ABC to Wipe Out with new reality show
If you love America’s Funniest Home Videos — and I know a lot of you do because the show’s been running since 1989 — you’re the likely target audience for something new from the network. ABC plans to produce Wipe Out, a new reality competition from producer Matt Kunitz (Fear Factor).
The idea for the show is to create — rather than collect a la AFHV — spills, splats, crashes and wipe outs ever seen on TV. Endemol USA (Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, 1 vs. 100) is producing the show for ABC.
The goal will be chuckles, not broken bones, but you never know what’ll happen when 24 contestants vie against each other in a progressively more complicated and difficult obstacle course. The number is eventually narrowed down to four combatants who enter the Wipe Out Zone, a variation of the Thunderdome (without the threat of death). He or she that emerges from the Zone will win $50,000. That’s at the end of every episode.
John Anderson, a familiar face from ESPN’s SportsCenter has been tapped at the host alongside Jill Wagner. Jill, by the way, is an actress. She played Larrin on Stargate: Atlantis and Krista Starr on Blade: The Series.