Nous sommes les champions

A refreshing, uplifting show that has come out just as we are all getting fed up with bad news in 2020. I like the way it celebrates all these quirky people and doesn't make fun of them. This show is sincere but still tongue-in-cheek and very entertaining to watch. It's not really about competitions, it's about passionate, interesting people. Really good viewing and just what we need right now.

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.

This show is a bit of an undiscovered beauty I feel. If you know who the narrator Rainn Wilson is then that should tell you a little of what to expect.

The shots are stunning but it's got a cheeky, self-deprecating tone that makes it a great light-hearted watch.

There's some really sweet moments with AMAZING characters.

The Hairstyling episode had some lines I'll never forget!

A Netflix win.

Amazing vignettes about quirky people participating in quirky competitions. Wonderfully shot, with fantastic narration by Rainn Wilson.

That said, there's a moment, around the 6:30 mark of the second episode, that is so eye-rollingly cringe, you'll break out in a slow clap. The pretentiousness displayed was pure lolz.

Other than that, an engaging series. Hopefully there will be more episodes to come

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.