Balls of Steel (TV series)
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Balls of Steel is a Channel 4 comedy series hosted by Mark Dolan (The Richard Taylor Interviews), where his special guests perform death-defying stunts, holding their nerve during hidden camera set-ups or by being juvenile and stupid in the presence of celebrities.
At the end of each episode the studio audience has to decide which act has the biggest balls of steel by voting on a keypad.
Massive Balls of Steel, the spinoff series to Balls of Steel was shown on E4, showing highlights of the show.
Contents |
[edit] The acts
There are a total of 12 acts. In each episode 6 compete with 1 of them being the winner from the previous episode. The 12 acts are:
Alex Zane: presents fake game shows with a twist (usually making the player lose through unfair means).
Bunny Boiler: flirts with a man whilst in the company of his girlfriend to provoke a reaction from her.
Pain Men: two men going by the names Pancho and Pritchard deliberately inflict pain on themselves or each other, an act similar to the duo's previous TV show Dirty Sanchez.
Olivia Lee: plays minor practical jokes on celebrities, utilising such props as a microphones that resemble phalluses or squirt water. This section gained press coverage before the show aired due to Tom Cruise's slightly extreme reaction to the latter gag, although that particular prank was not performed by Olivia Lee herself but by the producer.
World's Worst: performs various jobs ineptly to the indignation of his patrons.
Annoying Devil: wears a devil costume and annoys the general public in various ways, such as following people with insulting signs ("bedwetter", "wig", etc). Jason Attar is the name of the actor who plays the annoying devil.
Naked Man: goes on country walks and visits public places while in the nude. Presumably a parody of the naked rambler.
Man Tester: picks up a single man in a bar before 'inadvertently' revealing some unusual fact about herself (for example, that she works for a sex chat line, taking the call right in front of him) and seeing whether he continues flirting or makes his excuses.
Neg: plays 'urban sports', such as running from security guards or jumping onto the backs of unsuspecting passers-by. This is the most controversial act of them all. If this game were not staged, it would be clear case of criminal assault.
Randy Cambell: "New Zealand's top stuntman" performs daring stunts that inevitably go dangerously wrong. The only fictional segment of the show, it's essentially a comedy sketch but presented 'as real', previously seen on Back of the Y.
Big Gay Following: solicits gay sex from members of the public, often via the phrase "fancy a bum?"
Militant Black Guy: deliberately mistakes names of things (e.g. black pudding or raccoons) for racial slurs to the discomfort of various people. (e.g. butchers or zoo attendants).
New acts to be included in the second series include escapologist Jonathan Goodwin attempting a number of daring escapology stunts, The Fuckers, a couple who perform sexual acts in front of unsuspecting members of the public in locations such as public toilets and taxis and Tim Shaw as Mr Inappropriate, a man who acts unsuitably in social situations.
[edit] Massive Balls of Steel
Massive Balls of Steel is a spin off series to Balls of Steel shown on E4. Each episode features 1 of the 12 acts presenting their 5 best clips featuring themselves voted by the viewers of E4.
[edit] Criticisms
This show has been criticised by many as using child-like humour for cheap laughs. In particular it tries to portray anti-social behaviour as humorous. For example, the segment Big Stranger Rodeo is a hidden camera segment where a person has to ride on a stranger's back for as long as possible. It is not known if this segment was staged but it can be easily be replicated by minors. It has also been criticised for promoting happy slapping.
Even before it was broadcast, Balls of Steel was given an enormous amount of publicity during the London premiere for the film War of the Worlds. Its leading man Tom Cruise was squirted with a water pistol disguised as a microphone as part of one of the programme's various stunts or practical jokes. Cruise's reaction was not as excessive as that of Sharon Osbourne in an identical stunt several weeks before; she reacted by promptly throwing a bucket of water over the culprit involved.
The programme is set to return for a further series in 2006, for which its makers appealed for contestants for a pilot quiz show on an established quiz site. At least one participant rumbled the puerile deceit almost immediately during filming on 10 June 2006, but despite his queries the makers refused to admit that the quiz was a hoax until the "broadcast" was over.
