Now in its eighth season, American Ninja Warrior continues to challenge elite athletes with obstacle courses unlike any otherâto the point that only two of the showâs competitors has ever successfully achieved "Total Victory" (both in season seven). Here are a few things you might not know about the series. May the best ninja warrior win.
Unlike other competition shows, American Ninja Warrior doesnât hold traditional casting calls. Prospective contestants can send in a submission tape, then producers choose around 100 people to ârunâ in each of the cities they are visiting. If your tape doesn't get you one of those handpicked spots, thereâs always a walk-on line. But youâll need a different type of training for that. âThe walk-on line is like waiting for Black Friday sales,â producer Brian Richardson told mental_floss . âYou sleep in a tent for a week or more outside the course, with no guarantees. We usually only have time to run 20 to 30 people from the walk-on line. Sometimes people spend a week camping out and never get to run the course.â
Richardson admits competitors are caught off-guard by how complicated the obstacles are when trying to run them in the flesh, as opposed to from the safety of their couch. âFor most of our competitors, they've practiced on similar looking obstacles at home or at their gym,â he says. âBut when they step up to competeâunder the lights, in front of a crowd, with a camera in their faceâit's a lot more intimidating.â
While some of the obstacles on American Ninja Warrior come directly from Sasuke , the Japanese program upon which it is based, others are totally original to the stateside series and arenât created overnight. âWe work with the company that builds our obstacles, ATS, and brainstorm for months on ideas to test strength, balance, and agility,â explains Richardson. âIt might start as a drawing on a napkin. Then we'll build a prototype and test it in the ATS warehouse. Ultimately, if it passes all the tests, then we will make it part of our course. Even when it's built on the course, we test it with athletes dozens and dozens of times to dial in the difficulty. Moving a rope six inches closer or farther away can make a world of difference.â
Given the showâs title, youâd expect the competitors most likely to complete each course would be the big muscle guys with out-of-this-world strength, but thatâs not always the case. âTypically, in most of the American sports, size and strength are a big advantage,â says American Ninja Warrior co-host Matt Iseman. âWhat we've seen in this, it's really strengthâtoâweight ratio. So the less weight you have to carry on the course, the better your strength does on that. I think we saw that last year with the biggest story, Kacy Catanzaro, who is five-feet tall [and] less than 100 pounds. No one thought she was strong enough, but the reality is she was so lightâand she is incredibly strongâthat she didn't have all this mass.â
Whether the leanest contestants have a competitive edge or not, co-host and former NFL player Akbar Gbajabiamila says pro football players often contact him to get on the course. âI get guys like NFL star quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers, telling me, âI love this show,ââ he says. âI get guys like Charles Woodson texting me, like, âMan, this is amazing.â Other guys texting me or tweeting me, saying, âLook, give me your number. I want to get on this obstacle course because I think I could do it.ââ
Since the start of the show, American Ninja Warrior has run some pretty inspiring competitors through their courses, like those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis or diabetes, and even recent open-heart surgery patients. âYou don't have an excuse when you see how hard some of these competitors work and the adversity that they overcome,â says Iseman.
When asked about which obstacle was the toughest to build, Richardson says it's probably "Stage 4 in Las Vegas. It's four stories high, and with the way the desert winds blow in Vegas, it can be scary to be up at the top."
Given that the show's producers are dealing with people who consider themselves ninja warriors, these contestants are stealthy, recreating obstacles at home to figure out the best way to work the course. Which means that producers must always remain one step ahead of their competitors. âOur best athletes train year-round for ANW now,â says Richardson. âThere are gyms devoted to Ninja training that are popping up all over the country, so people have a lot more access to obstacles like the Warped Wall. We want to test them every year, so we have to keep creating obstacles that are fun, and challenging, and entertaining to watch at home.â
In its first season, producers received tapes from 1000 American Ninja Warrior hopefuls. Last year, producers were slammed with approximately 50,000 videos of folks vying for a spot on the show.
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