Episode #1.9

This edition saw a massive jump in the ratings, with the show rising 25 places in the charts to 35th place.

The sudden rise in Wipeout's fortunes would appear to have been directly related to ITV. For the first seven weeks of the show it was being screened directly opposite ITV's perennially popular This Is Your Life (1955), which was in the Top 30 for every one of those weeks.

The eighth week saw ITV place a second series of Michael Ball (1993) in the Wednesday 7pm timeslot. Although the first week saw it reach 25th place/7.46 million viewers and widely beat Wipeout in the ratings, this second week saw the viewers fall away from the singer's programme, causing it to drop to 71st place with 5.5 million viewers. Wipeout, in contrast, rose to an audience of 7.08 million.

Many television programmes of the age, particularly on the UK's PAL system, suffered from distortion patterns with certain designs, such as striped clothing.

These distortion, or "Moiré" patterns, can be seen on the closely dotted shirt of contestant Richard Cox, which reacts to the camera on long shots when he moves.