The Krypton Factor

 

 

 

  Sarah goes one better this time !!

 

  The Krypton Factor Experience

Don't believe everything you read!

I was idly flicking through my e-mails in October when I found one of the many marketing e-mails I get from SAGE, who provide all my business accounting and payroll software.  Usually I send them on to my lovely Finance Manager, in the hope that she will find them more interesting than me, but on this occasion the headline ‘Return of TV’s toughest game show’ caught my eye and I found myself clicking on a link that took me through to ITV’s website and an article about the return of the Krypton Factor after a 13 year break.  SAGE are sponsoring the new series, hence their involvement. 

I am hardly a serial quiz show contestant (having never done anything so daft in my life before), but  I found myself completing the on-line application form, never expecting to hear any more about it.

A couple of days later I had a call from the Krypton Factor team and to cut a long story short, found myself in a very wet and windy wood in North Yorkshire at the end of November, taking part in a fairly muddy and demanding assault course.

I should at this stage confess that after 7 years in the Army (in a former life) I wasn’t too phased by this, but was pleasantly surprised by how unfit my (at least 10 years younger) male contestants were!

 
 
A week later I spent a very long 12 hours of my life at Granada studios in Manchester, filming the studio rounds of the show, which I have to say were utterly nerve-wracking.  We had a studio audience of 200 watching 4 nervous contestants as we took part in a mental agility round (brief but hideous), an intelligence test (32 minutes in duration), an observation round and a very brief 70 second general knowledge test.  On its own, none of it was too bad, but the whole TV experience was fairly gruelling and I was very relieved when it was all over. I came a respectable third place over all but was delighted to come second in the assault course. 

Overall it was a good challenge, as it’s always good to push yourself to try something new – and my 2 children were chuffed to bits to be filmed as part of the background brief and thought it was quite cool to watch Mummy on the TV!  We also got some great business PR out of it, with several articles in the local press and 6 local radio interviews. However, I have to confess to being hugely relieved that I didn’t make it through to the semi-finals, as the prospect of spending another 3 days of my life away filming, plus all that stress was less than appealing. Instead, it has been filed away as a ‘for posterity’ experience and will serve as a good reminder that junk e-mails should really be deleted without reading…..!