''Boys and Girls'' was a British television gameshow broadcast in 2003 by
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
.
The series was produced by
Chris Evans through his company UMTV, and was presented by
Vernon Kay
Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English television and radio presenter, and former model. He presented Channel 4's ''T4'' (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for ITV, including ''All Star Family Fortunes'' (2 ...
. Evans only occasionally appeared on screen, usually as the driver of the
golf buggy
A golf cart (alternatively known as a golf buggy or golf car) is a small motorized vehicle designed originally to carry two golfers and their golf clubs around a golf course with less effort than walking. Over time, variants were introduced ...
used to ferry the winning contestants off-set at the end of the show. Thus the show was one of the first Evans-produced shows not to feature Evans himself in a presenting role (in fact, Evans did not regularly front any UMTV programmes until
OFI Sunday
''OFI Sunday'' was a British entertainment show hosted by Chris Evans. It aired on Sundays on ITV at 10:30 pm. The title stood for "Oh Flip It's Sunday", similar to the previous show ''TFI Friday''.
Reception
Critical reaction was extremely ...
in late 2005). Kay's co-presenter was Irish presenter and model
Orla O'Rourke
Orla O'Rourke is an Irish actress known for her role in the 2014 film ''Calvary''.
Early life and education
O'Rourke was born in Zambia to Irish parents. Her family returned to Ireland when she was five. At 13, she entered drama school. At 16, ...
. Also featuring Oliver Knight of Spectrecom Films.
Format and gameplay
''Boys and Girls'' took the form of a battle-of-the-sexes contest. The audience for each show would be made up of 200 potential contestants – 100 male and 100 female.
The contestants would initially assemble in the afternoon for what was referred to on-air as the 'pre-show party' – this saw the contestants assemble in a large hall. Each member of the group was given a few seconds to perform a stunt, skill or talent with the aim of impressing the 100 members of the opposite sex. Following this, each group would vote on who their favourite performer was (for the main game selection), and also rate the attractiveness of each performer (for the Babe or Minger game).
In the studio, games included 'Babe or Minger', where Kay would randomly select members of the 200 and invite them to guess whether they were a 'babe' (included in the top 50 of the vote carried out by the opposite sex) or a 'minger' (in the bottom 50).
Other short games and features would then follow, such as a segment in which tickets for a future show were offered to home viewers living in a featured street who performed a task set out by the host (such as opening the