Scrapheap Challenge

Scrapheap Challenge (known as Junkyard Wars in the United States) is a reality television program shown on the BBC and The Learning Channel. The game show features contestants using materials available in a junkyard[?] to build working machines that can do a specific task. At the end of each episode, the machines are pitted against each other in a contest to determine the winner.

Episodes generally consist of two four-person teams in competition, plus one or two hosts who usually consult with an "expert" judge who knows something about non-junk versions of the machines being constructed. Each team consists of three regular members, plus a fourth expert who usually has a better understanding of the class of machine being constructed for that episode.

The idea for the show came from a scene in the movie Apollo 13, where NASA engineers had only a short period of time to construct an air filter out of parts available on the space capsule.

Scrapheap Challenge originated on the BBC, but was imported to United States television under the name Junkyard Wars. Later, an American version of the show was created with the same name.

In the United Kingdom, the two programs have distinct names, but American audiences only see the Junkyard Wars title. Sometimes, video of the UK version is even edited to blot out the name Scrapheap Challenge.