Clash Bots/Controversy

Throughout both the filming and distribution of *Clash Bots* in 2018, the production was marred with controversies and incriminating allegations. Due to these allegations and the producing companies heavily featured sponsorship with Kentucky Fried Chicken, the competition has been derided as the "KFC Death Camps" by builders and fans alike.

## Plagiarism

Within its robotic field, *Clash Bots* attempted to model their competitors after *Robot Wars* and *BattleBots* alumni, with some designs less subtle than others. The production team themselves created Soaring Shell, a near-identical copy of *Robot Wars* champion Apollo, prompting heavy condemnation from Apollo's Team MAD on social media and the wider community.

   According to builder Craig Danby of Hyena, production rejected his original design of a scorpion-esque walker due to their wishes for a bot that closely resembled his *Robot Wars* entry Foxic, leading to Hyena's creation.

   Although to a lesser degree, the robot Sparta held more than a slight resemblance to *BattleBots* competitor Mohawk, which competed in the first three seasons of *BattleBots* on ABC and Discovery. Driven by John Findlay, who also fought with Ripper and Smasher, Sparta ultimately lost out to Dark Wolf.

    During Episode 5 of *Clash Bots*, celebrities were shown to a mini arena to test driving robots in. This arena was square, raised high above the floor and featured four barriers which would retract after a set amount of time. This mini arena bore a remarkably strong resemblance to the Fight to the Finish arena which featured heavily within all three seasons of the TLC show *Robotica*.

## Production Issues

### Treatment of roboteers

The most notable events to spawn from *Clash Bots* production, however, were the tales of the treatment of competitors during filming. According to Craig Danby, 20-hour production days in the winters of Beijing were common, with builders being prohibited from leaving the venue until production was concluded for the day. In addition to the poor working conditions, participants were only fed cold, sometimes moldy KFC chicken in accordance with their sponsor.

Safety was also not a main priority during filming, with no railings on entrance and exit ramps, leading to Chris Danby injuring himself. Rather than seeking proper medical treatment, Danby was put on copious amounts of painkillers in order to get through the production process.

Due to these conditions, both rumors and confirmations circulated of competitors deliberately sabotaging their fights in an attempt to depart early.

### Retention of competing robots

After filming, many robots were kept and confiscated by the production company due to contractual stipulation, despite being told that the robots would be shipped back by *Clash Bots* production after the event. This was alluded to by several competitors, and confirmed on Reddit by the Angry Frog team. Even robots that were not built by production or even for the competition such as Spicy Newt, which first competed as Poison Arrow on *BattleBots*, were impacted by this.

"*They kept everyone's bot... I'm nearly done making a new one for RoboGames.*"
— The Angry Frog team on Reddit

#### Warehouse incident

When the team behind Princess of Wales attempted to reach out to rent their robot, the funding companies informed them that the robot had been damaged in a warehouse, prompting mass suspicion and scrutiny from fans.

"*Sad news today, we've had a message from the Clash Bots TV company. Princess of Wales has been destroyed. There was some sort of accident in the warehouse apparently. We know she was not a real dragon and we know she was unlikely to ever return home, but it is still sad to learn that she no longer exists. We've worked really hard for several years to buy her back, or lease her from them, to get her home and show her off, as she was April's first complete solo design, and she loved her. (we all did) We know there are bigger problems in the world and we are not after sympathy, but we know a few of you liked our dragon, so we wanted to say goodbye to her on here.*"
— Team GlitterBomb on Facebook

Only a few robots are known to have survived, including Hyena, Battle Ax, and Ripper.

### Failsafe Incident

According to one member of the Spicy Newt team, an incident also occurred during filming, where a robot suffered a failsafe issue and was still active while a celebrity captain was in the arena alongside it.

### Production

Several competitors have since taken to social media to lambast the production company behind *Clash Bots*.

#### Format Inconsistency

According to a complaint from an anonymous contestant, although it took only one battle to decide the Top 16 in the program, in fact, before entering the Top 16, most of the contestants have already fought more than 20 times. Many of these are not even mentioned in the show.

"*Secondly, the editor is lying. The guests did not miss a beat, and the last few games of the official competition were fast-forwarded to the end? There is not even an introduction. I don't know if this is because the director team is still trying to figure out the minds of Chinese audiences in the first two episodes. But I feel a little disrespectful to the contestants.*"
— Words from an anonymous *Clash Bots* competitor, translated from Chinese.

In addition, Hyena's Craig Danby stated that even competing teams weren't made aware of the competition format, therefore being unaware of how many fights they may have during the competition.

"*Clash Bots didn't know what the competition layout was. I remember asking for confirmation on the style of competition and they basically just went "don't worry about it".*"
— Craig Danby in the Out of the Arena Discord server in November 2022

### Payment

Multiple competitors have stated that, years on from the competition, they are yet to receive payment for their involvement in *Clash Bots*. For example, Team Danby claimed that despite the production company covering pre-filming expenses, they were still owed approximately $4000 by *Clash Bots* as of May 2020.

## Mobile Game

*Main Article:* Clash Bots *Mobile Game*

Released following the show's airing, the *Clash Bots* Mobile Game featured numerous stolen robot designs from within and outside of *Clash Bots*. Chief among which were clones of the UK *Robot Wars* champion Razer and the submitted CAD for *Clash Bots* third-place finisher AU Thumper.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Public comment from Craig Danby in the Out of the Arena Discord server.
2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/95limb/comment/e3vuwqr/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
3. ↑ https://fb.watch/gN1VbRmqlk/
4. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/9a291x/comment/e4sncw2/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
5. ↑ https://www.zhihu.com/question/63764133
6. ↑ https://www.zhihu.com/question/63764133#:~:text=cbs%20%E5%8F%82%E8%B5%9B%E9%80%89%E6%89%8B%EF%BC%8C%E8%BF%99%E5%87%A0%E5%A4%A9%E8%BF%98%E5%9C%A8%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E7%BB%A7%E7%BB%AD%E6%8B%8D%E6%91%84
7. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/293793025761476611/412598513239851008/1042966054739120133
8. ↑ Public comment from Craig Danby in the Out of the Arena Discord server
9. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/95limb/clashbots\_have\_a\_game\_and\_theyre\_still\_ripping/
10. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/95limb/comment/e3toyf1/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3