''Lab Rats Challenge'' is an Australian children's game show. The program began broadcasting on 4 August 2008 at 4pm on the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

with hosts Drew Jarvis and Nicole Dixon. On 5 March 2012, the show moved to the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

with Aleisha Rose replacing Dixon for the revived series. On 12 February 2013 at 10:15am, the show moved to

ABC3 ABC Entertains is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched on 4 December 2009 as a children's channel called ABC3. It was rebranded on 19 September 2016 to ABC ME. It rebra ...

(now known as 'ABC ME'). The show has also been broadcast on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

. In contrast to other Australian children's game shows such as '' Sharky's Friends'', '' A*mazing'', and '' Go Go Stop'', which are filmed on a large set in front of a live studio audience, ''Lab Rats Challenge'' uses several smaller sets resembling an abandoned science laboratory as well as special effects sequences inserted in post-production. It is filmed in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

's Channel 9 studio on Mount Coot-tha,

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Gameplay

The challenges on the show are born from science experiments, such as guessing how many drops of water will fit on a twenty cent coin. Each episode's final challenge, The Labyrinth, features the children competitors racing through a series of physical and mental challenges. The 1st pair to make it through the labyrinth gets cheesed at the end. This is similar in style to the maze on early 1990s Australian kids game show ''A*mazing'' and 1990s American show ''

Legends of the Hidden Temple ''Legends of the Hidden Temple'' is an American action-adventure television game show that broadcast from 1993 to 1995 on Nickelodeon. Created by David G. Stanley, Scott A. Stone, and Stephen Brown, the program features a fictitious temple, " ...

''.

Rounds

* Nano Challenge – In this round, both teams simultaneously try and complete the challenge and achieve their goal. If they succeed, the team wins 10 points. Its time limit is unlimited. It could be a minute, half a minute or even two. * What'll Happen If – In this round, Drew and Nicole will describe the experiment and both teams, in private must make a hypothesis/guess as to what will happen. After both teams guesses are made, Drew and Nicole will perform the experiment. If their guess is right, the team wins 5 points. * Method Madness – In this round, teams perform the task either simultaneously or one at a time. If the task is to be performed one team at a time, the trailing team will decide whether to go first or second. If there is a tie, the Randomizer will then be done to find the winning team. Whoever goes second will: get shrunk by Drew and surrounded by a metal cage with a cat on guard (season 1), or 'lose' their heads, through the use of CGI (season 2) to prevent them from seeing their opposing team in action. Teams will perform a task. The winning team gets 15 points. In the season 2, the trailing team got to perform the challenge first and the leading team had their heads relocated. * Rat Race – This is a race to completing the game. Whoever wins, gets 30 points. Along the way, status accelerators are on offer with 20, 15, 10 and 5 points. Obstacles include wire traps, cargo nets, dark room (where the exit is on the ground), slide, ball pits, maze and Cheese Dump. Every episode has a major challenge where teams have to do a task such as filling a cylinder to the line, building a skeleton or operating a crane. In the season 2, as well as trying to find the exit to the dark room, teams have to find an eyeball before leaving the dark room. Teams could also intentionally just exit the dark room without finding the eyeball in order to save up time in the race. By doing so, the team wasn't eligible to gain any status accelerator points. At the cargo net, contestants have to climb up two sets and crawl over the ground. After that they slide down a slide and get the status accelerators. After finishing the major task comes the maze which they have to make their way through the correct doors. If there is a tie after What'll Happen If or the Rat Race, there is a tie breaker known as the Randomizer. Both teams are given a beaker of water along with two similar-looking containers of white powder. Only one would cause a chemical reaction when placed in the water. The team that wins the Rat Race gets to choose their powder first. Both teams pour their powder in the water and the one that has a chemical reaction wins 5 points. This tie breaker is completely based on chance.

International broadcasts

* In 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Lab Rats Challenge was screened on POP and Kix (until December 2012, and was replaced by '' Scaredy Squirrel'' in January 2013); at around the same time

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

began airing a similar UK-produced format, '' Richard Hammond's Blast Lab''. * In

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, the series is screened on

Okto Okto is a Singaporean children's programming block broadcast by Mediacorp's Channel 5 in English and Channel 8 in Mandarin Chinese. The brand originally operated as a standalone free-to-air channel from 19 October 2008 to 1 May 2019, havin ...

and Channel 5. * In

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, the series was aired on Astro TVIQ. * In

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, this series will be airing on Lifetime starts October 12, 2026, every day at 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm and same day as

and

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lab Rats Challenge Australian children's game shows Nine Network original programming Seven Network original programming Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Australian children's television series 2008 Australian television series debuts 2008 Australian television series endings 2012 Australian television series debuts 2012 Australian television series endings 2013 Australian television series debuts 2014 Australian television series endings 2000s Australian game shows 2010s Australian game shows Australian English-language television shows Television shows set in Brisbane Australian television series revived after cancellation Television series by Beyond Television Productions

Gameplay

Rounds

International broadcasts

See also

References