TV COMEDIAN Rory McGrath has asked to enter the conger cuddling contest at the Lyme Lympic Games on August 1 – which he wants to film for a new series of his show Channel 5’s Great British Adventure.
Organisers of the Lympics want to revive conger cuddling after a seven-year ban.
They are hoping that the combination of the game and nationwide TV exposure will provide a boost to Lyme’s weather-battered economy.
Conger cuddling was a 30-year tradition in Lyme but was last staged in Lifeboat Week in 2005, when it drew a reported 3,000-strong crowd but it was dropped after the RNLI HQ in Poole received a complaint.
The game consists of a large dead eel – obtained by fishermen who accidentally net the fish – tied to a rope, which is swung from a lamp post to try knock over nine contestants standing like skittles on flowerpots.
A spokesman for the Lympic games said the aim of re-staging the event was to boost trade and raise money for the RNLI and Candles On the Cobb.
He said: “It’s a messy and smelly game and we are delighted that Rory McGrath wants to film and take part as we believe this will draw even bigger crowds to the event and further boost the local economy when the TV show airs next year.”
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