WINDHAM – Sierra Yost, a Windham eighth-grader, learned recently she doesn’t like the taste of shaving cream.

Also, she thinks rabid chickens are a little crazy. And maybe a little funny, too.

Yost and two of her Windham Middle School classmates, Eric Webb and Elliot Clark, learned about rabid chickens and cream pies as contestants on a new game show featured on WPXT called “Kick Start Maine.” The half-hour show will feature the all-Windham cast at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10.

Kick Start – the creation of host John Marshall – pits Maine eighth-graders against each other in a trivia show Marshall describes as “Double Dare” meets “Jeopardy!”

It’s similar to “Double Dare,” the popular 1980s and ’90s kids game show that had contestants wading through all sorts of goo, in that the show features some gross components, as losers – and winners if they want to play along – get cream pies in the face. The pies come courtesy of Danger the Rabid Chicken, a man-sized chicken who, along with Jose the Badly Animated Worm and Narm the Donkey, are the show’s mascots and funnymen.

But the gross parts, Marshall said, are limited. Most of the show is about quizzing the contestants on random subjects found on the Maine Educational Assessment test.

In their episode, taped last month, the Windham kids compete in fast-action trivia and a timed challenge in which the contestants are given materials to build a contraption, which in the Nov. 10’s show’s case will allow contestants to shoot marshmallows into a bowl.

Clark, who said the experience of being on the show was “pretty fun,” was especially interested in learning about the operation of a TV show.

“It definitely gave me a different perspective of how things are behind the scenes,” said Clark, who along with Webb is also a member of the eighth-grade football team. “The acoustic foam on the ceiling, the camera rigs, all sorts of stuff you wouldn’t know about just watching at home. So that was interesting.”

The trivia questions were hard, all three contestants agreed, but also memorable, such as the one Clark got right pertaining to the location of nautical starboard.

“I’ve spent a lot of time on a boat so I knew that one,” he said.

Webb knew the question asking contestants the correct name of the state nicknamed The Granite State.

“I used to live in Stratham, outside Portsmouth, so I knew that it was New Hampshire,” Webb said.

Yost, who said most of the questions were “really random,” had a good time, except for the rabid chicken, which spends most of the show in his coop but comes out to throw the dreaded cream pies.

“Danger the Rabid Chicken, he’s nuts. He made me really nervous,” she said. “He pretended to (throw a pie at me) several times, and I flinched every time. It was really funny. But it tastes disgusting. They handed me a towel but I immediately took a shower when I got home. It was gross.”

The show, which began airing Sept. 15 on WPXT, which is also the local CW affiliate, is Channel 12 on cable or Channel 51.1 over the air. The all-Windham show will run several times during the following week.

Each week, new shows are taped, with the all-Windham cast show taped two weeks ago for the Nov. 10 airing. The 13-episode season runs through Dec. 15. Auditions for Season 2 will take place in December.

Aside from the fun, the show has a significant pay-off for the overall winner. The winners of each of the 13 episodes meet later this month for semifinals and finals to determine the season’s winner. That lucky eighth-grader will receive a $5,000 NextGen College Investing Plan provided by the show’s sponsors: the University of Maine system and Sanford Institute for Savings.

Marshall, who is the show’s creator, producer and host, said he started the show to get the station more active in the community and to allow kids a fun chance to get on TV.

“This is a huge fun thing, and the kids that have been on, they just say it’s a very fun thing to be a part of,” he said. “Your friends and family get to see you on TV, and really, there aren’t many opportunities for kids to be on TV, so we wanted to provide that.”

The show, whose set is a brightly colored barnyard scene, is designed to bring levity as well, and the pies and various animals are part of that fun, which is especially appreciated by the contestants, he says.

“I think this is the first rabid chicken to be on television. I’m not sure, but I feel kind of safe saying that,” Marshall said. “And the pies, well, it’s a very old gag going back to the beginning of television. And the kids love it. At that age, they’re game for anything, which is why we picked that age group. Their lives, especially in school, are very safe, but the show, it’s a little bit messy and they seem to like it that way.”

The all-Windham episode on Nov. 10, Marshall said, is to honor “the amazing response” Windham has shown in the show. Marshall credits “somebody at Windham Middle School” for posting the casting call for auditions, which took place in September shortly after school began. Of the 50 eventual contestants from schools throughout Maine, 18 have been from Windham.

“Originally, we were only going to pick one contestant from each of the schools,” Marshall said. “But Windham really responded so they’ve had quite a few take part and are getting their own show.”

Contestants, from left, Eric Webb, Sierra Yost and Elliot Clark,
all Windham Middle School students, participate in the new “Kick
Start Maine” game show on WPXT airing Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7:30
p.m. The new show is part “Double Dare” and part “Jeopardy!” and
features random trivia questions testing contestants’ knowledge.
(Courtesy photos)
Described by host John Marshall as a high school dropout who is
mad at the world, Danger the Rabid Chicken, seen above, is meant to
taunt contestants and then throw cream pies in their faces.