FightBox

FightBox was a British television game show originally broadcast on BBC Three and later on BBC Two in 2003. Contestants design their fighters and submit them to the BBC. Out of hundreds of submissions, only sixty were chosen to appear on the programme. The show was a replacement for Robot Wars and aired in the same time slot of Fridays at 6.45pm. As well as battling each other, the fighters would face one of 6 "Sentients". Warriors who had won previous tournaments and achieved this honour. The Sentients were: Banshee, Big George, Kodiak, Nail, Pearl and Vesuvius. Although immortal, they did have certain weaknesses which a fighter could use against them. After winning the first series competitor warrior Kill Frenzy achieved sentience and joined the current 6. These 7 Sentients featured in the video game mentioned below. Six Games were played during the show these were: Conquest, Demolition, Duel, Helix, Panic and Revolution. Another game was Showdown, a straight one on one battle to determine the winner of each tournament. The programme was presented by Lisa Snowdon and Trevor Nelson. The programme was reported to have cost up to £4 million to produce, but drew in an average viewing figure of just 22,000 people per episode, meaning it was costing £126 per viewer. According to the Guardian, the show peaked with 56,000 viewers, but subsequently viewing figures were the lowest recorded, with just 6,000 tuning in, a figure leaving it close to a zero rating in the BARB audience measurement system.