Kickstart the Gunge

Kickstart the Gunge was the name of the last game played on most of the Saturday shows on Kickstart from 2005 onwards. Each week would feature a child between the age of 9 and 12 facing off against one of the show’s hosts, with the loser getting gunge poured over them. In languages without a word for “gunge”, it would be called Kickstart the Slime or Kickstart the Goo.

Original Format
Originally, the child contestant would spin a wheel, called the Wheel of Goo, to determine which host they would be facing off against. When the game was originally introduced, only Ericka, Blade and Andre were eligible to get gunged. The wheel would change from week to week, with Ericka’s portion being deliberately larger than Blade and Andre’s (as a joke between the three hosts).

Both contestants (the child and host) would sit inside rectangular tubes. The child would be given four lives, and the host would be given three. Starting with the child, the two would take it in turns being asked questions by Spy. The contestant could either play the question, or pass it to their opponent. Whoever had to answer the question would get 15 seconds to answer it. If they got the question right, their opponent would lose a life, but if they got the question wrong, or didn’t give an answer in time, they would lose the life.

Once a certain contestant lost all of their lives, Spy would fill a tube located above the contestant’s head up with either white, blue or lime gunge. Spy would then ask if the victim had ”any words”? After counting down from a random number, Spy would yell ”Kickstart the gunge!” and pull a rope, releasing the gunge onto the loser.

If the child won the game, they would win a prize, and if they lost, they would win a ”Victim of the Gunge” certificate.

Due to an inside joke between the hosts, everybody would show bias towards Ericka, who would usually be gunged even if she won.

2007 changes

 * The child now decided which host they played against, but they were not allowed to pick Spy.
 * The child now only had three lives.

2009 changes

 * It is now usually only Ericka who played against the child.

Four player version
Sometimes the game would be played with four players; three children and one host. When this occured, contestants would always play theor questions, and get 1-15 points for each correct answer, depending on how fast they answer it. Everybody would get asked four questions, and the player with the least amount of the points got gunged. If two players tied for last place, they would both get gunged!

Cheers
In 2007, Zoey Dawson would cheer “GUNGE! GUNGE! GUNGE! GUNGE! GUNGE!” and then say “Nat you uslysa?” (are you ready) to the child when it was about to start.

Trivia

 * Many fans requested Spy Fandel to go up against a contestant. This never happened, however.
 * This notably makes Fandel the only host who was never gunged on the show.
 * When the playing the game, the children and hosts always removed their glasses, accessories and footwear. In international adaptions, they didn't.