Following the popularity of the past four years, UKTV channel Gold has announced the return of its annual national joke competition to discover the best new Christmas cracker gags – covering all the ups and downs of 2017, as written by the British public.
Last year’s winning one-liner was political pun “How will Christmas dinner be different after Brexit? No Brussels.”, with 2015’s top spot being taken by “Why does Ed Milliband like advent calendars? He gets to open the door to number 10”.
For a fifth year, TV channel Gold is launching a competition encouraging the nation to get creative with a Christmas twist on the events of the past year, from pop culture and politics to sports and celebrities, with the aim of getting the country in the festive spirit for the holiday season!
Brits pull 300 million crackers on Christmas Day and it’s Gold’s mission to keep the laughs fresh with new topical, seasonal gags.
The competition is open until 11.59pm on Sunday 29th October 2017, and can be entered by tweeting new, original and funny Christmas jokes with the hashtag #GoldCrackers.
The winner will receive £1,500 holiday vouchers, as well as having their joke included in their own personalised set of crackers ready to pull on the Christmas day. The nine runners-up will each receive a festive Christmas hamper, and a box of bespoke Gold Christmas crackers, which include the top six winning jokes.
The best jokes will be shortlisted by a comedy panel led by Bruce Dessau, comedy critic for the Evening Standard and editor of comedy website beyondthejoke.co.uk, and then put to an anonymous public vote – with the winning jokes being announced in December.
Bruce Dessau said, “2017 will go down as one of the most eventful periods in modern history – and while there are serious events going on, we can usually find something to smile about! Whether it is tittering at the new Great British Bake Off line-up or giggling at Theresa May’s gaffes, there is plenty out there to inspire this nation of jokers. I’m looking forward to seeing what comic gems Gold’s Christmas Crackers competition will come up with this year – just make sure to fit it into a tweet, make sure it is clean and of course, make us laugh!”
Steve North, General Manager of Gold, said, “2017 has certainly been a rollercoaster of a year, from politics to pop culture phenomena – we’re looking forward to seeing what topics the nation will choose as inspiration for their jokes to give us all a giggle this Christmas!”
With the success of Gold’s ‘Christmas Cracker’ competition across the last four years, the channel is welcoming back the chance to enjoy the festive cheer. From the snap election and Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un’s ‘missle-off’ to celebrity hook-ups and break-ups, there is plenty of opportunity to showcase witty riffs on the year’s news agenda – and as entries are made via Twitter, all gags must be within 140 characters, to keep jokes short and snappy like the very best crackers!
Fancy your chances? Here’s how to enter:
- Tweet a Christmas-themed joke via your personal Twitter account including the hashtag #GoldCrackers
- Gold is looking for modern festive jokes that put a comedy twist on the news agenda or pop culture phenomenon across the past year
- Must be original content and suitable for a family audience (e.g. no swear words)
- The joke entry must not be more than 140 characters, including the hashtag #GoldCrackers
- Multiple entries are allowed
- All entrants must follow @GoldChannel – but the @GoldChannel twitter handle does not need to be included in the joke entry
For further information on the terms and conditions, click here!
