Series / Jungle Run

A children's British Game Show from CITV, Jungle Run ran from 1999 to 2006. It was hosted by Dominic Wood, Chris Jarvis and Michael Underwood during its onscreen history. It is similar to The Crystal Maze and Fort Boyard.

The show was set in a Jungle Japes-styled African jungle. Each week three or four kids go on an adventure through said jungle to face a series of puzzles and challenges whilst collecting monkey statues (originally bananas) to ultimately get a limited amount of time in the temple of the Jungle King, the resident Fisher King and possible deity. The numerous trials often involved puzzle games with time limits, and some more physical ones such as climbing through a series of underground paths to collect the monkey statues whilst racing against the clock.

There to hamper the contestants were the Jungle King's minions, Sid and Elvis, a pair of monkeys who would throw a Spanner in the Works to trouble the kids and slow down their progress. Eventually, with whatever time they have gained from the collected statues, the kids and the presenter go to the Jungle King's temple. Inside, the kids must complete the most challenging puzzles of the game. When time is nearly up, the kids usually drop everything and run out of the temple with the sacred monkey idols available to them (stone, bronze, silver, gold) and will get prizes if they escape the temple. If they do not get out of the temple, then they win nothing.

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The show contains examples of:

• Abandoned Area: The long-running Abandoned Camp area.
  • Abandoned Mine: One of the areas in series 7 and 8.
• Adipose Rex: The statue of the Jungle King, which is also the entrance to the temple of the Jungle King, has a rather large belly.
• All or Nothing: Subverted. In the temple of the Jungle King, the contestants can grab any of the four monkey statues that are available and will receive prizes. Some contestants have run out without anything although they usually win prizes for their efforts regardless.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Sid and Elvis were rather strangely coloured for primates. In the first series they were red and blue respectively, in the second they were yellow and pink, it wasn't until the third that they had a normal coloration.
• Bubblegloop Swamp: The Dark Swamp.
• Cap: The maximum time attainable for the Temple of the Jungle King varied slightly from series to series:
  • Series 1 and 2 had a theoretical maximum time of 3 minutes and 15 seconds, if every banana and the Golden Banana was collected and no locked-in teammates were released.
  • Series 3 and 4 had a stated hard limit of three minutes, regardless of how many statues were collected.
  • At some point in the Underwood era, the limit became 3 minutes 20 seconds, earned if 18 silver monkey statues and the Ruby Monkey was collected.
• Cave Behind the Falls: Appeared occasionally in the Angel Falls area.
• Celebrity Edition: Several episodes featured celebrities including actors from Coronation Street, Emmerdale, My Parents Are Aliens and several Olympians.
• Consolation Prize: Jungle Run backpacks and t-shirts in series 1 and 2, and stuffed monkeys in series 5-8, were awarded to all contestants regardless of their performance in the Temple of the Jungle King.
• Dead Guy on Display: See Parachute in a Tree below. Also, a skeleton of someone attempting to take statues from the punji sticks ring can be seen in the Abandoned Camp.
• Deadly Gas: Angel Falls releases this as it was built on top of a volcanic gas vent.
• Durable Deathtrap: Some of the challenges are this, such as the Mine Shaft, where dynamite was left there in 1897 and still works.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first two series were rather different than what came after.
  • The areas included the Abandoned Camp, the Chasm, the Rapids, the Swamp, the Temple and the Tomb. By the time of the third series the Abandoned Camp would disappear only to be brought back for the fifth, the Chasm would never be seen again, the Rapids would be renamed "Angel Falls", the Swamp would be renamed "Dark Swamp", the Temple would be renamed "The Temple of the Jungle King" and the Tomb would be renamed "The Lost Tomb" in the third series and later "Lost Cave" in the fifth.
  • The first series was also more colourful with the Temple being painted for instance.
  • The first two series had contestants collect bananas instead of monkey statues; each challenge had up to 100 bananas to collect, with one challenge having a Golden Banana worth 50 bananas. Every 50 bananas added 15 seconds to the starting 30 seconds they were given in the Temple of the Jungle King. Teams were also made up of four contestants rather than three.
  • The Temple itself was much smaller in the first two series and had puzzles all based around putting blocks in certain orientations in holes. The warning gong would sound at 10 seconds remaining instead of 20 due to its smaller size, and if even one contestant was trapped in the Temple after it closed, nobody won any prizes from the monkey statues, though all players would still receive the Consolation Prize backpacks and t-shirts.
  • And on one more minor note here Sid and Elvis actually were monkeys, from the second series onward their tails were removed making them apes, and their coloration was red and blue respectively. In addition, they were more minor antagonsits and would only get more screen-time in later series.
• Fisher King: The Jungle King is implied to be this, described as a great sorcerer and maybe even a god.
• Game Show Host: Presented first by Dominic Wood, then Chris Jarvis, and finally Michael Underwood.
• Golden Snitch: Collecting bananas or monkey statues (the items changed in the series) would determine how much time the contestants would get in the Jungle King's temple. Collecting the golden banana or ruby statue would give them a fifteen second bonus (20 in series 3-8).
• Later-Installment Weirdness: The third series was more realistically coloured than the previous ones and lacked the map of the previous two series for showing location names.
• Lethally Stupid: Quite a few of the challenges in the temple involved reasonably easy tasks, such as standing on the correct floor tiles to complete a word, or solving a basic sum. Quite a few teams became trapped in the temple as a result of losing the ability to carry out the simple literacy and numeracy skills required to complete said tasks.
• Let's Mock the Monsters: The hosts had no fear of the Jungle King or his powers.
• Losing Horns: A different version of the challenge’s music is often used when the timer runs out.
• Mayincatec: Elements of this are present in the architecture of the areas, and there are references to Aztec deities.
• The Maze: The Old Pyramid and Old Fort.
• Odd Name Out: See below.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted in a series 7 episode which had a team consisting of 2 boys named Ben (and a boy named Will).
• Opening Narration:
  • In series 1 and 2, Dominic Wood would be in one of the areas of the jungle, describing it while performing a magic trick. He ends by saying “You’re watching Jungle Run!”
  • In series 3 and 4:
    Chris Jarvis: Three brave explorers, willing to risk everything in their quest to rescue treasure from the Temple of the Jungle King. Welcome to Jungle Run!
  • In series 5 through 8:
    Michael Underwood: The mysterious jungle- the most exciting and dangerous place on Earth and home to the Jungle King. Brave are those who dare to challenge his might.
    • Series 7 and 8 add this line:
      Michael Underwood: The rewards are great, but the journey's gonna be tough. Some of this team may not make it back.
• Parachute in a Tree: In the Monkey Trees area, a helicopter's remains could be seen with a pilot's corpse and parachute in the way.
• Poor Communication Kills: The easiest way to get somebody locked in a challenge or otherwise do poorly is by failing to communicate with each other. The hosts tend to take notice when there is a lack of communication and encourage teams to change it.
• Place of Power: The temple of the Jungle King.
• Pyramid Power: The Old Pyramid area.
• Race Against the Clock: Most of the puzzles and challenges involve a time limit.
• Sadistic Choice: Occurs if a contestant gets locked in at the end of a challenge- the team usually has to decide whether to buy them out at the cost of either 50 bananas (Series 1-2), one statue (Series 3-6), or two statues (Series 7-8), or leaving them in and taking them out of play. In Series 1-2, all bananas rightfully earned in the challenge are kept, locked in players could be let out at the end of any challenge prior to The Temple, and will still win any prizes the other players win. Starting in Series 3, locked in players had to be let out either then or never, players left locked in are ineligible for prizes, and any statues earned in that challenge are also voided. If two members of the team were locked in, only one of them could be let out, as “Demolicious Girls” had the misfortune of discovering.
• Scavenger Hunt: The main mission to find the bananas or monkey statues, although some times the challenges involved finding items.
• Silly Simian: Sid and Elvis provide comic relief in the show, despite acting as the villains.
• Temple of Doom: Several in the series - including the temple of the Jungle King, the Old Pyramid, the Lost Cave, the Old Fort, and the Lost Tomb.

• Zombie Gait: When the statue held by Tokat is removed from his grasp.