Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Would like to see Travis Rosen or David Campbell get the 100K next year, any of the pioneers

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

America versus the World aired on Sunday. This time they had a team from Australia, who made a very strong showing. They dropped the team from Japan, who never did anything in these contests against Europe and America.

The big disappointment was that Europe had an all-new roster that was terrible. Europe had beat America twice in this contest thanks to rock climber Sean McCall, but he wasn't there this year.

The other questionable decision was to include a second woman on the American team. It's 100% evident now that NBC is trying to turn the short Barclay into the next coming of Kacy. She's getting a huge promotional push. Everyone else deserved being on the team.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Zuri Hall replaces Khristine Leahy as the sideline reporter in season 11 which debuts this week.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...ed18bc7abd.jpg

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

I thought this bump was going to be about the All-Star ninja skills competition from Sunday. I wasn't a huge fan of the new "freestyle" competition that ended the three-hour program.

It would be nice if they added more rungs to the ultimate salmon ladder - Sean Bryan has easily reached the top rung each of the last two years.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

I assume that was the diving 'competition' they did at the end. That was embarrassing. But I enjoyed most everything up to that point.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

I'd like to see them keep going up and down the ladder and whoever goes the furthest wins.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Interesting new twist last night as the two fastest competitors race one-on-one at the end for an automatic bid to the National Finals. The stakes aren't that great, as the two fastest qualifiers are almost guaranteed to make it anyway. The prize should have been cash. The design also looked very dangerous, with some of the elements very high off the ground. As anyone that has watched the team competitions knows, athletes pushing speed on the course often break things going at a reckless pace.

It also looks like they've made the warped walls tougher by cutting down their runways.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Well, there's finally another American Ninja Warrior with total victory since Isaac Caldiero won it back in 2015. Congrats to



I think most long-time viewers expected him to finally accomplish the task since most consider him the best in the world. He's become a full-time professional ninja, owning gyms around the country and making this show his career.

Interestingly enough, I've discovered several of the other top competitors are now doing this full-time for their careers.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

So glad he won over Gill. Getting the money to help his soon to be born baby is much better use than Gill, who probably would have given most of it to his church.

Maybe it's just that the athletes are getting better but Stage 3 didn't seem like the brutal run it's been in the past; even though a lot of the obstacles were the same.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Yeah that was great! I was rooting for him all season.

Who are the other full-time ones??

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Trying to make ANW a career can't be easy. AFAIK, unless you win or are the furthest in a season you don't get any prize money. So they'd have to resort to sponsorship.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Yeah, last year Flip had a ton of Jeep commercials. I'm sure he got a decent paycheck and a free truck out of it.

Do more people get paid? I thought it was Stage 4 = win the 1m unless others finish within the time as well, in which case you split. If no one finishes, whoever makes it the furthest gets 100k. Did they add more?

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

They don't split the.money on Stage 4. The competitor with the fastest time gets the 1 mil.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

I read that they changed it after 2014 when two people finished. Gill didn't qualify since he didn't reach the top before time expired.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Top ninjas have said there are cash bonuses on the side for finishing stages and landing in the top five times. Go listen to the various NW podcasts.

Joe Moravorsky went full-time ninja a year or two ago. There are regional ninja competitions and the like, not to mention endorsement deals. Joe got a commercial with the Weather Channel and an endorsement deal with Macys? of all things, if I remember correctly.

They don't test competitors for PEDs, which some have started calling for.

Interesting scuttlebutt I hadn't heard until recently - Isaac Caldiero was once a member of the Colorado unit known as the Wolfpack. They trained together for ANW and there was a loose pact in the group to split the grand prize if any one of them beat all four stages. Well, Isaac won the money and decided to keep it all for himself. Can't really blame him, but he's not liked by the other top ninjas.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Joe's no longer a weatherman? No wonder he seemed so determined to win the cash this year. lol

Tough break with that cut on his finger. Even with it, he almost finished 3.


And yeah, Issac seems like a dick. Was happy to see him come back and fail this year. Probably didn't even train and thought he could walk through it all. The doctor was my favorite guy from the Wolfpack.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Brian Arnold from the Wolfpack was the first guy I believe to actually quit his job to train all year round. That didn't work out for him, as he kept falling in stage 2 or 3.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Drew's been one of my favorites since the beginning so I was very happy for him to win it all. Would've been better if he and Flip were the last 2.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Yeah, time to change the nickname to "The Former Weatherman, Joe Moravsky"

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Drew also competes in Sasuke, the original Japanese version of the show. He has done well but has yet to achieve Total Victory. I think the next competition (Sasuke 37) is being held fairly soon. Maybe he can pull off the double!

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Is it generally understood that [the eventual winner] slowed down on stage 2 so his stage 3 run would be earlier and give him more rest for stage 4?

I hope the top qualifier gets something other than a kick in the nuts (aka, doing stage 3 last), because this rule appears to be stupid from this very casual fan's perspective.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

Supposedly Drew had about an hour and a half waiting after stage three for tackling stage four. Gil only had about 45-50 minutes between stages three and four.

Re: American Ninja Warrior -- Discussion Thread
 

that time gap was not right, Gil seemed out of gas, but Drew really banged that run out so good for him. Satisfying finale and happy someone finally won! I think these guys practiced this last wall section a lot and seemed to be able to get through it easier than years past.

They do need to start testing for PEDs, but then again it would crush the image they have worked hard to cultivate so... I wonder who runs this thing is it a production company or NBC?