The freak show called reality TV has always pushed its clowns to fall apart, whether they're would-be models pining for the affections of a washed-up rocker, hot-tempered roommates battling for the last dab of toothpaste or cold-hearted contestants willing to emotionally scar their loved ones for a shot at a bag of cash.

That's no longer enough. Now we want blood.

In ABC's new hit "Wipeout," borderline athletes get punched, ricocheted and knocked into muddy waters on obstacle courses surely designed by Rube Goldberg and the Marquis de Sade. That's followed by "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," in which 10 Americans compete in humiliating, bruising games you'd expect to be played at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay. CBS has turned over prime time to mixed martial arts, a sport for fans who think boxing is nothing more than a slap fest, and NBC has revived "American Gladiators," the national pastime that gives mere mortals the chance to get the stuffing knocked out of them by Hercules-sized gods. At CMT, the network that proudly brought you "Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding," producers are hard at work on "Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling," which promises the long-awaited sight of Dustin (Screech) Diamond in tights.