The Krypton Factor 2009 Style

Not much to say about the ‘new’ Krypton Factor other than it is utter tripe.

Opening Titles:The Krypton Factor is sponsored by Sage but the advert intercepts with the opening credits so you cannot tell if it is an advert or not. OFCOM may be interested in this! The music is completely different to what we recognised, the one composed by Art Of Noise. It is of the University Challenge style, ie strings, percussion (real music, not this synthesized rubbish). It is not that bad but not that good neither.

Meeting the contestants: As usual there are four contestants, each assigned to a particular colour (although unlike the original version, they do not wear something that matches that colour) Red, Green, Blue and Yellow. They introduce them in the same format as the original version only it is not incorporated into the opening titles. But this is not the last we hear of them…

Mental Agility:Yes the famous ‘Krypton K’ morpths into a logo for each round still. This time the contestants have to take a Metal Agility test inside the ‘Krypton Kube’ for no apparent reason as the Audience and new host Ben Shepherd can hear everything that is being said and what they are doing. Before they play, however, we have to hear more about each contestant in a very long clip about themselves, narrated by the contestants themselves of course. This probably being the reason the Response Round didn’t make a comeback. One interesting feature about this is that we can view the contestants heart rate!

Observation:Yes the swiveling chairs are back so the contestants can watch their mini televisions which rise up from behind them. This time we had to watch a clip of Emmerdale and answer questions about it, although to make it a bit harder they slightly sped up the clip! After watching the clip the sets background turns to whatever colour the contestant is and they then answer the questions Ben asks. The questions are surprisingly hard, one even asking what the picture is on the calender after she accidentally turned the page on it trying to find the Fire Extinguisher!

Intelligence:After the ruddy commercial break (come on ITV the programme has only just started) we come to the Intelligence round. They had to arrange coloured blocks to form the letters KRYPTON only there is a catch! They could not see the table and had to look at a screen next to them but the picture was flipped! Ben also makes a commentary over this round. Although it sounds too scripted he did a good job at it.

Physical Ability:Yes, the bit everyone remembers, The Assault Course is back. It is any better than the old one, no. First of all where is the Assault Course? All they have to do is ‘climb’ up a Tree and go down a Zip Wire, over and under beams jump one foot into a mud puddle and under a cargo net. This is nothing compared to the original. The course is set in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales in the middle of a forest so you cannot see the course very well on screen, this is not helps by the close camera shots and the ‘Krypton Kam’ on the contestants head. 10 minutes? That is a ridiculous time for a man, someone who weighs twenty stone could do better than that. Both the woman done in half that time. Also what is with two races? The Woman are in Race 1 and the Men are in Race 2. I thought they were supposed to race against all of each other? Anyway back at the studio…

General Knowledge: The last round is very different to the original, primarily being the lighting. Not relative you might say, well if you saw the original version of The Krypton Factor you would understand what I am talking about. The set is still lit green although the scoreboards are in the contestants colour which changes into the solid colour when they press the buzzer. The questions still have the previous answer in them which is a nice quaint touch.

So that is about it really. How can something so different feel the same?

Click Here if you want to see my review of Episode 2 of The Krypton Factor!

Click Here if you want to see my review of Episode 3 of The Krypton Factor and to find out where the Assualt Course is!

(Screenshots are Copyright 2009 ITV)