The Desert Forges
Encyclopedia
The Desert Forges was a game show
set in the Wadi Rum
desert region in Jordan
. It was first aired on Channel 5 in 2001. It is produced by Adventure Line Productions
, who also made Fort Boyard
.
s, one male and one female. They are referred to as the green team and the orange team (identified by the colour of their clothing), and are usually a couple, friends, or brother and sister.
Both teams go through a series of challenges, and the winning team gets the chance to win gold ingot
s, which they cast themselves from the Forges Room.
and Gabrielle Richens
, with Melanie Winiger
starring as the Poetess, ruler of the Palace.
Minor characters include Zioto who starts the time during the Palace challenges, Abdullah the timekeeper in the Desert Duels who fires a rifle to indicate the start and end of the clock, the Forgemaster who runs the Forges Room, Zach and Ramm (identified by video cameras attached to their heads), who act as the "eyes and ears" of the Poetess and allow her to watch the progress made by the two teams, and Meliha, a guide who guides teams between houses in the Palace.
In the first game, team members compete to determine who gains control of a dagger
, and the winner of each subsequent game takes or retains the dagger. The team with the dagger generally sets the standard for the other team to follow. Each duel won also gains a flame for the winning team, which they use in the second part of the show.
Many of the desert duels take the form of a staggered race - the team possessing the dagger starts by releasing a sand-timer, and the other team starts when that timer runs out. At the end of the race, the first starter releases another sand timer. If the second starter catches up with and tags the first starter during the race, or if they arrive before the second sand-timer runs out, they win, otherwise the first starter wins.
Due to the roughness of some challenges, like the Mechanical Snake, one of the presenters will look after the dagger for the contestant until he or she finishes.
Duels include:
after the four Desert Duels have been completed, a tiebreaker
called the Chakria is played. Here the male or female from each team compete in a match similar to sumo wrestling. The team whose fighter puts his/her foot outside the circular ring first loses, and one of their flames is extinguished.
.
Inside the Palace there are a number of challenges, and during the course of the show four will be played. There is also a room called the Forges Room, which holds forge
s containing molten gold. When a challenge is successfully completed, one of the forges is lit. As more challenges are won larger forges are lit, and if all the challenges are completed successfully the largest forge is lit. Each forge contains an increasing amount of gold.
The teams are taken to the Poetess's tent. Here the two members of each team bound together by the wrists, and taken into a room containing their first challenge. The other team waits in the tent as they may get the chance to win the gold later.
At the start of each challenge, a candle
is lit. This candle has a limited lifespan, and if it goes out the team loses the challenge. The team members must also ensure that they do not accidentally blow out the candle or expose it to water or air.
To win the team members must ignite a fuse that lights one of the gold forges. If the team is unsuccessful, they lose a flame and must return to the Poetess's tent to retrieve another one. If they lose all their flames, their opponents get the chance to win the gold by completing the remaining challenges using their flames. Their binding helps to impede their progress through the course.
Challenges in the Palace include:
When all four challenges are completed, the active team answers their last jidi (see below) and are led to the Forges Room.
or logic
al problem with a numerical answer. Each jidi earns the team extra time in the Forges Room. The team can ask for the jidi to be repeated twice, but must give their answer fairly quickly. They are not told whether their answer is correct at this time.
After the four challenges are complete, the Poetess asks the active team their fourth and final jidi, before revealing which jidis were answered correctly. The four answers form a sequence, and the team must determine the next number in the sequence if they wish to skip a time-consuming part of the game later on. The sequences are usually complicated enough to be unsolvable without at least three of the jidi answers. They are not told whether the answer to the sequence is correct; they must tell it to the Forgemaster in the Forges Room.
is used to decide which team will enter the Forges Room.
One contestant from each team is placed in a box with a large number of snake
s, and must remain completely still. Any head movement results in a bulb lighting, and the player is declared the loser of the playoff. If neither player lights their bulb within one minute of the snakes being released, the team that won the Chakria goes on to the Forges Room.
First they have to move a mine cart
down a rail track to the other end of the tunnel. During this they have to complete a task to remove an obstruction blocking the cart. This may involve completing an electrical circuit
in a glass case or connecting a series of cogs together to raise a gate blocking the cart.
If none of the forges were lit during the second section, the team must retrieve a key from the mine cart, full of rocks, to unlock a cage and ring a bell
, which causes the smallest forge to be lit.
There, after donning protective clothing, the team enters the Forges Room itself. There the fifth number in the sequence from earlier on is given to the Forgemaster. If it is correct, the crucible
for the molten gold is automatically released, but if not, the team must release it manually, using up about 30 seconds of time.
Assisted by forge workers, and with the four minute clock still ticking, the team pours the gold from the largest lit forge into the crucible and then pours the gold from there into moulds. The team wins a fixed cash amount based on each ingot
; half-filled moulds do not count.
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
set in the Wadi Rum
Wadi Rum
Wadi Rum also known as The Valley of the Moon is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in south Jordan at to the east of Aqaba. It is the largest wadi in Jordan. The name Rum most likely comes from an Aramaic root meaning 'high' or 'elevated'. To reflect its proper Arabic...
desert region in Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
. It was first aired on Channel 5 in 2001. It is produced by Adventure Line Productions
Adventure Line Productions
Adventure Line Productions, part of the Marathon Group, is a French television production company which specialises in producing adventure gameshows...
, who also made Fort Boyard
Fort Boyard (TV series)
For the fortress see Fort Boyard Fort Boyard is a French game show created by Jacques Antoine that was first broadcast in 1990 and is popular to this day...
.
Objective
Each episode starts with two teams each with two contestantContestant
A contestant is someone who takes part in a competition, usually a professional competition or a game show on television. The participants competing against each other have to go through rounds...
s, one male and one female. They are referred to as the green team and the orange team (identified by the colour of their clothing), and are usually a couple, friends, or brother and sister.
Both teams go through a series of challenges, and the winning team gets the chance to win gold ingot
Ingot
An ingot is a material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. Non-metallic and semiconductor materials prepared in bulk form may also be referred to as ingots, particularly when cast by mold based methods.-Uses:...
s, which they cast themselves from the Forges Room.
Cast
The show was presented by Richard FairbrassRichard Fairbrass
Richard Peter John Fairbrass is an English singer and television presenter.-Biography:Fairbrass was born on September 22, 1953 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, in England, and raised in East Grinstead, West Sussex. He is the lead vocalist of the band Right Said Fred which he formed with his...
and Gabrielle Richens
Gabrielle Richens
Gabrielle Richens is a British model and TV presenter. She was born in Kent of British, Indian and Chinese extraction although her parents are from South Africa. Richens has worked as a model since she was fifteen when she signed with the Elite modeling agency...
, with Melanie Winiger
Melanie Winiger
Melanie Winiger, is a former Miss Switzerland winner and current film actress and model.-Early life:The daughter of a German speaking Swiss national and a Canadian of Indian origin, Melanie Winiger was brought up in Ticino, the Italian region of Switzerland.-Modelling career:After winning Miss...
starring as the Poetess, ruler of the Palace.
Minor characters include Zioto who starts the time during the Palace challenges, Abdullah the timekeeper in the Desert Duels who fires a rifle to indicate the start and end of the clock, the Forgemaster who runs the Forges Room, Zach and Ramm (identified by video cameras attached to their heads), who act as the "eyes and ears" of the Poetess and allow her to watch the progress made by the two teams, and Meliha, a guide who guides teams between houses in the Palace.
Show Structure
The show is divided into three segments: The Desert Duels, The Palace and the Forges Room.Desert Duels
This first part of the show consists of four challenges out in the desert. Some duels involve all four team members, but many are limited to two.In the first game, team members compete to determine who gains control of a dagger
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
, and the winner of each subsequent game takes or retains the dagger. The team with the dagger generally sets the standard for the other team to follow. Each duel won also gains a flame for the winning team, which they use in the second part of the show.
Many of the desert duels take the form of a staggered race - the team possessing the dagger starts by releasing a sand-timer, and the other team starts when that timer runs out. At the end of the race, the first starter releases another sand timer. If the second starter catches up with and tags the first starter during the race, or if they arrive before the second sand-timer runs out, they win, otherwise the first starter wins.
Due to the roughness of some challenges, like the Mechanical Snake, one of the presenters will look after the dagger for the contestant until he or she finishes.
Duels include:
- The 7 Pillars: The male contestant from the first team has to jump as far as he can along a set of seven increasingly spaced pillarColumnA column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s within one minute. His partner then hides the dagger in a box at the side of the pillar and, as long as the male contestant did not fall off the pillar, screws the box up tightly. The other team then jumps across the pillars to find the knife within one minute, pulling a rope revealing to their partner whether the dagger is in the box or not. If it is, the female player must unscrew it within the required time in order to win. - The Well: The female contestant has to move the dagger through a track encased in a cage farther than her opponents can. The track is blocked by metal poles, which she must push using a thin rod. At the same time her male partner is suspended upside-down with his head inside the "well", a tank of water. If he comes up for air, the female must stop and wait for him until he drops his head back in the tank. Each team has sixty seconds.
- 4 Charms: The female contestants perform a staggered race over an assault courseAssault courseAn assault course is a special sort of trail that combines running and exercising. It was more popular in the 1970s than it is now. It is heavily used in military training...
. The contestants must collect four necklaceNecklaceA necklace is an article of jewellery which is worn around the neck. Necklaces are frequently formed from a metal jewellery chain. Others are woven or manufactured from cloth using string or twine....
s from posts in the course, before proceeding to the end. The necklaces are attached by clips which must be unscrewed before the necklace can be taken. - Rope Bridge: The male contestant from each team start at opposites ends of a precarious rope bridge and have to traverse wooden boards separated two feet apart to reach the dagger in the middle.
- Water Carriers: One contestant from each team takes part in a staggered race, carrying two heavy containers of water over their back, suspended from a heavy rod. They must proceed through a series of obstacles to the end.
- Duel Under The Sun: The male contestants are tied to three different-sized lengths of rope. They must release themselves free from each rope in order to reach their partner, who are tied up to posts. To release themselves from each rope, they must release a tool from a cage by means of spinning a locking wheel and removing rods clamping down the cage. When the male players reach their partner they must cut her free from the post. The first female competitor to reach the dagger at the other side of the course wins her team the dagger.
- Mechanical Snake: Each player from both teams must traverse a large rotating wooden cylinder covered with ropes and slatted boards. The female player of the first team pulls a sand timer and then makes her way through the cylinder. When she reaches the other side, she runs back to the beginning and tags her partner who must also complete the course, after which he pulls a sand timer. If the second can reach the timer before it runs out then they win the dagger, otherwise the first team wins. In addition, any player tagged by their opponent loses.
Chakria
If there is a tieTie (draw)
To tie or draw is to finish a competition with identical or inconclusive results. The word "tie" is usually used in North America for sports such as American football. "Draw" is usually used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations and it is usually used for sports such as...
after the four Desert Duels have been completed, a tiebreaker
Tiebreaker
In games and sports, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is used to determine a winner from among players or teams that are tied at the end of a contest, or a set of contests.-In matches:In some situations, the tiebreaker may consist of another round of play...
called the Chakria is played. Here the male or female from each team compete in a match similar to sumo wrestling. The team whose fighter puts his/her foot outside the circular ring first loses, and one of their flames is extinguished.
The Palace
The second part of the show takes the players into the Palace, a series of tents and buildings in the middle of the desert where the Poetess resides. The teams and presenters arrive at the Palace by camelCamel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
.
Inside the Palace there are a number of challenges, and during the course of the show four will be played. There is also a room called the Forges Room, which holds forge
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
s containing molten gold. When a challenge is successfully completed, one of the forges is lit. As more challenges are won larger forges are lit, and if all the challenges are completed successfully the largest forge is lit. Each forge contains an increasing amount of gold.
The teams are taken to the Poetess's tent. Here the two members of each team bound together by the wrists, and taken into a room containing their first challenge. The other team waits in the tent as they may get the chance to win the gold later.
At the start of each challenge, a candle
Candle
A candle is a solid block or cylinder of wax with an embedded wick, which is lit to provide light, and sometimes heat.Today, most candles are made from paraffin. Candles can also be made from beeswax, soy, other plant waxes, and tallow...
is lit. This candle has a limited lifespan, and if it goes out the team loses the challenge. The team members must also ensure that they do not accidentally blow out the candle or expose it to water or air.
To win the team members must ignite a fuse that lights one of the gold forges. If the team is unsuccessful, they lose a flame and must return to the Poetess's tent to retrieve another one. If they lose all their flames, their opponents get the chance to win the gold by completing the remaining challenges using their flames. Their binding helps to impede their progress through the course.
Challenges in the Palace include:
- Extinguisher: The candle is placed on a pulley system, and the team must traverse through an obstacle courseObstacle courseAn obstacle course is a series of challenging physical obstacles an individual or team must navigate usually while being timed. Obstacle courses can include running, climbing, jumping, crawling, swimming, and balancing elements with the aim of testing speed and endurance. Sometimes a course...
to the other side of the room, keeping tension on a rope used to balance the candle vertically. If the rope is pulled too hard, the candle is snuffed out by a piece of metal above it. Not hard enough, and the candle falls into a jug of water. Their binding impedes their progress through the course. - Tightrope: The players try to traverse a tightrope whilst holding the candle. Above the tightrope is a metal pole and the binding has go above it so that one of the players is able to light the fuse.
- Obstacle Labyrinth: The players must crawl through confined spaces, while protecting their candle from traps which spill water or flour in an attempt to extinguish it. The fuse is at the end of the maze.
- Candle Push: One player must pull down awkwardly-placed stirrupStirrupA stirrup is a light frame or ring that holds the foot of a rider, attached to the saddle by a strap, often called a stirrup leather. Stirrups are usually paired and are used to aid in mounting and as a support while using a riding animal...
s with their foot to release some obstacles while the other uses a thin metal rod to push the candle, on a brickBrickA brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
through a course. The distance between the stirrup and the rod increases steadily, and because the team is restricted by the binding, the game becomes increasingly more difficult as it progresses. - Floating Steps: The players must use the three planks provided to get across the room to the other side and light the fuse without touching the floor. The planks attach to slots in the side of the wall, which the players must stand on. If any object touches the floor, fans activate from the ceiling to blow out the candle.
- Hammock: The team must traverse a webbed net of ropes suspended in the air to reach the fuse on the other side.
- Turnstile: The team have to attach rods, with a wick on the end of each one, to a rotating turnstile. The wick of each rope is lit by the candle and the turnstile is rotated towards the fuse. The catch is that some of the rods are too short for the wick to light the fuse, so the team must choose each rod wisely.
When all four challenges are completed, the active team answers their last jidi (see below) and are led to the Forges Room.
Jidis
Before each challenge other than the first one, the participating team is asked a jidi – a mathematicalMathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
or logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
al problem with a numerical answer. Each jidi earns the team extra time in the Forges Room. The team can ask for the jidi to be repeated twice, but must give their answer fairly quickly. They are not told whether their answer is correct at this time.
After the four challenges are complete, the Poetess asks the active team their fourth and final jidi, before revealing which jidis were answered correctly. The four answers form a sequence, and the team must determine the next number in the sequence if they wish to skip a time-consuming part of the game later on. The sequences are usually complicated enough to be unsolvable without at least three of the jidi answers. They are not told whether the answer to the sequence is correct; they must tell it to the Forgemaster in the Forges Room.
The Snake Pit
If both teams lose all their flames, or if a team loses its last flame on the fourth challenge, a playoffPlayoff
The playoffs, postseason, or finals of a sports league are a game or series of games played after the regular season by the top competitors, usually but not always with a single-elimination system, to determine the league champion or a similar accolade.In the U.S...
is used to decide which team will enter the Forges Room.
One contestant from each team is placed in a box with a large number of snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s, and must remain completely still. Any head movement results in a bulb lighting, and the player is declared the loser of the playoff. If neither player lights their bulb within one minute of the snakes being released, the team that won the Chakria goes on to the Forges Room.
The Forges Room
The team that progressed from the challenges in the Palace then gets the chance to forge their own gold in the Forges Room. Accompanied by one of the hosts, they have four minutes from the time they enter the mine tunnels to perform a series of tasks to win the gold.First they have to move a mine cart
Cart
A cart is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people...
down a rail track to the other end of the tunnel. During this they have to complete a task to remove an obstruction blocking the cart. This may involve completing an electrical circuit
Electrical network
An electrical network is an interconnection of electrical elements such as resistors, inductors, capacitors, transmission lines, voltage sources, current sources and switches. An electrical circuit is a special type of network, one that has a closed loop giving a return path for the current...
in a glass case or connecting a series of cogs together to raise a gate blocking the cart.
If none of the forges were lit during the second section, the team must retrieve a key from the mine cart, full of rocks, to unlock a cage and ring a bell
Bell (instrument)
A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
, which causes the smallest forge to be lit.
There, after donning protective clothing, the team enters the Forges Room itself. There the fifth number in the sequence from earlier on is given to the Forgemaster. If it is correct, the crucible
Crucible
A crucible is a container used for metal, glass, and pigment production as well as a number of modern laboratory processes, which can withstand temperatures high enough to melt or otherwise alter its contents...
for the molten gold is automatically released, but if not, the team must release it manually, using up about 30 seconds of time.
Assisted by forge workers, and with the four minute clock still ticking, the team pours the gold from the largest lit forge into the crucible and then pours the gold from there into moulds. The team wins a fixed cash amount based on each ingot
Ingot
An ingot is a material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. Non-metallic and semiconductor materials prepared in bulk form may also be referred to as ingots, particularly when cast by mold based methods.-Uses:...
; half-filled moulds do not count.