Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars

Battle of the Stars
Structure Information
Number of Competing Robots	8
History
Number of times held	2
UK Series	9
UK Incumbent Champion	Arena Cleaner Kadeena Machina

Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars was a two-part Robot Wars miniseries originally broadcast on BBC Two in December 2016, filmed alongside the main Series 9. Each one-hour special featured four celebrity-lead teams competing against each other in a series of one-on-one battles.

Battle of the Stars was the second iteration of the Celebrity Robot Wars format, following on from the Celebrity Special aired during The Fourth Wars. Unlike the latter, each celebrity designed and fought with brand-new machines, rather than pairing up with existing competitor robots. Fittingly for its original UK broadcast, the miniseries adopted a clear Christmas theme, including the use of festive decorations, logo animations and House Robot statistic boards.

Since their initial airings, both episodes of Battle of the Stars have continued to enjoy occasional repeat runs alongside the main Revival Series, most recently on BBC Two between 5 December and 12 December 2020.

On 9 December 2022, the first episode was added to the Mech+ streaming service, with the second episode following on 16 December. This marked the first time that the complete Robot Wars UK Series (including the main Classic and Revival runs) was available on the service.

Format

The celebrities competed with Loanerbots built by Robo Challenge which the celebrities had designed themselves. Each was paired up with a veteran Robot Wars roboteer acting as a 'mentor', who helped repair the robots and gave advice throughout the competition process. The celebrities were often joined by family and friends to form a full team.

The event was split into two shows, each featuring four robots. Robots first competed in a round-robin tournament reminisent of the Head to Head stage in the main Series 8 and Series 9, where they would face each of their opponents in one-on-one battles split across three rounds. Points earned through victories would be accumulated to form a combined total in the League Table - three for a knockout and two for a win via a Judges' decision. The two robots with the highest scores in the League Table faced each other again in the Grand Final, to determine a Battle of the Stars champion for each episode.

Competitors

Celebrity	Occupation	Mentor	Robot
Scott Mills and Chris Stark	BBC Radio 1 DJs	Dave Moulds	Arena Cleaner
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock	Scientist, TV presenter	Shane Swan	Interstellar: MML
Jonathan and Alastair Brownlee	Triathletes	Gabriel Stroud	JAR
Suzi Perry and Dallas Campbell	TV presenters	Craig Danby	The Cat
Jordan Stephens	Rapper in duo Rizzle Kicks, actor	John Reid	Dee
Kadeena Cox	Paralympic runner/cyclist	Ellis Ware	Kadeena Machina
Robbie Savage	Football pundit and former player	Jason Marston	Robo Savage
Neil Oliver	Archaeologist, historian, author, TV presenter	Will Thomas	Soldier Ant

TV presenter and comedian Jonathan Ross was invited to compete, having previously expressed interest over Twitter, but could not participate due to filming taking place while he was working in Japan.

All of the celebrities controlled either the robot's drive or weapon during the competition, with the exception of Neil Oliver, as Soldier Ant's drive and weaponry were both operated by his two children, Teddy and Archie.

Episode 1

The celebrities in Episode 1

Main article: Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars/Episode 1

The first episode was the first of Series 9, airing on 28 December 2016. Repeats on Challenge began on 20 November 2018.

The competing celebrities were Scott Mills and Chris Stark (Arena Cleaner), Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock (Interstellar: MML), Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee (JAR), and Suzi Perry and Dallas Campbell (The Cat).

Episode 1
Arena Cleaner	Interstellar: MML	JAR	The Cat

Round 1 (Head to Head)

• Arena Cleaner vs Interstellar: MML: Arena Cleaner won by KO
• JAR vs The Cat: The Cat won by KO

Round 2 (Head to Head)

• Arena Cleaner vs The Cat: The Cat won by KO
• Interstellar: MML vs JAR: JAR won by Judges' decision

Round 3 (Head to Head)

• Interstellar: MML vs The Cat: Interstellar: MML won by KO
• Arena Cleaner vs JAR: Arena Cleaner won by KO

Grand Final

• Arena Cleaner vs The Cat: Arena Cleaner won

Episode 2

The celebrities in Episode 2

Main article: Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars/Episode 2

The second episode was aired on 29 December 2016.

The competing celebrities were Robbie Savage (Robo Savage), Jordan Stephens (Dee), Neil Oliver (Soldier Ant), and Kadeena Cox (Kadeena Machina).

Episode 2
Dee	Kadeena Machina	Robo Savage	Soldier Ant

Round 1 (Head to Head)

• Kadeena Machina vs Robo Savage: Kadeena Machina won by KO
• Dee vs Soldier Ant: Soldier Ant won by Judges' Decision

Round 2 (Head to Head)

• Robo Savage vs Soldier Ant: Robo Savage won by KO
• Dee vs Kadeena Machina: Kadeena Machina won by KO

Round 3 (Head to Head)

• Dee vs Robo Savage: Dee won by Judges' Decision
• Kadeena Machina vs Soldier Ant: Kadeena Machina won by KO

Grand Final

• Kadeena Machina vs Robo Savage: Kadeena Machina won

Gallery

Sir Killalot promotes the Christmas specials

Robot Wars - Battle of the Stars- Preview - BBC

Official Preview/Opening

Trivia

• All the robots featured the same battery, motors and Ragebridge speed controllers, and all robots bar Dee used the same set of two wheels, largely due to them being stock components ordered by Robo Challenge.
• The possibility of Battle of the Stars was first hinted at when audience ticket distributors Lost in TV first revealed that Series 9 would feature recording blocks featuring celebrities. Battle of the Stars was formally revealed by Radio Times on 22 November 2016. BBC Two confirmed this information on 24 November, revealing Scott Mills and Chris Stark as competitors.
• The Wilhelm scream stock sound effect can be heard multiple times throughout the specials; namely during the introduction of both episodes, and in Episode 2 during a clip of Shockwave pushing Carbide in the Series 8 Grand Final.
• During the 2018 Challenge repeats, Episode 1 was listed as Series 8, Episode 7.
• Apollo team captain Dave Young was initially set to take part in Battle of the Stars as one of the mentoring roboteers, though external commitments prevented him from doing so.

External Links

• Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars on Mech+