LAST night’s Guinness Football Challenge had the audience on the edge of their seats as four of the best teams from the series returned to go head to head, in the hope of being crowned Champion of Champions.
In Red were Joseph and Fenton from Kenya, winners of episode 6; the Blue team were Fredy Jordan and George from Tanzania who wowed audiences with their performance in episodes 4 and 5; in Green, representing Uganda were Greg Brian and Jonah who viewers will remember for their convincing win in episode 2; and in Black were last week’s winners, Matthias and Ian from Uganda, who were hoping to continue their winning streak. With USD60K up for grabs everyone wanted to win!
The episode kicked off with the Reds, Greens and Blacks all getting points on the board in the Picture Trivia round, but last week’s winners forged ahead in the Free Kick challenge taking their score to 6. The Ugandan team in Green scored 4 with the Kenyan team in Red scoring 2, meaning the Tanzanian team were the first to leave the show.
Round 2 saw the three trivia contestants closely matched in the Formation Round before their partners faced the Obstacle challenge, which had been expertly demonstrated by Jay Jay Okocha. Last week’s winners clocked an impressive 39 seconds round the course, making that the time to beat. The Ugandan team fumbled the ball going over the ramp leaving the competition wide open for the Kenyan team, who gave a great performance putting them into the semi finals alongside last week’s winners.
Last week’s winners, Matthias and Ian, put in a convincing performance in the semi final for the second week running, putting them 5-3 ahead of the Kenyan team and into the final to play the Guinness® Money Wall for the second time.
With USD60K up for grabs in the Guinness® Money Wall it was a tense Final Round, but they started off well, with Ian answering all the trivia questions correctly and Matthias hitting the first four targets from the first five balls. Matthias continued to show real dedication and talent when he became the first contestant in the series to hit the 5th target. They decided to play it safe and stick with USD20K, which added to their previous winnings, gives them a grand total of USD26K. Their impressive performance throughout and particularly in the Final Round proved that Matthias and Ian really did deserve their title of Champion of Champions.
The atmosphere in the studio was electric throughout the whole show as everyone cheered on their favourite teams. Host Larry Asego summed up the experience, “Over the last eight weeks, the Guinness Football Challenge TV show has celebrated East Africa’s passion for football in the definitive fan test. We have seen some exceptional contestants and some well deserved winners and given away an amazing USD68K! It has been an honour to be involved not just in the show, but also in such a great competition between three nations so passionate about football!”
The Season Finale will see the four football icons, who have appeared throughout the series, take part in the Guinness Football Challenge themselves.
Guinness Football Challenge will return in the New Year when Guinness is giving four lucky people the chance to star in the show alongside the four Guinness Football Challenge football icons. Jay Jay Okocha, Marcel Desailly, Rigobert Song and Kalusha Bwalya will be partnered with the top scoring consumers who have been planning the Guinness Football Challenge mobile game, who will have the chance to demonstrate their football knowledge to the nation. Make sure you play the game at m.guinnessvip.com between now and 25th December to be in with a chance of starring in the show. Please remember to drink responsibly, strictly 18+.