18 Children’s Game Show Challenges That Would Not Pass Modern Safety Standards
Game shows have always intrigued children with their captivating storylines, interesting setups, and thrilling challenges. They have made many children dream of competing at such shows at least once in their lifetime. However, they may not fit well if we analyze them through modern safety standards. Here are 18 such challenges that pose safety concerns to the contestants.
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Slime Dunk Tank
Many people love playing with slime. But what if we told you that there used to be a show named ‘Double Dare’ that would dunk a literal human inside the slime tank? It was entertaining for the previous generation. But if seen from today’s perspective, it raises hygiene concerns, potential allergic reactions, and the risk of drowning or slipping.
Human Hamster Wheel
This game has been popular in playgrounds, but a show named ‘Fun House’ featured it prominently as a challenge to the people. Contestants would run inside large hamster wheels to generate points or move forward in the game. The main concern was that it increased the risks of falling, getting injured, or being unable to stop the wheel safely, which might scare one just by hearing.
Obstacles with Moving Parts
A show called Legends of the Hidden Temple often features obstacles with moving parts, like spinning platforms and swinging pendulums. While this may seem fun for adventure enthusiasts, it presents significant risks of physical injury from falls, collisions, or being struck by moving objects. Parents would not feel safe making their children do such activities.
Food Fights
Food fights were famous in shows like ‘Double Dare,’ where contestants would throw food items at each other. Now, such fights receive backlash for wasting food for stupid reasons and pose a risk of slipping. According to today’s standards, such competitions feel inappropriate and unethical. Parents wouldn’t want their children to learn this inappropriate behavior today.
Climbing Slippery Walls
Take oil and soap, pour them on a wall, and have contestants climb them. This is what folks in the management team of game shows would think earlier. Contestants were required to climb walls coated with slippery substances like oil or soap. While it encourages physical activity, it poses a risk of falls and injuries from attempting to scale such walls.
Balloon Pop Relay
In this competition, contestants ran in a set area, popping balloons with sharp objects. It may seem exciting and famous, as it was included in many parties. Still, people criticize it for perpetuating the risk of puncture wounds, tripping, or injury by flying balloon fragments.
Pie in the Face
Smashing pie or cake in the face has been a famous tradition; nowadays, it has also become popular for birthday parties. There used to be competitions that involved throwing cream pies at contestants. Many now feel that it created a mess and fostered the risk of choking or eye injuries from the whipped cream. Additionally, people criticize it for wasting food.
Water Slides
Water slides were one of the most fun summer activities. Game shows often featured water slides as obstacles. However, the underlying issues were the high-speed descents and the potential risk of crashing into other contestants.
Inflatable Bounce Challenges
It may look like fun to cross obstacles and reach the finish point without any issues, but reality hits differently, literally. Many courses were challenging for children and carried risks of suffocation, falls, and collisions. Today’s parents would not want to allow their children to do such activities, which can negatively affect their physical health.
Mud Pits
Did your mother ever yell at you for playing in the mud after a heavy rain? Children of previous decades were encouraged to participate in such competitions, where they would crawl through a mud pit. However, this presented hygiene concerns and the risk of infections or injuries from unseen objects.
Animal Interaction
Have you ever wanted to touch or interact with any wild animal in reality? Well, some game shows made this imagination of children come true, but it has now become a nightmare for today’s parents. Game shows often include live interaction with animals as part of the challenges, posing risks of bites, allergies, and unpredictable behavior. Additionally, with more wildlife conservation laws being implemented, such moments have become unacceptable in today’s era, keeping the child’s and the animal’s safety in mind.
High-Flying Stunts
Have you ever watched Nickelodeon GUTS? It featured children contestants flying out and performing stunts using harnesses and cables. Even though proper safety was used, today’s parents are still concerned about the complex rigging and the potential for falls or equipment failure. They believe such stunts should not be performed by a child who has not received any training and is solely dependent on harness cables.
Human Bowling
Bowling is a popular game around the world. Back then, game shows would add a twist that placed children’s health at risk. Children were told to play as bowling balls, being rolled into a set of pins. Today’s parents feel that it posed major safety concerns in the children’s lives as the risks of getting injured from being rolled or hitting the pins increased.
Speed Eating Contests
Have you ever competed with your siblings to see who would finish the food first? Many game shows use it as an actual competition for children. To win the contest, children would eat large amounts of food quickly, which could result in choking and digestive issues. Parents say that it also promotes unhealthy eating habits in children and that they should eat food to ‘finish’ rather than patiently chewing it to gain energy. Such behaviors are risky and would not be recommended today.
Treadmill Races
Imagine a child running on a fast treadmill, and now add the pressure of winning the competition. Sounds concerning? That’s what used to happen in game shows. They would make children race on treadmills, which posed high risks of falls and injuries from the moving belt. Younger children would not be able to maintain speed and body posture simultaneously, so today’s parents feel that these challenges are dangerous for their children.
Cannonball Splash
Have you seen those balls in the cannon that shoot up in the sky when igniting? That’s what TV Shows did in the past, but with contestants. And those contestants used to be children. They would launch children into the water via a cannonball-style device. Today’s parents would have raised their concerns about the high risks of impact injuries, drowning, or misjudging the trajectory.
Electric Shock Games
Some game shows included giving mild shocks to the children as part of the challenge or penalty. While this may have seemed okay in the past, it would have received criticism now for posing severe health risks and potential harm. Electric Shocks can cause serious functioning problems in the body, and with more regulations around them now, this would have been unacceptable.
Blindfolded Maze
Finding the route out of the maze is one of the most thrilling activities to enjoy, and blindfolded, finding someone is also adventurous. But what if a fusion of these two were created and a more challenging game was placed in front of the children? Children would have to navigate a maze while blindfolded, and obstacles in the path automatically posed injury risks from falling and colliding.
