As 'The Jump' limps off our screens, finally put out of its misery and cancelled after a third season whose low ratings dipped in inverse proportion to the casualty count among its celebrity contenders, the only question that really still taxes us is...
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Who was the person who thought this would ever be a good idea?
Heather Mills had been training for the Olympics, but even she got injured during the show
As Britain's still solitary Olympic ski-jumper Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards proved to us back in 1988, putting your feet on top of two bits of carbon fibre, keeping them in a straight line, then plunging down a vertiginous slope and hurling yourself into the air is all a bit harder than it looks.
The speed, the gravity, the weight and the impending impact at high speed would all suggest that this sport be reserved for seasoned practitioners. Nevertheless, the prospect of a jaunt in the snow, the chance to perfect(?) a new skill, some TV exposure and a not embarrassing pay cheque have all lured the unlikeliest of celebs from Nicky Clarke to Joe McElderry via Anthea Turner to join in 'The Jump'.
Unsurprisingly, the show has been cursed with injury, the most serious being Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle's accident for which she had to undergo neck surgery. Even seasoned skiers including Tara Palmer-Tompkinson and Made in Chelsea's Mark-Francis Vandelli hurt themselves. TV critic Kevin O'Sullivan termed the show "casualty porn".
However, not in defence of the show but perhaps an explanation as to how it made it past the planning stages to a full-blown primetime production, is that it is by no means the first TV show to defy all reasoning and make it from brainstorm to transmission... here are 6 others that are equally mind-boggling in concept: