The short cut idea was a bad idea.
Did the show get easier though. hhmmm tough one. A lot of people say that series 3 was the hardest, certainly no one won, and only 3 out of 12 teams made it into level 3.
Out of those 9 teams that didn't make it to level 3, 5 of them made it to level 2, and 4 didn't.
Lets have a look at those 4 teams deaths who died in level 1.
1st team:
Team 1: Gavin, Tom, Craig and Brian from Uddingston
Quest for the Sword : Duration 11mins
OK they died on the Serpent's tongue, and were let off, and then died on the quicksand. "Our directional sense was poor" admits Gavin Gillespie, who was the dungeoneer in this team. A poor team (although I don't like to say that as they did get onto the show,) having died twice on level 1, I think they were a poor team. However not the worst in this series.
The 2nd team:
Team 5: James, Philip, Pulok and Jamie from Ipswich
Quest for the Shield : Duration 13mins
OK died on the floor ledge. Again another poor team.
3rd team:
Team 7: Kelly, Emma, Sarah and Tami from Norfolk-on-Sea
Quest for the Shield : Duration 17mins
They needed a crayon but despite getting 2 out of 3 on the level 1 wall monster, didn't get an obvious hint on what to take.
4th and final team:
Team 8: Douglas, Richard, Derek and Matthew from Weston-Super-Mare
Quest for the Crown : Duration 13mins
Rearrange the following words to make a well known sentance.
Tell there snake Motley pool the in a is.
(OK not that well known, but you get the idea.)
Again I don't like to say it but this was quite a poor team. I do wonder how the team got onto the show. Imagine if you were another team who also applied and didn't get onto the show, and had been beaten by that lot. (Although as I didn't have to make the decision perhaps its easy for me to say that.)
In summary I think 3 of these 4 teams were quite poor, and 1 team was perhaps unlucky.
Out of the teams that made it to level 3, Martin and Leo got the frustest and didn't know the answer to one question. That undid them. Ross's team were quite good (no I am not THAT Ross,) (that was put in for avoidance of doubt, I myself didn't ever go on Knightmare nor even apply for it) (hey I was 11 when it went off the air, and although the minimum age for applying was 11, more often people were either 13 or 14.) Yes as I was saying Ross's team were quite good, but panicked a bit when the sword chased them.
I can't help but feel that Martin and Leo would have won if they had been on the show in the later seasons.
Scott's team (team 9) who died at Merlin were unlucky in my opinion. I think most people would answer day instead of dawn when asked "what follows night." And it was a great jump, although he wasn't quite straight when he jumped, hense he went of to the side.
Julies team (team 10)were perhaps unlucky. Again they didn't know the answer to one question from Merlin. And perhaps the goblins could be nice for once wouldn't hurt would it.
Finally Chris's team (team 12) couldn't complete the dungeon as they had ran out of time.
Cliff's team (team 2) "hey cliff, don't fall over the Cliff" (sorry just makes me laugh) did they use the dance spell too quickly. I guess they could have used the spell then disspell. However its fair to say that the advisors have to guide Cliff out of the room, and therefore perhaps they didn't hear what McGrew was saying.
Wow this was only meant to be about the 4 teams that died at level 1, but I have now mentioned every team but 1. Might as well mention it then.
Team 3: Simon, Claire, Debra and Mark from Horsham
Quest for the Crown : Duration 20 mins
That star thing they had was difficult to use, but nevertheless it was obvious that Simon (or was it his advisor) couldn't tell his left from his right, and they only escaped the bomb room. They did get to level 2, but I think this team wouldn't have won.