If television can make something as mundane as baking cakes into a competitive activity attracting millions of viewers then surely anything is possible.
My idea is The Great British Bash Off. How it works is this. A number of competitors are given £250 each in cash and a credit account that can be used online. One month ahead they have to plan out a week’s worth of bashing (the month being to allow use of advances). The object is to plan and execute the most ambitious week’s worth of rail travel possible. Everything must come out of the £500, including accommodation and food. The purpose of splitting it into cash and credit is to make participants think carefully what they book online and what they pay on the day (both in terms of travel and accommodation). The purpose of £500 is to put an ALR out of reach.
The competitors will be booking and travelling entirely as they would IRL, with the one exception that if they are making a move that qualifies for delay repay the voucher will be immediately forthcoming rather than having to wait weeks for the application to get to the top of some weary clerk’s in-tray. There will be no special allocations of tickets for the competition; the competitors are competing for deals on the open market.
The basic scoring structure will be one point per mile travelled. Travelling at night clearly builds up mileage and is to be encouraged. Additional points/penalties can be awarded for certain types of move, for example:
• Extra/fewer points for certain types of traction (not going to get into which types here for fear of starting a flame war, but TBC)
• Extra points for successfully pulling off a Man of Steel move.
• Points deducted for a Move to Oblivion (over and above financial consequences of putting right such a move)
• Points deducted for being too rancid as a result of too many overnight moves on the cushions or rough sleeping (effectively forcing at least some moves in hotels or in the cabins on sleepers). Daily rancidness inspections will be a feature.
• Points awarded for rare track (definition of this TBC)
• If there is any money left in the kitty at the end then this can be converted to points. This shouldn’t be too generous, in order to discourage cash hoarding that could mean less actual travelling and a more boring programme.
• Certain stations to be awarded Obscurity Bonus Points to encourage travel to places like Mallaig or Wick that otherwise would be unlikely to feature in a straightforward mileage race. Just thundering up and down the ECML would make a boring experience for both competitors and viewers.
This would make excellent telly IMHO, especially if the competitors were some of the ‘characters’ I’m sure many of us are familiar with. Your thoughts please!
My idea is The Great British Bash Off. How it works is this. A number of competitors are given £250 each in cash and a credit account that can be used online. One month ahead they have to plan out a week’s worth of bashing (the month being to allow use of advances). The object is to plan and execute the most ambitious week’s worth of rail travel possible. Everything must come out of the £500, including accommodation and food. The purpose of splitting it into cash and credit is to make participants think carefully what they book online and what they pay on the day (both in terms of travel and accommodation). The purpose of £500 is to put an ALR out of reach.
The competitors will be booking and travelling entirely as they would IRL, with the one exception that if they are making a move that qualifies for delay repay the voucher will be immediately forthcoming rather than having to wait weeks for the application to get to the top of some weary clerk’s in-tray. There will be no special allocations of tickets for the competition; the competitors are competing for deals on the open market.
The basic scoring structure will be one point per mile travelled. Travelling at night clearly builds up mileage and is to be encouraged. Additional points/penalties can be awarded for certain types of move, for example:
• Extra/fewer points for certain types of traction (not going to get into which types here for fear of starting a flame war, but TBC)
• Extra points for successfully pulling off a Man of Steel move.
• Points deducted for a Move to Oblivion (over and above financial consequences of putting right such a move)
• Points deducted for being too rancid as a result of too many overnight moves on the cushions or rough sleeping (effectively forcing at least some moves in hotels or in the cabins on sleepers). Daily rancidness inspections will be a feature.
• Points awarded for rare track (definition of this TBC)
• If there is any money left in the kitty at the end then this can be converted to points. This shouldn’t be too generous, in order to discourage cash hoarding that could mean less actual travelling and a more boring programme.
• Certain stations to be awarded Obscurity Bonus Points to encourage travel to places like Mallaig or Wick that otherwise would be unlikely to feature in a straightforward mileage race. Just thundering up and down the ECML would make a boring experience for both competitors and viewers.
This would make excellent telly IMHO, especially if the competitors were some of the ‘characters’ I’m sure many of us are familiar with. Your thoughts please!