[1] The show's first series was shown on Wednesdays, presented by Gordon Burns and ran for eleven weeks, consisting of eight heats, two semi-finals and the final.

The show's second half was a "super round", which included a 3D maze, code cracking and a race up Mount Krypton, with accumulated points being exchanged for equipment to assist the contestants with the challenge.

However, the source of this story turned out to be a misinterpretation of comments by Wayne Garvie, head of BBC's Entertainment Group (and previously the last producer on The Krypton Factor), naming it as the next "TV gem" that "should" (rather than would) be revived.

[3] As part of their wider Business Brains campaign, The Sage Group funded the show's return, and in November, it was confirmed that Ben Shephard would host it.

Critical reception to the revival was poor, with UKGameshows stating, "It's hard to think of anything they've done differently this time where the change is an improvement"[7] The Guardian ultimately describes it as "like getting back together with an ex (drunkenly, on New Year's Eve).

In the Mental Agility and Observation rounds, the contestant who answered faster would sometimes be awarded the higher place; in other cases, a tiebreaker question was used.

Other forms of memory tests might require contestants to remember a phrase or proverb and answer a series of questions about it (e.g. "What was the fifth letter of the fourth word?"

Initially, the round consisted of a "knock-out" format, where contestants were asked increasingly difficult questions and eliminated for wrong answers.

Then, until 1987, the Mental Agility round alternated between the knock-out format (without tiebreaks) and a 45 or 50-second "speed test" where each player had to come up with as many correct answers as possible before time expired and could pass on any of them.

From 1988 onwards, the Mental Agility round consisted entirely of 40-second speed tests, and from 1991 to 1993, ties were broken by the time each player took to achieve their score.

They then had to run across a balance beam linked to the Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test, where they had to take a shape and place it into a corresponding space.

Some guests in then Sam Smith stories included Derek Griffiths, Matthew Kelly and Keith Chegwin, who all appeared in the series' final instalment.

1992 saw Dead Ringer, starring Tony Slattery, a thriller about a man suffering from amnesia trying to discover who he is whilst being hunted down by a hitman named Preston, played by Roger Lloyd-Pack.

In the original series, this pre-recorded segment involved the contestants racing to complete an army assault course at Holcombe Moor in Bury.

Another female contestant (Judith Stafford) in 1989 broke her ankle after landing badly on one of the obstacles (near the end of the course) but managed to complete the rest of the course and finish in third place.

A male contestant (Paul Evans) in 1991 who fell from the top of the A-frame net managed to not only complete the course but win the round despite suffering from shock due to his fall.

Another male contestant (Jon Johnson), this time in 1993, fell off the Burma rope bridge towards the end of the course, but luckily, he landed in the net below and was able to finish in second place.

Winners include Barbara Murray and Stuart Worthington (1986), Marian Chanter and Ted Daszkiewicz (1987), and Elizabeth Hayward and Alan Robbie (1988).

It is reputed that some of the intelligence tests featured took contestants hours to solve, with edited highlights of their performance in the round shown on the programme.

The players started at the same time and place and used their points from the first five rounds to buy advantages, such as directional arrows in the Rings, completed words at the computer (in Heat 2 of Group C, an easier path through the Laser Matrix), batons already removed from the Response Revolve, or ladder pieces already built.

Heat 1 contestant Simon Evans was disqualified as he had prematurely proceeded from the Laser Matrix computer having mistakenly thought he completed all four words when he hadn't (he produced a "j" instead of an "h" in the third word; Penny told him about his disqualification at the top of the Krypton Mountain) and in Heat 2 the following week, contestant Alison Riley was disqualified as she had forcibly pulled out batons from the Response Revolve when their adjacent lights weren't flashing and unlike Evans, she was edited out of the remainder of the round after she had begun her ascent on the ladder and a replay was shown of her illegal move.

The series was based on a similar structure to the adult version but with simpler intelligence tasks and a shorter obstacle course (located at The American Adventure Theme Park near Nottingham, owned by the Granada Group at the time) in place of the Physical Ability round.

Also, in the 1988 Grand Final, Ross King presented a special trophy to Phillip Westwick, who completed the adventure course in the fastest time.

Made in the UK and presented by Gordon Burns, the episode featured Marian Chanter and Alison Heath, winner and runner-up respectively of the UK Krypton Factor Grand Final 1987 and John Cargill and Christopher Connolly, winner and runner-up respectively of the Australia & New Zealand Krypton Factor 1987 final.

[citation needed] Adrenalin in North Yorkshire markets itself as the home of the obstacle course from the TV series, which offers paying public a chance to take on the Assault course.

[11] Demon Wheelers have developed a team-building event based around the rounds from The Krypton Factor[12] TV series and incorporating an inflatable assault course.

[citation needed] The New Zealand version of The Krypton Factor ran from 1987 to 1991 on TVNZ and TV2 and was hosted by veteran presenter Dougal Stevenson.

Even after the axing of the 2009 revival (due to lack of funding), there were plenty of references to The Krypton Factor, especially as one of the prizes on The All-New Blockbusters (hosted by Simon Mayo).

Ironically, in the same year, the "1" and the "2" in the logo for the London 2012 Olympics had accidentally referred to the show, as fans pointed out its similarities to the very first Krypton Factor "K" from the early 1980s.

A deleted scene from the ITV variety series It'll Be Alright on the Night made it to many compilations; it showed Ben Shephard biting his tongue after he accidentally said "two points for second" instead of fourth.