| Creator: | Pierre Sportolaro |
| Based On: | Les Forges du Désert |
| Presenter: | Richard Fairbrass Gabrielle Richens |
| Starring: | Melanie Winiger as The Poetess |
| Country: | France |
| Num Series: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 10 |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes (inc. adverts) |
| Company: | Grundy and Adventure Line Productions |
| Channel: | Channel 5 |
| Related: | Fort Boyard The Crystal Maze |
The Desert Forges is a game show set in the Wadi Rum desert region in Jordan. It was first aired on Channel 5 from 23 June to 25 August 2001. It is based on a French format called Les Forges du Désert, created by Pierre Sportolaro in 1999 and produced by Adventure Line Productions, also producers of Fort Boyard.[1]
Each episode starts with two teams, each with two contestants, one male and one female. They are referred to as the green team and the orange team (identified by the colour of their clothing), and are usually a couple, friends, or brother and sister. Both teams go through a series of challenges, and the winning team gets the chance to win gold ingots, which they cast themselves from the Forges Room.
The show was presented by Richard Fairbrass and Gabrielle Richens, with Melanie Winiger starring as the Poetess, ruler of the Palace.
Minor characters include Zioto who starts the time during the Palace challenges, Abdullah, the timekeeper in the Desert Duels who fires a rifle to indicate the start and end of the clock, the Forgemaster who runs the Forges Room, Zach and Ramm (identified by video cameras attached to their heads), who act as the "eyes and ears" of the Poetess and allow her to watch the progress made by the two teams, and Meliha, a guide who guides teams between houses in the Palace.
The show is divided into three segments: the Desert Duels, The Palace and the Forges Room.
This first part of the show consists of four challenges out in the desert. Some duels involve all four team members, but many are limited to two.
In the first game, team members compete to determine who gains control of a dagger, and the winner of each subsequent game takes or retains the dagger. The team with the dagger generally sets the standard for the other team to follow. Each duel won also gains a flame for the winning team, which they'll use in the second part of the show.
Many of the desert duels take the form of a staggered race – the team possessing the dagger starts by releasing a sand-timer, and the other team starts when that timer runs out. At the end of the race, the first starter releases another sand timer. If the second starter catches up with and tags the first starter during the race, or if they arrive before the second sand-timer runs out, they'll win; otherwise, the first starter wins.
Due to the roughness of some challenges, like the Mechanical Snake, one of the presenters will look after the dagger for the contestant until he or she finishes.
Duels include:
If there is a tie after the four Desert Duels have been completed, a tiebreaker called the Chakria is played. Here, the male or female from each team compete in a match similar to sumo wrestling. The team whose fighter puts his/her foot outside the circular ring first loses, and one of their flames is extinguished.
The second part of the show takes the players into the Palace, a series of tents and buildings in the middle of the desert where the Poetess resides. The teams and presenters arrive at the Palace by camel.
Inside the Palace, there are a number of challenges, and during the course of the show four will be played. There is also a room called the Forges Room, which holds forges containing molten gold. When a challenge is successfully completed, one of the forges is lit. As more challenges are won, larger forges are lit, and if all the challenges are completed successfully, the largest forge is lit. Each forge contains an increasing amount of gold.
The teams are taken to the Poetess' tent. Here, the two members of each team bound together by the wrists, and taken into a room containing their first challenge. The other team waits in the tent as they may get the chance to win the gold later.
At the start of each challenge, a candle is lit. This candle has a limited lifespan, and if it goes out, the team loses the challenge. The team members must also ensure that they do not accidentally blow out the candle or expose it to water or air.
To win, the team members must ignite a fuse that lights one of the gold forges. If the team is unsuccessful, they'll lose a flame and must return to the Poetess's tent to retrieve another one. If they lose all their flames, their opponents get the chance to win the gold by completing the remaining challenges using their flames. Their binding helps to impede their progress through the course.
Challenges in the Palace include:
When all four challenges are completed, the active team answers their last jidi (see below) and are led to the Forges Room.
Before each challenge, other than the first one, the participating team is asked a jidi – a mathematical or logical problem with a numerical answer. Each jidi earns the team extra time in the Forges Room. The team can ask for the jidi to be repeated twice, but must give their answer fairly quickly. They are not told whether their answer is correct at this time.
After the four challenges are complete, the Poetess asks the active team their fourth and final jidi, before revealing which jidis were answered correctly. The four answers form a sequence, and the team must determine the next number in the sequence if they wish to skip a time-consuming part of the game later on. The sequences are usually complicated enough to be unsolvable without at least three of the jidi answers. They are not told whether the answer to the sequence is correct; they must tell it to the Forgemaster in the Forges Room.
If both teams lose all their flames or if a team loses its last flame on the fourth challenge, a playoff is used to decide which team will enter the Forges Room.
One contestant from each team is placed in a box with a large number of snakes, and must remain completely still. Any head movement results in a bulb lighting, and the player is declared the loser of the playoff. If neither player lights their bulb within one minute of the snakes being released, the team that won the Chakria goes on to the Forges Room.
The team that progresses from the challenges in the Palace then gets the chance to forge their own gold in the Forges Room. Accompanied by one of the hosts, they have four minutes from the time they enter the mine tunnels to perform a series of tasks to win the gold.
First, they have to move a mine cart down a rail track to the other end of the tunnel. During this, they have to complete a task to remove an obstruction blocking the cart. This may involve completing an electrical circuit in a glass case or connecting a series of cogs together to raise a gate blocking the cart.
If none of the forges were lit during the second section, the team must retrieve a key from the mine cart, full of rocks, to unlock a cage and ring a bell, which causes the smallest forge to be lit.
There, after donning protective clothing, the team enters the Forges Room itself. There, the fifth number in the sequence from earlier on is given to the Forgemaster. If it is correct, the crucible for the molten gold is automatically released, but if not, the team must release it manually, using up about 30 seconds of time.
Assisted by forge workers, and with the four-minute clock still ticking, the team pours the gold from the largest lit forge into the crucible and then pours the gold from there into moulds. The team wins a fixed cash amount based on each ingot; half-filled moulds do not count.
| Country | Local title | Presenters (filming years) | Channel | Broadcast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada (Québec) | Les forges du Désert | TVA | 2000–2001 | ||
| France | Jean-Luc Reichmann and Karine Le Marchand | France 2 | 1999–2000 | ||
| Denmark | Jagten på ørkenguldet | Peter Hansen and Gitte Schnell[2] | TV3 | 1999[3] | |
| Germany | Desert Forges - Stars an ihren Grenzen[4] | Sonya Kraus and | ProSieben | 2001–2002[5] | |
| Norway | Jakten på Ørkengullet[6] | Susanne Steffens (1999)[7] | TV3 | 2000 | |
| Sweden | Jakten på ökenguldet | Harald Treutiger and My Klingwall | TV3 | 1999[8] |
The format was also sold to broadcasters in Belgium (VT4)[9] and Jordan.[10] An Arabic children's game show was filmed using the same set and broadcast around 2011,[11] on Jeem TV. The American, Australian and British versions of were also filmed here in 2022 and October 2021 respectively.[12]