![Most viewed clip from cancelled noughties TV show shows why Brits can't believe it was ever allowed to air](https://images.ladbible.com/resize?type=webp&quality=70&width=3840&fit=contain&gravity=auto&url=https://images.ladbiblegroup.com/v3/assets/bltcd74acc1d0a99f3a/bltecf8bde7a63457b2/66ba5a9d0d31badd6c4d8b46/cancelled-uk-show.png)
If you were conscious and within the vicinity of a television in the noughties then there's a good chance you watched Balls of Steel, a controversial prank show that's had some people wondering how it was ever allowed in the first place.
In fairness to Balls of Steel, it was the sort of show that was on very late at night on TV and made no bones about what sort of programme it was.
It wasn't the sort of show you'd accidentally stick on while channel hopping after Coronation Street was finished.
Advert
The series boasted a roster of comedians and pranksters who'd go play tricks on the unsuspecting public, though it was later revealed that in many cases the people they picked on had been set up by their friends.
If you'd like to reacquaint yourself with the show you can see the whole thing on Channel 4's streaming platform All4.
![This is what we did for fun back in the noughties, we watched a man throw burgers at people. (Channel 4)](https://images.ladbible.com/resize?type=webp&quality=70&width=3840&fit=contain&gravity=auto&url=https://images.ladbiblegroup.com/v3/assets/bltcd74acc1d0a99f3a/bltc139c62b711da14e/66ba5a21abd18768d083d47c/Screenshot_2024-08-12_195242.png)
While my personal favourite was 'The Annoying Devil', the most popular clips the show has stuck on YouTube are from 'Neg's Urban Sports' where comedian Neg Dupree would come up with a series of games to play on members of the public.
Advert
To again name my personal favourite, I was always partial to his game of 'knock and don't run', which is pretty self-explanatory.
The most popular YouTube clip is of 'Burger Bowl Off', which is basically just throwing fast food out of a car and at people's heads.
What follows is a series of incidents where Neg does exactly that, and people react pretty much as you'd expect to having a burger lobbed at their head by a stranger.
I'm not sure how much things have changed in the world of television since the noughties, but a show where a guy throws fast food at people's heads in public seems like it'd be a weird pitch these days.
It was a different time back then, you had shows like You Are What You Eat where a woman would look at people's poo and give them dietary advice based on it.
Advert
There was Fat Families where Stephen Miller would come out with introductions like: "Too much time sat on their fat bums, that's their problem, plain and simple.
"If they don't pull out their chubby fingers they'll be on their way to an early grave."
Balls of Steel had its own fair share of controversy as Tom Cruise called the people behind the show 'jerks' after they squirted him with water on the red carpet, and when they did the same to Sharon Osbourne she tipped a bucket of water over someone's camera.
As you can imagine, OFCOM got quite a few complaints over the show back in the day and Balls of Steel had to clarify a few things, such as stressing that The Annoying Devil had not thrown real vomit onto people.