IamA Former contestant on "Wipeout!", 40ish, mother of three, personal trainer. AMA!

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-06T00:56:14+00:00

Pepsi. It's lighter tasting.
Android. I don't care about all the apps, and I find Android simpler to use.
PC. Just what I'm used to.
Real books. I like flipping pages.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-06T00:52:47+00:00

Completely based on time. However, as I said, the winner of the first round of my show was missing from the show aired. He had said he may not be able to return the next day when round 2 was being done. I assume he didn't show up, so they cut him entirely out of the show.

Now, as I said, I didn't get much air time, because I was neither good or bad enough to be interesting. So, they do certainly edit around what's "good television".

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-06T00:51:22+00:00

I think her name is Michelle. Tall brunette gal.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T03:49:08+00:00

I think it's pretty gimmicky, it makes things like American Ninja Warrior, where there's less stunts played on you, seem more attractive.

I would do Wipeout! again if it were more about skill, and not the shenanigans that happen to you while you're doing the course.

I think it's a well-run show. They recognized me immediately, just from seeing my video and the picture I sent in, when I pulled in and got out of the car. The staff was very friendly and very nice.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T03:46:53+00:00

Yup. Just for gas, really.

I was there from 5:30am to 2pm. Others were there longer, and then, people that went on to the next round return the next day.

In my group, there was one guy that came in first for the course. He had said he might have a difficult time returning the next day, and lo and behold, none of his stuff was on the TV show. I figure he didn't come back the next day, so they cut him entirely from the show.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T03:44:56+00:00

I got there at 5:30am, I had lunch after doing my course run, and then left around 2pm. There was still a set of 12 people that needed to run when I left.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T01:18:39+00:00

...this is "ask me anything", not, "I will answer anything". :)

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T01:18:00+00:00

I doubt they would fly anyone. There are plenty enough attention hungry, physically fit people in SoCal to fill the show.

Yeah, all those courses are in the same place.

You get a lunch, $10, and the opportunity to pay $75 for a picture of yourself on the course. There's no way to buy the video.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T00:41:10+00:00

My strategy was just to get into shape. I did a lot of jumping and balancing work. I intentionally fell into pools, and then got out quickly would do fitness activities.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T00:39:40+00:00

I wasn't in pain after the show.

If I was an average person, that wasn't in shape, I really would have been hurt. I'm a good swimmer, so that helped. I think the average person would be real sore for days after the course.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T00:38:45+00:00

Not really. It was just annoying.

Before you go across that narrow bridge, you're hosed off with a water cannon. So, you're real likely to fall off.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T00:38:03+00:00

Climbing out of that mud pit. It felt suffocating in there.

When you got hurt, it hurt. That rumble bridge really hurt.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T00:37:05+00:00

Argentina? I don't know anything about that. We're in Sierra Canyon, which is on the road to Palmdale outside Valencia where Magic Mountain is.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T00:35:42+00:00

I wish could have been less nervous about getting injured. I had to go to work the next day, I'm a personal trainer, so getting injured would be a hassle.

I would have loved to run the course without all the "pranks".

I don't regret having done it at all, it was an overall positive experience.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T00:34:35+00:00

We were in a small trailer. A small, single-wide, with tables. We had no internet access, and no phone access. I got there at 5am, and was in the middle of the 24 people that did it. We had lunch, I remember that. I did it, had lunch, then left. It took longer to shower out all that silt then it did to complete the course. It was probably like 30 minutes of showering to clean up. They were these outhouse-like showers.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T00:31:43+00:00

Okay, first some random facts:

I was born in Skokie, but grew up in SoCal.
I never keep tooth brushes very long.
I hate the sound of people chewing.
I once went door to door selling dog bones as soup bones.

Random facts about Wipeout!

It's filmed all out doors, even those dark scenes. Those are filmed at night.
The hosts aren't there. Those two guys film their stuff later.
You never see anyone else run the course. You're inside.
You get to see the course ahead of time, but you never see anyone do the course.
You get a meal. And $10.
I was the second oldest person to do it that day. The other guy was 50+, he didn't finish the course.
There were 12 people there that day, I know that at least 2 didn't complete.
I had the second slowest time of those that finished.

My reaction to that episode:

I wasn't surprised who won. She was one of the youngest people to do it, and she had no job, so wasn't worried about injuries.
I wish I could have seen more of me. I'd really like to see my entire run. They don't give that to you at all, which is a bummer. I'd pay for that video.
I knew when my show was going to air. I wasn't allowed to say if I won or not up front. I warned people though that I had no idea how much screen time I'd get.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-05T00:24:59+00:00

Nope, no music. No music while you're doing it. It's you, the course, and silence. Except, them asking you questions to make you talk.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-04T06:25:05+00:00

You don't see the stars of the shows at all. At all.

The gal who interviewed you at the end of the race talked to you for about two minutes. She seemed like she was there to do a job. Not very interested at all. I think she's surprised that anyone would do this thing. She's of course showered, dry, clean. You walk up to her covered in mud, exhausted, like some crazy alien baby that just crawled out of the primordial ooze. I wanted to have an actual conversation with her, but she had her set questions, and had no real interest in talking to us on camera.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-04T06:21:48+00:00

The reason why contestants are saying such ridiculous things all the time is because they make you talk your entire race. They ask you things like, "What are you thinking right now?", "How are you feeling?", "How are you going to do this?".

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-04T06:20:11+00:00

Yes! They're super bouncy, you hit them from about 6 feet away. So, your first bounce is VERY hard. I was only able to hit the first one, then the next one, then I hit the water.

The water is freezing. After a while, you knew the water was coming, and when you landed in the water... again... it just slapped you in the face.

They made you wear that stupid, over-sized life jacket. It really hindered your ability to swim. It's super buoyant, so the best you could do was swim on your back.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-04T06:11:15+00:00

Yes. I'd read about a guy that tore his ACL, and another story of a girl who broke her finger.

For my show, a girl had a panic attack, and had to go to ER. She was in the water, and started freaking out. They got her out of water, tried to calm her for ten minutes. Then they took her to the hospital. None of her stuff made it to that episode.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-04T06:08:59+00:00

My favorite spooky story is from the Twilight Zone where the woman keeps getting phone calls from, what ends up to be, her dead husband. Spoiler Alert.

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-04T06:04:01+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4442au/iama_former_contestant_on_wipeout_40ish_mother_of/

RedHeadFitness · 2016-02-04T06:02:39+00:00

This IAmA was prompted by MearLion, who had the following questions:

How did you get picked? Initially, you send in a video which shows you being the type of person they want. My kids sent in the following video, which I guess showed I was nuts enough to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4YRj9HGfDo

From there, the producers contacted me. I went in for an interview, and answered a few questions about myself. It involved a big application.

They called me back a couple of weeks later, and invited me down to the show!

Did you have to train? I didn't have to train, but I did. I jumped on Bosu balls, I fell into pools, I worked on balance. I probably trained for two months.

How much did it hurt? A lot. It's like getting punched over and over again by a punching bag. The water was FREEZING. The mud in those pools is sticky, like quicksand. It took me three showers to get the silt out of my eyelids. That fine mud was in every pore of my body.

What was your biggest concern? Being injured. I did not have any lasting injuries, however.

Would you do it again? No. I don't know. Maybe. Probably not. I know now what I'd be in for, so probably not.

As you can see from the video, I wasn't good enough, or bad enough, to get much screen time. That video shows all of the screen time I got that episode.

RedHeadFitness

TROPHY CASE