Pay TV - Sunday, February 14
The Age
Thursday February 11, 2010
Tough Guy or Chicken?BBC Knowledge, 8.30pmAT FIRST it looks like this might just be a big-budget BBC version of Jackass but there's actually a bit more to it. Five fit British blokes (including a fireman, a swimmer and a professional dancer) are travelling the world to see if they can cut it in tough environments and jobs, both traditional and modern. Tonight, they're in the Siberian Arctic (pictured) to have a go at being old-school reindeer herders. In freezing temperatures that turn eyelashes white with ice, they have to learn to ride reindeer, handle reindeer sleds, eat raw reindeer brains, fish in frozen rivers and sit up all night keeping watch for wolves. The toughest challenge of all, though, is castrating reindeer the old-fashioned way €” with your teeth. How on earth will vegetarian Ben cope? It's interesting to learn about the places the Brits visit and to see how they handle themselves during their ordeals. Tonight's fun fact: reindeer consider human urine a salty treat. The sight of a herd of the beasts practically falling over each other in a rush to gobble up yellow snow will stay with me for quite a while.Boys and Girls AloneLifeStyle, 8.30pmTHIS fascinating little Lord of the Flies series takes an interesting turn tonight when each of the villages (one of nine boys, one of 10 girls) is given several hundred quid with which to go shopping. The catch is that they're a long way from the nearest town and they have to direct their adult minibus drivers using a map €” after 45 minutes the girls have only managed to get 300 metres from their front gate. Once they reach the shops, the boys display some disappointing short-term thinking. They quickly spend 150 ($270) on toys and snacks to scoff on the spot but only take home groceries that work out to 1 per boy per day. Just as interesting as the chaos of the children's villages are the segments in which the parents reflect on what they've learnt about their own children from watching events unfold on camera. Tonight, there's also a fine example of how people's memories of even the most recent events can quickly become so distorted that they bear no resemblance to what actually happened.Naked Science: FireworksNational Geographic, 5.30pmA GOOD, solid primer on the fireworks caper, with all the chemistry and stuff clearly explained.Worth a lookSecret History of Diamonds (National Geographic, 8.30pm)Inside the Actors Studio: Matt Damon (Bio, 7.30pm)Biography: Joan Collins (Bio, 8.30pm)
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