This is being written having just watched the first episode of the new series of The Jump on Channel 4 #TheJump2015. On paper it’s a great concept, with celebs battling it out at different winter sports, but it’s definitely dividing viewers opinions as to whether they love or loathe it. Either way it’s hard to deny that once you start watching this celebrity sports show, it’s strangely addictive.
There’s something utterly compulsive about watching ‘celebrities’ (in the loosest sense of the term) hurl themselves down various snow and/or ice covered terrains, apparently risking their life and limbs for the sake of a bit of publicity.
Each celebrity takes part in a different winter sport each programme. The slowest celebrities then have to take on a live ski jump to continue in the competition, with those who jump the shortest distances joining The Subs Bench.
The sport of ski jumping (which originated in Norway over 200 years ago) is now one of the most popular spectacles of the Winter Olympics and requires skill, technique and a large dose of bravery to launch off an ice-covered slope and try and travel as far as possible… and land safely of course.
Over the coming programmes, not only will we watch the likes of Mike Tindall and Joey Essex launch themselves off various lengths of ski jump in a bid to earn themselves the winning crown, we also get to see them hurtling down a mountain in a ski cross competition, snowboarding down a slalom tunnel, and racing along in one of the most dangerous winter sports – the bobsleigh. If nothing else, you’ll get a good laugh to cheer up a gloomy evening.
So, if you’ve decided to watch this year, who is your money on to win (and don’t try to pretend you don’t care!)?