Cannonball

Genre	Game show
Presented by	Andrew Flintoff
Starring	Frankie Bridge Radzi Chinyanganya Ryan Hand Maya Jama
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Running time	60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companies	Potato and Talpa
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	2 September (2017-09-02) – 31 December 2017 (2017-12-31)
Related
Australian version American version

Cannonball is a British game show, hosted by Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff with Frankie Bridge, Radzi Chinyanganya, Ryan Hand and Maya Jama as poolside reporters, which first aired on 2 September 2017 on ITV. The show features 24 contestants of all ages taking on four games in a bid to win gold, silver and bronze medals. The top three contestants with the most medals go through to the final to play for the Cannonball Cup. Flintoff is the main presenter and narrator, whilst Bridge, Chinyanganya, Hand and Jama are down by the games speaking to the contestants.

Format

The format for the show is a franchise that originated in the Netherlands by Talpa, which has also been produced in Australia. The British version started filming in Valletta, Malta from late April 2017.^[1]

Qualifying rounds

Blob: One or two people weighing two and a half times the person's body weight jumps from a tower onto an inflatable blob. The aim is to get as high as possible.^[2]
Knockout: Contestants roll down a ramp wearing an inflatable ball suit, and they must knock over as many bowling pins as they can.
Skimmer: Two contestants at a time go down a 14-meter slide on body boards. The aim is to get the finish line the quickest.
Jump: Two contestants at a time go down a 14-meter ramp on body boards. The aim is to achieve the greatest distance in the air.

The Final: Swing to Win

The final is split into three rounds:

Round 1: Swing from a 9-meter high podium into a target made up of 150,000 table tennis balls coloured by lights. There are five colours, with each colour getting smaller but representing more points. Purple is worth 1 point, white is worth 2, green is worth 3, blue is worth 4 and yellow is worth 5 points.
Round 2: It's the same as before, but this time the bullseye (yellow) is moving across the target.
Round 3: It's the same as before, but this time all the coloured circles move around and the yellow bullseye is worth 10 points.

Broadcast history

Series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1^[3]	2 September 2017	21 October 2017	8

Specials

Date	Title
24 December 2017	Christmas Special
31 December 2017	Splash Hits

U.S. version

Main article: Cannonball (American game show)

An American version of Cannonball, simulcast on the USA Network and NBC, premiered on June 29, 2020. It is hosted by WWE wrestler The Miz and former Entertainment Tonight correspondent Rocsi Diaz, with comedian Simon Gibson as the sideline reporter.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Reception

Sam Wollaston for The Guardian gave it a positive review saying "ITV's new water-park show may lack the sophistication of BBC's Total Wipeout – but when it comes to stripping people of their dignity, it wins hands down."^[7]