"Oompa-Loompa" Joel Grande is a contestant from S3E11 "Knock Knock, Who's There". Joel's nickname is a reference to the characters from the 1964 children's novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl. Joel's small stature, combined with his previous job of working for a candy company, drew parallels between him and the Oompa-Loompas from the novel.
Performance[]
Qualifier[]
The only part of Joel's Qualifier run shown in the episode was his attempt at the first obstacle, the Door Knock. Joel chose door 3 but like so many others before and after him, Joel was knocked into the mud by the hammer behind the door. Joel's time was good enough to advance to the next round.
Double Cross[]
Joel was one of the first to make a move on the Double Cross, he got tripped up by a sweeper arm, landed face down on the plank but couldn't get back up in time to jump over the next sweeper which knocked him off the plank. Joel's next attempt was more successful, making it to the middle and moving down the red plank but when he jumped over a sweeper arm, he ended up jumping ahead of the plank's rotation causing his feet to miss the plank after clearing the arm. Joel succeeded on his third attempt, clearing the sweepers arms twice as he moved down the red plank, crossed the Unstable Table and made it the finish platform, taking the 2nd spot in the next round. Joel would move on alongside Kurt Fuller, Jason De Muro, Scott Griggers, Frank Beasley, and Deborah Blackwell,
Beach Party Spinner[]
Joel's height proved to be a severe disadvantage on the Beach Party Spinner. During round 1, Joel was almost immediately knocked off by the sweeper arm on the first pass, though he saved himself from falling, he couldn't get back up in time to try to jump the next bar and ended up going under the bar which was against the rules and so had to abandon the round, losing the 1st spot in the Wipeout Zone to Deborah. Joel did better in round 2, managing to stay on longer than Jason and Kurt but fell off shortly after followed by Scott, giving the 2nd spot in the Zone to Frank. Round 3 saw Kurt taken out immediately by the sweeper leaving Joel in a battle with Scott and Jason. Each time Joel jumped over the bar, his right leg would get caught dragging him back and making him land face down on the spinner. After one jump, Joel fell into the path of Scott who tripped over Joel and ended up missing the rotation as a result, though Joel got back to his feet, he could not jump over the bar, only holding onto it for a few moments before letting go, thus Joel lost the 3rd spot to Jason. Now in the final round, Joel went all out to stay in the game. After just 2 rotations, Kurt was eliminated leaving Joel and Scott to battle it out. In the final moments of the round, Joel got tripped up by the bar, recovered by diving headfirst over bar on the next pass, got tripped up again on the next pass, before the next one knocked him and Scott off the spinner simultaneously, with Joel making it over the arm before flipping head over heels into the water. Because Scott hit the water first, he was eliminated, and Joel had taken the final spot in the Wipeout Zone.
Wipeout Zone[]
Joel would be the 3rd to run the Wipeout Zone that night and had to beat a time of 10:05.73 set by Deborah, who had beaten the previous time set by Jason. Joel began his run by getting good distance off the Dreadmill Launch and was up to the Gutbusters at the 55 second mark. Joel struggled at the 4th and highest block before standing up and attempting to hop across the remaining blocks to the platform, but he fell short on his last hop and ricochet off the platform and into the water. Joel's second Gutbuster attempt ended up being worse as he ended up falling between the 3rd and 4th block. Joel finally succeeded on his 3rd attempt and made it to the Sinistairs. Now a minute behind Deborah's pace, Joel avoided the first sweeper arm and began climbing his way to the top of the obstacle, but just before he reached the top, the second sweeper knocked his feet out from under him, sending him tumbling into the water. With only 2 minutes left, Joel passed the Sinistairs on his second attempt and made it to the Gauntlet, where he now faced the Crankshaft. Joel failed to see the pattern and just went for it which lead to the second bar of the Crankshaft landing him an uppercut, sending him back in the water. By the time Joel was out of the water, he had only 10 seconds left. Joel tried to clear the Crankshaft one more time but was again knocked into water where he the horn went moments later, signaling the end of Joel's day on Wipeout as Joel threw his hands down in frustration.