World's Strongest Man

Contents

Host

Derek Hobson (1980)

Mike Adamle (1981)

Donny McLeod (1982-4)

John Craven (1985)

Archie MacPherson (1986)

Chris Serle (1988)

Bill McFarlan (1989-91)

Paul Dickenson (Voiceover, 1992-3)

Juliet Morris (1994-5)

Philippa Forrester (1996-7)

John Inverdale (1998-2006)

Martin Bayfield (2006-10)

James Richardson & Caroline Pearce (2011-)

Co-hosts

Commentators:
Paul Dickenson (1994-2004)
Jamie Reeves (2000-4)
Nick Halling (2006-9)
Colin Bryce (2006-10)
Paul Dickenson (again, 2009-10)

Referee and event designer:
Dr Doug Edmunds (mid-1990s-2004),
Svend Karlsen (2006-10)

Bill Kazmaier (interviewer, 2006)

Reporters:
Zoe Salmon (2009)
Alex Reid (2010)

Previous commentators to appear here

Broadcast

Transworld International and Thames Television for ITV, 1980 to 1981

Transworld International for BBC1, 1982 to 27 December 2004

Transworld International & IMG Media Ltd for five, 1 January 2006 to 2 January 2009 (24 episodes in 4 series + 1 special)

Transworld International & IMG Media Ltd for Bravo, 4 January to 31 December 2010 (12 episodes in 2 series)

Transworld International & IMG Media Ltd for Channel 5, 27 December 2011 to present

Synopsis

To those who take part, World's Strongest Man is more than a mere gameshow, it's a proper sporting event. To which we at UKGameshows.com say "oh yeah, then how come it's filmed months in advance, bunged out over Christmas, and they don't even read out the results on Grandstand or nuffink?". And then back away a bit sharpish, 'cos those guys are bigger than us. Much bigger. (Except Andrew "Stumpy" Raynes. We could have him in a fight, easy.)

Anyway, you know what this is. Thirty or so enormous blokes from around the world lift rocks, pull trains, hold up vans full of gold bricks, and suchthelike. The golden age was of course the 1980s, when it made a national hero out of British canary and budgie breeder and two-time world champ Geoff Capes. And later on it gave Jamie Reeves something to do in between hod-carrying appearances on Record Breakers.

The contest did hit a bit of a dull patch in the 1990s, but in recent years has become very watchable again, thanks in no small part to the stellar presentation team of John Inverdale and Paul Dickenson. Even Jamie Reeves, his hod-carrying days long behind him, turned up to explain the events and assess the competitors' chances. Unfortunately, the whole Strongman thing really has gone on to a more professional Proper Sport footing in recent years, which alas means that what with having to hold down proper jobs as well, Britain's part-time strongmen don't really stand a chance against those Eastern Europeans who spend 28 hours a day in training.

It's moved all over the place, from ITV to BBC1, to five, to Bravo and now back to Channel 5 again. John Inverdale did the first year on five before being replaced by Martin Bayfield, who does his best to imitate his predecessor, bless him, but doesn't quite manage it. Also, what traditionally marked the days off between Boxing Day and New Year is now on at the beginning of January, Paul Dickenson no longer provides commentary (though they have located a replacement, Nick Halling, who sounds spookily like him) and the episodes don't finish with one of the competitors beating Inverdale up in a variety of comedy ways. Never mind, though.

Trivia

In 2004, the contest was reduced to twelve competitors who took part in a complicated round-robin competition with a weird scoring system that we didn't quite understand ourselves. Happily they reverted back to the traditional "top two from each heat progress to the final" tournament format we all knew and loved in 2006.

As well as the main World's Strongest Man contest, the Beeb also showed Britain's Strongest Man, in which all the contestants are British, Europe's Strongest Man, in which all the contestants are European, and World's Strongest Woman, in which... well, you can probably work it out for yourself. Five also showed World's Strongest Man Super Series, a series of self-contained contests which serve as qualifying events for the main World's Strongest Man competition. British Eurosport also shows all sorts of variations on the theme, but we have to draw the line somewhere.

At 6' 10" (2.08m), Martin Bayfield is probably the UK's tallest game show host, perhaps even the tallest TV presenter overall, beating even John Leslie's impressive 6' 4".

Geoff Capes was a regular celebrity guest on various 1980's shows, including Crackerjack (on which he was inevitably gunged every time), Pot the Question and also Secret's Out, in which his budgie-breeding was his hobby for the panel of kids to guess. More recently, he has been seen on an advert for a certain insurance company. The advert shows Capes (complete with a mug bearing a picture of a budgie named 'Sparky', surprise, surprise) weighing down one end of a barge, while the advert's famous nodding bulldog is sitting happily (and high up) on the prow. ("Belting - right, Churchie?" says Capes. "Oh, yes!" replies the dog). Capes has also appeared even more recently on Antiques Master, displaying an impressive knowledge of, and interest in, antiques.

Web links

Official site

Historic contest records

See also

Britain's Strongest Man

World's Strongest Woman

World's Strongest Man Super Series

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