There Was More Than One Way To Win In 'Takeshi's Castle'

With the recent announcement that Takeshi's Castle would be returning, the same question was on many people's lips.

Will anyone win the fucking thing?

It seems that when repeats were shown on Challenge, when Craig Charles manned the commentary station, it was a rarity, if not an impossibility, to see someone same the sweet taste of victory in the competition.

As it turns out, the show, which was changed up for when it aired on UK television, had eight winners overall, plus two disqualified winners.

If you were, or still are, an avid watcher of the show then you might ask why these particular episodes were never shown. They were but, according to Keshi Heads, a site set up for fans of the show, Charles didn't spot some of the winners.

Also, when someone does actually win it's the least ceremonious thing ever. For example, on this occasion, Charles shouts "we have a winner!" but then the credits roll, and that's that.

Credit: Challenge / Takeshi's Castle

He also says: "But what do they win? Absolutely nothing," which was a bit of a lie.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no actual record of anyone winning, given that they were just random members of the public who turned up to have a go.

Whoever managed to stop Count Takeshi was awarded one million yen, which at the time was the equivalent of around $8,000 US or £5,000, but now would be closer to $9,000 and £6,000.

If you're keen to see the full episodes, then you can, as the successes took place in the UK season one episode 21, season one episode 26, season one episode 27, season one episode 39, season two episode nine, season four episode 22 and the fifth UK special.

via GIPHY

Keshi Heads also reckon that defeating the Count isn't the only way to win on the game show, as there's actually a number of other prizes that can be awarded.

In every episode, a contestant could win the Fighting Spirit Award, which came with 100,000 yen and the Special Fighting Spirit Award, with the same monetary prize.

The former apparently went to the gauntlet runner who gave their best effort, or were the most entertaining throughout the show. Meanwhile, the latter was given to everyone who made it to the Final Showdown, given that it ended in a draw or General Lee (AKA General Tani) won.

The very first win. Credit: Challenge / Takeshi's Castle

There were two other occasional prizes, too, although these were rare. The Winner's Award was another 1,000,000 yen, which was given to the fastest man and fastest woman to complete the showdown, and the Final Prizes, which included 1,000,000 yen, holidays, camcorders, bikes and Game Boys (sign of the times), which were available to shoot down during the showdown.

This apparently happened on the two disqualifications, when the General shot the Count's sensor on his cart, and when it was called a draw because the cart got stuck on the grass.

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.