Brilliant self promoter or a man desperate for attention? Chad Elkins is arguably both.

Elkins wants to be a contestant on the ABC hit summer show “Wipeout.” The concept is as dopey as it sounds. On a massive obstacle course, people get slammed into posts and bounce off big red balls while commentators make snarky remarks. The winner gets $50,000 each episode. Fans are aplenty: more than 8 million viewers rubberneck each week.

The show solicits contestants in California because it does not fly people in to try out. Plus, it requires up to three trips if you make the finals. (There’s a preliminary round, an elimination round and a final round. Each requires a different shoot date.)

Elkins lives in metro Atlanta. He is willing to shell out the bucks to fly out just for the fun of it. To consider him, ABC challenged him to collect 10,000 names. As an ebusiness consultant, he decided to use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to jimmy up the 10,000 “signatures.”

After three weeks, he’s up to about 1,600 names on his “Put Chad Elkins on Wipeout” Facebook page. He still needs 8,400 names.