The catapult in the final zone freaks me out, but yeah I want to run the course, especially the big balls.
It looks more like a really poor ripoff of Ninja Warrior to me. Which has courses that people with skill can actually complete, and the competitors are up against the course, not each other. But no Jill Wagner.
My kids and I love the show... But they really do seem to have made it quite a bit tougher this year. I hope they don't take it too far. Part of the charm is seeing more regular people competing against some obviously more fit individuals. As far as MXC goes... I *might* have called it a ripoff if MXC itself wasn't just episodes of "Takeshi's Castle" recut into oblivion. Not much originality there, although the commentary was amusing.
Someone finally died while playing Wipeout. Not because of the course, but from a stroke likely because of a pre-existing condition he had (of course all the media outlets have misleading headlines to sensationalize this tragedy and make it sound like the game killed him). But the coroner's office is still investigating.
But at least the creators of MXC openly admitted that they recut the original - it's even in the credits. That's the whole POINT of MXC. Just like what Woody Allen did in What's Up, Tiger Lily?. Wipeout on the other hand, is a complete ripoff. Nothing more. Both Takeshi's Castle and MXC have been there for a number of years before that. Wipeout is just a pretender. I mean, does Wipeout have Vic Romano and Kenny Blankenship? Or (for UK viewers) Craig Charles? I think NOT. Wipeout doesn't have ANY comedy sketches - or even funny narration - at all, does it? It's just the games?
It's really difficult but it has been done. Most of the most successful contestants on the opening course seem to have one common factor: very long legs. They have to be able to run across the balls instead of jump from one to another. There was one guy this past season that nearly got across the entire opening course without wiping out. (He wiped out once, on the log roll, only a couple feet shy of making it.) I love this show and I wish they would bring it back for fall/winter. It's the only time I ever watch ABC. I occasionally watched I Survived a Japanese Game Show but I didn't care for the non-game segments. I just love obstacle course shows like this. I was a big fan of American Gladiators & Double Dare when I was a kid. NBC's American Gladiators revival last year was pretty cool (despite the Gladiators mostly being obnoxious WWE rejects). I wanted to like Fear Factor but there was too much eating gross stuff on that show. I much prefered a less popular NBC game show from around the same period, Dog Eat Dog. Heck, I don't even require that the contestants on these shows be human. I really wish PBS would bring back Robot Wars with Craig Charles.