The Crystal Maze - FAQ (More will be added over time)

 In the course of my Twitter browsing, I often happen upon the same things coming up. "What was that show kinda like Crystal Maze but with tigers?", "So Crystal Maze is just Jungle Run for adults?" and "What's Crystal Maze?". That last one really gets to me, its been 31 years.

Anyhow, and it may get added to over time, here is just some answers to questions that may or may not have been asked frequently:

1. The Crystal Maze - Fort Boyard Link

• In the late '80s, Channel 4 wanted their own version of a forthcoming French format "The Keys to Fort Boyard"
• The French version hadn't started yet, the Fort was being renovated for filming.
• A pilot episode was filmed in a studio with a mock-up of the Fort in February 1989.
• When Channel 4 wanted their version, they wanted to make changes that weren't possible as all international versions would have had to incorporate the same changes on the fort being used for filming.

• The creator of Fort Boyard, Jacques Antoine, went away and came up with the Crystal Maze format in two days so that Chatsworth TV could still produce a game show as Channel 4 had commissioned them to do.
• In late 1989, The Crystal Maze was produced.
• The Crystal Maze aired from February 15th 1990, beating the first episode of Fort Boyard to broadcast (7th July 1990)
• While Crystal Maze ended in 1995 only to re-emerge in 2016, Fort Boyard has continued with annual series since 1990.
• Many international versions of Fort Boyard have been produced on the fort off the coast of France and Channel 5 later bought the rights to produce their own version of Fort Boyard in 1998.

2. Stephen Merchant Did Not Shave His Head as a Richard O'Brien Tribute

He was merely filming his role as Caliban in 'Logan' at the same time.

3. Jungle Run Was Inspired by The Crystal Maze

The producers of Jungle Run openly admit The Crystal Maze was a heavy inspiration for their show. The third host of Jungle Run, Michael Underwood, was a contestant on the first kids special of Crystal Maze when he was 15. It aired on New Years Day 1991.

Later in the '90s he won a contract to be a CBBC presenter as part of the Gaby Roslin BBC Saturday night show "Whatever You Want". Then he would move to CITV.

Michael's winning face - "Whatever You Want"

The set for Jungle Run was also used for another game show hosted by Keith Chegwin in a safari hat on Channel 5, but I implore you to never search YouTube for 'Naked Jungle'. 

And it's your own fault if you now go and do that. 

I deny all responsibility.

Quite something to see isn't it

Well, I told you not to.

Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. 

4. Why Do You Like The Show So Much?

As a kid, it just grabbed me like nothing else. The scale, the imagination, the set, the creativity. The schadenfreude that came with adults being useless on TV. Fun House was a great show aimed more at my age range and that had a sense of scale to it, but The Crystal Maze was just so much bigger. To me, it's the best gameshow that television will ever see. It was a gameshow with a story behind it, a loose fiction. The host lived in the game and had interaction with other fictional characters be it Mumsey, Lance, or the Aztecs that appeared once or twice.

Some people are Whovians, some are Trekkies. I'm whatever the hell I am and damn proud of it.

5. Do I Find People on Twitter Using a Comment Along The Lines Of "Oi, Go Back To Hosting Crystal Maze" to Try and Pass Comment Against Someone Bald Hugely Unoriginal

Yes

To Be Continued