There’s lots of water on Wipeout. Most of it is muddy brown, which makes it quite unpleasant for the contestant that topples from an obstacle into the murky stuff. It also makes things all the more hilarious for viewers who see a competitor rise from the dingy water sputtering to get the loathsome fluid out of his or her mouth.
Wipeout works like this. A field of 24 everyday folks, some of them physically fit a lot of them not, rush through a gauntlet of large challenging obstacles that spin, bounce, whack and soak them. It’s a war of attrition. With that initial group whittled down through three elimination rounds down to a final four that enter the "Wipeout Zone". Rack up the fastest time through this final obstacle course and you win $50,000.
The program, which will air 16 episodes this summer up from 11 last year, combines the fall on your face humiliation of a Japanese game show with the biting edge of a late night talk show monologue. The barbs come fast and plentiful from Wipeout hosts John Henson (E! Entertainment's Talk Soup) and John Anderson (ESPN's SportsCenter). There’s also an on site reporter, Jill Henson, who lets contestants further embarrass themselves with a boastful prediction or goofy anecdote.
What’s the Same About Wipeout
Back again in the initial obstacle course known as "The Qualifier" is the popular "Sucker Punch Wall". It features many boxing gloves firing out at competitors at random intervals. Once a glove tags a participant in the face he or she almost always go spiraling into the adjacent mud pit.
Also back are the signature "Big Red Balls". These are four large inflated obstacles lined up in a row. Extremely rare is the contestant that crosses them successfully. Usually he or she bounces off the top of ball one, lands awkwardly on the top or side of ball two and goes plunging into the dingy water below.
What’s New on Wipeout
Making the "Big Red Balls" more difficult this year is the "Big Daddy Motivator", a long rotating arm that swats hesitant participants off the entry platform. Also new to the ever changing qualifier course are the hoop hurtles. These large padded bars and hoops bounce up and down unpredictably to dramatically shake and jar all who enter them.
A touch of Wile E. Coyote from the old Road Runner cartoons has been added to the climactic "Wipeout Zone". This wettest of all the game zones now sports a catapult at its start which launches contestants swiftly and forcefully into the air then splashing to the water below.
The Charm and Popularity of Wipeout
Wipeout appeals to the juvenile in all of us. There’s nothing to be ashamed of if the simplistic whack and splash makes you howl with laughter because you are definitely not alone.
According to the Wipeout page on wikipedia.org, “On its premiere night, Wipeout scored the highest premiere rating of any new show in Summer 2008, beating competing veteran summer shows Hell's Kitchen and America's Got Talent. The show then rode at or near the top of the ratings the rest of the season. With many Wipeout promos now running on ABC there’s reason to believe the audience will be even larger in the summer of 2009.
Stephen Smith - A Southern Alberta freelance writer for close to a decade; Stephen has been paid to write about TV shows, movies, books and music he would ...
