# Wipeout - ABC
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 16, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854 "2010-07-16T00:12:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/1 "2010-07-16T00:12:39Z")
Are they really just blindsiding these poor fucks?
It really looks like abuse for the fuck of it.
Takeshi’s Castle had more class than this mess!
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/2 "2010-07-16T00:24:42Z")
Yes, they’re getting hit with no warning…I wonder how many of those people ended up with whiplash.
There’s no point in comparing anything to Takeshi’s Castle. Get it on!
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/3 "2010-07-16T00:49:20Z")
Wipeout is blatant abuse, just for the hell of it.
I watch it every week.
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### Author:  [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/4 "2010-07-16T00:57:46Z")
I love that show but I don’t know when it’s on. It needs its own channel.
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/5 "2010-07-16T01:04:04Z")
My son loves it, but now he keeps jumping around like our floor is water. And I do feel bad for the sucker-punchees.
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### Author:  [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/6 "2010-07-16T03:46:22Z")
My son loves it too–he’s six.
At the risk of setting off a mad rush of penis jokes…has anyone ever made it over those giant balls?
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### Author:  [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/7 "2010-07-16T04:33:09Z")
> [@CJJ](#):
>
> My son loves it too–he’s six.
Exactly. My son (7 in a couple weeks) loves it - they couldn’t have come up with a show more compatible with elementary schoolboy humor.
I’ve had to cut back my boys’ viewing, though - our house has been turned into an obstacle course and when I was leaving the house the other night, my four year old said goodbye with, “Big balls to the wall, Mom!”
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/8 "2010-07-16T04:38:26Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#):
>
> There’s no point in comparing anything to Takeshi’s Castle.
Right you are, Ken!
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/9 "2010-07-16T04:55:47Z")
> [@CJJ](#):
>
> …has anyone ever made it over those giant balls?
Yes.
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### Author:  [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/10 "2010-07-16T05:31:06Z")
Am I the only one the watches that show and thinks, “Wow, that looks really fun”? I don’t know if I’d want to compete but I’d love to have a day just to play around on their course. Heck I’d pay a reasonable fee for the privilege. I think I’d have more fun there than I would at Six Flags and I’ve paid to do that.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/11 "2010-07-16T07:51:54Z")
> [@Caveat\_lector\_1](#):
>
> Am I the only one the watches that show and thinks, “Wow, that looks really fun”?
It kinda does, except that the last round usually starts with a long plunge into water (I don’t particularly enjoy plummeting). I wonder if the contestants have any time to practice on the obstacles before the show.
Which is sort of my problem with it; in the early rounds they spend more time replaying and describing the people falling on their asses than the people who are good at it. There was an obstacle-course type show I saw a few times on ESPN several years ago. It looked incredibly difficult (swinging over chasms, climbing poles, and worse), but they had some incredible athletes who could actually complete it.
I would much rather watch a show that focused on people who are good at something than on the people who suck.
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/12 "2010-07-16T08:56:18Z")
I’d pay 20 bucks to get a shot at the eliminator. It looks like an absolute hoot.
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/13 "2010-07-16T13:04:53Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> I would much rather watch a show that focused on people who are good at something than on the people who suck.
If you haven’t seen it, you might want to seek out _[Ninja Warrior](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Warrior)_ reruns. There’s some silliness in the first round but it is generally a serious effort.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/14 "2010-07-16T13:19:56Z")
This season is slipping. They’ve eliminated the telestrator shennanigans (which I call shennanigans on), which was a big point of the charm and humor of the show. I really dislike it when they fill the final elimination round with foam - it makes it seem even more impossible than it should be. The second round elimination isn’t as fun as year’s past either. Remember the fun they had with the giant conveyor belt? The merry-go-round from hell?
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/15 "2010-07-16T13:33:39Z")
> [@Munch](#):
>
> This season is slipping. They’ve eliminated the telestrator shennanigans (which I call shennanigans on), which was a big point of the charm and humor of the show.
What are/were the telestrator shenanigans?
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/16 "2010-07-16T13:55:29Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> What are/were the telestrator shenanigans?
When they’d recap a particularly painful/humorous wipeout, they’d go to the telestrator and animate over it. I guess test audiences didn’t find it nearly as funny as I did…
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/17 "2010-07-16T14:46:45Z")
> [@CJJ](#):
>
> …has anyone ever made it over those giant balls?
I’ve seen a few people do it. They usually go slow hopping from one ball to the next trying not to bounce.
The only two obstacles I’ve never seen anyone pass are the shapeshifter/cookie cutter wheel (actually one guy did make it but he landed in one of the shapes, rode it around, and hopped off),
and the giant swings (two alternately swinging U shaped swings).
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/18 "2010-07-16T14:53:55Z")
Yeah, the swinging "W"s from last night’s episode looked impossible. But there is always a way past. People even hold on when they get blind-sided by a large hammer.
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### Author:  [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/19 "2010-07-16T15:02:24Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> the swinging "W"s
“trouble-yous”
I like the little names they give things.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wipeout-abc/546854/20 "2010-07-16T15:19:09Z")
I wonder what the rules say about attempting each piece of equipment. Last night, for example. Rather than even trying to run along the ribs, I would have just done a racing dive from the platform and swam to the next challenge. You lose too much time falling off the ribs, and you’re going to have to swim part of the way anyway. So just get a diving start and skip the fall.
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