''Full Metal Challenge'' was a television series made by

RDF Media Banijay (formerly Banijay Entertainment and later Banijay Group) is a French television production and distribution company which is the world's largest international content producer and distributor with over 120 production companies across 22 ...

for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

in the UK and the

Learning Channel TLC is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on educational and instructional programming. By the late 1990s, after an acquisition by the own ...

in the USA. Hosted by series creator

Cathy Rogers Cathy Rogers (born 28 May 1968) is an English television executive, producer, presenter and musician. She is best known as the presenter of the British reality competition series '' Scrapheap Challenge'' and its American counterpart ''Junkyar ...

and

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rol ...

, the show was very similar to Rogers' last show,

Scrapheap Challenge ''Scrapheap Challenge'' is a British television show where teams of contestants build a working machine that can perform a specific task, using materials available in a scrapyard. The series features teams of four or five members who are give ...

. It was filmed in the United Kingdom with a budget of approx £6.5 million on location at the disused

Richborough Power Station Richborough power station was a 336 MW power station close to the mouth of the River Stour near Sandwich, on the east coast of Kent. It was built on land within the Port of Richborough but being on the northern edge its site lies mostly with ...

just outside

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Premise

Twenty-seven teams from around the world compete in the challenge. Each team consists of 3 people. The teams were all given 1 month and $3000 USD (exchanged to their country's respective currency) to build a vehicle that "could withstand anything." Teams did not know ahead of time exactly what the events would be and how they would work. Periodically during the build, a technical advisor would visit the teams to make sure the vehicles would pass safety regulations and to make sure they stayed legal for the tournament. They were also required to be no heavier than 3 tons and/or wider than 8 feet (for the hall of mirrors). Cars ended up being loud, noisy, big, and destructive (qualities relished by the show's co-host,

). In each show, 3 machines competed. In the first round, there were 9 heats, each of which involved one machine from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, one from

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, and one from another country (

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

). The team that won a challenge got 3 points, placed 2nd got 2, and 3rd placed got 1, with a failure to finish worth 0 points and a tie worth half a point. After the 3rd challenge, the machine with the lowest score was "incinerated" and the top 2 progressed to the Sumo round. The sole winners were The Aquaholics from the United Kingdom, runners up The Snowdiggers from Canada (the only Canadian team in North America section) with Chile's Desert Pumas in 3rd place.

Tournament Play

The vehicles competed in a series of events, with each episode showing the competition between 3 vehicles. After the events, the teams each received points based on their performance, usually 3 for 1st place, 2 for 2nd place, 1 for 3rd place, though contestants could score 0 points for not completing a course, or share points if they got the same score). After all the events were complete, the team with the lowest score had to watch their car blow up, though it was feigned for effect. The two winning teams faced off in a sumo wrestling match. The winner of Sumo advanced to the next round of the tournament.

Events

Preliminary

Each episode featured three of the following events. Teams were awarded 3 points for first place, 2 for second, 1 for third and none for failing to finish an event. In the event of a tie, the points for the two places are averaged and divided equally (i.e. a tie for second results in 1.5 points per team). * 10 Pin Cars start at the end of a soap slicked path with 10 pins at the other end, each weighing 150 lbs. Each team is given 2 trials to knock down as many pins as possible. Pins knocked over in the first trial are removed from play for the second trial. Each match of the first round features this game first. * Pitball In this game, all three teams start in the center of a crater-like dirt pit. Positioned facing away from the center, a giant wireframe soccer ball with flaming core is rolled into the center of the pit and before coming to rest, a signal sounding the beginning of the game sounds. The first team to push the ball out of the pit wins the game. Afterwards, the game is reset for the remaining two teams to settle second and third. If a car goes over the lip of the pit in the process of scoring a goal, a foul is called and the cars are put back into starting position. For the final, posts were added marking a goal and in order for the goal to count, teams had to push the ball in any one of the 3 goals. * Hall of Mirrors Teams begin on the outside of a giant hexagon maze with reflective walls and attempt to drive to the center marked by the FMC logo. Once green flagged, they must find the quickest route out of the maze entirely. First team to clear the maze wins. Finding a clear path can prove difficult as some walls are allowed to rotate, changing the layout of the maze. Teams are allowed to watch a monitor with an overhead look at the maze and can communicate directions to the driving teammate. * Bumper Cars All three teams begin in a soapslicked area and proceed to run into beacons scattered around the play area. Teams score points depending on the beacon hit and after contact, render the beacon out of play for 35 seconds. This information was kept hidden from teams but they were aware that only lit beacons counted for points. After 5 minutes, teams scores were tallied and event points awarded accordingly. * Rollercoaster One at a time, teams drive their vehicle around a course that includes two 50 foot high teeters, a tricky 3-way teeter, a 30-degree inverted bank and multiple bumps along the way. Teams try to complete the course in as little time as possible. For each time a car falls off the edge of the track, a 20-second penalty is assessed. * Wetropolis Teams start at the edge of a field flooded with 3 feet of water. Teams maneuver to red hydrants scattered around the course and in order to continue, the car must complete a 360-degree turn in reverse around it. After all the hydrants had been circled, the team drives back to the start in order to stop the clock. Ten seconds are assessed in penalties for failing to complete a circle or for knocking signs or people over, fastest time wins the event. * King of the Hill Teams start amongst 7 mounds, each with a sign at the top. Three of the mounds are assigned solely to one team, three more are assigned as shared between two teams and the last mound shared by all three teams. After the start, teams must knock over two of the three signs set up around the center mound with their cars. Signs shared by teams can be knocked over by either of the two teams assigned to it. Once a team has two of the signs on the outer ring knocked over, they then attempt the center mound. Because signs are shared, it is entirely possible for a team to be eliminated if both of their shared signs are claimed by the other teams. Once a team has finished, the other two are allowed to start from where they left off to attempt to complete the center mound. If teams cannot finish and it results in a tie, whoever climbed up the hill closest to the center sign wins. This event was always played as the first event of the semifinal round. * Grand International Teams are lined up at the start and must complete two laps of the course, covered in multiple jumps, ponds, and hay bale walls. First to finish wins. This event was only played as the first event of the final round.

Finish games

* Sumo After the last place team was eliminated, the remaining 2 teams would compete in Sumo. The sumo ring was oversized for the cars and was sectioned off so that various sections contained hazards. Water, sand, barbed wire, tire spikes and other devices were included to make the possibility of breakdown more likely. As with sumo wrestling, the first team to push the opponent out of the ring wins. Victory was also declared in the event of a vehicle surrendering or being rendered incapacitated.

External links

*{{UKGameshow, Full_Metal_Challenge 2003 British television series debuts 2003 British television series endings Channel 4 game shows