Get Your Own Back

Get Your Own Back
Created by	Brian Marshall
Starring	Dave Benson Phillips (All Series) Lisa Brockwell (Series 11 - 13)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	13
No. of episodes	190
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC1 CBBC Channel
Release	26 September 1991 – 31 March 2003

Get Your Own Back was a children's television gameshow produced by CBBC, which ran from 26 September, 1991 to 31 March, 2003. As of 2008, the show is still regularly repeated on the CBBC Channel, though no new episodes have been produced since 2002 and there are currently no plans for a revival. It has been presented throughout by Dave Benson Phillips, with the addition of Lisa Brockwell as a co-host since 2001. The programme's most recent theme tune (by Richard Webb and Matt Katz) sounded similar to We'll Bring The House Down by Slade, although the original was more in keeping with the fairground-themed set.

Get Your Own Back developed through various formats over the years, but has been based around team games - however the main principle of the show has remained throughout: revenge.

The show consisted of two teams (the first series had three) where the child contestants and a parent/relative/older sibling/teacher/celebrity who in the child's eyes had committed some sort of crime, that they wanted to seek revenge for. These 'crimes' were usually trivial, such as singing badly or asking the child to tidy their room.

Dave and the audience always showed bias against the grown-up by booing the oppressed as much as possible. The games were always designed to make things difficult or unpleasant for the grown-ups. They often had them dressed in embarrassing costumes.

Formats

1991

This is the only series with 3 teams (red, blue and green). In the series the adults played the "mangle" game where they scored points by answering questions. To get bonus points for each question answered, the grown up did a chore they always got the kid to do (e.g. washing up) and take the item the chore was practiced on through mangle with the kid spraying them with gunge. The item must have got through in one piece or no points were awarded. The winning grown up left, with the losers facing another game (either a video game, an obstacle race with the kid, or a karaoke performance). The loser of this round (scores did not carry over from the first game) went to the gunk dunk. In the gunk dunk, it had sort of a creepy theme, but more cartoonish, & the adult and child sat over a cauldron-like tank. The grown up would get the child dunked if they answered five correct answers in under 45 seconds without using answers beginning with a particular letter (which all questions had obvious answers to). Failure (or eventually otherwise, despite Dave's assurance that winning would spare them) resulted in the grown up being dunked. If the child was dunked, the grown up took home a trophy; if not the child won it.

1992 - 1994

The number of teams was reduced to two (red and yellow). The mangle game was played again first, with the second round always being an obstacle race. This time the adult's scores in the rounds were added together. In series 4, a third puzzle round (either a maze or 3-d jigsaw) was played as well, where the adult and child in opposite colours played together to win points for the grown up. This series had 2 "knockdown bonus" rounds added, where the kids played games to deduct the grown up's scores. The winning grown up got the "key to freedom" and left clean, with the loser being sent to the gunk dunk (via the ghost train). This gunk dunk was darker and had a creepier theme, and had the same game as the original, but the child got gunged in a tank rather the gunk dunk itself. In several episodes where the grown-up answered all 5 questions correctly, Dave played a trick on them by going to hand them the trophy and then suddenly stating, "BUT... we cannot let you go away while you're nice and dry" before throwing them in the gunge. In one episode, he said that they had to have a house rule that states that all children must be accompanied by a grown up, before throwing them into the gunge.

1995

This was the last of the fairground themed series. It was also the first series where the child played to score points rather than prevent the grown up from doing so, and the teams were red and blue. Four games were played - some were always played, others varied each week. The child with the highest score got to put the grownup into the gunk dunk. The gunk dunk also changed for this series. As well as being in front of the usual pool of gunge, the adult sat under a large gunge tank with three compartments: Snot, Custard and R.A.W (Really awful waste). The grown up would be asked three questions. Of they got a question wrong then the child would pull a lever (green for snot, yellow for custard & blue for R.A.W) and one of the types of gunge would be dropped on them. After the three questions were asked, the child would pull a forth 'golden' lever, red gunge would fall on the grown up & the grownup would be dropped into the gunk tank, regardless of how many questions they answered correctly. This series attracted controversy for the (brief) addition of the forfeit furnace. The child that lost would supposedly have their prized possession burnt by the adult. However many parents wrote angry complaint letters to the BBC, and after a few episodes, the scenes of the forfeit furnace were cut, with Dave revealing on CBBC that the possessions were not actually burnt, and CBBC and himself actually held a competition inviting children to suggest what they really thought happened to the possessions.

1996 - 2000

This series still has two teams, but the colours are now yellow and blue and the kids (and the adults) now have the option to wear shorts or trousers instead of just trousers previously. The child who scores the most points wins the show and is taken through, with their adult, to the final round - the Gunk Dunk. The adult is then sat on a seat attached to a mechanism, above a 2'6" deep pool of colourful gunge that usually had fancy pictures and writing such as toadstools, cows or skulls and crossbones. They are then asked questions, and for each question they answer incorrectly, the mechanism winds the adult's chair up further (and Dave shouts "Whatta we do?", To which the overenthusiastic audience reply "Crank him/her up!"), increasing the force and impact when they are thrown in to the gunge pool. The petals game provided the more exciting yet controversial side to the game. Contestants would fire tennis balls from a high velocity service machine at the offending adult. One contestant was robbed of a petal as captured on youtube, when he took his barber on the show and went on to lose by ten points despite him hitting the correct number of petals. It was one of the biggest injustices in GYOB history. In the 1996 Christmas Special, the tables were turned as Dave Benson Phillips was chosen to be a contestant (he was up against John Barrowman ), with Peter Simon presenting the show. It was fixed so that Dave went in the gunge. Another episode (December 23 1998) had Kirsten O'Brien and Mr. Blobby joining forces to dunk Dave in blue gunge after both being previously dunked by him. Although told he would be let free if he answered one question right, it was made impossible for Dave to win as Mr Blobby asked the questions.

2001 - 2003

From series 11, Lisa Brockwell was introduced, with the series still having the yellow and blue teams. The format was changed again so that both adults sat above the gunge tank with the winning child from the games being given a 1 notch head start (or, if the winning margin was 60 points or more, a 2 notch head start). Dave would ask the children some questions on the buzzer and every question that was answered correctly allowed the child to move their adult up one notch. The first child who got their adult to the fifth notch got the chance to gunge their adult.

After series 11 finished, fans were unhappy that Lisa Brockwell hadn't (thus far) been gunged in the Gunk Dunk.

Celebrities

Celebrities in their team colours that were gunged on this programme include:

• Philippa Forrester (red) - (1992)
• Lucinda Cowden (yellow) - (1993)
• Scorpio from Gladiators (red) - (1993)
• Tim Vincent (yellow) - (1994)
• Rachel Victoria Roberts (yellow) & Peter Simon (red) - (1994)
• Josie D'Arby (blue) - (1995)
• Paul Hendy (blue) - (1995)
• Bruce Roberts (red) - (1995)
• Chris Jarvis (blue) - (1995)
• Dave Benson Phillips (blue) - (1996)
• Kirsten O'Brien (yellow) - (1997)
• Mr. Blobby (yellow) - (1997)
• Ian 'H' Watkins (yellow) - (2000)
• Richard McCourt (blue) - (2003)
• Jake Humphreys (blue) - (2003)
• Zoë Ball
• Jeremy Spake
• Adrian Moorhouse

External links

• UKGameshows.com: Get Your Own Back