Let’s face facts, there is a lot on television that is just plain out and out utter crap! Reality TV has taken over most time slots and in some cases entire freaking channels. Television shows, that intrigue you, make you think or just flat out make you laugh, are few and far between. Well there is one show out there that has absolutely captured my attention and I can’t miss an episode. That show is Wipeout.

Wipeout started this past June on ABC, and is hosted by John Henson (from the old Talk Soup) and John Anderson (from ESPN’s Sportscenter) Jill Wagner rounds out the hosting cast as the attractive on site interviewer. Every week 24 contestants (both men and women) run through a myriad of obstacle courses (more on that later) as they are slowly eliminated until the final four run the final course for a chance at $50,000! It;s in the same vein as Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, but without the hilarious overdubbing. Still, the “Johns” are great as hosts and John Henson drawing over the screen usually generates it’s own laughs.

The first course “The Qualifier” usually consists of some sort of balancing obstacle followed by the “Sucker Punch”, which is a wall of boxing gloves all trying to knock you off balance. Then comes the best part of the entire show really, the “Big Balls”. Four gi-normus red balls perched above water face each contestant down every week, and every week someone “wipeout” is worthy of many many replays. After that is comes some sort of pole-vault/rope swing to the finish.

Round two is “The Sweeper”. Twelve contestants standing on pedistals high above water have to dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge a rotating bar that aims to put everyone in the water. The top six move on and the last man/woman standing gets an “easy” $1,000.

Round three is usually either the “Dread-Mill” which is a tread mill with some sort of distraction or obstacle of its own. Or sometimes it is the “Dizzy Dummy” which spins contestants around, then forces them to run a small course to the finish. The top four move on to the final test.

Round four is “The Wipeout Zone”, and it is both nasty and wonderful. Take a ride down a HUGE water slide into (usually frigid) water. Then the “Barrel Roll” where they need to make it up a ramp with 50gal barrels are rolling down to knock them off. Next up is the “Water Wall” where you are forced to scale a very thin ledge under a water fall to get to the next obstacle. “The Spinner”! Which is usually the second best at giving a great replay. It’s a giant spinning platform with padded columns sticking up all around it. Usually the contestants hit one and go flying into the water, or in some cases will completely snap one off and fall into the water. Finally the “Launch Pads” are all that are left between defeat and 50K. Jump a series of trampoline pads of different heights, land on the last platform, and if your time is fast enough claim your prize.

My wife and I love the show. So much so that over the summer we planned dinner and friends coming over around the event. Currently the show is in reruns, after they just had their big Super Bowl episode of Cheerleaders Vs. Couch Potatoes. The show apparently is so popular that it has sparked something like 20 different countries to start their own versions of the show. How often is it that American television is the trend setter? Check your local listings for the show, give it a try, try not to laugh. I dare you.