I can’t recall what drew me to this – although my watching history does seem to point to the fact that if left to my own devices, I’ll sniff out odd documentary series. In this case, it was a 6-part investigation of “ordinary people” and the unusual hobbies they get passionate about – narrated by Rainn Wilson doing a Kevin Spacey impression. The first episode and probably the high-profile one followed the Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling at Coopers’ Hill – an event I’ve been to and which you’d THINK I’d have written a blogpost about, but, turns out not. It’s an exercise in fundamentally perilous stupidity – carried out over decades (possibly centuries, although the documentary makes it clear that the locals aren’t THAT interested or aware of the history… just that there is some)… the documentary follows a few people whose lives involve competing in some way, and you find yourself gunning for them.
The remaining episodes look into Chilli Eating, Competitive Hairstyling, Yo-yo, Dog Dancing (it’s huge in Russia, turns out), and probably most bizarrely, Frog Jumping. 👍
