Mike Whitney has revealed why Who Dares Wins was canceled after just three seasons very suddenly!

In 2025, Mike Whitney revealed in a podcast the reason why Who Dares Wins was cancelled. It only ran from 1996 to 1998. It was quite the talk of the playground every time, and also made for some fun family viewing for all ages.

Mike appeared on the “Bloke in a Bar” podcast with Denan Kemp and let the cat out of the bag about the true reason the show was suddenly canceled: huge insurance costs!

“This is what happened. In year one, what was a major dare that if the person completed, they went around the world on a holiday. In year two, that was now a $50 dare.”

As the show continued, the dares became more extreme, as producers tried to create more thrilling dares to excite audiences.

“You had to step up, step up, step up! I remember seeing on the office whiteboard: ‘Man feeds sharks on Barrier Reef with metal glove on.’”

In one instance, Mike Whitney was communicated that a contestant would be given a chain glove made for a dare, but he was hesitant and told the producers, “What if the shark bites him at the elbow?” Dares like this constantly pushed the insurance prices up.

Mike also remembered a “couple of moments on the show” where it was just too dodgy and went wrong, including a dare where a contestant was dared to ride a motorbike through cardboard boxes filled with hay and set on fire.

The bloke was covered head-to-toe in flame-resistant clothing, but he panicked mid-dare and jumped off the bike that was going really fast, breaking his shoulder in the fall.

Another dare involved rollerblades and a ramp that ended in an accident for one lady after she did a backflip in the air and landed on the hard concrete.