''Mad for It'' is a British
game show
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...
for children which was produced by
Carlton Television
Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...
broadcast on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
from 2 September 1998 to 31 March 2000. Series 1 was hosted by former Nickelodeon presenters
Mike McClean
Mike McClean is a British stand up comedian, television presenter and actor. He was a roving reporter on ''Richard & Judy'' and ''The Big Breakfast'' and appeared in ''The Office:'' "Christmas Special", Shameless, ''My Mad Fat Diary'' and ''Richar ...
and
Yiolanda Tokkallos. Series 2 was hosted by Mike McClean,
Danielle Nicholls
Danielle Audrey Nicholls is an English television presenter, radio host, model and singer best known for her presenting of CITV from 1998 to 2001, and Night Fever on Channel 5. She hosts and games on a Twitch channel, BiigNoobs, with her younge ...
, and
Nigel Mitchell
Nigel Mitchell is a British television and radio presenter and voice-over artist.
Early life and education
Nigel was born in Kingston Upon Thames. He attended Shrewsbury House School in Surbiton, from where he gained a scholarship to Reed's Sch ...
. There was also a regular character called Pie Boy, played by Alex Verrey, who would go around
hitting
A strike is a directed physical attack with either a part of the human body or with an inanimate object (such as a weapon) intended to cause blunt trauma or penetrating trauma upon an opponent.
There are many different varieties of strikes. A ...
random people in the studio with flans in a manner like The Phantom Flan Flinger from
Tiswas.
Games in the show
Games included were.
*Stars Up Their Noses: Contestants are given 30 seconds to show their talent. The name of the game is derived from impersonation talent show ''
Stars in Their Eyes''. This competition was won at the end of the second series, by the then fifteen-year-old
Katie Melua
Ketevan Katie Melua (; ka, ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, ; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian and British singer and songwriter. She was born in Kutaisi and raised in Belfast and London. Under the management of comp ...
.
*Box Clever: Contestants answer questions and pick a prize from a box if correct.
*That's My Pet: Contestants need to guess which is their pet amongst several similar looking animals.
Much beloved of children's television, a frequent feature of ''Mad For It'' was "
gunge
Gunge as it is known in the United Kingdom, or slime as it is known in the United States and most English-speaking areas of the world, is a thick, gooey, yet runny substance with a consistency somewhere between that of paint and custard. It has ...
", a green slimy goo which was regularly poured onto losing contestants and occasionally on the hosts themselves. Those who lost the games were sent to a "Dungeon of Gunge" – an enclosure directly beneath a large nose, which expelled gunge onto the hapless prisoners. In the last episode, the tables were turned and the pie boy ended up getting shoved in the dungeon.
The most notable contestant on "Mad For It" was
Katie Melua
Ketevan Katie Melua (; ka, ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, ; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian and British singer and songwriter. She was born in Kutaisi and raised in Belfast and London. Under the management of comp ...
, who appeared on the show when she was fifteen. She won the "Stars Up Their Noses" game after singing "
Without You" by
Badfinger. If she had lost the challenge, she would have been
gunged
Gunge as it is known in the United Kingdom, or slime as it is known in the United States and most English-speaking areas of the world, is a thick, gooey, yet runny substance with a consistency somewhere between that of paint and custard. It has ...
.
Transmissions
References
External links
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{{Use British English, date=October 2016
1998 British television series debuts
2000 British television series endings
1990s British children's television series
2000s British children's television series
1990s British game shows
2000s British game shows
British children's game shows
Carlton Television
English-language television shows
ITV children's television shows
ITV game shows
Television series by ITV Studios
Television series featuring gunge