What do sheepdog trials and bbqs have in common?
Well they are itvs latest two reality shows flockstars and bbq champ the former being with celebrities the latter with members of the public.
First thoughts neither will be coming back for a second series and who knows perhaps they will even be moved from their existing slots of 8.30pm on a thursday and 9pm on a friday. One has to wonder if there had been a pilot episode of each and if so how did they make it through to prime time television rather than starting out on day time television.
At least with the BBC a fair number of these types of shows started out on BBC2 before becoming cult like and moving across to BBC1 i.e. The Apprentice, British Bake Off and Masterchef.
A couple of weeks back there was reports that ITV felt that the BBC should not be allowed to chase ratings on a Saturday night with the voice and they should be the only channel that showed this type of program. Well if the quality of new output of this type of show on ITV remains this low then thankfully we have he BBC as a marker.
So whats the premise of each show.
- Flockstars
This is due to air over 8 weeks and sees a number of “celebrities” compete against each other in sheep dog trials. Each celebrity undergoes a series of training before being pitted against each other in a studio to see who can master herding either sheep, geese or ducks around a course.
Episode one pitted Brendan Cole he of Strictly fame with his assigned dog Hoggy against Amanda Lamb she of A Place in The Sun fame (and apt name for the show) with her assigned dog of Midge.
In training Brendan appeared to struggle to get control of his dog due to prancing around as if he was dancing. Very cringe worthy tv!
The highlights of the actual trial in the studio being the opening of the trailer to reveal what type of animal was to be herded the voice over made it to appear more dramatic than it could ever be with the words “its the hebridians” (sheep) as if its was some gladiatorial conquest. The secod highlight was when the hebridians were brought out for Amanda Lambs attempt they proceeded to jump the barriers and attempt to escape from the studio. Im sure the studio audience would have loved to do the same and no doubt the viewers just pressed a button on their remote.
Presenting this show is Gabby Logan who no doubt will be questioning her agent at tis moment.
- BBQ Champ
This is itvs version of Great British Bake off but with bbqs presented by Myleene Klass and judges Mark Blatchford and Adam Richman. The contestants compete against each other and in teams using 2 bbqs each one closed for smoking and one open. All food prepared must be done on a combination of the two. The two least successful candidate are then pitched together in a grill off to see who would be eliminated. The winner receives a cheque for £25000.
Watching this show just gave me the hope of actually seeing amateur experts show what could be done on a bbq and not show my general attempts of ending up a burnt mess with everyone concerned about was it cooked. Unfortunately this was not the case with the contestants unsure of timings so there was raw chicken, extremely rare beef to charcol (burnt) offerings. Each contestant had to produce side dishes and rubs , one run being a home made cilly sauce that was as firey as could be, another contestant produced of all things yorkshire puddings.
The grill off pitted Kuldip Singh Sahota (Chilli Sauce Business Owner) against Emma Millest(co-member of Bunch Of Swines ) with Kuldip going home, neither really excelled in the challenge.
Other contestants on the show are Solomon Smith Founder of the Brixton Food Kitchen, Photographer Tony Smith @man_meat_fire proclaimed award winning BBQ chef to name but two.
Kuldips family business it would appear was chosen as a chilli sauce supplier to Asda after appearing in 2010 on another reality show BBC programme High Street Dreams. This was an ill fated affair and the contract was terminated within 9 months and the family business almost going under.
It looks like the BBQ Champ program is being used as a marketing spring board by the contestants no doubt fuelled by the success seen for some of the contestants on other reality show of this ilk though their offerings will need to in my opinion dramatically improve for this to become reality.
As for Myleene Klass as presenter , she seems a strange choice as I dont imagine her cooking over a BBQ perhaps poor advise from an agent.
No doubt the supermarkets will be busy this weekend with people once again stoking up on coals and meat products with either coal bbqs coming out of storeage or purchased. Lets hope a&e and doctors surgeries this weekend are not crowded with food posioning suffers.