Last fall a Black Diamond man withstood wet conditions, punishing obstacles and even physical injury as a contestant on the game show Wipeout Canada. Now it can be told the pounding 23-year-old Michael Lacey took was worth it, since it netted him a $50,000 payday.
In an episode, which aired Sunday June 12 on TVtroplois, Lacey survived the three initial rounds of competition and posted the best time in the climactic Wipeout Zone to win the large cash prize. He revealed he hasn’t got the money yet but should be receiving it soon.
Due to the confidentiality agreement imposed by the series, Lacey was not able to reveal how he did on Wipeout Canada until his episode aired. Now he’s able to come clean. He admitted that one of the initial impacts he received on the obstacle course could have ended his shot at game show glory.
“In the first round, they didn’t show it with me, but there was a rope swing into a wall,” Lacey explained. “You have to land on about a six-inch ledge and I dislocated my shoulder when I ran into the wall.”
Once he completed the round, known as the Qualifier, he said his first instinct was not to seek out medical attention but rather to keep his injury a secret.
“I pretended nothing happened,” he said. “I didn’t want them to find out I was hurt and not let me go on to the next round. It happens. I have been dislocating my shoulder for three or four years now. I knew what it was so I just waited till no one was looking and I popped it back in.”
Lacey said the shoulder remained quite painful throughout the rest of the competition and it popped out again in the second, Sweeper round. Still the local contestant was able to continue on through it and the equilibrium testing Dizzy Dummy round. He survived the elimination process and competed as one of the final four contestants in the championship round known as the Wipeout Zone.
In the final phase of the show, Lacey explained he was able to put everything together as he posted one of the fastest times ever seen in the Canadian version of the zone. An obstacle course that usually sends competitors tumbling into the water, it saw no such fall from him he said.
“I tripped on one of the barrels on the barrel run,” Lacey recalled. “Then I took quite a while to cross the water wall. Then from there it was pretty flawless as far as the Wipeout Zone goes.”
Lacey divulged people with the show found out about his shoulder injury after the taping of episode concluded. He said they offered him the chance to see a doctor but he refused feeling the reoccurring dislocation was something he could handle on his own.
A guy who was has been affected by the sleep disorder narcolepsy; Lacey was referred to on the game show as “Sleepy Michael” by hosts Jonathan Torrens and Ennis Esmer. The pair also peppered the broadcast with many sleep-related jokes and puns whenever the Black Diamond resident was on screen.
Wipeout Canada, like all international editions of the original American Wipeout series, is shot near Buenos Aires, Argentina, the city where all the competitors stay.
Lacey was able to spend some time sightseeing there and said he found it to be a compelling experience.
“I have done some traveling before and have seen Australia, New Zealand and Fiji,” he explained. “The upper middle class I saw in Argentina were pretty similar to here but their lower class was a lot lower. It was an eye-opener to see a different part of the world that’s not as well off as we are.”
Always one for adventure Lacey is currently completing a cross-Canada motorcycle trip with a pair of friends. The journey will take him to different points in the Maritimes and up into the Yukon.
With Wipeout Canada renewed for a second season Lacey said he’d relish the chance to compete on it again.
“Maybe they will have an all-star episode and I will be able to go back and try for another 50 grand,” he said.
