As I was growing up in the 1990s, this show has become one of my favourites because I was the right audience - having said that,I still try and catch it whenever I can. The originality of "Get Your Own Back" is what makes it such a long-running show. Aimed at children, it offered them the chance to humiliate an adult that they knew who had been unfair to them or deserved some kind of punishment, by dunking them in a huge dunktank of gunge. As there are always children who will feel hard done by, I can see the show lasting for even longer than it already has.
The energetic children's presenter Dave Benson Phillips really found his niche with this show, coming from CBBC's Playdays and a current presenter of Playhouse Disney, allowing him to show off his warm personality as he was always on the kids' side and played upon the adult's fear of being gunged, making it worse for them and all the better for the audience. Dave himself has found himself in the "Gunk Dunk" twice on television and then once again on CBBC's NEC shows in the mid 90s - normally during the celebrity editions (never major stars, usually CBBC TV presenters).
The format of the show has changed a number of times over the lifespan of GYOB, but the adult who found themselves over the Gunk Dunk would never escape clean (apart from the most recent format). The first series saw 3 teams of adult/children whittled down to 1 team, through a series of games, where both adult and child would sit over the tank. The format would change over the years; from the adult being sprayed upto 3 times with gunge before being dunked to being able to gunge the kid by answering 5 logic questions (and then being dunked anyway) to the current format where both adults are over the tank and the one dunked is the one whose child has answered 5 questions correctly
The best bit is obviously the gunging at the end and the reactions that the adults give when they've been thoroughly gunged. This is more true with the women, although they don't tend to get dunked as much as their male counterparts. Two series ago, with the current format, Dave also gained a female co-presenter who has yet to be dunked, but it's only a matter of time ;)
Great show
The energetic children's presenter Dave Benson Phillips really found his niche with this show, coming from CBBC's Playdays and a current presenter of Playhouse Disney, allowing him to show off his warm personality as he was always on the kids' side and played upon the adult's fear of being gunged, making it worse for them and all the better for the audience. Dave himself has found himself in the "Gunk Dunk" twice on television and then once again on CBBC's NEC shows in the mid 90s - normally during the celebrity editions (never major stars, usually CBBC TV presenters).
The format of the show has changed a number of times over the lifespan of GYOB, but the adult who found themselves over the Gunk Dunk would never escape clean (apart from the most recent format). The first series saw 3 teams of adult/children whittled down to 1 team, through a series of games, where both adult and child would sit over the tank. The format would change over the years; from the adult being sprayed upto 3 times with gunge before being dunked to being able to gunge the kid by answering 5 logic questions (and then being dunked anyway) to the current format where both adults are over the tank and the one dunked is the one whose child has answered 5 questions correctly
The best bit is obviously the gunging at the end and the reactions that the adults give when they've been thoroughly gunged. This is more true with the women, although they don't tend to get dunked as much as their male counterparts. Two series ago, with the current format, Dave also gained a female co-presenter who has yet to be dunked, but it's only a matter of time ;)
Great show
