Stephen Merchant to host Crystal Maze revival
- Stephen Merchant is to host a new special edition of The Crystal Maze
- The classic TV game show will return for a one-off special as part of Channel 4's Stand Up To Cancer night
- Celebrity contestants will compete in the show, which will be broadcast on Friday 21st October
Stephen Merchant will present a revival of 1990s game show The Crystal Maze.
A special one-off episode will be broadcast as part of Channel 4's Stand Up To Cancer night.
Channel 4 today confirmed that Merchant will host the special celebrity edition of the classic TV series, to be broadcast on Friday 21st October, guiding his guests around the Aztec, Futuristic, Medieval and Industrial Zones before taking them to the Crystal Dome.
The new edition will be produced by Fizz and will be filmed at The Crystal Maze Live Experience attraction in London, which was successfully crowdfunded last year by fans of the show.
Merchant said in a statement: "As a huge fan of the original series, I'm honoured to support Stand Up To Cancer by hosting this one-off edition of The Crystal Maze. [Former hosts] Richard O'Brien and Ed Tudor-Pole leave big shoes to fill, but I have size 14 feet, so I'll do my best."
The contestants taking part in the one-off special will include Jonnie Peacock, Sara Cox, Josh Widdicombe, Michelle Keegan and Rio Ferdinand.
The original Crystal Maze ran on Channel 4 from 1990 to 1995, and remains one of the channel's most popular programmes.
In the show, players had to take on a range of challenges (Physical, Skill, Mental and Mystery) to win crystals that each gained them five seconds of time inside the final 'Crystal Dome'. Once inside the dome, they had to collect golden tokens being blown around by a giant fan in order to win the programme.
The original series was recorded in a studio the size of two football pitches at a cost of £250,000, and was watched by up to 6 million people. It has been twice named the best game show ever by readers of UKGameShows.com. Such was its success that a number of official Crystal Maze venues opened around Britain, offering regular members of the public the chance to play games similar to those featured on screen.
Stand Up To Cancer is a joint venture between Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK, aiming to raise money and awareness of cancer, symptoms, treatment and care.
The Crystal Maze was also famous for the contestants often failing the simplest tasks, as satirised by this clip from The Mary Whitehouse Experience.