Wipeout (2008 game show)

This article is about the 2008-2009 ABC game show. For the 1988 game show, see Wipeout (1988 game show). For the 2009 UK version, see Total Wipeout.

Wipeout
Created by	Matt Kunitz Scott Larsen
Directed by	J. Rupert Thompson
Presented by	John Anderson John Henson Jill Wagner
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	27 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Matt Kunitz Scott Larsen
Production location	Los Angeles (county), CA
Running time	approx. 43 minutes or an hour with commercials
Production companies	Endemol USA Pulse Creative
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	June 24, 2008 – present

Wipeout is an American game show series in which contestants compete in what is billed as the "world's largest obstacle course". The series premiered on June 24, 2008 on ABC. Wipeout is hosted (and commentated) by John Henson (formerly of E! Entertainment's Talk Soup) and John Anderson (ESPN's SportsCenter). Jill Wagner co-hosts, and acts as the "on-location" presenter (Henson and Anderson presenting from a broadcast booth inside a studio). The executive producers are Matt Kunitz (Fear Factor) and Scott Larsen, and the co-executive producers are Trice Barto, Shye Sutherland, J. Rupert Thompson and Kevin Wehrenberg. Distribution of the show is handled by Endemol USA.

The show is taped at an undisclosed ranch just outside the city of Santa Clarita, California. Due to ABC's policy of not revealing where its reality shows are taped, the location is never mentioned in the program itself; by contrast, the British version makes a point of talking about the show's Argentine connections. On July 22, 2009, Wipeout was renewed for a third season. Pre-production for Season 3 is underway and a new set is being erected during August 2009 in preparation to begin shooting in September 2009.

The concept and style of the show has been compared to several Japanese game shows, most notably Sasuke and Takeshi's Castle. Wipeout creator and executive producer Matt Kunitz, who also executive produced NBC's Fear Factor, states Wipeout is "90% Fear Factor-inspired, 10% Japanese game show." Kunitz claimed, in the Los Angeles Times, that Wipeout was born from a desire to do a funny stunt series. He wanted to sell the show as Fear Factor meets America's Funniest Home Videos.

On December 8, 2008, ABC announced plans to counter-program NBC's Super Bowl game-day telecasts with a sports-star-studded episode of the "Wipeout Bowl." ABC aired a 13 minute football-themed "Wipeout Bowl" special against NBC's official halftime show. Then, immediately following the game, ABC aired an hour-long "Wipeout Bowl" in which cheerleaders competed against male "couch potato" sports fans. During the hour long special, Monica Kaufman became the show's first female competitor to win and also the first and only (female) winner of the Wipeout Bowl.

In January 2009, several international versions of Wipeout debuted in countries including the UK (known as Total Wipeout) and Argentina. Also that month, ABC began running repeats from the first season over most affiliates on weekend afternoons.

Gameplay

During an episode, contestants compete through four rounds of competition until a final winner is chosen. The first round features 24 contestants, while only the top four will make it to the final round called the Wipeout Zone, where the winner earns the title of Wipeout Champion and a $50,000 grand prize.

The challenges change each week, but always feature offbeat and comical obstacles, such as the "Sucker Punch", "Big Balls" (the show's trademark obstacle), the "Sweeper", the "Dizzy Dummy" or the "Dreadmill", and the "Wipeout Zone". In one of the show's trademarks, the commentators have a humorous running commentary, often mocking and gently insulting the contestants as they compete. The hosts make frequent use of puns. Jill Wagner offers additional commentary and reactions, and also provides interviews with the contestants filmed before their turn begins. However, during the "Wipeout Zone", the show takes an epic and serious turn, with the humor dialed down, and serious background music instead of its lighthearted theme music.

Round One - "The Qualifier"

In the first round of the competition, 24 contestants attempt to qualify for the next round by passing a four-part obstacle course as fast as possible. The course consists of four distinct obstacles, if the contestant fails to pass a particular obstacle, they only have to swim or crawl through mud or water to the next one. Although many of the obstacles vary between episodes, common obstacles have included the "Sucker Punch", a wall covered with mechanical boxing gloves above a mud pit, and the show's trademark obstacle, the "Big Balls" - consisting of a set of 4 red balls that a contestant must attempt to bounce across. Season 2 added an additional feature to the obstacle, the "motivator", a padded pendulum designed to force a player onto the balls if they take too long to start onto them. Time stops once a player reaches the course's designated ending, the nature of which depends on what the last obstacle is. Only the twelve with the fastest times move on to the next round.

Round Two

In the second round, the twelve remaining contestants compete in a competitive challenge. During the first season and in some season two episodes, this is done with the "Sweeper", where contestants stand on elevated pedestals arranged in a circle above a pool of water and attempt to dodge a rotating horizontal bar (the "Sweeper Arm", increasing in speed and height as the game progresses). Sometimes an additional element or handicap is added to the game, such as additional attachments to the arm (i.e. smoking artificial crows, a giant flail), equipping the contestants with dodgeballs or sacks, and/or a rotating arm that can be dodged by ducking or jumping (referred to as the "Gyro Sweeper", whose turning also becomes variably faster throughout the round). Players knocked off their pedestals are eliminated, and the 6 remaining contestants advance to the next round. However, these 6 also continue in a bonus round where the last surviving player wins a $1000 bonus prize.

In some season two episodes, "King of the Mountain" is used instead, a challenge with a similar setup to the Sweeper, but with a sweeping bridge that players must jump onto and cross to reach the circular platform in the center. Players who are knocked into the water have unlimited chances to make it to the "mountain", but the game ends once 6 players make it to the center who then advance to the next round.

Round Three - "Road to the Final 4"

The remaining contestants participate in a challenge that varies with each show. Variations have included the "Dizzy Dummy"; a cycle of competitive rounds where players are strapped to a spinning cylinder for a short period, before racing across one of two sets of obstacles. The winning player in each round advances to the final round, while the remaining contestants "spin again" and then alternate to the other set of obstacles. The cycle continues until the final 4 contestants are decided (which then move on to the final round). The season 2 challenge, the "Slippery Course", is similarly formatted, but uses a water slide instead of spinning the contestants.

In some episodes, a time-based challenge is performed (with the best 4 times advancing, either highest or lowest depending on the task), such as a challenge on a giant treadmill known as the "Dreadmill" (such as dodging a giant swinging wrecking ball, or riding a mechanical bull on a rotating platform).

Round Four - "The Wipeout Zone"

At night, and with a more serious tone than the previous rounds, the final four contestants play separately on a large obstacle course called the Wipeout Zone, each attempting to finish the course in the fastest time, much like the first round. Though slight variations are used in each episode, contestants begin by either sliding down a water ramp or being launched by a giant catapult into the course, swimming to the first obstacle. Obstacles have varied between episodes, but the course contains several obstacles that must be traversed in order to reach the finishing platform. The player with the fastest time on the course is declared the "champion" of the episode and is awarded the show's grand prize of $50,000.

Episode results

Main article: List of Wipeout episodes

Season 1

Episode	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1	Arthur Sevcik	Travis Mitchell	Jessi Duran	Nick Leland
2	Jim Wakefield	David Goryl	Darrin Miller	Joey Byham
3	Kyle Adler	Nick Louis	Ariel Tweto	Neil Smith
4	Marc Natividad	Robert Schweitzer	Saye Yabandeh	Gabriel Lawrence
5	Casey O'Farrell	Dana Jamison	David Matz	Jeremy Olson
6	Charles Zaucha	Robert Duff	Jessica Bertoni	John Curtis
7	The Wipeys (various Wipey Awards for past shows)
8	Richard Mendoza	April Robles	Carlos Moreno	Michael Bertrand
9	Christian Readyhoff	Scott Kessler	Mich Rohner	Katie Mayfield
10	Kyle Sullivan	Sam Mohan	Brent Williams	Phil Somerville
11	Top 25 Moments (top moments from past shows)
	Ariel Tweto (Week 3)	Jacob Mann (Week 5)	Jarran Joshu (Week 3)	Sweeper Dodgeball (Week 4)

Wipeout Bowl I: Cheerleaders vs. Couch Potatoes

1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Monica Kaufmann	Ali Bundrant	Robert Davis	Stuart Yasutake

Season 2

Episode	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1	Tim Spratt	Fernando Garcia	Michelle Avedissian	Devon Berry
2	Michelle Hart	Didi Wong	Claudia Morel	Theresa Rivera
3	Chuck Trout	Joe Dycus	Shane Hartgrave	Andrew Nienu
4	Scotty Granger	Gillian Gipe	Adam Lohnes	Gianna Gipe
5	Forrest Vanderbilt	Caroline Erickson	Robert Caslava	Mat Devlahovich
6	Jose Valdepeña	Janica Polmanteer	Jason Sandeman	Steven Lara
7	Donovan Eberling	Valerie Berrera	Mark Saldana	Shannon Stotz
8 (Wipeout Couples)	Shane & Sally Harris		Brian & Lori Beth Schwab
9	Melia Quiray	Kim Dockery	Craig Goettsche	Blake Snedeker
10	Kerin Alfaro	Kristen Egizi	Susie Packard	James Haden
11 (Wipeout All-Stars)	Chris Kinyon				Ariel Tweto	Rado Pagac	Robert Davis

Reception

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. As the season progressed, Nielsen Media Research put it at the top of the 18-49 demographic, slightly outpaced by America's Got Talent. On August 6, 2008, Wipeout was officially renewed for a second season.

Leading Japanese broadcaster TBS has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against ABC, charging that Wipeout is "a blatant copycat" of several of its classic Japanese competition game shows. Among the charges are that ABC bought search terms such as MXC on Google to help drive traffic to the official Wipeout page, and that specific obstacles in Wipeout were knock-offs of challenges in the Japanese game shows.

The second season premiered on May 27, 2009, and with an audience of 9.69 million, Wipeout bested its first season average and gave ABC its best numbers in the Wednesdays-at-8 slot since November 2007.

The show has been picked up by ABC for a third season to air summer 2010.

Ratings

Ratings for Season 1

Episode #	Air Date	18-49	Total Viewers	Weekly Rank
1	June 24, 2008	3.7/12 (#1)	9.98 (#1)	#2
2	July 1, 2008	3.6/13 (#1)	9.45 (#1)	#2
3	July 8, 2008	4.0/13 (#1)	10.59 (#1)	#2
4	July 15, 2008	3.2/11 (#2)	8.65 (#2)	#6
5	July 22, 2008	3.7/12 (#1)	9.98 (#1)	#2
6	July 29, 2008	3.6/11 (#1)	9.69 (#1)	#2
7 (The Wipeys)	August 5, 2008	2.8/9 (#1)	7.34 (#2)	#3
8	August 26, 2008	2.3/7 (#3)	6.45 (#3)	#2
9	September 9, 2008*	2.9/8 (#2)	7.26 (#3)	#1
10	September 9, 2008*	3.0/8 (#1)	7.00 (#1)	#3
11 (Top 25 Moments)	September 16, 2008	1.9/7 (#3)	5.96 (#2)	#2

* Two episodes broadcast back to back, dubbed "Two for Tuesday"

Ratings for Season 2 (Live plus 7 day DVR Usage)

Episode #	Air Date	18-49	Total Viewers
1	May 27, 2009	3.7/11 (#1)	9.69 (#1)
2	June 3, 2009	3.3/10 (#2)	9.19 (#1)
3 & 4 (2 hrs)	June 10, 2009	3.3/10 (#2)	9.22 (#2)
5	June 17, 2009	3.1/10 (#1)	8.95 (#1)
6	June 24, 2009	3.1/10 (#1)	8.61 (#1)
7	July 1, 2009	3.1/10 (#2)	8.88 (#1)
8 (Couples)	July 8, 2009	3.4/11 (#1)	9.39 (#1)
9	July 15, 2009	3.0/10 (#1)	8.45 (#1)
10	July 22, 2009*	2.4/7 (#3)	6.42 (#3)
11 (All Stars)	August 5, 2009	2.8/10 (#1)	8.02 (#1)
12	August 12, 2009
13	August 26, 2009
14	September 2, 2009
15 (Finale)	September 16, 2009

* Wipeout was preempted by a Presidential Speech

International versions

Endemol USA has sold the "Wipeout" format to more than 20 territories and has created two obstacle courses in Argentina for those international editions. Current and upcoming versions include:

Country	Name	Host	Channel	Premiere	Language
Argentina	Hombre al agua	Brothers Weinbaum	Canal 13	January 5, 2009	Spanish
Australia	Wipeout (Australian game show)|Wipeout Australia	Kelly Landry, James Brayshaw and Josh Lawson	Nine Network	February 3, 2009	English
Belgium	Wipeout	Walter Grootaers, Bob Peeters & Lynn Pelgroms (& Wytske Kenemans)	VTM	March 4, 2009	Dutch
Brazil	Maratona	Faustão	Rede Globo	July 19, 2009	Portuguese
Canada Template:Fr	Wipeout	Valérie Simard, Réal Béland and Alain Dumas	TQS	Fall 2009	French
Chile	[[Hombre Al Agua]]	Martín Cárcamo and Álvaro Salas	TVN	March 6, 2009	Spanish
Croatia	Wipeout	Marina Jerkovic	RTL Televizija	April 12, 2009.	Croatian
Denmark	Wipeout	Thomas Mygind	Kanal 5	March 5, 2009	Danish
France	Total Wipeout	Stéphane Rotenberg, Alex Goude and Sandrine Corman	M6	July 17, 2009	French
Germany	WipeOut – Heul nicht, lauf!	Charlotte Engelhardt, Matthias Opdenhövel and Werner Hansch	ProSieben	March 10, 2009	German
Israel			Channel 10	April 2009	Hebrew
Latvia	Dullās sacensības "Neiespējamā misija"	Gints Grāvelis, Artūrs Skrastiņš	TV3		Latvian
Lithuania	Jokiu kliuciu!		TV3	January 10, 2009	Lithuanian
Arab League	Wipeout	Mustafa Alagha,Tamer Abd EL Maniem,Caren der Calostian	MBC 1	May 2009	Arabic
Netherlands	Wipeout	Wytske Kenemans, Dennis Weening, Klaas van der Eerden (& Lynn Pelgroms)	RTL 5	February 15, 2009	Dutch
Norway	Wipeout	Anders Hoff and Øyvind Rafto of Raske Menn, and co-host Synnøve Skarbø	TVNorge	March 2, 2009	Norwegian
Portugal			SIC	Fall 2009	Portuguese
Philippines	Wipeout	TBA	ABS-CBN	June 2010	Tagalog, English
Serbia	Wipeout		FOX Televizija
Spain	¡Guaypaut!	Carmen Alcayde	Telecinco	December 24, 2008	Spanish
Sweden	Wipeout	Felix Herngren, Hans Wiklund and Sofia Wistam	Kanal 5	March 8, 2009	Swedish
Switzerland				May 2009
Turkey	Wipeout	Asuman Krause	Show TV	January 30, 2009	Turkish
United Kingdom	Total Wipeout	Richard Hammond and Amanda Byram	BBC One	January 3, 2009	English
United States	Wipeout	John Anderson, John Henson, Jill Wagner	ABC	June 24, 2008	English

• The Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway, and Sweden produce separate versions of the show based on the same footage of contestants from the three countries competing against each other.
• The original American series airs in Canada on the Global Television Network (in English) and on TQS (in French)., in New Zealand on TV3., in Australia on Nine Network, and in the United Kingdom on Watch titled Total Wipeout USA, to match the title of the British version.
• The Dutch version is a collaboration between the Netherlands and Belgium.

See also

• American Gladiators (1989-1996)
• American Gladiators (2008)
• Dog Eat Dog (UK)
• Dog Eat Dog (US)
• Fear Factor
• I Survived a Japanese Game Show
• MXC
• Sasuke (AKA Ninja Warrior)
• Takeshi's Castle

External links

• Wipeout on Facebook
• Wipeout on Twitter
• Wipeout Club
• Wipeout Forums
• Wipeout Wikia
• Wipeout Zone: A Wipeout Fan Site
• Wipeout at IMDb
• AP Article: 'Wipeout' harder, much harder, than it looks on TV
• New York Times Article: 'Gluttons for Punishment Are Balm for ABC