looking at adventure game shows by YouTuber MrMeeea

There are shows included that even those who didn't grow up in France may recognize such as TCM, Fort Boyard, Treasure Hunt, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and French versions of Knightmare and The Desert Forges. May have to do something on Knightmare and even The Desert Forges after I do Fun House next week. I'm soon running out of shows during this TCM mid-series break.

Nickelodeon Game Shows That Crossed The Pond #3 - Robot Wars

In 1998, long before he was traveling the world with James May and Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson became the host of ‘Robot Wars’ on BBC Two. A series which pitted homemade radio-controlled robots against a series of tasks, which tested the builders' control of their machines and the machine's abilities, and fights against one another testing their durability. Created after producer Tom Gutteridge saw a tape of amateur robot battles in the US, Robot Wars became a Friday night hit for the channel. With commentary by experienced football commentator Jonathan Pearce and pit coverage by Phillipa Forrester, then already known for presenting technology program ‘Tomorrow’s World’, the show became a well-established franchise in the UK market.

With Any Good Franchise Comes Merchandise - The '90s Merch

From the desktop of Phil Newton-England

With the exciting news of the Eastern Zone expansion pack coming out soon for the awesome Crystal Maze board game, we thought this would be a great opportunity to take a look back at some official Crystal Maze merchandise that has been released throughout the years. 

Most of you will already have the fantastic ‘The Crystal Maze Challenge’ by Neale Simpson, Chris Lore & the team. This 224-page book not only contains ‘play at home’ games & puzzles, but also has some superb on-set pictures and informative interviews with presenters & crew, talking about the maze from its premiere in 1990 right up to the modern version we all know & love today. The Crystal Maze Challenge by Headline is, by far, the biggest & thickest book there has ever been about the show. If you haven’t got a copy yet, we truly recommend it. 

Nickelodeon Game Shows That Crossed The Pond #2 - Double Dare / Run The Risk

In 1986, Nick introduced its first game show in Double Dare. After conducting focus groups in order to improve their programming output, they established that children enjoyed watching game shows with their family but Nick at the time did not have a game show on their schedules. After a pilot recording in May 1986, a full series was greenlit in June and broadcast followed in October the same year.

Following in the slime-covered footsteps of ‘You Can’t Do That On Television’, Double Dare invited teams of two to take on a variety of messy games interspersed with trivia questions. Hosted by Marc Summers, and with the same VO artist Finders Keepers would later use in Harvey, DD was a huge success in terms of viewership and popularity. It tripled Nick’s afternoon ratings with over 1 million tuning in each week.

Rascals Announces The Crystal Maze Eastern Zone Mini Game

Here's a pleasant surprise for us at the blog, we've received a press release:

Rascals, the makers of The Crystal Maze Board Game and the Mr & Mrs Board Game, is pleased to announce the release of The Crystal Maze Eastern Zone Mini Game.

Nickelodeon Game Shows That Crossed The Pond #1 - Finders Keepers

 So I'm flicking through Youtube, and I'm thinking to myself "What on Earth am I going to jabber on about in blog posts until the series starts back up again?" At this point, I'm scrolling through my subscriptions and I see friend of the blog Jack's Throwback Attack has uploaded a big, long compilation of 90's kids' TV themes. And when I stopped worrying about why I still know the words to the Sooty & Co theme 25ish years after last hearing it, I saw some reminders of shows which dropped an idea in my lap.

 Later this month, 10 groups of 5 family members from America will be flown across the Atlantic and will find themselves in Bristol. They'll maybe see some of Banksy's, and numerous other artists, finest on various walls, they'll take advantage of the hotel amenities, and they'll film their own adventure in The Crystal Maze to be broadcast back home in the States on Nickelodeon in the hope of winning a huge cash prize.

 This isn't the first exchange of formats between a UK broadcaster and Nick however, although in the past it's been their shows getting remade over here. This week, I'm starting off with everybody's favourite CITV show featuring teams of two, a house and an awful lot of mess...

Finders Keepers

 Yes OK, don't worry, I'll get to that other one another time. It was too obvious to start with.

The Cyberdrome Crystal Maze - An Experts Account, Photos and Mid 90's Cosplay

From the desktop of Phil Newton England, original series games designer:

Now I’m sure most of you reading this will have, at some point, visited the London or Manchester Crystal Maze Live Experiences. But did you know that back in the early ’90s there were actually 6 interactive Crystal Maze venues around - not just 4 in the UK, but also 1 in Japan & 1 in Dubai!

More Names For Part Two of This Years Series

I've already covered a multitude of names after picking apart a trailer the social media team put up but thanks to a tiny little slip by whoever manages the Youtube channel, a thumbnail for a future show has shown us a couple of names to add to the list.

On the left, we can see former Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United and Manchester United player Michael Owen. The man who scored THAT goal against Argentina in 1998. Alongside him is Kimberly Wyatt, the second former Pussycat Doll to take on the challenge after Ashley Roberts last year. In the middle is someone who I have no idea about but I'm going to take a wild swing at him being from a reality show, probably Love Island. (Thanks to Danker1990, it's Kem from Love Island) Bringing up the rear are two names we've already established: Radio 1 DJ (who always sounds surprised with himself) Matt Edmondson and finally the lovely Debbie McGee. Not my word, simply the often-repeated line by her late husband, magic icon Paul Daniels.

Meet Next Week's (26th July) Celebrity Crystal Maze Contestants

Alas, it's that time again, next week sees the last in the current run of The Crystal Maze before it takes a break. Fear not however as it's not the end of this year's series, it will be back later in the Autumn and again at Christmas. If you struggle between now and then, there's always TCM's sister show Fort Boyard. So for now, let's meet 5 more faces you probably can't place.

Aztec floor plan - this series game cells (2019)

Our blog member Phil has been busy drawing up this year's games held within the sunny Aztec Zone.

Did You Know You Can Watch French Fort Boyard For Free Online And Not In A Piratey Way?

Well, you do now.

EDIT: Seems they've made more recent content private, but there's still plenty available on YouTube

In the last few weeks, following on from the post which featured a clip of Richard O'Brien hosting the British pilot episode of Fort Boyard, I've found myself watching the full French episodes of the newest series on YouTube, and it's only just hit me that I was doing so on the official Fort Boyard YouTube page. As such I wasn't watching something that a fan had uploaded to share with the world, I was watching it because the production company was letting me.

Floor Plans of Eastern Zone and Futuristic Zone - 2019 series

Thanks to our very own blog member Phil, he has created these hand-drawn plans of the brand new Eastern Zone, as well as Futuristic and the games that appear within them. Phil designed a few games for the original 90s series. Top work Phil!

Possible Hosts for Nickelodeon's Crystal Maze, From Someone Who Hasn't Watched Nickelodeon in Well Over 15 Years

There's going to be more than a hint of guesswork here as I haven't actively watched Nickelodeon in the UK in a very, very long time. I've no idea who's a current presenter on 99% of the UK network, never mind the US channel making the show, so I apologize beforehand for being ill-informed and just generally wrong and old.

Meet Next Week's (19th July) Celebrity Crystal Maze Contestants

It seems tonights choice of contestant, naming no names, has been a sore topic online. Hasn't so much been a kick of a hornets' nest as it has been a good, hard, wet towel flick to a raging bulls danglers. However it's over, done with and out the way. 

Moving on, here's next weeks intrepid interlopers.

Melvin Odoom (Captain)

Currently heard on BBC Radio 1's 9-11pm show Mondays through to Thursdays alongside Rickie Haywood-Williams and Charlie Hedges, the trio having worked together on the Kiss FM breakfast show previously. However to those of a certain age/immaturity level, he'd be more recognizable as a regular on mid-00's BBC Saturday morning show Dick and Dom in da Bungalow, joking and dancing his way through various sequences usually whilst covered in a variety of... everything.

Are you in the market for a new puzzle book whilst you jet off for the summer?

Friend of the blog, previous interviewee and live experience game designer Charlie Wheeler has added puzzle book writer to his CV.

It's Not 'Mumsie', It's 'Mumsey' ( I'm Looking At You @CrystalMazeHQ )

I don't usually intend on going all grammar nazi during my day to day activities, although I'd consider this closer to the level of spelling community support officer.

Allow me to share with you a little ditty from Series 3 Episode 9, with Richard O'Brien tinkling the Medieval ivories (anyone points out the anachronism, I'm going after your spelling, somehow)

Meet Next Week's (12th July) Celebrity Crystal Maze Contestants

It's Friday again, which means tonight it's another episode of that game show we have always gone on about (and always will). Next week, I'd say it's some faces which are slightly more obscure than normal that you may not have seen before, so here they are in the regular comment and clip form.

Sunetra Sarker

Starting as an actress in her teens on the Channel 4 soap 'Brookside', Sarker has appeared in numerous shows since her TV debut in 1988. Counting dramas such as 'Casualty' and 'Ackley Bridge' amongst her credits, Sarker has also, like many celebrities seem to have done now, taken part in 'Strictly Come Dancing' doing so in 2014.

Fort Boyard PS4 released in UK tomorrow!

After a slight delay, Fort Boyard for Playstation 4 will be released in the UK tomorrow, Friday 5th July 2019. This is the closest to The Crystal Maze on the Playstation we will get yet. (Here's hoping for that one day). The game is already available to order on Amazon UK right now. My copy is arriving tomorrow. Very excited to see TCMs sister show on the Playstation for the first time ever.

Two Tiny Issues With The Show So Far

I'm going to preface this by saying "Yes, we were involved in testing, but we didn't test this game so couldn't raise any issue at the time". Now that little disclaimer is out the way, onto my main first point.

So far, I'm loving the new games. I love the look of them, I love the details behind some of them, a good example being the cause and effect mechanical crystal release for the Aztec wobble board game. However, there's something niggling at me in regards to the Eastern Ying Yang game.

Who Are Next Week's (5th July) Celebrity Crystal Maze Contestants?

Another week passes, another Friday is upon us which means tonight at 8PM on Channel 4, the five celebs I covered last week have their turn on the games in the maze. That also means that next week is the turn of five more celebs of whom you may or may not be aware of, so here's a quick introduction for you to peruse between now and then.

Nancy Sorrell

Whilst she may be mostly known as the wife of Vic Reeves (more on him in a minute), Nancy has had a career in her own right. Starting as a model for high street fashion brands, she's been a TV presenter and appeared on such celebrity based shows as 'Hole in the Wall' and 'Celebrity Antiques Roadtrip'.

Fort Boyards 30th Anniversary Celebration Reveals Some Interesting Richard O'Brien Footage

 Up until now, we'd only ever seen two seconds of the back of Richard's head, so we knew it existed but it hadn't been seen online in any longer form. However last night, as part of the start of the new series of Fort Boyard in France, footage of the UK pilot appeared.

 The UK was the first country to buy the format after seeing the French pilot episode, then titled 'The Keys to Fort Boyard'. Chatsworth Television decided to devise a British version. A non-televised pilot of the British version was filmed with Richard O'Brien as presenter. However, it soon became clear the fort would not available for filming due to its renovations during 1989.

Who Are Next Week's (28th June) Celebrity Crystal Maze Contestants?

So it has begun, and I think we can all agree she was loud wasn't she. However in under a week, a new team of five famous faces enter the maze. For the uninitiated, let's meet them.

Anita Rani

Rani has been the presenter of a number of shows since the late 00's ranging from 'Cricket AM' on Sky Sports through to long-running consumer advice show 'Watchdog'. She can currently be seen as one of the hosts of another long-running show, 'Countryfile' which covers a range of rural and environmental topics.

An Interview with Executive Producer of The Crystal Maze, Neale Simpson!

Earlier this year, myself & team superfans were once again invited to take part in helping The Crystal Maze as Games Testers.

This time round, we had a more intense experience as Camera Blocking was taking place, so this meant all the cameras were cranking & rolling, and we were doing all the new entry methods into the maze for Aztec, Industrial & Future.

We also got to hang out briefly in the new zone, Eastern, and bumped into James Dillon who designed this wonderful masterpiece of a zone. Whilst we did not get to play any of the games in Eastern, we had a full day (9 Hours!) inside the wonderful world of the Crystal Maze.

Following our 9 hour marathon of gaming the maze, we went home almost euphoric and feeling like we left a dream state. We had a lot of questions, and Executive Producer Neale Simpson was kind enough to go through the interrogation we lined up for him.

Neale, firstly please let me re-iterate the thanks from all of us on Team Superfans and The Crystal Maze Fansite Blog for allowing us to enter the Maze again this year, and for your time in answering our questions about the 3^rd season of filming!

An absolute pleasure on all fronts!

Tomorrow, 8PM, Channel 4. Let's meet the celebrity contestants.

1 day to go so, for those unfamiliar with the names, let's introduce tomorrows celebs:

Gemma Collins

Featured on reality show 'The Only Way Is Essex' (and I'm using 'reality' in it's loosest form), self-confessed diva (Professionally self centered) Gemma has featured in such celebrity shows as 'Dancing on Ice' and was briefly on a series of 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here'. Pondered for a while for what clip to use but this one won the day.

Win a Crystal Competition

It looks like the Crystal Maze Social Media team are going to be running their annual 'win a Series Crystal' competition again on social media. Keep your eyes peeled on their Facebook page.

For competition rules, visit: https://m.facebook.com/notes/the-crystal-maze-tv/the-crystal-maze-online-competition-2019-rules-ep1/2343793565865973/

2 Days To Go, Another Day, Another Video On Social Media, More Celebrity Names

Another video has been put out by the lovely people in charge of marketing the show on social media and this one shows a lot more faces than has so far been named ahead of the showing of the first 6 episodes. Names I recognized include:

• Richard Blackwood (Actor)
• Nick Helm (Comedian)
• John Thompson (Actor/Comedian)

3 Days To Go, New Games, Including Knightmare meets Tron

Here's today's offering as we close in on Friday. A couple of clips, first a montage taken from Facebook showing a few new games, then secondly a look at our favourite game we've seen thus far.

4 Days To Go. First America, Now Let's Conquer The World #bringcrystalmazetoindia

I thought I'd be racking my brains all day to come up with something for today by 8PM, but today's post dropped into my lap. Well strictly speaking it dropped into the blog Twitter. I keep vigilant on Twitter looking for Crystal Maze discussion and one thing that crops up a lot is people around the world, particularly in India and the Middle East, having 90's memories often accompanied by a gif of Richard O'Brien. It turns out there are so many people who have fond memories of the original show who are completely unaware it's made a return.

It's already showing in Australia on SBS, but let's see if we can get it somewhere else.

Launch Week, What's Coming Up?

With under 5 days left until UK broadcast, we're a bit eager for Friday to hurry up and come round. Not least because it's been a long wait to see the new series on screen, but because after broadcast we'll have an exclusive interview with executive producer, and author of the series tie-in book 'The Crystal Maze Challenge, Let The Games Begin!', Neale Simpson here for your reading pleasure.

But not a moment before, can't be having spoilers now can we?

New Games Trailer

With a week to go before the new series starts, a trailer has been released showing off some of the new games and Eastern zone. Now we can finally show off some of (games designer) Anna Kidd's marvelous creations.

5 More Shows Worth of Crystal Maze Celebrity Teams

Thanks to chortle.co.uk we now have a lot more names for this summers series. As well as those already named for the 1st episode on the 21st, aiming to win money for Stand Up 2 Cancer will be:

• Anita Rani (Captain) - Presenter
• AJ Pritchard - Dancer
• Tom Rosenthal - Actor/Comedian "Friday Night Dinner"
• Hannah Cockcroft - Wheelchair Racer
• Jeff Stelling - 'Unbelievable' Football Host

Casting Info for Nickelodeon's 'The Crystal Maze'

Casting has started for the US version and we've got the following info from it:

• There will be a "Huge Cash Prize"
• They are asking for families of five, including at least two kids age 9-13 (could well stick to the UK format, two games each)
• Everyone needs a valid passport valid in August 2019
• Casting closes on the 5th of July.
• Applications can be made at kidscasting.com

Celebrity Names For Episode One, Maybe

I've been trawling the vast expanses of the information superhighway to try and find more names to sit alongside Gemma Collins (I will never say 'The GC'. I'm a grown-up... physically), James Argent and Sir Chris Hoy, and I may have found a snippet of info as to the line up for the first episode.

Realitytitbit.com is reporting that Collins and Argent will be on the first episode alongside:


'Impossible' host Rick Edwards,

'The Mash Report' comedian Ellie Taylor

and Channel 4 legend Carol Vorderman.

The Crystal Maze Fan Blog can now be followed on Twitter

Are you an avid reader of our but you never know when we've posted something new. Well we'll take the blame for that but not anymore as we can now be followed on Twitter @maze_blog

New posts, relevant links and general maze musings will all be on there.

And for anyone wondering, we're 90% certain the new series starts June 21st at 9pm on Channel 4.

EDIT: no sooner than half an hour after posting, Channel 4 confirmed that is indeed the date and time. It's going to be a long two weeks, look for celebrity names coming soon.

CORRECTION: 8PM! It's 8PM, not 9

Nickelodeon Producing The Crystal Maze: How Well Could It Go?

Right, we got a couple of posts out to catch the tide of TCM news, and there's plenty of that about now. So let's just have a calm consideration of what this new series could be like.

The Crystal Maze gets an International Version - USA Edition confirmed!

Today we have received huge Crystal Maze news...(again). Nearly thirty years after its inception, The Crystal Maze will finally be exported transatlantic to the United States. Rightly it deserves so, credited as one of the original forerunners of the Escape Room phenomenon we are witnessing today. It is such an exciting time to be a Crystal Maze fan at the moment. A new Zone, (Eastern), and now fittingly at the same time, the show goes West. Finally it earns an International Version.

America: Nickelodeon greenlights The Crystal Maze

Well this is exciting, isn't it? Following on from our blog in April where there was rumours of a US version, it seems those rumours have become reality. Bunim Murray Productions have had the green light from Nickelodeon to make a US series of 'The Crystal Maze'

As can be read here, 10 one hour episodes are set to go into production using the set at the Bottleyard, Bristol as we predicted. It's going to be family teams so expect communication breakdowns and parental embarrassment.

Celebrity Names For The New Series (to be updated)

Whilst nobody has been confirmed by Channel 4, we do have a few names that have managed to slip the secrecy net online.

Gemma Collins and James Argent: These stars of The Only Way Is Essex let slip their involvement on social media

Fort Boyard on the Nintendo Switch and PS4

The Crystal Maze would not be without its sister show, known as "Fort Boyard".

Fort Boyard had a brief airing in the UK but did not take as well to our culture, as both Channel 5 and Challenge TV commissioned runs.

Crystal Maze Sketches/Parodies Extra Extra (I need to learn to remember all of these at once)

In Britain, we love a panel show. Any excuse to cram a load of comedians and presenters on screen so they can all bounce off one another and have a joke about life, events, and everything in between. Since 2004, Channel 4 has marked the end of every year with 'The Big Fat Quiz of the Year' hosted by Jimmy Carr.

There have been a few spinoff versions over the years, BFG of the 80's/90's/00's, BFG of Everything but the one in question was the Big Fat Anniversary Quiz celebrating 25 years of Channel 4. With future mazemaster Richard Ayoade partnered with David Mitchell, after a couple of hours of questions covering everything from Oliver Reed getting lecherous to Shaun Ryder getting TFI Friday in more trouble than anyone had ever been in on the network, the BFAQ ended with a Crystal Maze clip, question and budget dome. It's a loose fit for "Sketch/Parody" but I'm counting it just based on the dome.