ULTRA Guts

ULTRA Guts is an American family game show and a remake of . Unlike its syndicated counterpart, it's filmed at the ABN Digital Entertainment studios in Charlotte, North Carolina. It premiered on the American Broadcast Network in August 14, 2015 and is produced by Nickelodeon Productions in association with Paramount Television, ABN Digital Entertainment and RKO Television Studios and is distributed by ABN Group and RKO Television Distribution. The game show also marked the return of a RKO Television Studios produced program on ABN.
==Gameplay==
The show is unlike the original Guts as it follows a tournament-style structure of twelve teams being narrowed down to six during six preliminary episodes, and then three in three semifinal episodes, with the final teams competing in an hour-long "Ultra Crag Bowl". The preliminaries consist of two events and then the Ultra Crag. Points also do not determine the winner. Each point a team is ahead of the other is worth a tenth-second head start (10 Points equal 1 second; maximum: 7 in the preliminaries, and 10 in the semi-finals and the Ultra Crag Bowl for Season 1) in the Ultra Crag. In the semi finals, there are three events before the Ultra Crag that are more difficult than the previous round. The Ultra Crag is also more elaborate and challenging and the maximum head start is 10 seconds.
==Events==
===Preliminary events===
*Free Run City - Teammates must have a relay and get through many obstacles to get to the finish, beating the other team. This is a two min. timed event. Each second a team has left under two min. is worth a point.
*Sky Slam - Two teammates from two different teams compete in a basketball challenge where they are connected to elastic wires, in order to slam dunk baskets. a teammate is able to call a defense from their team to help block the opponent for a slam dunk. Each dunk is worth 10 points, whoever has the most at the end of 90 seconds wins.
*Flying Football - This challenge is related to the Sky Slam event, but this is where the competitors must play in football style. Each catch is worth 10 points, whoever has the most at the end of 90 seconds wins.
*Supertoe PK - The competitors must kick soccer balls into making the most points, , whoever has the most at the end, wins that challenge. Each goal is worth ten points. This is a 90 second timed event.
*Vert Ball - In a related vein of dodgeball, the teams must get the opposite team's members out. In order to win the event, they must avoid the other teams's offense hurling for 90 seconds. Each hit is worth 10 points.
===Semifinal events===
*Air Slalom - One player from each team is strapped onto a snowboard, one standing on the "launchpad", and the two remaining players are attached to ropes that connect to the snowboard and help steer. The team must steer the person on the snowboard around as many flags as possible. Each gate cleared is worth 10 points.
*Formula Guts - A two-person relay around the track in a "pod-bike". Each driver runs one lap, and must switch over during a pit-stop halfway during the race. The winning team receives 100 points, while the losing team receives 75 points.
*Volley Brawl - Two volleyball courts are set up with two players on each of the four sides. One stands on the floor and serves a volleyball, while the other jumps off the Aerial Bridge and attempts to hit it over the net. This is a 90 second timed event.
===Ultra Crag Bowl events===
*Guts Grand Prix - A two-player race in which one player rides a "Surburan Wrecker" (a heavily modified classic Volkswagen Beetle) and the other rides a "Low Rider" (a vehicle similar to the one used in Wild Wheels of the original Guts). The first teammate must cross their finish line before the second may begin; first place is worth 100 points, second place is worth 75 points, third place is worth 50 points.
*Mile High Triple Jump - Only one contestant participates for each team. He or she must clear a high jump bar and two "hurdles" by jumping off the ground with help of elastic cord. Finally, he or she must then take a sticky marker, jump off a platform, and attempt to paste it on a vertical wall. Each bar, hurdle, and vertical foot on the leap cleared is worth 10 points.
*Free Run City: The Wild Side - A re-designed Free Run City from the preliminary episodes with some modifications including pipes, poles, and ladders added to the Water Tower, missing cat-swings from the SkyBridge, and an all-new obstacle "Drop Zone", in which players must slide down a zipline in a harness and try to and try to drop down onto a giant manhole.
*Alley Hoop - This is a 90 second timed event. One player needs to toss basketballs from the ground up to their partners jumping off platforms, who must catch them and throw them into a central hoop. Each basket is worth 10 points.
===The Ultra Crag===
This takes place when the competitors must climb a mountain to taste victory and win the competition.
Preliminary episodes require two players to climb the Crag - one climbing up their respective side of the mountain through the "Freezer Switchbacks", a set of wobbly wedges that players needed to maneuver around, climb over the "Mouth of Jaws Stalagmites", and activate three actuators including one at the end of this first leg, "Avalanche Peak" with a "frozen lava storm" raining down on contestants. This in turns opens the Ice Portal at the base of the Crag, where the second player awaits. They must then cross some stepping stones across "The Glacial Gorge" and climb two vertical rock climbing walls dubbed "The Vertical Freeze", to reach the Crystal Peak and hit their final actuator to finalize the results.
Semifinal episodes now required all four players to climb the Crag. A new section was added, "The Mad Mesas", which was a path of boulders that the contestant needed to run over to reach the second player at the base of the Switchbacks. Their final actuator would open up a trapdoor in Avalanche Peak that lead them to a spiraling "Swirling Vortex" slide that lead them behind the main facade of the Crag and to the third player, who had to navigate the "Crag Caverns". Once they had maneuvered this maze, they needed to traverse the entire Glacial Gorge around the entire mountain and reach the base of the mountain, which would finally open the Ice Portal and allow the fourth player to climb the Vertical Freeze to victory.
In Aggro Bowls, a control panel was now placed at the start of the Crag Caverns where the third player from each team could control additional snow and hail that could challenge their respective opponents climbing the Mesas and Switchbacks. Once the second player made the exchange with the third, he or she could take over control and release "Arctic Steam" in the Crag Caverns and drop an avalanche on the fourth players climbing the Vertical Freeze.
For each victory, teams receive a white "piece of the Ultra Crag". The champion of the tournament receives all three including a considerably larger third piece, which can be put together to form a miniature Ultra Crag as a trophy along with the grand prize package which varies by episode. For example, one episode had a grand prize package of a Bachmann Thomas & Friends HO set, a pack of Lebanese Unica chocolate wafer bars, a pack of Surge soda, a family size box of French Toast Crunch, and a vacation to the Bahamas, another episode had a grand prize package of a trip to Tokyo Disneyland, a Sanyo DVD Recorder/VCR combo, a pack of Pocky in all flavors and versions, a "secret stash" of Mountain Dew Revolution and Pitch Black, and a unlimited supply of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and another episode had a grand prize package of a Chinese G1 Transformers DVD boxset, a subscription to Antietam Cable in Hagerstown, Maryland (as the winner of the grand prize package had no cable TV until then), a vacation to Florida, and a Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Edition Bundle. 
== Ultra Guts World Championships ==
Based on the original Global GUTS, it features competitors from North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The current roster of registered teams competing in the Ultra Guts World Championships include:
* North American teams: United States of America (USA), Canada (CAN)
* South American teams: Mexico (MEX), Cuba (CUB), Dominican Republic (DOM) 
* European teams: Spain (ESP), Italy (ITA), Germany (GER), Russia (RUS), Great Britain (GBR)*, The Netherlands (NED), Croatia (CRO), Sweden (SWE), Czech Republic (CZE), Denmark (DEN), Estonia (EST), Iceland (ISL), Finland (FIN)
* Independent teams: San Andreas (SAN), Equestria (EQS), Snork Islands (SNO), New Tokyo (NTK)*, The Republic of Saniel (SNL), The Loyal Sovereignty of Dahrconia (DHR), The Diplomatic Republic of the Holman Union (HOL)
* Asian teams: Japan (JPN), Malaysia (MAS), North Korea (PRK), South Korea (KOR), China (CHN), Hong Kong (HKG), Tapei (TPE)
* Middle East teams: Iraq (IRQ), Iran (IRI), Israel (ISR), Kuwait (KUW), Saudi Arabia (KSA)
*1 - GBR teams: Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales
*2 - NTK teams: Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, Kalos, and Unova
The show uses the Global GUTS format in selecting athletes and placing them in the Ultra Crag Bowl tournament to set the field for the Ultra Guts World Championships. The games will vary every episode. All four Ultra Guts World Championships contestants will compete in the Ultra Crag event. The winner will be awarded the gold medal and the Ultra Crag trophy. The gold medalist during the World Championships will have their national anthem playing and their flag raised higher than the other three finishers.
== Cameo appearances ==
These are individuals who appear as a cameo, either as a surprise guest, surprise guest host, or competitor.
* In the pilot episode, the original GUTS referee, Moira Quirk officiated the proceedings with Mike O'Malley. They were scheduled to be the pairing when the show debuted on August 14 but due to personal obligations, Quirk was unable to secure her reprisal role as the show's referee. She appeared again on the Ultra GUTS Christmas Special as special guest referee. 
* Backstreet Boys vocalist A.J. McLean made a cameo appearance as one of the jousters in the September 15th episode where the competitors spar in the segment, Air Joust, an event similar to the original American Gladiators. McLean is a GUTS alum from the original show.
* Stock car racer Rob Haywood (a former teammate to the show's host, also a former stock car racer and two-time Delta Cup World Champion) made a cameo appearance as one of the racers in the Formula GUTS segment on September 21.
* Original GUTS alumnist and stuntwoman, Anna Mercedes Morris, appeared on the September 18th episode during the Vert Ball segment as a blocker.
* GUTS season 3 gold medalist, Johnny Evans, nickname "Spider", appears as the second special guest competitor in the Air Joust segment which aired on October 1.
* It was a surprise to the Ultra GUTS audience with the guest appearance of game show legend Bob Barker on the October 5th episode where a special segment was dedicated to the award-winning Fremantle production, The Price is Right, one of the same name called Race Game where the three competitors matched four scrambled pictograms and raced back to the podium and pulled down on a lever. Whoever went to the podium and matched all four pictograms first would be the winner. It was the only occurrence of mini-game dedicated to another game show.
Category:Television programmes produced by ABN Digital Entertainment
Category:RKO Television Studios
Category:ABN Group
Category:Television programmes in the United States
Category:Game shows
Category:Nickelodeon