- The New Family Challenge -
After the short
hiatus during the summer of 1996, Family Challenge returned
with a new
name, and a new host. Michael Berger, from
Mike &
Maty, and notably Woody Fraser's other show at the time,
Home and
Family, became the host of the show.
Michael Berger
In a television
interview, Berger said that "Hosting a game show is all
I've ever
wanted to do." Whether he was asking a
mom to hit
her daughter in the face with a pie, or asking a son to pour
chocolate
syrup onto his dad, Michael did a good job, too.
The new version
of the show involved challenges with the audience
as well as
the families, because it was taped live
in front of
a studio audience at Universal Studios, and they had to allow
time for the
families to get cleaned up backstage.
Two audience
members facing off.
As you can
see in the photo above, not only was this the debut
of audience
challenges, but it was also
the debut
of the new Family Challenge set. One nice thing
about the
new set is that there are large pictures
featuring
memorable moments from the original Family Challenge.
As stated in
the Game Format section of this website, some of the original
challenges
were used in the new version as well, especially
the infamous
Gunk Tank.
The original
Gunk Tank
The new Gunk
Tank looked similar to one used in the original show, only it
was larger
and featured a different substance. The original
consisted
of organic potting material, while the new one consisted of
watered-down
green gelatin.
The new Gunk
Tank
Now, onto the
challenges. Below are a few pictures of the challenges
used on the
first episode of The New Family Challenge.
Beak Balloon
Break
Know-your-family
Pie Challenge
Left-overs
Toss Challenge
Monster Outfit Giant Fan Relay