Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown

The first revamp

The first major alteration to Ministry of Mayhem occurred on 24 July 2004. The alterations saw the show get a new set and titles, it also saw 'Tina and Gina' being axed from the show. There were also sketches such as 'At Home with the Mayhems' and in an attempt to recreate SMTV's Chums there was 'Butthaven', set around a fictitious holiday camp. This sketch featured Hi-de-Hi!'s Ruth Madoc as owner Miss Butthaven, however it was dropped after a short period of time.

See ya Michael, Hello MoM

Particularly from December 2004 onwards the show started moving away from its original 'Ministry' theme. Just before the show's first Christmas on 18 December 2004 it saw the departure of presenter Michael Underwood. The reason for his departure remains somewhat unclear, mainly as the only announcement of him departing was at the end of that show followed by a compilation of clips of his best bits. However, the fact that the Christmas episode coincided with the renewal of the 26-week rolling contracts for the show and presenters suggests that at some point before the Christmas recording Michael either quit or was fired. The Christmas Day show was presented by Stephen and Holly, featuring specially adapted Christmas lyrics for the show. The move away from its original 'Ministry' feel became most apparent for the first show of the New Year, when it was renamed MoM.

Not long after this, Underwood joined GMTV's Entertainment Today programme.

Animals & Additions

MoM continued to provide Saturday morning entertainment. In March 2005, two new characters were introduced; the Hyenas, Scratch & Sniff, who were played by Don Austen & John Eccleston. They are virtual recreations of their past characters- "Bro & Bro", the wolves, who they played on former Saturday Morning show What's Up Doc? between 1992 and 1995, and spin-off series Wolf It between 1993 and 1996. Their introduction was fairly built up as initially viewers were asked to guess what was in a large box, which eventually was revealed to contain the hyenas. There then followed the process of naming the Hyenas, with their eventual names being chosen by the viewers. Towards the end of the series, the hyenas took up residence making their own home in a small set located under the tiered seating.

Another new character who was added to the show was a man called Mr. Lee (played by Vincent Wong), who originally only had a small role in the game 'Name That Tone', but soon after became a regular, with his own theme tune by the Bobbettes called Mr. Lee In September 2005 MoM got another new addition in the form of a real puppy. This puppy later was named Snowy. After the show's format was changed to Saturday Showdown, Snowy was rarely seen on our screens until Snowy came back on the final show grown to full size.

Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown

On 7 January 2006 after a Christmas break, the programme returned with a new format, design, theme tune, and name - Holly and Stephen's Saturday Showdown.

The format consisted of presenters, guests and viewers participating in a battle of the sexes. Each week the boys and girls had to earn points from the games they played, which took place in Holly & Stephen's 'flat'. For every correct answer of a game would earn their team 10 points, and which ever team had the most points by the end of the show would be the winner, and the losing team would have to face a forfeit - e.g. getting covered in gunge.

Ray and Scratch 'n' Sniff the hyenas remained after the revamp. The most noticeable character absences were The Doc and Mr. Lee. A new character called Wallace was introduced. He was a rapping child who supposedly lived in the closet under the stairs - he disappeared after the first episode.

On 11 March 2006 it was the first programme to be broadcast on the long-awaited CITV Channel - which also saw the introduction of Saturday Showdown Extra, which was exclusive to the new channel and aired straight after the main programme from 11:30 to 12:00. Only viewers on the CITV Channel were able to watch the entire 11 March 2006 edition owing to the fact that over on ITV, coverage of the qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix was being broadcast from 10:30.

The end

It was first reported on 12 May 2006 that Saturday Showdown was to be axed. The programme was gradually phased out, eventually being dropped from the ITV network as of 10 June and its last three weeks airing on the CITV Channel.

On 1 July 2006 the final edition was broadcast - billed on-screen as Holly and Stephen's Final Showdown. This edition saw the return of the characters 'Mr. Lee' (Vincent Wong) and 'The Doc' (Peter Cocks), and some popular items from the Ministry of Mayhem era - plus some comedic jabs towards the decision taken by ITV to air a new cookery programme by the name of Saturday Cooks! in its place.

Cakey Sk8

Celebrities propel cakes from skateboards and the cake which reaches highest up the wall wins; the wall had to be extended after it was found that celebrities using it were getting the cakes higher and higher.

Spelling Smackdown

This game saw Stephen (in one episode, Holly) dressed up in a bumblebee costume and colloquially known as the "Spellminator" ("Spellminatrix" for Holly) and another contestant who usually wrote in to the Ministry to take part. Michael was dressed in a black dinner suit and was the MC. There were three rounds of spelling, in which each contestant was given a word with its definition and had to spell it one letter at a time. The person with the most points at the end would win and later receive the Spelling Smackdown belt. If there was a tie, then a spell off contest would take place. The spell-off would involve being given a word and each competitor would take it in turns to spell the word letter by letter; the first person to make a mistake would lose. The game disappeared after a few weeks and then returned briefly with different rules, using the spell-off format. Both the Spellminator and the contestant would walk into the ring accompanied by a song with a spelling motif such as: Respect by Aretha Franklin, D.I.S.C.O. by Ottawan, I.O.U by Freeez, Y.M.C.A. by Village People and ABC by Jackson 5.

Name that Tone

Mr. Lee (played by Vincent Wong) brings on the ring-tones to his own theme tune. Then contestants from the studio audience pair with a celebrity to guess ring-tones usually for a mobile phone or an MP3. A spin-off show entitled "MOM's Name that Tone" featured on CITV on Tuesdays for a while.

Ram Ray

Ram Ray was the most popular game in the show. It involved the dwarf stuntman Ray (played by actor Raymond Griffiths) charging into a set of five doors, four wooden, one made of paper. A caller would select a door, hoping it to be made of paper. Ray would then charge at a door and either run through it if it was made of paper or slam into it and fall backwards if it was made of wood. Ray would often fall and roll across the floor of the studio rather dramatically, and he was often checked to see if he was hurt (although Stephen often found his collisions hilarious). To suit the theme of an episode, Ray would often wear a matching costume.

Race Ray

A contestant would attempt to beat Ray in a one-on-one race, normally on foot, but occasionally by other modes of transport, such as husky dogs. The contestant would often be given a handicap (e.g. time, distance) and was required to make up the deficit to Ray over the course of the race.

Relly from Helly

An audience member is embarrassed by a relative, which also became a feature of the very first Showdown as the Parent Trap where the viewer embarrassed the parent.

Supermarket Sneak

Two teams, composed of one of the presenters and a child, go to a supermarket with a trolley full of items in progressively larger sizes. The aim of the game is to place all of the items into unsuspecting shoppers' trolleys. The first team to do so wins. The introduction of this game came a matter of weeks before the new series of Dick and Dom in da Bungalow started which was to feature an almost identical game, which had been pre-filmed in August.

Dodge Dolly's Balls

Despite the rude-sounding name, it is actually Granny Dolly in her loft with Scratch and Sniff. They both have to dodge her mothballs and the one with the least hits wins. The golden ball also wipes out all of your hits. Despite having the appearance of a live phone-in game, this segment is actually pre-recorded. This has been proved by the fact that Sniff only appears in this segment, the game has appeared on editions where Holly Willoughby was absent, along with the lack of any obvious entry details for the game, either on the show or the website, and with the speed Holly would have to change costumes if the segment was live, as she appears on screen within seconds either side of the game. It has been speculated that the callers on this segment are either somehow connected to the crew or the winners of keys to the studio, and are present in the studio at the time of recording. According to Sniff, Granny Dolly is now dead, as he had to eat her, as he had no food, which is why DDB finished.

Parent Trap

A version of Relly from Helly in which the child embarrasses the parent, which was discontinued after one show.

Pumping on your Stereo

A similar format to Name that Tone, based around distorted songs rather than ring-tones, and featuring Scratch rather than Mr. Lee but on the final show, Mr. Lee returned.

Ram Ray

In Saturday Showdown, a revised version of Ram Ray is played. This version uses only four "doors" - a dresser, a cupboard (later a jukebox), a toilet door and a set of shelves. Two callers take it in turns to guess which of these objects is 'soft' i.e. will break when Ray runs into it. This segment primarily used furniture but as weeks went by, they have slowly reverted to 3 doors and a dresser...

Supermarket Sneak

Taken from MOM. Cut after 3rd show.

Other Games

Since Ministry of Mayhem started many games have been played, to date many have been discontinued including:

• Snap: This is the most recent edition where hyenas Scratch and Sniff put their paws into mousetraps attached to a Wheel of Fortune-style wheel. The caller that selects the trap that Doesn't go off wins a prize.