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Sometimes audience members were gunged on the show for reasons of revenge by family members of friends. |
Sometimes audience members were gunged on the show for reasons of revenge by family members of friends. |
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Revision as of 20:00, 11 February 2006
Gunge is a British colloquial term used to describes a runny substance, similar to paint that is often featured in game shows and charity events. It is used by covering or dropping over a victim, often inside a Gunge Tank, with the intention to cause embarrassment and make mess.
The term originated in the late 1930s, probably as an alteration of the word gunk. It was often a feature in the 1970s television show Tiswas. The use of gunge is believed to have been pioneered though by the BBC in its popular TV shows, Noel's House Party, Get Your Own Back and Run the Risk.
See also Slime, which was popularized by Nickelodeon.
1980s
In You Can't Do That On Television, the Canadian children's show popular on Nickelodeon, children were routinely subjected to Gunge when they said, "I Don't Know." It became a staple of the show where other actors would try and encourage their peers to say that phrase to get them "Slimed". This aspect of this popular show later became iconized in the Nickelodeon's slime logo, and live events where kids would be offered the chance to get "slimed" or publicly humiliated.
1990s
In Noel's House Party, the public often voted to determine which celebrities on the TV show would be gunged in their Gunge Tank. It later years, the Gunge Tank became the Gunge Train, and celebrities were forced to take a ride on the train and were covered in gunge throughout their journey.
Celebrities that were gunged included
Sometimes audience members were gunged on the show for reasons of revenge by family members of friends.
Gunge was, and is still used as part of the CBBC children's television show, Get Your Own Back in which child contestants seek revenge against parents and teachers by competing to get them dropped into a pool of gunge. Celebrities that were gunged on this show include
- Philippa Forrester
- H from Steps
- Tim Vincent.
The entertainment factor attached to the process of gunging was realised by the producers of the charity event Comic Relief who held an event, in cooperation with the Guinness World Records at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham where an attempt to set a record for the Most People Gunged Simultaneously took place on March 12, 1999. 184 gallons of gunge was splattered over 731 people.
In the late 1990s, gunge became a focal feature in the BBC's contender for Saturday morning ratings: Live & Kicking. Teenagers and celebrity guests are often seen competiting in quizzes on the show, and are gunged if they lose. Popstars Lee Ryan and Ben Adams were gunged on this show.
More recently, shows such as Ministry of Mayhem (ITV) and Dick and Dom In Da Bungalow (BBC) have revived gunge as a main feature in their programmes.
Gunge is now often used in charity and fundraising events too, in which certain figures are often sponsored to get gunged in front of a public audience.
Ingredients
The gunge used on programmes on television is commonly produced using a powder based thickener, known as Natrasol.
Gunge tank
A Gunge Tank is a container/device used to aid the process of 'gunging' people.
Usually constructed with plastic transparent walls, the tank is made up as a box shape with three walls, and usually a front door for access.
A seat is occasionally provided for the victim to sit on, inside the tank.
The gunge is then dropped on to the victim from a considerable height, commonly using some kind of mechanism. The pouring of the gunge from above is sometimes triggered by a chain which opens up a space above the tank, in which the gunge substance is stored.
The gunge tank is commonly used in television programmes, notably the British TV series Noel's House Party.
More recently, Gunge Tanks have been used in most children's Saturday morning TV programmes.