Gunge
Gunge, also known as slime, is a runny substance, similar to paint, that is often featured in game shows. It is used by covering or dropping over a victim, often inside a Gunge Tank, with the intention to cause embarrassment and making a mess. More recently, Gunge has been popularised by the BBC and ITV with shows like Get Your Own Back and Mad for It. It has also been used on Big Brother. Gunge is often used in charity and fundraising events too, in which certain figures are often sponsored to get gunged in front of a public audience.
History of gunge on TV
1980s
In North America, You Can't Do That on Television, a Canadian children's show popular on Nickelodeon, children were routinely subjected to Gunge when they said, "I Don't Know." It became a staple of the show where other actors would try and encourage their peers to say that phrase to get them "Slimed". This aspect of this popular show later became iconized in the Nickelodeon's slime logo, and live events where kids would be offered the chance to get "slimed" or publicly humiliated.
In Britain and Europe, in the early eighties, children's gunge-based gameshows were the norm. Particularly shows like How Dare You! on ITV and Crackerjack on the BBC ensured that the gunging element featured on shows for the decade to come. On How Dare You!, one of the main games was 'Teach Them a Lesson', where children got the opportunity to drench their teacher or representitive from their school in gunge whilst sitting above a knee deep filled gunge tank. After this game the teachers were sometimes knocked off their perch by one of show's presenters and into the gunge tank.
Later in the eighties, the BBC launched Double Dare, based on the the US style format, but much more sloppy than its US counterpart. Also, gunge started to appear on mainstream shows such as Game for a Laugh on ITV and Noel Edmond's Saturday Roadshow on the BBC.
Other countries in Europe also started to have gunge elements on mainstream shows. Un Dos Tres on TVE in Spain often had contestants throwing buckets of gunge at each other. Also, Donnerlippchen [[1]], a TV show in Germany had many messy games; the climax of the show was dunking the team's suited boss in a dunk tank.
1990s
In Noel's House Party, the public often voted to determine which celebrities on the TV show would be gunged in the Gunge Tank. In later years, the Gunge Tank became the Gunge Train, and celebrities were forced to take a ride on the train and were covered in gunge throughout their journey. Celebrities usually returned with their suits ruined and faces unrecognisable.
Sometimes audience members were gunged on the show for reasons of revenge by family members of friends.
In some Noel's House Party episodes, the gunge would change. Once, foam rose to the person's shoulder and the gunge fell. Also the Gunge would hit the person's head and do funny tricks.
The entertainment factor attached to the process of gunging was realised by the producers of the charity event Comic Relief who held an event, in cooperation with the Guinness World Records at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham where an attempt to set a record for the Most People Gunged Simultaneously took place on March 12, 1999. 184 gallons of gunge was splattered over 731 people.
All across Europe TV producers were ordering more gunge segments to be fitted into mainstream TV shows due to its popularity with viewers. In Germany, on SAT1, Halli galli [[2]], Glücksritter (RTL)[[3]], Glücksspirale [[4]] , plus the german version of NHP - Gottschalk's Haus-Party, all involved a high dose of gunge. Halli Galli had audience members plucked out of their seats and sent down a messy gunge slide and into a pool. Likewise, Glücksspirale and Glücksritter had contestents plucked out of the audience and gunged in the most spectacular ways.
Towards the end of the nineties, with the demise of Noel's House Party and the dwindling audience figures for other european shows, the gunge segment in many mainstream shows started to fade.
In the late 1990s, gunge became a focal feature in the Children's BBC contender for Saturday morning ratings: Live & Kicking. Teenagers and celebrity guests are often seen competing in quizzes on the show, and are gunged if they lose. Popstars Lee Ryan, Ben Adams, Katy Hill, Lesley Waters, Katherine Merry, Heather Suttie and Victoria Hawkins were gunged on this show.
2000s
In 2000 a children's gameshow called Insides Out featured gunge throughout the programming, most notably a tug of war involving intestine like ropes over a pit of gunge and the final game, an inflatable assult course of the digestive system where gunge would drop at unexpected points whilst the contestant was going back and forth to pick up body pieces. Other kids' programmes such as Xchange, Best of Friends and Diggin it also featured gunge or messy activities from time to time. Dick and Dom in the Dungalow and Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown (previously MOM) featured gunge alot through out the programmes, but more recently Toonattik featured a gunge quiz. In 2007 Scratch and Sniff's Den Of Doom launches which from the promo saw kids fall in to a pool of gunge simalar to the one used in Get Your Own Back. And in 2006, S4C introduced a kids Show called Waaa!!! where kids are sat on a chair that moved along rails over tanks of gunge and failing to answer a question correctly resulted in then being dropped into the gunge.
It appears that throughout this decade, gunge has only appeared on Children's TV in Britain, as is similarly the case on TV across the rest of Europe.
Gunge tank
A gunge tank is the device from which the gunge is dropped overhead onto people.
Usually constructed with plastic transparent walls, the tank is made up as a box shape with three walls, and usually a front door for access. It usually has a chain which is connected to a mechanism which releases the gunge when pulled. There is usually a seat in the tank for the victim to sit on. The gunge tank is commonly used in television programmes, notably the British TV series Noel's House Party & Crackerjack. More recently, Gunge Tanks have been used in children's Saturday morning TV programmes such as Holly & Steven's Saturday Showdown.
Gunge tank and gunge alternatives
A gunge tank does not have to be used, however this gives the gunging an authentic look. Other alternatives can be used such as a bath were someone pours the gunge onto the victim who is sitting in the bath, a shower cubicle - which is similar to the Gunge tank but has no seat or release mechinism so someone will have to pour the gunge over the victims head standing on a high object or a pool similar to the one used on How Dare You! & Get Your Own Back or a smaller one similar to the one used on Nickelodeon's Slime Time Live. Gunge games or messy games makes use of gunge or alternatives.
Use as a crowd control device
In 2006, researchers at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, US, patented a device which releases a stream of slime, making pavement very slippery[5]. It is intended to be used in crowd control.
Making slime
A simple recipe for a nearly harmless slimy substance involves the following ingredients:
- borax (available in hardware or convenience stores)
- PVA glue, e.g., white wood glue (available in hardware or convenience stores) based on polyvinyl acetate.
- water
Combining the ingredients in the correct order and proportion produces a thick tacky fluid like material. A good external source for detailed quantities & instructions can be found at www.madsci.org
The result is an opaque viscous polymer, damp to touch but very tactile when squashed between the fingers.
Using polyvinyl alcohol instead of the glue results in a transparent slime.
Another formula is:
- rubbing alcohol (or pure isopropyl alcohol)
- polyvinyl alcohol powder
- water
The slime can be enhanced by adding a small quantity of food colouring to the mixture.
A variety of products can be used to make substances suitable for human sliming, including:
(** color can be enhanced by food coloring)
The slime is harmless, but could block pipes and drains if disposed in sufficient quantity. The possible health effects of using borax or polyvinyl acetate based products should be noted.
A quick slime (called Oobleck) can be made with corn flour, water and Food Colouring. It is possible to have the water evaporate to leave behind the corn flour, thereby removing the need of disposing it down a drain.
External links
See also
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