Dutch Robot Wars (known as Robot Wars: The Dutch Battles in the Netherlands) was the Dutch version of the British television game show, Robot Wars. It was broadcast by the BNN network on the Nederland 2 TV channel from 2001 to 2003. The show ran for two series, which were filmed alongside Series 5 and 6 of the UK version. Despite being made for a Dutch audience, recorded in the Dutch language and featuring mainly Dutch competitors, the series was actually filmed in the main Robot Wars TV studio in London, with the battles taking place in the main Robot Wars Arena. The series also featured many robots from Belgium (as the two countries share the same robot combat association), with the highest placed representative from each series being crowned the Belgian champion.
Qualifiers for the series took place in Eindhoven. This took the form of a simple demonstration process, similar to the selections for UK Series 2 and 3. As there were so few robots available, every robot that was able to move, while being within the weight limit was automatically accepted for the series. Despite this, Marien van der Meer claimed in the original Robot Wars Magazine that 106 entries attempted to qualify for the first series, with 30 being selected to compete.[1]
Presenters
Both series of Dutch Robot Wars were presented by Rob Kamphues, with Bridget Maasland as the pit reporter. Eric Corton provided commentary for both series.
Format
Each series of Dutch Robot Wars featured five heats, with the five heat winners advancing to the Grand Final. In the first series each heat featured six robots. The first round was a series of three one-on-one battles, with a "Losers Melee" deciding which defeated robot from the first round would reach the second round. In the second series each heat featured eight robots, with a more traditional knock-out format determining the heat winner.
The Grand Final was made up of the five heat winners and a number of "wildcards", chosen from the defeated robots by the show's producers. The Series 1 Grand Final featured just one wildcard, and the six robots were split into two battles to determine the final four competitors. The Series 2 Grand Final featured three wildcards, and the eight robots battled each other in a simple knock-out format to decide the champion.
Dutch Champions
These are the champions, runners-up and semi-finalists of the two series of Dutch Robot Wars, as well as the Belgian Champions.
| Series | Winner | Runner-up | Semi-Finalists | Belgian Champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dutch Robot Wars: Series 1 | Slicer | Lizzard | Bamm Bamm, Botwork | Pika 2 |
| Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2 | PulverizeR | Philipper 2 | Bamm Bamm, Scrap-2-Saur | Philipper 2 |
Trivia
- Unlike the other versions of Robot Wars, robots competing in the Dutch series did not have their name and the team's hometown announced upon entering the arena.
References
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