A COUPLE plan to serve up carnage on the box after being selected to appear in a high-octane car challenge.

Gemma and Simon Robins, of Bradley, Wrexham, are no strangers to thrill seeking behind the wheel, having previously set a land speed record for a motorhome.

Their expertise converting camper vans for a living served them well as they were able to build their own "weaponised" vehicle by customising a Jeep Grand Cherokee to compete in the Sky One show Carnage.

The pair then travelled to the wilderness of South Africa's Western Cape to take part in the competition, whose hosts include England cricket legend Freddie Flintoff, and has been billed as a cross between Wacky Races and Robot Wars.

The battle sees 30 motoring teams joust for supremacy in three different arenas to be crowned champions.

Gemma said: "We had six weeks to build a car fit to take on the challenge and we wanted it to stand out. So rather than the rusty-looking vehicles that were in Mad Max, we made it look really menacing by painting it white and throwing blood red paint over it.

"The build was a real family effort with our children Mason and Emilia helping with the styling."

The Jeep needed to be robust enough to survive the battering from its competitors and nimble enough to dodge the hazards that were set amid the wreckage strewn over the course of the six-part series which should appeal to 'petrol heads' and adrenaline junkies.

While Simon, 38, took the wheel, Gemma, 31, lent her engineering expertise to the project and Simon's uncle, David Blundell, 50, joined the team as its mechanic.

"We'd seen an ad on Facebook and went through quite a drawn-out selection process. The vehicle was shipped over to South Africa for filming.

"We found ourselves two hours from the nearest town and staying in a tent camp of 400 people for the duration of the competition," said Gemma, who runs camper conversion company Creation Campers in Cefn-y-Bedd, with her husband.

"The arenas had six cars in them at a time and the loser was the first one to be immobilised. There was also a race across a desert and a head to head in a round billed The Scrapyard.

"Simon's driving skills were amazing and it helped that he has a background road racing motorbikes, while his fearless attitude really helped us in competition."

To see whether the Robins were successful with their exploits you can watch the screening of Primal Media's 'Carnage' on Sunday, May 20 (pm) on Sky One or Now TV.