====== Cleanup Crew ======

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===== History =====

Cleanup Crew is a game show that debuted in 2106, and was initially aimed at young high school age viewers. It was invented by {zchannel:forth} as a revival of older game shows that they had produced, following in the footsteps of {zshow:iz}. As the initial concept for the show had an environmental/science slant, {zchar:rish} was selected to host it.

After an initial short run of episodes, the studio found that they were getting a lot of applications from students in college as well as school-agers, and so they ran a series with older contestants alongside the regular programme the next year, dubbing it the Cleanup Crew College Couples Challenge.

===== Format =====

{{:shows:cc1.png?nolink&400 |}}The show is set in a location called the Toxic Caves below some anonymous factory, with most games aiming to retrieve items from the gunge or drain it from tanks (often on to other players). It plays out on a large inflatable arena with two rivers of gunge lying across it in a T shape, and a deeper circular pool where the channels meet. Throughout the games, additional gunge can be dropped from a set of containers suspended from the studio's roof rack.

Two teams of two young contestants compete against each other in various games to accumulate gunge, which is used throughout the show as a visual representation of points. The more points collected, the greater an advantage they will have in the final game where they compete for the chance to drop a chosen adult accompanying them into the Gunge Plunge, the show's central slime vat.

The score is kept at a set of podiums at the front of the set, which can be wheeled away during physical rounds on the inflatable arena. Players return here for the questions rounds between games - each team has a large graduated cylinder on their side of the set that fills with more gunge the more points they get.

===== Games =====

Each episode consists of four physical games and two questions rounds, concluding with the Gunge Plunge.

==== First Cleanup ====

The show opens straight into a game without being introduced. The members from each team have to take it in turns to get down into the central moat of gunge and find various pieces of scrap hidden underneath, with their current target being displayed on the screen at the back of their half of the set. Once they've found it, they have to hook it on to the pole being held by their partner on dry land, who will then swing it around to drop it into their coloured dumpster at the front of the set. After this, the team members change positions and hunt for the next piece.

15 points are awarded for each piece of junk collected before time runs out.

==== Introduction ====

After the first game, the teams are brought down to the podiums at the front of the set and introduced to the audience. The adult nominees for the Gunge Plunge are brought in shackled to large boulder props, and the teams get to make their case for why each of them should be gunged.

==== Second cleanup: The gunge tanks ====

<WRAP box left>{{:shows:ccgunge.jpg?nolink&400|}}</WRAP>The Cleanup Crew gunge tanks are a pair of booths connected side by side, with a section on top that stores two large tapered tanks of slime that match the team colours. One member from each team is seated inside each booth, and the games played using them involve the other team member trying to help their partner avoid being gunged. The gunge above a team member gets turned on briefly for minor mistakes during the game, but will empty on to them completely if they lose the game. Jets of foam spurt into the tank from the bottom to accompany the main gunging, similar to {zshow:iz}'s [[izgames:The Mixer|Mixer]].

**Number Line**

Each player stands in a mine cart that they can move along a rail of numbers from 0-100 on the floor. A question with an answer that's almost impossible to know for certain is asked - for example, the percentage of people who own a mobile phone or who regularly use the recycling at the supermarket. The two players have to move their carts to the number they think is right, then the answers is revealed and the gunge tank is set off for the team whose guess was further away. Each player has two chances with small payloads of gunge before the third mistake triggers the bigger gunging.

**Spark Wire**

The free players are fitted with helmets with prongs sticking up to form almost a complete circle with a gap at the top. Wearing these, they have to navigate an inflatable course with their loops hooked over rails that are suspended from the ceiling. If the loop touches the rail, the gunge is activated above their partner. However, the players can't go too carefully - the first player to complete the course gets to pull a lever to set off the rest of the gunge above the player on the losing team.

**Target Triggers**

The players stand one on each side of the central gunge channel, with a supply of slime-filled balloons each. They have to throw them up to try to burst against a set of six targets mounted on a basketball-style backboard above the opposing thrower. The aim is to be the first to hit all six targets before the other team does, therefore setting their gunge tank off. However, missing the targets and hitting the backboard will pour gunge on to their own partner instead.

==== Question Rounds ====

Two questions rounds are played - one after the second game and one after the third. A player from each team is selected to answer questions against the other, while the other sits under a barrel of gunge in front of the podiums. The host asks a series of questions that the players can buzz in to answer - a correct answer will make their overhead barrel pour ten points' worth of gunge into their cylinder, but a wrong answer will drop the gunge on their partner instead.

Once in each round, players can also pull the lever on their podium to force the other player to answer the question. If they get it wrong, their partner is gunged and twenty points are awarded to the team that pulled the lever - but if they get it right, they get the extra points and gunge the partner of the nominating team.

==== Third Cleanup ====

After the first questions round, a third physical game is played, with the team member who was not in the gunge tank in the previous physical game in danger of most of the gunge this time.

Following the third cleanup, a second questions round is played before the final game, with the other team members at the podiums.

==== Final Cleanup ====

The last physical game can be combined with the Gunge Plunge or played separately. Here, the adult nominee from the opposing team often joins up with each team to make a final push for edging their score total ahead, making sure the other nominee is sent to the gunge vat.

==== The Gunge Plunge ====

Finally, the team with the most points get to pull the lever to drop their chosen adult into the vat of slime at the centre of the set, submersing them fully in the gunge. This is done in a few different setups, often using an inflatable slide with gunge released above its length as they're tipped down it.

===== Influences =====

Cleanup Crew came from a jetlagged dream Iron-K had where {zchar:rachel} and her younger sister (later named {zchar:uma}) were competing in a game on an inflatable arena, with the sister's aim being to drop Rachel in a vat of gunge. It was written to explore more games played against opponents, which had drifted into Industrial Zone but didn't fully fit with the format of the show.

The final Gunge Plunge was obviously inspired by Get Your Own Back, with shades of Pump It Up and Run the Risk for the inflatable arena and games.

===== Stories =====

Two full episodes of Cleanup Crew have been written, along with a couple of side scenes.

{zshowstories:cc}