I'm team captain from team 5, series 5, and although Jenna's done some excellent explaining already, I thought I'd post a few of my own comments here.
Firstly - to the person who said they didn't like either of the teams on episode 9 - thanks. Nice to have positive feedback.
So, here are a few points which contributed to Jenna's death...
1) I had poor eyesight but only found out a few years later, and have had to wear glasses ever since. The screen is a hell of a long way away too, so you really have to strain to see what's going on - coupled with my bad vision, I really couldn't make out that floor puzzle. For what it's worth, the sound quality there was also bad, and you couldn't make out what people were saying a lot of the time.
2) Like Jenna said, it's disjointed. The scenes were shot one at a time, with an hour break inbetween each. It was 5 o'clock on a Monday evening, we were all exhausted, and we CERTAINLY didn't expect to be confronted with a floor puzzle as our last scene of the day!
3) I didn't know Kelly and Anna very well, but Kelly was the only person in my YEAR willing to go on the show with us. She dragged along her quiet friend Anna who'd never seen the programme before. All 4 of us were shy types, and none of us were outspoken. We didn't know eachother well, so the communication wasn't likely to be great!
4) When faced with the 'path of aggression or path of defence', naturally we selected the latter. We couldn't see that well because Jenna was stood in the way, but that second symbol looked like a Frightknight's helmet from where I was sat. They cut it out, but Kelly and I both agreed that's what it was, and that we should head for the sword. We were also under a lot of pressure from Treguard who kept telling us to hurry. (Also edited out.)
Under any other circumstances, when teams are faced with a Frightknight symbol (over a door for example) they are meant to avoid it. We did too, thinking it was a safe bet to take the sword symbol - after all, you defend yourself with a sword. There ARE times in the dungeon when taking a weapon can be acceptable - ie. an arrow for Gwendoline.
But the producer had obviously decided to throw us in at the deep end, because that was probably the hardest out of the hexagon floor puzzles (in my opinion). If we'd been given the pattern on a plate (earth wind fire, rock paper scissors) I think we'd have made it accross. Other teams also struggled on that particular one.
If the next team do well, it's because we gave them quite a few hints before they filmed. I still keep in touch with Ray from the team before, he's a really nice bloke. I don't see Kelly much, and I've heard Anna (the quiet one) is now a policewoman. Who'd have thought!
Always happy to talk Knightmare with anyone. Any questions gladly answered. I have some wonderful photos at home, but have never scanned them. I was also responsible for some of the illustations in Knightmare Knews, which can be seen on the Knightmare website.
So then, it's nice to meet you all!
Andrea
www.faceparty.com/grohlsguitar
