Stop it. You are making me miss Wipeout!

Whatever happened to that show? It had to be cheap and it was funny as hell.

They couldn't even get Isaac for the finale?? WTF

Yeah, I'm curious what his deal is. They showed him on posters throughout the season but he was nowhere to be found. I can see not competing but not at least being there for his friends is strange.

I read online that once he won the million, he quit the wolf pack and training all together. He made this statement on the wolfpack podcast:

“I accomplished what I set out to do. I did what nobody else could do. I got the first ascent by winning and have chosen to sit the next round out to let the others have a crack at it, to focus my energy towards my true passion which is rock climbing. Like Neil Armstrong's historic mission to the moon, he didn't need to go back for a second round. I would have interest to go to Japan and dominate their mountain, and maybe in years to come I'll make a comeback.”

There are a lot of rumors out there one is that he refused to do the show again unless NBC paid him...

Coincidentally I emailed NBC and told them they were turning the show into another version of WIPEOUT.

Jessie Graff is my champion.

In my heart, and in my...

Wow, they made Stage 2 and Stage 3 almost impossible this year. Even Drew with a superhuman performance couldn't pass it. I actually think he would have had a chance if he had plotted out his path on that rock hang.

Two or three years ago this was still winnable by amateurs, but you have to be in full-time ninja training mode now all year to make it past stage 2.

I didn't think much of the editing choices and what NBC chose to spotlight for the back half of the season. It's wildly erratic from episode to episode.

She a stunt woman on Supergirl. Too bad Melissa Benoist didn't show up to watch.

I told my wife the same thing when we were watching the finale last night. I kept waiting for something to reach out and punch the competitors in the nuts the way they set up the course.

Did they just say fuck lower body strength and wanted to see if someone's arms would rip off?

They went overboard with the toughness of the course this year

very crappy finale, no suspense knowing last guy was only 5 mins left.. bad editing

What should they have done differently?

maybe leave 15 mins for the last guy, then pad the end with a compilation if he fails,

I knew he was going to fail before he started as there was only 5 mins left in the show, and he could not have completed the course and then do the next stage in 5 mins.

no drama at all.

The final course was silly hard.

The editing of this entire show has always been suspect. They allow literally 30 seconds to reflect on what has happened at the end of each episode, then it's over.

You can tell that NBC doesn't have its sports editors on this program.

Finally watched the finale and I was hoping someone would go all the way. I heard Daniel Gil and a handful of the other finalists at a local speaking appearance recently and that guy is extremely friendly and humble. He is really easy to pull for.

Gil is also very young, he should be around for years.

How much money can these guys make off appearances and endorsements? I think at some point some of these professional trainers will need real jobs. Some are already gym owners but now that they have officially made the course impossible they'll need to sleep in the gym also.

That's a good point. I wonder how much better it could be if they edited the show to me more like a sporting event rather than another America's Got Talent type show. Or would that turn off too many of their less "sporting" fans?

they have to stop giving kacy a free ride to the vegas finals, she gets a free ride to regional finals and vegas finals.

That appears to be their reasoning. They don't want to anger their casual female viewers by turning this into a sports program.

I think Esquire plans to run more team ninja contests this Fall.

Part of her story was that she was so short but it certainly didn't hurt her that she was so cute. Do you think she'd get that much attention years later if she were taller and uglier?

I've been complaining about the editing all season. I understand they want to build affection for certain competitors. It gets too much when they spend 10 minutes on someone who gets blown out in 30 seconds then someone "while we were away" makes it. Everyone has some type of adversity. People die, people get sick, everyone has some tragedy. Other reality shows milk it all the time.

My dad died, my dog died, mom has dementia, quick get me on the show and watch me fall on the first obstacle after a teary plea that I'm doing this before mom forgets who I am.

A couple of the human interest stories this season were actually painful to watch. While it was nice giving the amputee a shot at the course, it was disturbing viewing.

I don't know. The only background stories I actually watch are the ones about the amputees. I think their runs are the most inspirational, even when they fall. It does make me feel a bit bad though that some guy with one leg can get a hell of a lot further on the course than I ever could with two good legs.

"Team Ninja Warrior" returns tonight on The Esquire Network beginning with a 5-part "College Rivalry"-based competition.

Kacy is now a sideline reporter on it. It was much less interesting seeing inexperienced rookies tackle the team ninja course than when they had the all-stars try it last time.