Vanessa Lachey to Host ABC's Winter WIPEOUT Premiering 1/5

The weather outside is frightful, but the season premiere of Winter "Wipeout" is delightful, as 24 winter warriors battle head-to-head in a frigid free for all for $50,000. Players first take on the frost bitten qualifier with some brand new obstacles designed to lift spirits in more ways than one -- Snow Shovel Trouble, Pain in the Ice and Candy Pain Lane, which boasts the ultimate sugar crash -- and the obstacle built for all seasons, the classic Big Balls. As an added bonus, players who are able to knock off "Smallsy" from the fourth Big Ball will receive $500 cash. Cheerful contestants provide an avalanche of falls, shivering spills and bitter cold blunders, but only the final three who withstand the freezing temperatures with the fastest times will face the all-new, most challenging Winter Wipeout Zone ever. Hosted by John Anderson (ESPN's "SportsCenter,"), John Henson (E! Entertainment's "Talk Soup") and new co-host Vanessa Lachey ("ABC's True Beauty"), Winter "Wipeout" airs THURSDAY, JANUARY 5 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.

Each week, 24 energetic new contestants of all ages, shapes and sizes go head to head through four rounds of demanding but hilarious obstacle courses to win the title of "Wipeout Champion" and the $50,000 grand prize. In the end, only one contestant will be victorious while everyone else will Wipeout!

"Wipeout" executive producers are Matt Kunitz ("Fear Factor," "100 Ways to Leave a Game Show") and Scott Larsen. Shye Sutherland, Kevin Wehrenberg, Trice Barto and J. Rupert Thompson are co-executive producers. The series is produced by Endemol USA. David Goldberg is the chairman of Endemol North America.

About Endemol USA

Endemol USA is a leading producer of television programming specializing in reality and non-scripted genres for network and cable television. The company produces the break-out hits "Deal or No Deal," "Wipeout," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Big Brother." Endemol USA is a division of the Endemol Group, a prominent international content developer, producer and distributor of television and online programming. The company, headquartered in the Netherlands, has subsidiaries and joint ventures in 25 countries, including the major European markets, the U.S., South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. Endemol is owned by a consortium consisting of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Mediaset Group and Cyrte Group.

For more information, please visit http://www.endemolusa.tv. Endemol is a privately held company.

For more information on WIPEOUT visit ABC.com

Photo credit: Mike Weaver/ABC

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