Balls of Steel (TV series)
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| Balls of Steel | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Comedy / Reality-TV |
| Starring | Mark Dolan |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 11 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 50 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel 4 |
| Original run | August 19, 2005 – |
Balls of Steel is a Channel 4 comedy series hosted by Mark Dolan, where his special guests perform stunts, holding their nerve during hidden camera set-ups or by being juvenile and stupid in the presence of celebrities or the British public.
There are a total of 12 acts. In each episode six acts compete with one of them being the winner from the previous episode. At the end of each episode the studio audience has to decide which act was the nerviest, or had the biggest 'Balls of Steel' by voting on a keypad. The winner is the contender with the most votes, and wins a trophy in the shape of testicles.
Massive Balls of Steel, the spinoff series to Balls of Steel was shown on E4, showing highlights of the show.
Contents |
[edit] The acts
[edit] Acts featured in both series
| Performer(s) | Name of segment | Gimmick |
|---|---|---|
| Alex Zane | Alex Zane | Presents a fake game show that makes the victim either undergo very unfair disadvantages to their self or an unfair to the other player, normally a stooge. |
| Thaila Zucchi | Bunny Boiler | Flirts with a man whilst in the company of his girlfriend to provoke a reaction from her. Thaila is very attractive and usually wears provocative clothes. |
| Michael Locke and Matthew Pritchard | 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 | Prank TV with Miss Lee | Plays minor practical jokes on celebrities, utilizing such props as a microphone that resemble phalluses or squirt water. This section gained press coverage before the show aired due to Tom Cruise's reaction to the latter gag, although that particular prank was not performed by Olivia Lee herself but by a producer. |
| Barrie Hall (previously Jason Attar) | The Annoying Devil | Wears a devil costume and annoys the general public in various ways. |
| Neg Dupree (pronounced "Nedge") | Neg's Urban Sports | 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. However in the second series this is less controversial, because the people in his sketches are now being set up by their friends. |
| Eric Page | Big Gay Following | Treats men as potential pick-ups, scares them & solicits gay sex from male members of the public, often via the phrase "fancy a bum?" |
| Toritseju Okorodudu (Toju) | Militant Black Guy | Deliberately mistakes names of things for racial slurs to the discomfort of various people, normally members of the public at work. |
[edit] New acts in series 2
| Performer(s) | Name of segment | Gimmick |
|---|---|---|
| Tim Shaw | Mr.Inappropriate | Does inappropriate things in public, such as teaching foreign students offensive phrases or selling double-glazing at 4:00AM. |
| Jenni Davies | Penis Fly Trap | Seemingly helpless female accuses men of being neanderthals, and asks "are you looking at my tits?" when they offer to help. |
| Kelly Burgess | The Fuckers | A couple who perform simulated sexual intercourse in a range of unacceptable places. |
| Jonathan Goodwin | Escapologist | Attempts dangerous escapes with help from his father, sometimes with disastrous failures. |
[edit] Retired acts
The following acts did not return for the second series.
| Performer(s) | Name of segment | Gimmick |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Stapp | Randy Cambell's stunts | "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. |
| Naked Man | Goes on country walks and visits public places while in the nude. Presumably a parody of the naked rambler. | |
| Ross Lee | World's Worst | Performs various jobs ineptly to the indignation of his patrons. |
| Dawn Porter | 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. |
[edit] Series 1 winners
- Episode 1: Alex Zane
- Episode 2: The Annoying Devil
- Episode 3: The Pain Men
- Episode 4: Toju the Militant Black Guy
- Episode 5: Bunny Boiler
- Episode 6: Olivia Lee
- Episode 7: The Annoying Devil
[edit] Series 2 winners
- Episode 1: Neg
- Episode 2: Big Gay Following
- Episode 3: Toju The Militant Black Guy
- Episode 4: Meet The Fuckers
- Episode 5: Olivia Lee
- Episode 6: The Annoying Devil
- Episode 7: TBC
[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 returned for a further series in 2007, for which its makers appealed for contestants for a pilot quiz show on an established quiz site. At least one participant rumbled the 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.
