total wimpout

They've broken total wipeout.

Not irreparably so; not so much that it's unwatchable, but they've definitely managed to break it.

Or, more specifically, they've managed to break the ending.

For those that don't know, the basic idea with wipeout is they have a series of rounds and in each round they eliminate some of the competitors. For the most recent series, the sequence of rounds is 1) the qualifier 2) Crash mountain 3) Dizzy Dummies and then the final 4) the wipeout zone.

Now while there's never been a clear progression of toughness - rounds 1, 2 and 3 are difficult, but in different ways - the point is that each round is tough. And that's what they've broken - the wipeout zone, which is meant to be the culmination of the show, where only the toughest competitors get too, is now a piece of piss.

What makes this annoying is that it used to be difficult and they've steadily replaced all of the obstacles such that now they're basically all easy.

It used to start with the barrel run. This was difficult, because the barrels were huge. It's been replaced with killer surf, which can be tough, unless you're quick, in which case it's a piece of cake, and of course those that get to the final tend to be the quickest.

Next is a sort of seesaw balance beam thing, which is a piece of piss - no-one has vaguely even struggled. In the beginning this was a climbing wall with water gushing down that was genuinely tough.

Then is this obstacle course sweeper thing, which is about the toughest element, though even here it used to be a lot harder with people falling off all the time.

The last two bits are a rope swing and a spinning platform thing. To be fair, some people do struggle with this, but the old obstacle, which was a series of trampolines, was universally hard.

And that's how they've broken it - they filter down to the fittest, toughest competitors and then give them a (relatively) easy set of obstacles. The qualifier is now tougher than the wipeout zone!

You can even tell that by the times - people regularly finish the wipeout zone in less than two minutes (I wouldn't be surprised if we see some sub-one minute times this season), whereas two minutes is still a really good and rare time on the qualifier - it takes most people 4 minutes+.

I mean, I still enjoy the show, it's just they need to toughen the wipeout zone up again.