The Sweeper

The Sweeper is the second round of the Total Wipeout Course. In the regular addition, the twelve remaining competitors must jump over a foam-padded bar that revolves round in a circular motion. each competitor stands on a podium. Before it starts, Richard Hammond introduces who is on what podium and goes in order from podium 1 to podium 12. To make it more difficult, the Sweeper gets higher and faster after it goes round the 12 podiums. In First Series Dizzy Dummies and The Dreadmill, six go through, in Series 2 Dizzy Dummies only five go through - they become King or Queen of the Sweeper. Scary Claire (Series 2 Episode 4 and Series 2 Champion of Champions) was the only person to win the sweeper twice. Also, during each episode of the 1st 2 series, not all podiums ever had a last man/woman standing. (Podiums 6 and 8)

An updated version of the Sweeper is The Crusher - in this competition competitors must jump in between two foam-padded bars. After each revolution the bars get closer together. Another version is "The Sack Race From Hell" Sack Race Sweeper, where all 12 competitors must stand in sacks This was used in Series 2, Episode 3 and Episode 6. There was never a Crusher - Sack Race combination. Total Wipeout Series 2 Episodes 2, 8, 10 and 11 all used the classic sweeper.

The First ever "Last Man Standing" was Handsome Oliver (Series 1, Episode 1), the first ever "Last Woman Standing" was Judo Justine (Series 1, Episode 2). The last ever "Last Man Standing" was Dominic Littlewood (Series 2, Episode 11), and the last "Last Woman Standing" was Scary Claire in the Champions Special. In some episodes, the Last Person Standing was also knocked down (such as Speedy Student Anya (Series 1 Episode 7), Bouncy Becky (Series 2 Episode 1) Divine Dave (Series 2 Episode 3) and Semi-Pro Chris (Series 2 Episode 6) but still got the title. Throughout Series 2, the last person standing sometimes got a chance to speak in to a camera, like the eliminated contestants do. Examples include Divine Dave (Series 2 episode 3) and Party Boy James (Series 2 Episode 5) In the Champions Final, Scary Claire got to speak to Amanda.

The Sweeper was replaced by Crash Mountain in the third series,possibly because they wanted a "get across" format that they carried over to Double Cross. It was likely dismantled and put into storage, though its motor could have been reused for Crash Mountain or another obstacle.

The Sweeper usually knocks off a few contestants on the first sweep, the lowest amount to be knocked off on the first sweep in a normal episode was 1. The most was 6.