I managed just short of thirty seconds of this last night before wanting to gralloch them all with a rusty boat hook.
I wish I had your patience.
The people who applied for the first show didn’t initially know they were applying to be on a TV show which reduced the freak factor by a factor of N to the power of Christopher Biggins.
I distantly knew one of the contestants in the first season (the eventual winner, Tim Campbell) and he told me about the advert in a paper he replied to, which was one offering a “Life changing adventure” which when he mentioned it I remembered having seen myself some months before.
I did like the first series, possibly helped by having a small stake in it through knowing Tim but find it increasingly bizarre as the series carry on - I can’t stand watching the tasks anymore but I do like the boardroom bit for the comedy and theatre (especially as Surallan the midget is sitting on a
box bigger chair to make him look taller than his henchmoles).