Just to make you feel old as well. As mentioned in a previous blog post. Jungle Run started on CITV in 1999. Meaning that this year is the 20th anniversary of the show. Yes, really.
But curious old me has wondered for a long time, what the experience of actually being on the show was like. Thankfully for me, an episode of Jungle Run popped up on Youtube recently. Uploaded by one of the contestants featured. Who I contacted and he kindly agreed to answer my questions.
Dan Burridge was a contestant on the very first series of Jungle Run. Alongside his friends Emily, Addison and Hannah. When the show was presented by one half of Dick & Dom, Dominic Wood. Another notable difference is in the early shows, contestants didn't play games to collect miniature monkey statues. They collected bananas instead. But the rest of the format was basically the same.
How did you apply for the show?
We were part of a drama society called ‘Fairford Amateur Dramatics Society’ (FADS!). We had no idea about it, but I think our organisers had got in touch with the producers / must have responded to an advert or something, and we had some scouts come down to a rehearsal. We were more interested in fighting and sliding round on the floor really at that age, until they shortlisted a few of us and we went for a follow up meeting, which they then picked the final 4!
What was your reaction when you were picked to be on Jungle Run?
Ever wanted to get that Hogwarts letter through the door? That's what it was like. I remember so vividly ripping it open before I could get upstairs to my room and reading it sat there. The letter had little yellow bananas around the edges. It was honestly one of the best days of my life haha. I'd never had anything like that happen to me before. I just couldn't believe it.
Where was the show filmed?
I can't remember the exact location but it was somewhere up north just off the M1 I think, as we stayed at my parents friends the night before in Cawthorne near Barnsley, it was a huge disused aircraft hangar from what I remember! (According to this tweet by Dom Wood. His series was filmed at Finningly Airfield in Doncaster.)
What was your reaction upon seeing the set for the first time?
Wasn't sure what to expect, but was definitely amazed as it was my first time seeing a TV/film set of any type before. All of the cliffs/rocks were made out of chicken wire and spray foam and hanging about 1cm off the floor! You could go up and shake a whole cliff face ha ha. The belly of The Temple of the Jungle King was all foam as well. If you actually got trapped in it, it would have crumbled around you.
What was Dominic Wood like?
An absolute diamond. Lovely lovely guy, made us feel really comfortable and relaxed as we were pretty nervous. Taught me how to do a lot of the magic tricks which I was trying to do for years after...
Did you see the people who played Sid and Elvis out of costume at all? No one knows who played them!
Absolutely! I can't remember their names but it was two very attractive girls haha... They had to stay in costume all day (they could take the heads off) so each had their own freezer to lie in in-between shots as they were so hot! I don't think it was anyone famous though, sorry to disappoint haha. They were a great laugh :)
How long did it take to film the episode?
So there was another team in the morning up until lunch, and that's when we had our sort of training 'dress rehearsal'. The other team had their training the afternoon of the previous day. Then we filmed our episode after lunch. Think it only took around 5-6 hours. The production team were extremely professional and rapid!
Out of all the games you played. Which one was your favourite?
Has to be the water one man... that pool/cavern thing was so cool. I was obsessed with swimming as a kid and I'd have LOVED that in my back garden ha ha. It was like an artificial tropical rainforest and was so deep you could do dives and backflips in to it etc. I think there were two divers out of shot for health and safety which was quite cool as well.
You managed to get the golden banana in the pool challenge. How proud are you of that achievement?
Mostly - relieved! We all clocked it at the start, I was terrified I'd wasted all my jumps getting a total of 0 bananas because I was only going for the golden one.
Luckily I managed it on my last try. I swear to god if it was 1mm further away I wouldn't have done it and it's not like I grabbed it either, only just managed to knock it off. I didn't know I had done it either, until I realised they were all shouting at me haha. My mates still take the piss to this day, but all in all I'm absolutely made up about it!
Your team did very well in the challenges. But struggled in The Temple Of The Jungle King. Was this disappointing?
Right... here's the thing. I've watched that level we got stuck on 1000 times. (Which involved completing a puzzle of a Butterfly) I still wouldn't get it today. I honestly think the borders around the edges of those blocks were too thick and the gaps between each block were too wide as well. It was difficult to line up/work it out man! People have said to us it seemed pretty harsh. I think Dominic and the producers seemed to be a bit guilty / sheepish about it as well (Maybe we're just rubbish). We're quite gutted as that was only the second puzzle so we don't really know how difficult the rest of it was... Would have loved to at least have seen what the other puzzles were. We'll never know... Or am I imagining that? Do they show it on the episode maybe...
That second puzzle haunted me for months ha ha. I think we could have won a trip to Disneyland or something. We were only on the first series, but I think up until that point, we'd got the most amount of bananas anyone had ever got on the programme and the most amount of time anyone had in the temple... And we did the worst anyone has done in the temple yet! I remember looking at the camera I had won on the way home and basically using the whole film taking pictures out of the window thinking "You've failed Dan". Absolute anti climax!
Do you still own the camera you won and the Jungle Run sweatshirt and bag?
Camera is long gone but I still have the T shirt and bag! Never ever losing those. Won a few bets as well with people who didn't believe me until I shown them these. In hindsight I'm so glad with this merch, any other prizes would be a memory by now but I'll always have these :)
Any funny behind the scenes stories to tell? Anything which didn't make it into the final programme.
I do remember the swamp one, we had to redo the second half as I got carried away and told Sid or Elvis (can't remember which one) to f**k off when I was trying to get the bananas off the trees. Producers weren't too happy!
When the show aired. Were you the coolest kids in school? Did everyone watch it?
Not really! Perhaps a few slightly jealous mates I think and quite a few people thought that it was lame. The head teacher made us stand up in assembly and tell everyone about it. when it was airing etc. Pretty embarrassing! People were saying the catchphrases to us for years afterwards...
To this day. Do you still tell people you were on Jungle Run? Do people still think it's amazing?
When it comes up in conversation 100%! In response to your last question though - it's the opposite now - it's not really been talked about until about 3 years ago, when Addison managed to find the VHS and converted it to digital. We kept it secret due to embarrassment until about 6 months or so ago (I guess whenever you spotted the Youtube video!) when the demand from our mates (new people we'd all met at uni etc) got too high and we couldn't say no. This second wave of people definitely think it's amazing and never shut up about it now! It was just at the time people weren't bothered really.
So after the dizzy heights of Television fame. What are you up to now?
We kept doing our pantomimes. I did actually audition to be Harry Potter and got called back to London twice, got in the final 16-20 or something, then the lady who was organising quit her job as she wasn't happy with any of us and the rest is history really haha. Now I am a venue booker for Wire and Hifi Club in Leeds (PS. Check my band Deadset Dream out). Emily is heavily involved in theatre and showbiz I think. Addison is a teacher and head of year. I don't actually know what Hannah does :/
Cheers Dan!
Dan's appearance on Jungle Run can be viewed here!
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