5 best moments from Men in Kilts Season 1, Episode 2

Men in Kilts Season 1, Episode 2 gives us a look at Scottish sports, including the Highland Games. Here are the five best moments from the episode.

Scotland is known for various games and sports. In fact, the Highland Games, which started in the Victorian era, is believed to be the inspiration for the modern Olympics. There are certainly plenty of games that you’ll recognize from the athletics part of the Olympics.

However, there are many other sports that you’ll know from Scotland. Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish took us on a journey around Scotland, this time focusing on Scottish sports.

Here are the five best moments from Men in Kilts Season 1, Episode 2.

The history of shinty from Outlander

Shinty was shown in an episode of Outlander. We never got to find out too much about it, just got a chance to see what this game looked like. It is a mix of hockey and lacrosse.

Men in Kilts Season 1, Episode 2 offered a small history of shinty. It turns out that it was a game that would help with fighting, which makes sense considering the time of the clans.

Understanding the Highland Games

The Highland Games are well known now. Thousands of people will turn up to various Highland Games around the world, but Men in Kilts offers us a little bit of the history of the games.

It turns out the games date back to the Victorian era, which makes sense as that’s the point that Scottish culture could be celebrated again after the decimation of it after Culloden. However, the actual games done date back centuries. They were ways for the Scottish clans to prove which clan was the best.

Men in Kilts Season 1, Episode 2 bet and banter

Throughout the first episode, we got a look at the banter to expect. That continued in the second episode. This time the best banter had to be about the haggis (and haggis shooting). For those who couldn’t tell, the story of the haggis was completely made up, but it’s something a lot of Scottish people have fun telling people. I know because my husband winds people up with the story of the haggis being a real creature all the time!

This episode also saw a bet between the two co-hosts. They decided to bet who could win at all the different sports, with the loser going skinny dipping in the Atlantic. It is always fun to see the friendly competitiveness between the two.

Golf courses are untouched land

When Sam and Graham head to learn the history of golf, there’s an excellent look at the actual golf course. You’ve seen all the bumps in the grass that can make golfing tricky, but many people likely believe that they were manmade.

It turns out they’re not. The golf courses of Scotland are unblemished. The bumps are all natural.

Sam experiencing rugby at Murrayfield

Anyone who has seen Sam on Twitter knows that he’s a huge rugby fan. He supports Scotland throughout the Six Nations, even though the team is known mostly for losing than winning—although I will admit as an England fan that the Scottish team has really picked things up in recent years.

Anyway, it was certainly a lot of fun seeing Sam experience Murrayfield and go through some of the drills. This was more than just something for a TV show for him spending years coming to Murrayfield to support his team, even if he did lose to Graham during the drills.

What were your favorite moments from Men in Kilts Season 1, Episode 2? Share in the comments below.

Men in Kilts airs Sundays on STARZ in the U.S. and Tuesdays on the Global TV App and Stack TV in Canada.