I didn't recognize him either. Apparently he was on ANW for three seasons, and only finished two qualifying courses.

So stage 4 came down to eight players this season, which is simply too many. They're going to have to make a time cut-off for stage 3 going forward.

So the two real competitors on stage 4 came down to Daniel Gil, probably the best ninja of the last few years if you don't count Drew Dreschel, against rising superstar Vance Walker. Both from Texas, the teenager beat Gil by one second to snag the million dollars. That's a decent chunk of change for the 18-year-old. Gil is probably at his athletic prime so there aren't many of these chances left.

Walker winning isn't a huge surprise, he won American Ninja Warrior Junior a couple times and made it to stage 3 just a couple years ago as a 16-year-old. It will be interesting to see how he responds after winning. The other people who've finished stage 4 ended up disappearing soon after, though Walker is so young compared to everyone else.

I'm fine with 8 making it. It's much better than if no one made it. Makes it seem more "doable" for us common folk. I imagine they'll look at ratings, or whatever metrics they have, and maybe make some changes to make it a little bit harder. Thats if they want to have less people make it.

This season has been good so far. Sad to see Najee retire. Joe is really the only guy left who's the spirit of the original show. I hope he's somehow able to make it to Stage 4 and beat the kids.

They seem to have cut down on the sentimental fluff this season. I was surprised they gave wild cards to Stratis and Jesse Lebreck for Stage 1 finals. I don't remember them randomly gifting them shots like that in several seasons. Lebreck looked out of shape in her run compared to her glory days.

Stage 1 in the finals now looks much more like an endurance contest than a strength or speed event.

They mentioned this was the first time they were doing the wild cards for fan favorites. I like it. Gives fans a chance to see some favorites go further. Especially since the semis are races now and some older competitors just can't keep up with the super athletic kids, even if they could clear the stage on their own.

Jesse hasn't competed in a couple years due to injury. She didn't even run the qualifiers this year. Must have been recovered enough to think she could manage the Vegas course.

The further this got from the original premise the more I have lost interest. I’ve been recording the season but I ended up deleting everything before the finals. There’s no stakes anymore in the earlier rounds and they are barely more than an exhibition. About a hundred people “qualify” for the finals plus they hand out second chances.

I prefer the ruthlessness of Sasuke. Just making the final stage was amazing, and total victory was a legendary achievement. The American version has been dumbed down to the point of losing any semblance of that.

How so? If anything, they've made it harder. The semis and stage 2 of Vegas are both now 2-person races. Cut the field in half each time. And there's less balance/running obstacles. You need crazy upper body strength to get through any of the post qualifier courses. Flip has been around since the beginning and would go far every year if it was still just clearing the course. Next week he has to race the kid that won the money last year and is a freak athlete (while also suffering from CP). I think they've done a good job at keeping the competitors from outclassing the courses. When people started building home courses, you started to see all new obstacles to keep it fresh.

You can't stop kids from loving the show and dedicating their time to training to be on it someday. That's where we've arrived now. I love seeing the father/son duos racing for the same prizes.

For one thing, go back to fail an obstacle = see you next year. Not: finish in the top XX even if you fail and if not that qualify for a run-off or use your free pass or get called back as a fan favorite. And I’m probably forgetting a few back-door ways to not have to complete a course and still advance. And there’s the 50% of the airtime going to prepared backstory packages. I’ll still watch the finals, but that’s about it.

They had to come up with a gimmick to get more female competitors into the Vegas finals, which is why the top 20 advance on time these days. I felt they cut back on the human interest stories this season for the most part.

I actually thought the 1-on-1 racing aspect would reinvigorate ANW but I don''t like how they've set up that stage. It's less about speed and more about how well each competitor can pike and kip from the hanging obstacles.

Watched the first qualifier of the new season last night. The whole show is being filmed in Vegas which I assume is a huge savings on production costs. Biggest change this year, no Mt Midoriyama. National Finals is all races so there will be a singular winner. I assume those races have shown to be a hit with fans.

I'll tune in for the finals, can't make myself care about the earlier rounds any more.

Getting rid of Mount Midoriyama basically turns Ninja Warrior into yet another obstacle course game show. They are bringing back a lot of older participants this year.

Surprised seeing David Campbell married with a kid already, which seemingly came out of nowhere. For years and years he had appeared on the show with no significant other. It kind of stuck out because virtually every other Ninja Warrior personality always had a spouse or partner on the sidelines.

I've watched all the last ten seasons at least and have no idea who David Campbell is.

Don't even care, I'm watching the people run these courses am not interested in who these people are.

The woman who wears a Wonder Woman custome and the guy who wears a cape and has green hair.

One guy is called Flip.
It's too much like characters out of WWE

I don't know, I'm not trying to watch a soap opera.

Anyway how are any of the women supposed to win this?

oh I guess I felt that way 7 years ago too

Why do you even bother watching? Sure sounds like you have zero interest in it or any of the people who run every year. Do you enjoy wasting your time?

I can see how it looks like that. I like watching the people try to run the course but don't care to see it turned into WWE like characters. My enjoyment comes more from when the regular people run it. One thing I do find funny is when they do a big package for someone and they immedialty fall off the course.

But the people you're complaining about ARE regular people. David Campbell was I think a pizza delivery guy? Now he's been on the show every year. Flip was just a kid when he started, and I assume found his career in stunts because of the show. Joe is still one of the fan favorites. He's a weatherman.

The days of regular people running it are mostly over now that's it popular. Kids grow up going to gyms, training for it.

Yes, all fair points and it's clearly just a Me thing and I can live with that.

Fair enough. I also miss the days if of it being just a bunch of people off the street. But I have enjoyed growing up with the regulars who show up every year.

This is what has changed the most. The first generation of kids who started focusing on this stuff when they were very young are now old enough to compete and are for the most part the bulk of the group that dominates, with a handful of the best veteran contestants thrown in.

The special interest stories are what keeps it from being just a bunch of teenagers running obstacle courses. Personally, I think the stories make it more interesting and watchable.

Watch the semi-final tonight and Isabella Folsom became the fourth women to complete the 10 run course she use the invisible ladder pretty fast. I"m impressed.

Yeah, she's jacked. I loved seeing so many of the newer contestants struggle with the invisible ladder. Nice reminder that some of the older stuff was much more grueling unless you had the specific training.

They have consciously made the American course more amenable to smaller female athletes over the years. They've eliminated many of the obstacles which impose serious upper-body strength requirements like the invisible ladder. Most of the foreign versions of Ninja Warrior still remain closer to versions of the course from 10-12 years ago.

I have enjoyed this season with its focus on the older returning players.

Races have been fun this year. Joe the Weatherman announced his retirement after losing a race. Only for another race in his group to end in a way that had him go through to the next round of finals.

Najee last year. Joe this year. The old heads are on their way out.