Jungle Run
Encyclopedia
Jungle Run was a British television series which aired on CITV
as part of the ITV
network from 1999 to 2006. It is a game show
similar to Fort Boyard
and The Crystal Maze
. Since it began in 1999, the show has had three presenters: Dominic Wood, Chris Jarvis and Michael Underwood.
In the game, a team of young explorers make their way through five places in the jungle (4 for the celebrity guests). In each destination, they have to collect silver
monkey statues which gives them an extra ten seconds of time (and twenty seconds of time if they manage to find the ruby, often seen at Pyramid Maze and Lost Cave) inside the Temple of the Jungle King.
In some editions between 2003–2005, the show featured celebrity
teams playing, including some of the cast of Emmerdale
, Coronation Street
, My Parents Are Aliens
, and Girls In Love
. Also, boy band
Triple 8
made an appearance on a Christmas
special in 2003 (for which the Sacred Idols were replaced with present sacks).
, near Nottingham
.
Introduced in series 1
On this game there was no jungle guide, but there was a voice over.
According to some sources mini challenges include:
The sets for Angel Falls have changed a number of times throughout the history of the show, and the final version of Angel Falls was somewhat smaller than before.
Challenges in the location include:
Introduced in seires 3
brandons Tomb (If any noise is made He wakes up and Closes The door) (the timer is set to 10 seconds if he wakes up And sometimes makes some rocks fall and sometimes the cave shakes)
On rare occasions Sid and Elvis will kidnap a member of the team and lock them in a cage, to be discovered by the rest of the team and rescued. If the rescue attempt fails, a monkey statue is sacrificed. Previous kidnappings had the entire team locked in a bamboo cage high up in the trees - if the team failed to escape they each sacrificed a monkey. (Removed)
At the end of each show, the monkeys lounge around outside the temple of the Jungle King, and without fail Underwood tells them to "clear off". They do so in a most obedient fashion. They follow the orders of the Jungle King, which usually involves thwarting the jungle explorers. For example, they yank the ropes which control the baskets movement upwards while people jump (or swing) for them. They always disobey the Jungle Guide's commands.
In the rope swing challenge in Monkey Trees, Elvis is always caught playing on the swing while Sid is on the bridge. To get him to return the jungle guide has to either chase him, bribe him with a banana (which he never ends up actually getting) or tell him that Sid is stealing his bananas or has taken his monkey nuts.
Sid and Elvis have changed colour throughout the series of Jungle Run. Sid and Elvis used to be Red and Blue in the earlier series, but then Elvis became orange and Sid became yellow. In the later editions of the show, Sid changed colour again to orange and Elvis changed to be black and white.
There have been a notable number of complaints directed to ITV due to the alleged racism by Sid and Elvis to one of the contestants. The contestant in question was of Afro-Caribbean origin and when trapped in the 'monkey cage' shots, Sid and Elvis were feeding and taunting them with bananas. However, with both the presenter and one of the primate pair of afro-caribbean extraction too, any accusation of racism is probably misplaced. This edition of the show originally aired in 2004 and was re-aired on 25 January 2007 and again on 28 August 2008.
In the early series the team got yellow bananas. In one of the early locations is the golden banana. The team must find it and they will get 50 more bananas. Sid and Elvis like bananas. If the team are going to come across the golden banana there is a "Golden banana alert". It is nearly always in the lost tomb. It is unknown how much time each banana is worth. One possibility is 30 seconds automatically plus an additional 15 seconds for every 50 bananas collected. This is true in one episode where the team collected 275 bananas and had 1:45 in the temple. That means 5 groups of 50 bananas. Each group is worth 15 seconds which equals 1:15 plus the additional 30 second is 1:45. Then again, that might not be how their time in the temple was determined.
There were several differences between the Temple of the Jungle King in the pilot and in the main series. In the pilot the puzzles were different, the temple was smaller, and it looked like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
. The temple changed throughout the various series. In the earlier series it was more colourful than in the later series. When the contestants collected bananas, they would put them into a basket, but when they began collecting statues instead, they put these into a stone altar. In later series, the teams would get a Jungle run monkey no matter how badly they had done in the temple, provided that they managed to escape. During the earlier series, the types of monkey idol were Wood, Stone, Metal, Silver, and the Jungle King's most precious possession, the Golden Monkey. In the pilot that was never shown on CITV
, they were Wood, Stone, Metal, Sapphire, and Ruby. Later, the Wood monkey was phased out and the Metal monkey became Bronze. The Golden Monkey idol was also changed and became larger.
In the series hosted by Dominic Wood, all the puzzles in the temple involved placing three blocks with different pictures, symbols, or letters into the correct holes. There's a clue in each chamber that tells the explorers what they must do with the blocks.
CITV
CITV is a British television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive, as well as commissions and acquisitions. CITV itself is the programming block on the main ITV Network .The CITV channel broadcasts from 06:00 to 18:00...
as part of the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network from 1999 to 2006. It is a game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
similar to Fort Boyard
Fort Boyard
Fort Boyard is a fort located between the Île-d'Aix and the Île d'Oléron in the Pertuis d'Antioche straits, on the west coast of France. Though a fort on Boyard bank was suggested as early as the 17th century, it was not until the 1800s under Napoleon Bonaparte that work began.-Layout:Fort...
and The Crystal Maze
The Crystal Maze
The Crystal Maze was a British game show, produced by Chatsworth Television and shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom between 15 February 1990 and 10 August 1995. There was one series per year, with the first four series presented by Richard O'Brien and the final two by Ed Tudor-Pole, who made...
. Since it began in 1999, the show has had three presenters: Dominic Wood, Chris Jarvis and Michael Underwood.
In the game, a team of young explorers make their way through five places in the jungle (4 for the celebrity guests). In each destination, they have to collect silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
monkey statues which gives them an extra ten seconds of time (and twenty seconds of time if they manage to find the ruby, often seen at Pyramid Maze and Lost Cave) inside the Temple of the Jungle King.
In some editions between 2003–2005, the show featured celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
teams playing, including some of the cast of Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
, Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, My Parents Are Aliens
My Parents are Aliens
My Parents are Aliens is a British sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television and later Granada Productions for CITV about an eccentric family, which was produced as seven annual series, first broadcast in 1999 and ending in 2006...
, and Girls In Love
Girls In Love
Girls in Love is a British children's drama series produced by Granada Television which aired on CITV. It is based on the book of the same title , both created by UK author Jacqueline Wilson that follows the romantic thrills and spills of three teenage girls - Ellie, Magda and Nadine...
. Also, boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
Triple 8
Triple 8
Triple 8 were a five-piece hip-hop style British boyband, who were signed to Polydor Records. The group were promoted as the British equivalent of 'N Sync, and rivals to manufactured boy bands, such as Westlife and A1. The group had two successful singles: "Knockout" and "Give Me A Reason", which...
made an appearance on a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
special in 2003 (for which the Sacred Idols were replaced with present sacks).
Locations
Jungle Run was shot at a disused air base - RAF NewtonRAF Newton
RAF Newton was a Royal Air Force station, 7 miles east of Nottingham, England. It was used briefly as a bomber base and then as a flying training school during World War II....
, near Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
.
Introduced in series 1
Marshes (Removed)
The person that falls in the water cannot get to The Temple Of The Jungle King, and all statues they collected are lost.On this game there was no jungle guide, but there was a voice over.
Tiger Point (Removed)
The shows 'Start' during the Wood era, before moving to the first challenge. The location was based by Dominic Wood's old crashed Jungle Run deep upon a hill overlooking the jungle. To descend was a steep but soft leaf furnished slope.According to some sources mini challenges include:
- Trampoline challenge
- Gold tunnel (One of the team have to go in the tunnel and turn all the gold lights and collect bananas or monkey statues on the way)
- Climb down a rope and jump down.
Rapids (Removed)
The location 'Rapids' is a place the jungle king likes. The rapids was closed in 2002 and has changed to Angel Falls. Challenges in this location include:- Go through the tunnel and collect bananas on the way to the end
- Climb across the wall to collect the bananas
- Row a lily pad and collect the bananas from the wall
- Fill the basket with water to open the cave,there are bananas inside
- Walk over the bridge to collect the baskets
Swamp (Removed)
The location 'Swamp' is Sid and Elvis' first favourite place, as they used to like this place in the earlier series. It was replaced by the Dark Swamp. Rumours have it that Sid and Elvis made it that colour. Challenges in this location include:- Steal and collect the bananas and collect them on the lily pads (Removed)
- Climb up the rope ladder to collect the baskets (Removed)
- Make your way across the two ropes to go across the swamp and steal the bananas from Sid and Elvis (Removed)
- Dive in the swamp to open the boxes. (Removed)
- Collect baskets on some floating logs.
Abandoned Camp (Removed)
The location 'Abandoned Camp' was the longest running area throughout the series of Jungle Run. The location was based around a crashed airplane. Challenges in the location include:- Move the electric ring from one side to another side of the circuit. The team must then decide if they want to unlock the red box and take the monkey statues inside, or unlock the green box and continue through the circuit. There are 3 red boxes. (The first one has 1 monkey statue, the second one has 2, and the third one has 4.) If the electric ring touches the metal circle, an alarm goes off. If the alarm goes off four times, the whole system shuts down and the team gets nothing. (Removed)
- Three way hook above the circle of fire [2 of them will have to do that challenge on the bridge.1 of them will be doing that on the plane. (Removed)
- Pungey and bungee challenge (Removed)
- Oil rig challenge (Blocked off By the Jungle King) (Removed)
- Find the key to open cages, collect bananas on the way (Removed)
- Opening boxes in alphabetical order in order to find monkey statues. In one of the episodes, a few complaints were received when a girl was trying to complete this challenge when Sid came close to her and started taunting her.
Lost Tomb (Removed)
- One person enters the tomb, and the rest of the team are outside trying to help in any way possible. Usually helping with planks, ropes and nets, the one brave contestant inside the Lost Tomb must reach the exit while finding bananas or later on, Monkey Statues.The person can also get locked in.
- Play snooker to win bananas (Removed)
- Lock Sid and Elvis in the cages (Removed)
Angel Falls
The location 'Angel Falls' is based around a series of waterfalls, a pool of water and the Jungle King's favourite place the team must explore. Angel Falls is the newer version after the closure of the location 'Rapids' with earlier editions of the show.The sets for Angel Falls have changed a number of times throughout the history of the show, and the final version of Angel Falls was somewhat smaller than before.
Challenges in the location include:
- Swinging on a rope to collect baskets
- Dive for the treasure chests (Removed)
- Abseil across the Angel falls wall (Removed)
- Fill the shrines with water. The material of the shrines has changed from wood, to stone, to crystal and back to stone in 2008. (Total 4 statues)
- Climb the Angel Falls wall and collect the monkey statues before they disappear into the rock (There used to be a fake monkey statue in this challenge, but it got removed in the final series).
Monkey Trees (Removed)
This is were Sid and Elvis hang around. Replacing the Abbandoned Camp with only small changes, one of which is that the crashed plane has been replaced with a helicopter where the skeleton of the driver still sits.- Swinging on a rope to collect baskets(Removed)
- Three way hook challenge, where they must get monkey statues on bamboo poles, without waking up Sid and Evlis[2 of them will have to do that challenge on the bridge.1 of them will be doing that on the helicopter. (Removed)
- Opening boxes in alphabetical order in order to find monkey statues.
Dark Swamp
The location 'Dark Swamp' is based around the two monkeys' favourite location, a swamp centered the heart of the jungle. The Dark Swamp is the newer version of the location 'Swamp' from earlier editions of the show. Challenges in this location are usually made more difficult because Sid and Elvis bombard the team with coconuts. Challenges in the location include:- Ride in the boat and collect the baskets (Removed)
- Jump across the Dark Swamp back wall
- Memory test with the Stone Throne
- Make your way across the two ropes collecting baskets
- Use the three part bridge to collect the baskets (Later changed to 5 parts)
Old Pyramid (Removed)
The location 'Old Pyramid' was based around the pyramid, the highest point in the jungle. The Challenges in the location include:- Pyramid Maze: One of the team members has to go into the pyramid to find monkey statues. There are lots of doors inside the pyramid, which have a picture that matches another on the top base of the pyramid where the other team players have to press, to open the door inside. (The person in the pyramid has a walkie-talkie to communicate with the rest of the team, and tells them the picture, they stand on it, and the door opens.) The person in the pyramid can also get locked in.Blue lights for Silver monkeystaues and the Rubymonkey has a red lights.In Chris Jarvis series theirs a secretdoor and trapdoor from rooftop of the tunnels to open the secretdoor is star pieces
- Shoot down the Air pods with a peashooter (Removed)
- Pyramid Steps challenge: The team must rotate the steps to make the picture on the steps match the pictures on both sides of the steps. As they work, the monkey statues sink into the altar. If the statue disappears before the team completes the puzzle, that monkey statue is lost.
- Pyramid Wall challenge: One of the team members climbs the wall and grabs the monkey statues before they disappear into the wall. One team member belays the climber and the other one guides the climber.
Introduced in seires 3
Lost Cave
The location 'Lost Cave' is based around a cave hidden amongst the borders of the jungle. The Lost Cave was introduced into the show after the closure of the location, Lost Tomb. Challenges in the location include:brandons Tomb (If any noise is made He wakes up and Closes The door) (the timer is set to 10 seconds if he wakes up And sometimes makes some rocks fall and sometimes the cave shakes)
- Rat's nest (Inside are 8 pods,4 of them are red and the rest are black.The red pods have monkey statues inside,If a black pod drop the door will close a bit.If the third time the door will close shut (Removed)
- Cabinet of chance
- Volcanic vent statue collection (Removed)
- Swinging pendulums of doom. After this challenge, access to the Abandoned Camp is blocked.
- Collect baskets from the mythical creatures back
Temple Wall
The location 'Temple Wall' is based around the Temple of the Jungle King's side wall. The Temple Wall was used more towards the later series of Jungle Run. Challenges in the location include:- The Monkey Traps (Previously from the Abandoned Camp)(Total 4 statues)(There were 5 statues for the celeberity team "The Corrie Commandos" from Cornation Street).
Old Fort
The location 'Old Fort' was introduced into the show after the closure of the location, Old Pyramid. Challenges in the location include:- Zip wire challenge
- Fort Maze (If this game occurred after the Zip wire challenge, instead of the location title reading 'Old Fort', it would read 'Fort Maze'. However, if the Fort Maze was the only time the Old Fort was visited, it would read 'Old Fort'.)(Total 4 statues)(May have Ruby statue)
Wrecked Boat
The location 'Wrecked Boat' was introduced into the show after the closure of the location, Monkey Trees. The location was based around a run down boat in the centre of the jungle. Challenges in the location include:- Shoot the canisters
- Collect the tins from around the ring of fire {they're both Identical except 1 on the boat and 2 on the bridge (same in the abandoned camp)
Mine Shaft
Replacing the Lost Tomb challenge, this challenge involved a miner entering, but only to leabe empty-handed after a series of accidents:- One contestants enter the Mine Shaft with only a limited amout of time til the 2nd entrence (the original entrence will be blocked), the others must remove bamboo poles (one of hiding a monkey statue) and open a door leading to the key to the Ruby Monkey cage and the second entrence. (same in the abandoned camp)
Sid and Elvis
Sid and Elvis are a pair of monkeys, the Jungle King's most loyal servants. They will do anything it takes to stop the contestants from reaching the temple. They even make some challenges harder, especially the Dark Swamp challenges, as they seem to like hanging around near the swamp.On rare occasions Sid and Elvis will kidnap a member of the team and lock them in a cage, to be discovered by the rest of the team and rescued. If the rescue attempt fails, a monkey statue is sacrificed. Previous kidnappings had the entire team locked in a bamboo cage high up in the trees - if the team failed to escape they each sacrificed a monkey. (Removed)
At the end of each show, the monkeys lounge around outside the temple of the Jungle King, and without fail Underwood tells them to "clear off". They do so in a most obedient fashion. They follow the orders of the Jungle King, which usually involves thwarting the jungle explorers. For example, they yank the ropes which control the baskets movement upwards while people jump (or swing) for them. They always disobey the Jungle Guide's commands.
In the rope swing challenge in Monkey Trees, Elvis is always caught playing on the swing while Sid is on the bridge. To get him to return the jungle guide has to either chase him, bribe him with a banana (which he never ends up actually getting) or tell him that Sid is stealing his bananas or has taken his monkey nuts.
Sid and Elvis have changed colour throughout the series of Jungle Run. Sid and Elvis used to be Red and Blue in the earlier series, but then Elvis became orange and Sid became yellow. In the later editions of the show, Sid changed colour again to orange and Elvis changed to be black and white.
There have been a notable number of complaints directed to ITV due to the alleged racism by Sid and Elvis to one of the contestants. The contestant in question was of Afro-Caribbean origin and when trapped in the 'monkey cage' shots, Sid and Elvis were feeding and taunting them with bananas. However, with both the presenter and one of the primate pair of afro-caribbean extraction too, any accusation of racism is probably misplaced. This edition of the show originally aired in 2004 and was re-aired on 25 January 2007 and again on 28 August 2008.
Monkey Statues
They are silver monkey statues inside all the locations in the jungle. When a team gets a silver monkey statue, they get 10 seconds in the Temple Of The Jungle King. The red monkey statue is the Ruby monkey that gives the team 20 seconds. It used to give them 30 seconds, but they removed that after 2 episodes. The more monkey statues they get the more time they have for the Temple Of The Jungle King, with a maximum of 3 minutes and 20 seconds. In 2007 the name monkey was swapped for sacred statue. Altogether the maximun is 18 silver monkey statues and the ruby monkey statue. If the ruby monkey is in the next location the jungle guide can feel it.In the early series the team got yellow bananas. In one of the early locations is the golden banana. The team must find it and they will get 50 more bananas. Sid and Elvis like bananas. If the team are going to come across the golden banana there is a "Golden banana alert". It is nearly always in the lost tomb. It is unknown how much time each banana is worth. One possibility is 30 seconds automatically plus an additional 15 seconds for every 50 bananas collected. This is true in one episode where the team collected 275 bananas and had 1:45 in the temple. That means 5 groups of 50 bananas. Each group is worth 15 seconds which equals 1:15 plus the additional 30 second is 1:45. Then again, that might not be how their time in the temple was determined.
The Temple of the Jungle King
At the end of the show, the contestants go to the Temple of the Jungle king. The jungle guide explains the rules, and once the temple doors opens, the team must enter the temple without the jungle guide. Inside the temple is a series of rooms each containing a large monkey statue. Once the challenge in each chamber is completed, the door to the next room opens. In the early series the teams could only receive one prize but that was changed so that they'd get as many prizes as the number of idols they had collected. The more rooms the contestants get through, the better the idols they collect. When a team has only 20 seconds of time left in the temple, a warning sounds, and they must escape before the door to the temple closes. If any of the team members do not get out in time, those team members are locked in the temple until Sid and Elvis get them out after the show, and they receive no prizes even if they have completed tasks in other chambers.There were several differences between the Temple of the Jungle King in the pilot and in the main series. In the pilot the puzzles were different, the temple was smaller, and it looked like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were considered to be one of the greatest Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one of the Wonders which may in fact have been legendary. They were purportedly built in the ancient city-state of Babylon, near present-day Al Hillah, Babil, in Iraq...
. The temple changed throughout the various series. In the earlier series it was more colourful than in the later series. When the contestants collected bananas, they would put them into a basket, but when they began collecting statues instead, they put these into a stone altar. In later series, the teams would get a Jungle run monkey no matter how badly they had done in the temple, provided that they managed to escape. During the earlier series, the types of monkey idol were Wood, Stone, Metal, Silver, and the Jungle King's most precious possession, the Golden Monkey. In the pilot that was never shown on CITV
CITV
CITV is a British television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive, as well as commissions and acquisitions. CITV itself is the programming block on the main ITV Network .The CITV channel broadcasts from 06:00 to 18:00...
, they were Wood, Stone, Metal, Sapphire, and Ruby. Later, the Wood monkey was phased out and the Metal monkey became Bronze. The Golden Monkey idol was also changed and became larger.
Stone Monkey Idol Chamber
Challenges in this chamber:- Get the ball in the hole 1
- Get the ball in the hole 2
- Series of jigsaws (either a parrot, lion or monkey)
Bronze Monkey Idol Chamber
Challenges in this chamber have included:- A variety of jigsaws
- Hands & Feet (It's one colour per person, and they must all match their hands and feet to the symbols)
- Complete circular maze which spins (pilot)
Silver Monkey Idol Chamber
Challenges in this chamber have included:- Make the abacus add up to 14 on both sides
- Turn the cogs to open the door
- Black line puzzle (a jigsaw puzzle with no picture, and the black line must be on the edge)
- A mathematical sum appears, but where the numbers should be (excluding the answer) there are horizontal discs with a handle and the contestants have to spin the discs a certain amount of times to make question correct (pilot)
Golden Monkey Idol chamber
Challenges in this chamber have included:- Get across the pit using wooden planks (the golden monkey will get covered up if somebody treads on the sand)
- Spell a word from the clue. 5 letters are needed to complete this challenge (the team have to step on the same letter at the same time, the monkey door opens slightly every time they get a letter right).
- Complete a 24 piece puzzle of a monkey (pilot)
In the series hosted by Dominic Wood, all the puzzles in the temple involved placing three blocks with different pictures, symbols, or letters into the correct holes. There's a clue in each chamber that tells the explorers what they must do with the blocks.
The Jungle King
The Jungle's King is shrouded in mystery, and not many people know him. All that we know is that he gives orders to Sid and Elvis, He controls the challenges, and that you enter The Temple Of The Jungle King through the belly of a stone statue of him.Transmissions
| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
External links
- Jungle Run at itv.com/citvItv.comitv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 11 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers on-line streaming, ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, games, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV...
- Jungle Run at UKGameshows.com