X-Fire (game show)

X-Fire (pronounced 'Cross-fire'), was a paintball-based TV gameshow, aired on Channel 4 in the UK and presented by Ed Hall.

X-Fire
Presented by	Ed Hall
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	12+1 Un-aired
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Release
Original network	Channel 4
Picture format	16:9
Original release	25 September 2001 – 20 July 2002

Synopsis

The programme was a game show, featuring a strike team consisting of 6 players armed with paintball markers (known as "emulsifiers"), who attempt to complete challenges in simulated Special Forces-type raids against similarly-armed opponents. In general, the contestants play games of paintball against the show's antagonists in elaborately constructed scenarios.

The teams would be opposed by a host of "grunts", armed with slow-firing weapons and the "Special Forces"; six individuals (with made-up character names and bios) armed with the same weapons as the contestants. These Special Forces were named Hellmet (named Helmet Strebi) (ranked Oberleutnant), Morgan (Morgan Johnson) (ranked Sergeant), Clawz (Vanessa Upton) (Private), Dalia (Dalia Mikneviciute) (Sergeant), AJ (Andrew J Dickens) (Commander) and Little Yin (Anna Luong) (Private). "Grunts" would typically be dispatched quickly, whereas the Special Forces would take strong defensive positions and present serious challenges to the team.

A shot in the head or torso was considered an "emulsification" and the shot party would play dead.

Teams were inserted and extracted from the missions by a Ford Transit Van. Missions included hazards such as mines and laser tripwires, and puzzles which the teams would need to solve. Missions were also required to be completed within a time limit. The games would take place in simulated military compounds, office buildings, or bunker complexes which were constructed at the facilities of the decommissioned RAF Bentwaters.

Each programme would contain three missions, the last of which always took place in the 'Special Forces HQ'. The missions for each episode would be based around a particular narrative, such as stopping toxic waste dumping or preventing the production of counterfeit bank notes. The Special Forces would always be involved with these evil plots, and thus had to be stopped by the strike team. For the final mission, the captain of the Strike Team would set the difficulty level: Easy, Standard or Extreme. Easy difficulty meant the team would face 4 members of the Special Forces and all credit awards were halved, Standard difficulty meant the team would face 5 members of the Special Forces and all credit awards were as normal, and Extreme difficulty meant the team would face all 6 members of the Special Forces and all credit awards were doubled.

The teams' actions in the challenges were rewarded with credits. In between each challenge the teams could purchase items such as more paintballs, shields, paint grenades, a stationary shotgun weapon (firing up to 100 shots in one go) or buy back teammates who had been "emulsified" in the previous challenge. The teams' final credits totals were used to determine their positions on the series leaderboard.

The series was axed in 2002. The penultimate episode, titled 'Star Wars', was never broadcast. Instead Channel 4 broadcast the final episode to end the series.

Episodes

Episode	Operation	Strike Team Name	Air date
1	Retrieval	Flatout	25 September 2001
2	Counterfeit Charlie	The Specials	2 October 2001
3	Waste Disposal	The Lifeboat Team	9 October 2001
4	Clone Alone	Team Planet	16 October 2001
5	Ransom	ABC Warriors	23 October 2001
6	Project Phoenix	Ayresome Angels	29 May 2002
7	Retribution	All The Kings Men	5 June 2002
8	Germ Alert	Dangerous Divas	12 June 2002
9	Cold Thaw	North London Spirits	19 June 2002
10	Energy Crisis	The Burton Bullets	26 June 2002
11	Code Breaker	Fire Force One	3 July 2002
12	Star Wars	N/A	N/A
13	Meltdown	The Burton Bullets	10 July 2002

External links

• X-Fire at UKGameshows.com