"WILL you start the fans please."

We all know what you're supposed to do after hearing those words and surely we have all been guilty of yelling at the TV screen over contestants gold ticket-grabbing technique.

But being faced with the final challenge at the Crystal Maze Live Experience in Manchester, I have to confess the next 35 seconds are a bit of a blur.

Our team had won seven crystals to get to this point and after a slow start in the first few games, we were just glad to have any time in the dome at all.

After choosing a team captain and excitedly donning the famous Crystal Maze bomber jackets for a photo opportunity in the old Granada Studios building, our dreams of conquering the classic 90s gameshow quickly began to fade.

We had failed to solve a double-sided crossword, arrange pawns on a chess board so none were in line with each other or master a Die Hard-esque bucket challenge.

But our luck suddenly changed after inadvertently finding a crystal during a mystery round.

It was the lift we needed to go on a run that involved team members manoeuvring a massive pole to hook five ducks, fire balls with a catapult into the mouths of Aztec gods and thrust across the room on a swing to get bags of 'coal' from one side to the other.

And what a rush when you had that sparkling crystal gripped in your hand.

Games lasted two to three minutes around lands regular viewers of the Channel 4 programme will be familiar with.

And much like the TV show, each team of eight has a 'Maze Master' to guide you across stepping stones, crawl through tunnels and slide (yes, an actual slide) down into each new zone including Aztec, Industrial, Future and Medieval.

Our Maze Master Pinky kept us chortling through the highs and lows with the kind of dry wit original host Richard O'Brien would have been proud of.

It was so much like the real thing you couldn't help but blush wondering what viewers will be thinking during your poor attempt to build a cube from Tetris shapes.

After more than an hour of physical, skill, mystery and mental games it was time for us to step into the dome and create our own piece of drama in the former home of Coronation Street.

With the tickets whizzing past I quickly realised it was a lot harder than it looks and adopted a shovelling motion to push as many tickets as I could into the postbox.

With faces aching from laughing, we checked the leaderboard...and quickly realised our 270 score wasn't about to top it.

Nonetheless fans of the TV show will not be disappointed by this experience which has been impressively and meticulously recreated.

And those that have never seen it will probably be glued to Challenge TV re-runs.

The Crystal Maze is in Manchester from April 1 until June.