We Are the Champions

I wasn't expecting much from this Netflix documentary series about obscure competitive events but that first episode about the cheese rolling got me hooked. It's a curious rural pass time well-known to people nationally (and locally to me) and seeing it with an expensive slo-mo filter and big fancy cameras gave it a sort of wild and hilarious grandeur that I found really charming. It doesn't necessarily reach those giddy heights (not aiming for wordplay there) again but the formula is an engaging one. Wittily edited with a sort of rousingly droll narration by Rainn Wilson and with a lush documentarian-style focus - as an anthology format it was excellent. The virus world might have put a damper on these sort of niche crowd events to prevent us getting another series but I'd certainly watch more, there are no end to these manner of strange competitive events the world over and if a producer is listening LOOK UP SOMERSET CARNIVAL CLUBS.

After watching the trailer, I told my husband we should definitely watch this show because for sure we would "pee" ourselves laughing. To my surprise what I expected to be an hilarious show, turned out to be such a lovely story about different dreams, life purposes an out of the ordinary ride to the passions of other people. Instead of laughing out loud, I found myself cheering for pretty much everyone who appeared in each episode. The narrator (Rainn Wilson) tells the story brilliantly and in the end of each episode you find yourself smiling at the tv and really meaning a "good for them".

I was put off after a couple of episodes. It felt really insulting, but in that disguised and nasty way - not obvious but subtly depreciatory and belittling to the real people involved. The narrator was annoying.

I read the reviews before I wrote this and agree with the Cheese Rolling being the best episode. I can not believe anybody would give this 8, 9 or 10 stars. Perhaps the positive reviews came from family or friends with those involved?

The Cheese Rolling was fun and I would watch more of that. I must agree with another review I read and confirm it felt like a college video. A bit amateur. I found myself reading wikipedia to get info about this activity because the episode was useless in this respect.

Regarding episode 2, this was an opportunity to help chili eating be taken seriously and there was something very strange about the chili episode. It felt like it was all about promoting an American chili queen and did not focus enough on the actual winner called Dustin. Quite obvious this episode was all about America, Ed Currie and the new 'underdog' star of the whole episode the US chili queen much like an advert. Unfortunately there were only a handful of actual known chili eaters in this contest which made it lack validity. The show hyped up some people who were not very good at actually eating peppers and did not come close to winning.

I watched around 10 minutes of episode 3 and decided to stop watching any more of this series.

Great antidote to the lockdown blues, pacey, fun and lighthearted. Don't take any notice of reviews from those who take their 'communities' too seriously! Watch it for what it is and smile 😊

This show has found the sweetspot between tension and humour, insight and storytelling, and info and entertainment. Regardless of the subject matter, the each episode discovers a niche and has fun digging deep and revealing each layer one at a time, executed in the most charming way. Can't get enough of this whimsical antidote to the most ridiculous year we've had.

Brilliant and highly recommend giggle and tears inviting viewing!