''Splash!'' is a British

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series that follows celebrities learning diving. The celebrities performed each week in front of a panel of judges and a live audience in an Olympic-size diving pool with the result each week partly determined by public vote.

Gabby Logan Gabrielle Nicole Logan (''née'' Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is a Welsh television and radio presenter, and a former rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted '' Final Score'' for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She h ...

and

Vernon Kay Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English broadcaster and former model. He presented Channel 4's ''T4'' (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for ITV, including '' All Star Family Fortunes'' (2006–2015), ''Ju ...

presented the show, whilst

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

Olympic gold medal-winning diver

Tom Daley Thomas Robert Daley (born 21 May 1994) is an English retired diver, YouTuber and television personality. He is an Olympic champion in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics and double world champion in the FI ...

was the expert mentor to the celebrities. It was filmed at the Inspire: Luton Sports Village, which is based in Stopsley,

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

. The show premiered on ITV on 5 January 2013, winning the ratings battle for its 7:15–8:15 p.m. slot with an average audience of 5.6 million viewers, a network share of 23.6%, however, it was cancelled on 24 June 2014 after two series. The format for the show originated from the ''

Celebrity Splash! ''Celebrity Splash!'' (also known as ''Splash!'') is a reality television franchise created by Netherlands, Dutch company Eyeworks, started from their Dutch reality show ''Sterren Springen Op Zaterdag'' which premièred in 2012. The franchise i ...

'' franchise created by television production company

Eyeworks Warner Bros. International Television Production Netherlands (WBITVP Netherlands), formerly known as Eyeworks, is an Amsterdam-based international television production company founded by Reinout Oerlemans, Robert van den Bogaard and Ronald van W ...

in the Netherlands, and was broadcast on

SBS 6 SBS6 is a Dutch free-to-cable commercial TV channel and is a part of Talpa TV, formerly known as SBS Broadcasting B.V. and now owned by Talpa Network. Other channels of the group in the Netherlands are Net5, Veronica, and SBS9. History S ...

as '' Sterren Springen Op Zaterdag'' (''Celebrities Jumping on Saturday'').

Format

The show was broadcast live on ITV on Saturday evenings, and was presented by

and

. In the show, celebrities competed against each other, performing dives in order to impress a judging panel and the viewing public. The series consisted of heats where two celebrities from each go into the semi-finals, and then followed by a live final on successive Saturdays.

Series overview

Two series were broadcast, as summarised below.

Main series results

Series 1 (2013)

The first series began airing on 5 January 2013 and ran for 5 weeks ending on 2 February 2013. The contestants for the first series were:

Series 2 (2014)

On 4 February 2013, a second series was confirmed; it began airing on 4 January 2014 and ran for 7 weeks, ending on 15 February 2014. The contestants for the second series were:

Reception

The show received generally poor reviews from critics after its premiere, including "utterly awful", "a new low for television" and "probably the worst programme ever screened in primetime". Despite the negative critical response, it achieved reasonable ratings and was recommissioned for a second series, before being cancelled in 2014. Concern was shown for Daley's role in the show by the head of

British Swimming Aquatics GB (formerly British Swimming) is the Sports governing body, national governing body of swimming (sport), swimming, water polo, artistic swimming, Diving (sport), diving and open water swimming, open water in Great Britain.men's synchronized platform dive in the 2016 Games. Heat 3 contestant Tina Malone made negative comments in an interview with Liverpool radio station Juice FM several days before her appearance on the show. She called ''Splash!'' and other reality shows "garbage", as well as stating that "it's the big fat cheques that make me happy", in reference to the fact she appears in such TV shows only for the financial reward.

International versions

A US version, under the title '' Splash'', premiered on 19 March 2013, from the Riverside Aquatics Complex at

Riverside City College Riverside City College (RCC) is a public community college in Riverside, California. The college is part of the Riverside Community College District, as well as the larger California Community Colleges System. History RCC first opened in 1916 at ...

and

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

's Rose Bowl Aquatics Center on ABC television. The US version features 2012 Olympic 10m diving champion David Boudia and American diving legend

Greg Louganis Gregory Efthimios Louganis (; born January 29, 1960) is an American Olympic Diving (sport), diver who won gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics on the springboard and platform. He is the only man and the second ...

as judges. 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, ...

in Australia also commissioned ''

'' which aired in 2013. In 2015, a Lithuanian version of the show, called ''Šuolis'', premiered on

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

References

External links

* . {{Celebrity Splash! 2010s British reality television series 2013 British television series debuts 2014 British television series endings British sports television series British television series based on Dutch television series British English-language television shows ITV reality television shows Television series by ITV Studios