This Friday at 9:00pm on Channel 4, The Crystal Maze returns for a full 20-episode series with host Richard Ayoade. The revived series begins with a star-studded Stand Up To Cancer special episode featuring Vicky Pattison (Geordie Shore), Alex Brooker (The Last Leg), Ore Oduba (Strictly Come Dancing), Lydia Bright (The Only Way Is Essex) and professional dancer/choreographer Louie Spence. The new series also features comedians Adam Buxton as Jarhead protecting the Futuristic Zone and Jessica Hynes as The Knight guarding the Medieval Zone. The adventurous game show briefly returned last year on October 16 as a one-off celebrity charity special hosted by Stephen Merchant. After the special aired, Channel 4 decided to give a full series order to the program after the episode showed much success among nostalgic viewers.
In case you’ve have never seen the show before, here’s how the game is played: a team of five (six in the original) enters a series of rooms within four elaborate zones in the maze to complete physical or mental puzzles to obtain crystals and avoid being locked in the room due to time expiring or making too many mistakes. Once the four zones are played, the team advances to the Crystal Dome to collect as many gold tickets in the time allotted (five seconds for each crystal earned) to potentially redeem them for a grand prize should they collect 100.
The Crystal Maze ran for six series from 1989-1994 on Channel 4. Richard O’Brien hosted the first four series and Ed Tudor-Pole fronted the final two of the original run. In March 2016, Little Lion Entertainment managed to crowdfund enough money to open The Crystal Maze Live Experience exhibit in London and in Manchester at the Old Granada Studios in April of this year for the public to traverse the famous labyrinth for themselves. Take a look at an episode from the original version in the video below.
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