Why I love American Ninja Warrior

6 August 2018

My favorite summer TV series is NBC’s American Ninja Warrior. It’s the only show I watch live, because I can’t stand to wait until the next day to watch online. I watch it with my 87-year-old father when I’m visiting him and when I’m not there, we talk about it the next day over the phone.

In case you’re not familiar with it, American Ninja Warrior is a competition show, in which men and women race against the clock on ridiculously difficult obstacle courses. There are qualifying contests in a variety of cities. The top competitors in each city qualifier advance to the city final. The top competitors of the city final advance to the national competition in Las Vegas, which has up to four stages. The competitor who makes it fastest through the fourth stage wins a million dollars. So far, in nine seasons (the current season is the tenth), only two competitors made it to Stage Four (they were both in the same year), so only one has one the grand prize. This is crazy difficult.

People are sometimes surprised when I talk enthusiastically about the show. After all, it’s not exactly the epitome of sophistication. It’s noisy and has lots of flashing lights and yelling people and loud commentators. But it is so enjoyable and inspirational.

Here are some of the reasons I love it:

Men and women compete on an equal playing field. That’s right, all competitors run the exact same course. The only advantage women are given is that the top five will advance to the city finals, even if they’re not in the top 30, and the top two will advance from the city finals to Las Vegas, even if they’re not in the top 15. That’s it. These women are unbelievable. Watch Allyssa Beird (a fifth-grade teacher!) finish Stage One in national final in Las Vegas last year:

Old and young compete on the same course. This year they dropped the minimum age to 19 (from 21). There is no maximum age. One of my favorite competitors is Jon Stewart, who is my age. This year, at the age of 56, he finished the Dallas qualifiers, breaking his own record as the oldest person to finish a city qualifier. How can you not shout, “Go, Jon!” while you’re watching?

And here’s the youngest woman ever to hit to hit a buzzer, 20-year-old Casey Rothschild, a college student, at the Philadelphia qualifier, also this year.

The competitors all support one another. It’s really wonderful to watch the competitors don each others’ fan t-shirts and cheer each other on. Great sportsmanship is always on display. In the video above, you can see Allyssa’s fellow women Ninjas going crazy for her. One of her closest competitors, who had failed that course, is shown crying with joy.

They have such good attitudes when they fail. They almost always smile after falling and usually the comment is, “That was so much fun!” Even when the Ninja superstars (who are always expected to finish) fail, they just shrug and say some form of, “It happens to the best of us.” Witness superstar Drew Dreschel’s reaction after his embarrassing fall on the second obstacle in the 2014 Miami final.

They showcase amazing come-back stories. Recently, there was an amputee who competed with prosthetic legs. There was a previous competitor who, between seasons, had been electrocuted and nearly died. There are always cancer survivors and people who have overcome all sorts of adversity. Again, inspirational.

Watching American Ninja Warrior is a wholesome, positive experience. It’s enthralling, inspirational, and a highlight of my summer each year. While ANW is a summer phenomenon, there are specials and variations you can see at other time of the year, I also love American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs Ninja on the USA Network, which has teams of three ninjas, competing head to head, tournament style. Those courses are shorter because they’re all about speed. There is always at least one woman on a three-person team. So fun. There are also all-star competitions, international team competition, and even a celebrity edition (for Red Nose Day).

You can watch American Ninja Warrior on the NBC website and on Hulu. You can see clips on You Tube. You can purchase whole seasons (like I’ve done) on Amazon video. You can watch Ninja vs Ninja on the USA Network’s website. And you can tune in live tonight at 9/8 central!

Tagged with: american ninja warrior, inspiration, television