The Challenge

Is no sport safe from the heavy hands of our teams? For the second semi-final, our circus of mayhem visits on the serene sport of ice curling. But in another Scrapheap world first, the teams have to slide full-sized Minis down an ice rink. Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present… car curling!

Destroyers

James Ellis captains this Royal Navy team, with Adrian Eason-Bassett and Jason ‘JJ’ Swift standing firmly by his side. This three-man crew will ship out of HMS Sultan, Gosport and set sail to our sea of scrap. Their military precision has already helped them sail through two of our challenges – but have they got what it takes to get to the final?

For this all-important semi-final, our Destroyers are joined by Mark-Paul Buckingham, a materials engineer who loves snowboarding. In fact, he loves the white stuff so much, he’s now set up his own business working with ski and snowboard materials and refining the hardware for the mountains.

Cops and Bodgers

Andy Luchesa, Andy Stamp and Les Scott work for Hampshire Constabulary. The two Andys are police officers and Les, better known as ‘Miss Marple’, works as a scenes of crime officer. The Cops and Bodgers will have no problem solving our challenge and getting the best result. These cheeky coppers have already disposed of bombs and built a speedboat – but can they take on the Destroyers and win a place in this year’s final?

This time, the Cops’ technical consultant is Perry ‘Winkle’ Gosling, a fabricator-welder who builds massive moving machinery for theatres and rock concerts.

The expert

Dr Jane Blackford is an ice expert from Edinburgh University. She studies ice-friction and has worked out amazing new ways of looking at snow flakes under a microscope. Jane also looks at avalanches and winter sports like skiing and snowboarding. Most notably, her team worked with the British Olympic curling squad, developing a special ‘sweep-ergometer’ that allowed the team to perfect a sweeping technique, earning them Olympic gold.