I got some heavy use out of my 'skip back' button on that one. It's especially funny after a hyped intro showing how fit they are and they blow it on the second step in record time.

The devil steps are by far the most difficult obstacle in the first stage. The courses without them this year were very easy for those athletes with any prior experience.

It's pretty apparent to me the course obstacles this year have been redesigned where they could to favor shorter competitors.

Yeah, like the 'karate hottie' who was repeatedly featured in every "Coming up on American Ninja Warrior..." pre-commercial teaser AND had a pre-run promo, and then biffed it instantly.

My mom said we were watching American Ninja Turtle. Cracked me up.

I also love how they hype a person and then they fall on the first obstacle.

NBCSH or NBCSN, 164 on Optimum in NJ, is airing season 4 of American Ninja Warrior until 3 AM Friday morning.

I hope people checked their DVRs. For the third time this season, the guide data erroneously listed last night's Venice Finals as a repeat.

The course had a super-tough new obstacle on it that very, very few beat. Of course,

mildLY NSfw

This show is entertaining (despite the insipid commentary) but you definitely have to DVR it. Two hours pretty much condenses down to about 20 minutes.

NBC ruined it with their pre-hype during the episode (one voice sample particularly gives it away) but

I'm glad I fast forwarded through all that "coming up" stuff.

I'm curious... has anyone ever failed at the spider climb at the end of a city final? That obstacle is almost treated as a pre-victory lap, but surely someone has to have botched that climb.

Depends on the preceding obstacle. I've seen a few people fail the spider climb after coming out the body wedge obstacle. usually because they slip.

I love this show. Watching these folks do this inspired me to chase my fitness goals. Kacy is amazing. No doubt Brent and Flip will be wildcarded in.

I agree that Kacy is amazing. I thought the poles would be her undoing but she played them perfectly. She's an amazing athlete.

Kacy made me feel like i'm less of a man

I think it was James Sklar who approached it in an unorthodox way and actually popped his shoulder and fell down in one of the city finals or it may have been in Vegas when it happened.

I've only casually been catching this, but saw Kacy at the end. Damn impressive, and damn cute too.

A couple of people have failed but it's very rare on the final spider climb. Almost everyone that has made it to that point is a top athlete and it's more of a challenge meant to end in a cool visual, with the person standing on top.

Forgot this was on last night so i'll have to watch the replay on demand but what did you guys think about last week when the one guy used his legs on the 3 ball obstacle that no one could get past?

That new guy looks like a real contender. He's the one with that condition where he has lost all his body hair. It was a crazy move that worked, when all prior attempts had failed.

I wonder if the obstacle designers intended it to be defeated in that manner or not. Several people after him beat it in the more conventional way.

That was awesome last night. I couldn't believe that Kacy made it through every obstacle... and at only 5 feet tall!

That was Kevin Bull and that was awesome. I love that everyone is in it together and cheering each other.

I'm really glad the show never fell into the trap of making an easier 'women's course'. I'm sure the temptation was there, especially a few seasons back when no woman even made it past the fourth obstacle.

Amazing run. She made the whole thing look easy.

The toughest obstacle for women after the upper body strength ones is the Warped Wall. There are really only two ways to beat it, have a good vertical leap or have perfect technique. Since it's something that most people haven't seen before, virtually no women have the necessary vertical leap to beat it without first practicing on the obstacle. It is also a tough challenge for the older athletes with less spring in their legs. So many of the 45 and up athletes utterly fail at the Warped Wall after breezing through the rest of the course.

For those that missed it or want to watch Kacy again:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XfZFuw7a13E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I've never watched this show or even knew what it was about, but a friend posted the Kacy video and I was transfixed. I'm sure I'd be even more impressed if I'd had more context of seeing other people fail.