Confirmed: ‘Wipeout’ Contestant Who Died After Completing Course Had a Heart Attack

Meredith Jacobs February 1, 2021, 1:30 pm

Comments

Wipeout ABC Season 3 — Jeff Samaripa / ©ABC / courtesy Everett Collection

The cause of death for the Wipeout contestant who died after taking a turn on the competition show’s course has been revealed.

Michael Paredes, 38, had a heart attack and undetected coronary artery disease, according to multiple reports. He died a day after collapsing upon completion of part of the course (the first two obstacles), on November 18, 2020. He’d been given CPR on set before being transported to the hospital.

A toxicology report confirmed his fiancée’s statement that he wasn’t on any drugs and hadn’t consumed any alcohol, according to NBC News. She also said he worked out five days a week and had consumed a supplement powder, Nutrex Outlift Amped, the day he participated on the show. He’d also passed the required testing for Wipeout contestants, which included a drug screen, EKG, and COVID-19 test.

'Wipeout' Contestant Dies After Completing Course for the TBS Reboot

Paredes had stepped onto the course as part of a reboot of Wipeout, which originally aired from 2008 to 2014 on ABC, for TBS. That reboot has yet to air, nor has a premiere date been set.

“We offer our heartfelt condolences to the family and our thoughts are with them at this time,” a spokesperson from Endemol Shine North America, which produces the game show, said in a statement at the time of Paredes’ death.