Nickelodeon Guts
"It takes a certain kind of person to keep the body working, to the level of precision that's needed to be rise to the top,
Do You Have It?"
"It takes a certain kind of something to keep the heart pumping, something everybody needs to succeed, you need a lot,
Do You Have It?"
"Do, Do, Do, Do You Have It? GUTS!"
The opening lines to the Nickelodeon GUTS theme
Nickelodeon GUTS was a game show by, well, Nickelodeon. Described as American Gladiators For Kids, this show allowed three kids to compete against one another in five events.
The games themselves were either based on the Olympics (Triple Jump, Vertiboggan, Jump! Jump!), actual sports (Off the Wall for baseball, Rebound for basketball, and Fumble for football -- though it was changed to Rugby in 1994), or a strange mixture (Basic Training, which later became Extreme Baseball in 1994). The competitors have to either go through the courses by themselves or compete with others, depending on the events.
At the end of the four events, there is the final event, The Aggro Crag. In it, the competitors had to set off actuators -- depending on when the show was aired, it would be around six to eventually eight -- while climbing. And if that wasn't enough, they would have to deal with falling rocks, water and slime on their faces, and snow falling down. The competitor who had the most points would win a gold medal and a glowing piece of the Crag.
In 1995, Nickelodeon GUTS was retitled Global GUTS. It worked as a mixture of the original series and the Olympics with eight countries battling it out. At the end of the series, the United Kingdom won eight medals and the show. It should be noted that this was the only time where there was an injury during one of the events: CIS contestant Katya sprained her ankle during Tornado Run. Stepan, also from the Commonwealth of Independent States, took her place and won a silver medal.
In 2008, the show was remade into My Family's Got GUTS. It is basically the original series meets My Dad is Better Than Your Dad. Mike O'Malley and Moira Quirk, the original hosts, were replaced by Ben Lyons and Asha Kuerten.
Reruns of the show aired on Nickelodeon GAS until the channel's disestablishment in 2007. It was then shown on TurboNick until it ended in Summer 2009.
- Bonus Round: The Aggro Crag. Later remodeled as the Mega Crag in the third season of GUTS, then turned into the Super Aggro Crag in Global GUTS.
- Consolation Prize: Silver and Bronze medals.
- Golden Snitch: The Aggro Crag, later evolved into the Mega Crag and the Super Aggro Crag.
- Personnel:
- Game Show Host: Mike O'Malley (Nickelodeon GUTS/Global GUTS), Ben Lyons (My Family's Got GUTS).
- Lovely Assistant: Moira "Mo" Quirk (Nickelodeon GUTS/Global GUTS), then Asha Kuerten (My Family's Got GUTS). Both were also co-hosts, as they explained the rules and saw the contestants' performances.
- Studio Audience
- Badass Nickname: The show gave one to each contestant.
- Carried by the Host: While Asha was praised by some fans for equaling her referee predecessor, many fans felt that GUTS wasn't the same without Mike and Moira.
- Catch Phrase: Quite a few, but special mention goes to Mike's "Let's go to Mo!" and "Do you have it?". Not to mention Moira's "On your mark, get set... (blows whistle)".
- Early Installment Weirdness: The first taped episode, which has different fonts for the on-screen displays and a different "Extreme Arena" sign over the scoreboard (both lasted at least one more taping). The rules explanations are slightly different, and Mike refers to Moira by her full first name throughout the show. Notably, the Crag's actuator lights look like rocks themselves when turned off and light up in that player's color, instead of using the familiar orange ones used for the rest of the run, and shots of the "normal" Crag are superimposed over a couple of spots in the episode.
- Excited Kids' Show Host: Mike O'Malley, Type 1.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: "Hell" was used once. Sure, it was a reference to Meat Loaf's album, "Bat Out of Hell", but still.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Mike towers over the 5-foot Moira.
- Limited Wardrobe: Mike and Moira lampshaded this in the Behind The Scenes special, while discussing what to wear for the day.
- The Nicknamer: Many contestants go by nicknames given by the show. Moira also obtained a nickname, "Mo". However, the latter stuck.
- No Indoor Voice: Mike O'Malley, to the point where Moira would say "Steady, Mike" or some other variation.
- The Runner Up Takes It All: A.J. McLean, Mike Vogel, even Ashley Drane... they won silver medals, and yet they went on to do bigger things. See the Hey, It's That Guy! section for the former two.