ELIMINATOR - This is the ultimate timed obstacle course with fire and water. Contenders ascend and dive off of a 10-foot platform, swim beneath a flaming surface and climb a cargo net to pedal cranks high above ground. The contenders then pedal to a beam they must traverse across, then leap off and sprint up the Pyramid to a giant zip line that drops them at the reverse escalator. At the top of the escalator they grab a rope-swing that sends them crashing through the finish line.

I was looking at a picture of the new eliminator and I noticed that there is now a rope at the reverse treadmill ramp before you get to the top. They dumbed down the eliminator to this. I think the contenders are too much of big boys to make it up to the top. I can understand for the women because in the Versa-clima eliminator late in the first run, the women would struggle during the first attempt. But for the men, they can do it themselves. Overall, according to me, this eliminator is not a improvment on the old one as I would expect but instead a dumbed down version. I would loved to be proven wrong on this topic especially for the people who saw it in person but from what I am reading on the website right now, I am not excited over the new eliminator especially the reverse treadmill part.

I never was a big fan on the Eliminator event. I found so many flaws to this event that I often made fun of it.

I wonder if the Gladiators will have a role in the Eliminator like the original.

Wow,

I watched this show when I was a kid and I loved it but this new one don't hold up. They didnt bring back some of the best events some of the ones I'm sad to see missing are Atlasphere, Human Cannonball, and Skytrack. These would have been much better then some of the new events like the Earthquake.

Then there is the SAD excuse of The Eliminator. This thing is nothing like the old one. They took out some of the best parts.

This is nothing like the original.

In the original Eliminator I could have sworn that when you fall off the arm bike, they kind of penalize the contestant by adding time to your final time. The new Eliminator doesn't do that. Also looks like to me that if contestants just fell off the arm bike or the rolling log that it's a cop out. Venus and Koya looked like they just took the easy way out by just falling on to the mats below. I mean they just started the Eliminator then worked their way to the rolling log and was like, "F* this!" and took the easy way out. I just think that the new AG needs to penalize the contestants just like the original. I like to see the contestants really duke it out head to head, no cop outs!

BTW NBC took the Rolling Log idea from the AWESOME show Ninja Warrior! Biters!

I miss you Nitro!!!

I disagree I think the new Eliminator looks a lot more brutal than the old one. I don't remember the competitors being just completely friggin exhausted at the end of the old version. That conveyer belt at the end was like endgame for some of the competitors. As for the arm-cycle thing, I believe they are still penalized for falling and forced to wait a few seconds they just didn't make light of it. At one point I thought I saw a ref with a stop watch holding one of the guys back when he fell. Not 100% sure though.

I noticed that the point where the challengers "hit the wall" is when they try to hug the cylinder and spin towards the next obstacle. It mostly disorients them, I assume; but, it's also hard to hold on. When they fall, though, they drop maybe 10 feet onto pads and then don't have to climb anything to move on.

My point: Why not just skip the cylinder all together and fall on the pads on purpose, get up, and run to the next part? There's no reason to make yourself dizzy when you don't have to climb out of a pit or anything. Seems like a loop hole to me.

I totally agree man, with the hand-bike as well. Just take a dive and save time

I noticed this as well. They should at least have a pit.

Even with the arm-crank section, it's probably faster just to jump in the pit and climb out, instead of tiring yourself out on the arm-crank.

Also, with the inclined treadmill, why not just walk up the non-moving portions of the incline? That's where that girl was hanging onto for about 5 minutes as she lost the race.

Yeah, but didn't they have to climb if the fell off the handbike?

Hey Stupid!

Definitely agree on the barrel roll, it looked easier to just fall to the mats.

The handbike on the other hand would be fast IF they had the stamina left to struggle through it. When they fall off I noticed they had to climb a pretty tricky ladder, and with their arms as jelly it still took them some time to get up the ladder.

I agree, they need a pit or something. If it wasn't a head to head race they could get a time penalty. In Ninja Warrior (the show that they ripped the barrel roll off of) there is a pit of muddy water.
-e

When you boil it down, the only physically challenging portion of the Eliminator is the cargo net climb. Everything else is either avoidable or not too difficult.

Initial wall climb: Just jump and grab onto the bar on top and do a pull-up. Even the tiny asian guy could manage this.

Fire-water swim: Looks impressive, but it's really just a 5 second swim.

Cargo Net: That looks quite tiring.

Barrel Roll: Dive onto the mat and run ahead.

Hand Crank: Dive onto the mat and climb the ladder. Much less tiring and faster than the crank.

Balance beam: It's quite wide and not much of an obstacle.

Zip-line: Hold on.

Inclined treadmill: grab the rope and walk up the stationary part of the incline.

And big angry snakes in the pit!!! American Snake-iators.

"Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?"

I'm sure running up the stationary part of the incline hill would get you disqualified. As for skipping things..I'm sure they have a penalty if you attempt to "skip" obstacles...but then again...it never hurts to pretend you tried and just took a dive to the mats right?
~G

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VG5_diRx4U

My point is illustrated. Nagano rules.
-e

Awesome!! Hey NBC, drop this lame American Gladiators and just play reruns of the Japanese show "Ninja Warrior". It would be vastly less expensive, and vastly more entertaining.

In the old Eliminator, there was a gladiator-enforced time penalty for falling off the hand bike. They should have included one on this one as well.

Okay was it just me or were people acting ridiculous on the Eliminator. On the first episode, the red lady was like dieing on it and everyone was out of breath after just doing the swim. I mean seriously, at least on the original AG people had to go through Gladiators. These contenders can barely go through the plush wall at the end.

the crazy part is i complained about this initially as well, but when watching i swear i saw a black suited official worker holding a stop watch. maybe they are time penalized after all... only we hear nothing of it due to a horrible editing work.

just an FYI...I was at the tapings and you get a 5 second penalty for falling off the handcrank..then have to climb up the stairs to get out...so it's not like it's a breeze to just fall off...and you have to show you are making the attempt at the cranks wheel...

I would love to see Nagano on AG just once. He would blow them all away and put the contestants to shame.

1. Climb up platform with pull-up.
2. Jump into crowd.
3. Run around arena to finish line.
4. Knock down wall.

I win.

Seriously, there needs a be a time penalty for the handbikes. There's already been a couple instances where the leading contender fell off halfway across, the trailing contender caught up and got on the handbikes, and MADE IT ALL THE WAY ACROSS, but the guy who fell off had already climbed out and taken an even larger lead. That doesn't make sense.

I do like having the pyramid right before the travelator, that looks brutal. I can't understand why they're having such a hard time with it. The only reason I could think of was that it was at the very end, but I looked at some old episodes, and I think either 1. the travelator is moving faster or on a higher incline now than it was in the old series, or 2. the contenders are screwing around with the rope too much, instead of just running straight up the thing. I remember there being a rope in the old show, but I don't remember any of the successful contenders actually using it.

It would seem somewhat illogical to do so, since the rope is anchored at the top. They get most of the way up, grab the rope, keep going, and the rope is now at knee-level, forcing many to slip or drop to their knees. It would seem to be best to just take a breather, back up, go full-speed, and try not to use the rope as much as possible.

Of course, since they give zero information about the obstacles in the Eliminator, you really don't know exactly how hard it is, especially with all the changing camera angles. How tall is the cargo net? How far is the underwater swim? How high is the incline and how fast does the travelator go? How many times do you need to crank the handbikes in order to make it across? I think I'd find the Eliminator more interesting if they gave that sort of information-it would legitimize the competition a bit and make it more understandable if a competitor lost a huge lead on a certain obstacle. Otherwise, it just looks fishy when that happens.

And this may sound crazy but I don't understand why these "athletes" are that tired at the end. Im sure it is grueling but it shouldn't be that grueling for a "athlete" that trains quite often. Ive done more grueling circuit training than this.

my only real problem with the eliminator is that there are no gladiators trying to slow the contenders down. that was always my favorite part.

Thread read by Moderator to here.

JD/Forum Moderator

There are several problems with the Eliminator this season.

1. The hand-bike and the cylinder roll were touched upon and they are valid points, it is much quicker to take a dive and then move on. They need time penalties to ensure this doesn't happen.

2. The cylinder roll itself is really dumb. If you are going to copy Ninja Warrior, at least take some of the better ideas.

3. The fire over the water. I think the marine/mom showed just how unnecessarily dangerous this thing is when she cracked her face against it. It should be removed and replaced with a padded wall instead.

4. The rope at the top of the treadmill is an incredible disadvantage to taller competitors. Since the rope is hitched directly at the top of the treadmill, a taller individual has to crouch down as the distance from where his hands are gripping the rope to where the rope is attached becomes shorter. This means that steps the taller competitor will not be able to pull his legs out of trouble quicker and the player is much more likely to have his legs pulled away from him by the treadmill. It would be better to attach the rope beyond the top of the treadmill instead.

That said, the cargo net is an incredible challenge now that it is partially submerged in water. Water tends to climb up through fibrous material and a wet rope is a very difficult thing to climb on.

2 obvious problems with the Eliminator. Swimming under fire is nothing more than dramatic and pointless. Swimming in the elimintaor is cool, and fire is cool, but the mix doesnt work. The other is there is no penalty for screwing up on the various obstacles. Yes there is a rope on the treadmill, but its at a higher angle and its at the end, not the beginning, which makes it harder. thats my opinion.

The thing I would replace is the "climb a cargo net", it just gets them too tired to complete the rest of the course.

On no, man. That is not dumbed down. Mainly because they changed where in the course the treadmill is.
In the old series the treadmill was the first obsticle that they had to face, now it is second from last!!!!! Instead of starting with fresh legs, they have to try to do it with weak legs from climbing the Cargo net, trying to hold on in that damned barrel roll and the pyramid climb.
The rope is supposed to be a tool to help, but the contenders are using it like it's a lifeline.
The whole Koya thing cheapened the eliminator and the treadmill.
Again, if they put it back at the start and moved that wall climb back to where it originally was, then they could get rid of those ropes.

That's not what's making them tired, Pedroff. It's climbing it straight from coming out of the water. You're adding an additional 5-10 lbs in body mass trying to make that climb.
The reason I say this is because EVERY eliminator in the original series had the cargo net climb in it and it wasn't nearly as big an issue as it was here.

I suggest you go out and hang a cargo net thirty feet in the air and start climbing it while soaking wet. You'll figure out quite quickly why they are getting tired.

A. Rules say they have to make an effort at the barrel.
B. The reason for the disorientation in the barrel roll is the balance beam later on, but they've made that so wide that it really isn't an issue. Both male contenders were running down the thing full speed like they were running on flat ground. :-(
They could've done this soooooo much better.

if the person who starts on the second whistle wins the eliminator do the take to the time from the first whistle or from the second whistle

I have an idea. I think they should, for each contender, place a Gladiator in the pit on the hand bike, and if you fall off, you have to fight through the Gladiator in order to work your way back up. Also, do the same for the barrel roll if you fall off there, and maybe place one more at the end guarding the wall you crash through to finish. That way, the penalty for falling off the hand bike is reinstated, and the Gladiators are also incorporated into the mix.

I think it's great, the only real thing they have to change is add a 10 second penalty enforced by Gladiators if you fall off the handbike.

In the old show I never got the feeling anyone could win regardless of the head start.

The hand-bike is a joke and everyone is abusing that fact now, you can tell the soccer mom dropped of the hand-bike on purpose just to speed up her time.

i agree the eliminator is ridiculous, but to make it more ridiculous we should have wolf standing at the end instead of the blocks as the last test to get through and titan too that would be completely ridiculous yea

That's what I meant, after the swim having to climb the cargo net makes them too tired, that's why they should replace it with something else if they still want the swim part in it.

The Original American Gladiators elimitor round had better rules. if you fell off an obstacle you were penalized for falling off. now on the new show I see people falling off the barrel roll and hand bike, getting ahead and winning. The people who fall off need to be penalized like on the Old show. I am infuriated that there is no penalty. Viewers of the show I want to hear from you!!!!!!!!!

Add a freaking penalty to the Hand Bike area for falling off!!!

Last Night's show the Female in the red cranked it 1/4 of a circle for 0.25 seconds and then just fell off, ran to the stupid little ladder and climbed up while the Female in the blue was able to muscle and crank it all the way across using energy, effort, and time.

There should be a +10 second penalty if you fall off and an extra +5 second penalty if your opponent makes it across successfully. Considering it takes about 10 seconds or so to crank across it, you should have a compensation for using the extra energy if you make it across and your opponent doesn't.

I 100% agree. It's lame that contestants who don't complete the challenge actually get an advantage. add a penalty to the stupid barrel roll, too, so it stops being so pointless.

You can tell they fall off the hand-bike on purpose to get a better time and lead, they really should put in a penalty for time.

Change the throw of the handbike. The current handbike travel is LONG! The old one was a much smaller/tighter/faster travel.
If not, enforce time penalties for falling.

Add some of the Gladiators in there to enforce it like the old one, what better thing do they have to do during the Eliminator then sit around in the locker room.

I think they should take the hand bike out and just do some good ole monkey bars, maybe even incline them at a 20 or 30 degrees. If you fall off there should be a Gladiator down there to detain you. The barrel roll is useless take it out and put something else there. I don't really have a idea off the top of my head but it needs to go. Here is a line up that I think would work. Start out the same and go up the 8 ft wall. Then go across the inclined monkey bars to a platform. Run across a balance beem and then jump into the water, swim under the fire and up the cargo net. Next would be something in place of the barrel roll and then climb the pyramid and down the zip line. Next would be the reverse escalator, which I think needs to be wider so the players can't step off to the side. And then through the wall. Let me know what you think, also lets here some ideas about replacing the barrel roll.