"Winter Wipeout" Cleans Up with Record Ratings

By Addie Strong
January 20, 2011

Winter Wipeout

If you ever miss the days of “Legends of the Hidden Temple,” “GUTS” or “American Gladiators”—with their labyrinths, tricky moats and, of course, the infamous Aggro Crag (the final event—a simulated mountain climb—in Nickelodeon's "GUTS")—fear not. ABC’s “Wipeout” TV show is now packing its obstacle courses with enough crazy contestants, foam hurdles and deceptive stunts to fill the void left by those popular obstacle course TV shows of yesteryear.

In fact ABC's "Wipeout" TV show, which premiered in 2008, is fresh off of its best "Wipeout" ratings ever. Although episodes of "Wipeout" typically air in the summertime, ABC chose to run a winter version this year, called “Winter Wipeout,” with a 19% increase in viewership over its 2010 summer premiere. And not only did the obstacle course TV show earn the top spot in the all-important 18-49-year-old demographic, but “Wipeout” is also the number-one show for 2-to-11-year olds.

The Agony of Defeat! - Wipeout (via YouTube)

Executive Producer Matt Kunitz attributes the rise in "Wipeout" ratings to the season. “Ultimately what’s really cool about this show—and I think this may have helped with the winter ratings—is it’s a family show,” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “In the summer, at 8 o’clock, a lot of the kids are still out playing … Now it’s winter and the kids are inside and they’re not out playing and ‘Wipeout’ is on, and it is really reflected in the ratings. And those 11-year-olds bring their parents.”

Matt Kunitz, who has previously overseen other adventurous reality TV shows like “Fear Factor” and “Dog Eat Dog,” is always on the “Wipeout” set to witness the hilarity. And the better the wipeouts, the better the ratings.

For ABC's “Winter Wipeout,” producers have gone with, not surprisingly, a winter wonderland theme. In the "Winter Wipeout" premiere episode, stunts like the Yule Log Jam, Ski Lift and the Snow Plow Sweeper gave contestants a run, jump and dive for their money. There was even an Olympian in this group vying for the $50,000 grand prize.

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Photo Credit: all images provided by ABC

And despite the fact that the winter wipeouts are over-the-top, we like that in this reality TV show, contestants rarely get hurt. Everything that the players (there is a new batch every week) land on, get hit by or run into is covered by anywhere between six and 18 inches of foam. On top of that, there's all the fake snow that covers the brand-new courses. (The series is actually filmed in California, so the real white stuff is a no-go.) “Safety is a number-one concern for us, so we spend … hundreds of thousands of dollars on padding alone,” "Winter Wipeout" Executive Producer Matt Kunitz explained to TV.com. “So as hard as the impacts look, I know that it’s safe because we’ve put so much into it.”

If all this talk of obstacle course TV shows and physical challenges has you craving an active adventure, check out these stunt-worthy items we found on eBay to help you create a spectacular Wipeout of your own: