S11.E17: USA vs. The World

[Lantern7]

I kept meaning to start this topic . . . basically it's the annual skirmish between the US, Europe and Australia. Of course, between the Grammys and the recent passing of Kobe Bryant, this might be swept under the rug. Since I'm into Doctor Who and the CW DC Comics shows, I'll be DVRing this. I probably won't be alone on that.

Representing Team USA: Drew Drechsel, Daniel Gil, Karsten Williams, Jesse Labreck, Adam Rayl, and Michael Torres. Here are profiles from Teams Europe and Australia.

[Hellga]

I am watching live...  US has an advantage in that they have all ran that course, and experienced all or most of these obstacles at least once, unlike people from overseas, so no surprise US is leading.

[mlp]

Thanks for your post, Lantern.  I didn't realize this was on tonight and just happened to see your comment a few minutes after 8 pm so I didn't miss much.  

That kid who won the rope climb was really impressive.  I was surprised that Team USA didn't have Daniel Gil do the climb because he was just a couple seconds behind Drew last year.  

I'm glad Jesse finally made it up the cargo ladder.  

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

That kid who won the rope climb was really impressive.  I was surprised that Team USA didn't have Daniel Gil do the climb because he was just a couple seconds behind Drew last year.  

That seemed like a no-brainer to me.  I was as surprised as hell that Dreschel even considered anyone else, much less picked someone besides Gil.  Although I would not have been surprised if he still decided to go himself, despite the fact he "felt something snap" in this left wrist. 

That being said, I'm pleased as punch that someone other than the USA won.  It must be incredibly difficult to compete when none of the audience is on your side.  

Olivia Vivian rocks!

[mlp]

10 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

12 hours ago, mlp said:

 

That seemed like a no-brainer to me.  I was as surprised as hell that Dreschel even considered anyone else, much less picked someone besides Gil.

I remain surprised but, honestly, I don't think anyone on Team USA could have beat the Australian.  He was really fast and didn't seem to be slowing down at all.  I was also happy for him.

[ClareWalks]

11 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Olivia Vivian rocks!

I was fine with her shenanigans until the end, when she checked her nails before hitting the buzzer. It's just a pet peeve for me when people screw around before hitting the buzzer, it always comes off as cocky (several male competitors do this every year and it annoys me).

[saber5055]

I was looking forward to this. I miss this show and was glad to see my Ninja friends again. I thought the USA had a huge advantage since all of them had been on those obstacles multi times. I felt bad for the Aussie and European teams who are seeing the course for the first time.

I also was WTH about two Aussies getting the WWWA treatment. What was THAT about.

I was glad Drew said he finished that stage hurt because "he could" and that the show had given him a million dollars so he sort of owed it to finish. I was down on Drew during his winning season, so that made me not dislike him any more.

Loved meeting Daniel Gil's father. That was an interesting segment, something I didn't know before.

I was rooting for some of those Aussies and Europeans. But USA was leading through the whole thing. Then they freaking LOST on the last obstacle? That was shocking. Nothing like winning everything except one course, then losing the whole ball game. But happy for the Aussies given USA had an advantage, as stated above.

I'd love to see some of the Europeans (and Aussies) again. That would be cool if they could compete during the upcoming season.

The only weird thing about this show IMO is Zuri. She has these teeny little spaghetti arms and no muscle tone whatsoever. I wish they had a host who at least looked like she could do a push up or something.

ETA: I thought Olivia Vivian rocked, but I also thought she was a real dumb bell taking all that extra time to showboat. No one told her the runs were being timed? Yeah, she made it through but got her *ss kicked time-wise. Not the way to be a team player IMO. Save the showboating for your regular season, I'll respect you more that way.

Edited January 27, 2020 by saber5055

[Quilt Fairy]

3 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

I was fine with her shenanigans until the end, when she checked her nails before hitting the buzzer.

That bothered me, too, and if she had missed first place by 2 seconds it would have seemed foolish.  But she lost by what? Close to a minute?  I think she knew it wouldn't be an issue.

The big thing is when any woman finishes Stage 1, which is why I cheered when Jessie Labreck finally caught that rope wall.

[ClareWalks]

14 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

That bothered me, too, and if she had missed first place by 2 seconds it would have seemed foolish.  But she lost by what? Close to a minute?  I think she knew it wouldn't be an issue.

The big thing is when any woman finishes Stage 1, which is why I cheered when Jessie Labreck finally caught that rope wall.

True, it didn't end up mattering, I probably wouldn't have even noticed if she'd been the last of the round to run (since the points would have been determined). And I loved how she gaily trotted over the balance obstacle instead of sprinting balls-out like all the men do, LOL 🙂

[ams1001]

I knew this was on, made a note to watch it...and totally forgot. I put it in my OnDemand cart but I won't be able to watch until Friday or Saturday, probably. 

 

[Lantern7]

Meh. I mean, I like the concept, but 1. It usually comes down to two teams while another gets hammered, and 2. Throwing the scores away for the climb-off seems to make everything moot. You can say that the US lost when Drew Dreschel decided that he HAD to complete the course, injuries and all. I get where he was coming from in terms of putting on a show, but he could have hurt himself for a longer period of time . . . possibly knocking himself out of ANW12.

Am I pedantic for thinking the US should have gotten a headstart with their lead? Of course, in a perfect world, we'd have an entire season of international teams competing in a World Cup of Ninja, with every nation that has a franchise sending a squad over. And maybe a few that don't have their own version can do it anyway. Are there any fans of The Challenge reading this? Turkey could just send Turbo, and he'd probably advance all by himself. But yeah . . . if a one-shot/three-team event is all we get . . . and the non-US teams probably don;t get the time to familiarize themselves with ANW . . . I guess we can live with that.

[Rickster]

I know this show is wedded to the climb-off for the final stage, but there does seem to be something wrong when a team far behind can win when they just happen to have a super climber on their team. It would be better to do another obstacle stage, with all the two final team members required to run.

[saber5055]

Does anyone know how long filming this episode lasted? It went from dark of night to, as Matt said, daytime. What was up with that? What was everyone doing during that time span, when only two ninjas were going to climb.

Maybe the rope tower fell down or something and they had to put it back up.

I read that the new season will be inside in at least two of the three cities where filming will take place, so runs will be in the daytime. How will Drew figure out when to sleep since last season he slept during day and trained at night to fit the filming schedule.

[TimothyQ]

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

Does anyone know how long filming this episode lasted? It went from dark of night to, as Matt said, daytime. What was up with that?

Yeah, I thought that was weird too. It’s nighttime, then they cut to rope climb and it’s daylight out. So sudden and noticeable yet they didn’t even comment on it. Felt like the old days of Ninja Warrior back on the G4 channel. 

[mlp]

The time of day didn't strike me as odd.  It wasn't full daylight during the rope climb.  It was dawn.  I can easily see how the sky could have gone from full dark to dawn while the crew was setting up the cameras and getting everyone organized.

[TimothyQ]

9 hours ago, mlp said:

The time of day didn't strike me as odd.  It wasn't full daylight during the rope climb.  It was dawn.  I can easily see how the sky could have gone from full dark to dawn while the crew was setting up the cameras and getting everyone organized.

You’re right. I went back and looked and, in fact, during Drew’s stage 3 run, you can see dawn just breaking on the horizon. So they must’ve run so long in the filming at night that the sun came up for the rope climb.

[Lunula]

Does it bother anyone else that they title this USA vs the World? Every year this bugs me, it's the "world" competing against one another, not just the USA. Irksome.

Personally, I would've liked at least 4 teams competing instead of only 3. I get that the US "hosts" the event, so that team would always be there - but why no team from Japan? And why is Europe bunched into the entire continent rather than having a country team like the US? I understand Australia is both a country and a continent, but I'd love to see country teams instead of huge regions. I think it could only help the other teams to work with individuals they've directly competed against and know via the regular season. Is there not enough interest in the rest of the Ninja world to do this?

Like others, also surprised that Daniel didn't run the rope event. I'm not bothered that a team other than the US won; however, I think it's kinda cheap that they were literally killing it and then lost on one "winner takes all" event. That's where having more than 3 teams would make it more level and it could be more like a tournament to make it to the next round, where they wipe out previous point totals until you get 2 final competitors. 

 

[srpturtle80]

So I LOVE Adam. But goodness that boy needs to work on his rope climbing skills. He got absolutely smoked by the Australian kid. I was so disappointed when Adam came so close to making it through Stage 3 last year only to fail, but now I know that there is no way he could have beaten Drew on the rope climb, and that actually makes me feel a little bit better.

I got my parents hooked on this show a couple of years ago. They were watching and as soon as it ended I get a text wanting to know why Daniel didn’t do the rope climb instead of Adam. I had to tell them I am as stumped as they are! Made no sense to me. 

I wish they could change the format. I hate how USA had this huge lead from the get go and that essentially means nothing when it comes to Stage 4. Not sure how else they could do it just wish it were different. 
 

It was so good to have a taste of my show again, not sure how I am supposed to wait until summer for more!!! 

[LadyNebula]

On 1/29/2020 at 10:00 AM, Lunula said:

Does it bother anyone else that they title this USA vs the World? Every year this bugs me, it's the "world" competing against one another, not just the USA. Irksome.

Personally, I would've liked at least 4 teams competing instead of only 3. I get that the US "hosts" the event, so that team would always be there - but why no team from Japan? And why is Europe bunched into the entire continent rather than having a country team like the US? I understand Australia is both a country and a continent, but I'd love to see country teams instead of huge regions. I think it could only help the other teams to work with individuals they've directly competed against and know via the regular season. Is there not enough interest in the rest of the Ninja world to do this?

Like others, also surprised that Daniel didn't run the rope event. I'm not bothered that a team other than the US won; however, I think it's kinda cheap that they were literally killing it and then lost on one "winner takes all" event. That's where having more than 3 teams would make it more level and it could be more like a tournament to make it to the next round, where they wipe out previous point totals until you get 2 final competitors. 

 

Regarding Japan...They used to come but haven't the last couple of years. They didn't do a great job, which I attribute to their course being more all-around, not as upper body heavy as America's. 

[Taeolas]

If I recall correctly, this is usually filmed a day or two after the US finals, while everything is still set up. So it may be that Drew and Daniel decided not to let Daniel do the climb to let another up and coming ninja have the Stage 4 spotlight. 

I was a bit surprised at how long it ran; that must have been a really long night for everyone. (But then again it is Vegas and going all night is their thing). I was surprised to see dawn breaking during Drew's run, and half expected them to have waited until the next evening to do Stage 4. 

I hope some of the streaming services will pick up the Ninja Warrior shows from other countries. I'm really curious about what the Aussie one is, and wouldn't mind seeing more of the European ones. 

[realdancemom]

It's nice when other countries win too so I don't mind that the rope climb determines the winners.  USA has a huge advantage in the competition since the competitors have done the obstacles.  It would be boring if USA always won.  Previously, I used to think that they would bring in Sean McColl just so Europe could win.  Now, they can bring in the Australian kid.

Plus I think it's great that the Australian kid practiced the rope all year so glad he was rewarded for his effort.  Now, Adam knows to practice so that he has a shot of winning a million dollars next season.

The Australian lady drove me crazy.  It didn't matter in the long run but when the winner is based on time, then stop wasting it and showboating!

[Ilovepie]

On 1/29/2020 at 7:00 AM, Lunula said:

Personally, I would've liked at least 4 teams competing instead of only 3.

I don't think there are enough competitors that could competitively field 3 other teams vs. the US. Our squad is just too deep. I would rather it was actually USA vs. The World, as in only one other team made up of the absolute best from around the globe. Maybe that would even it out. I am glad the Australian kid beat Adam (even though I love him!) because it was not even entertaining with how lopsided the competition was with the Americans crushing almost everyone else. I know they film this right after the conclusion of the regular season, but maybe it would be better to do it at a different time on a completely different course because it gives the US yet another unfair advantage. And as far as the sun coming up, it was end of last summer - the sun comes up pretty early that time of year.....

[Quilt Fairy]

I find titles like USA vs the World to be patronizing and jingoistic.  I would actually prefer a competition where the USA did not compete at all.   We saw them on this course just a few months ago, I'd like to see other people on them.   

[Ilovepie]

15 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I find titles like USA vs the World to be patronizing and jingoistic.  I would actually prefer a competition where the USA did not compete at all.   We saw them on this course just a few months ago, I'd like to see other people on them.   

I wouldn't mind that either. Or how about mixed teams made up of the competitors from the US, Japan, Europe, South America and Australia?

[RedbirdNelly]

On 1/27/2020 at 12:56 PM, ClareWalks said:

I was fine with her shenanigans until the end, when she checked her nails before hitting the buzzer. It's just a pet peeve for me when people screw around before hitting the buzzer, it always comes off as cocky (several male competitors do this every year and it annoys me).

I would not care except it was a time event and each second might just count. If you are not racing on time, fine. Otherwise seems silly (though she was well slower so it didn't matter but what if it did)

[RedbirdNelly]

count  me in with disliking the rope climb deciding everything. If you are going to keep doing it, there should be some advantage to being ahead on points--such as for every X number of points you are ahead of 2nd place team, you get Y amount of an early start on the rope.

US definitely has the advantage of running the course before--but it also looked like some of the other countries have courses that are a lot easier to begin with. Is that just me? if so, they really are facing an uphill climb. 

[Rosenrot]

I'm late to the party (only watched this now), but I have to say that watching Team US crushing it from the beginning, only to lose it all at the last stage because the Aussie boy happened to be a super rope climber, was ALMOST worth of having to watch Drew playing Unyielding American Hero™️. Almost. 

But, god, I HAVE missed this show. Summer is a long way away yet!  

[Meushell]

I felt bad for the European team. They were slaughtered. The one guy who did the best just took his time on everything. Wasn’t he the one who waved? Maybe he gave up team-wise and just enjoyed himself.

I don’t particularly like or dislike Drew, but I didn’t mind him going through. The moment he was injured, I think the rope climb was out.

The points should mean something, but is a headstart fair? Wouldn’t that just give the win to whoever has the headstart? Maybe all the points should be 3 for first, 2 for second, and 1 for third. As much as I felt bad for the Europeans, I also was basically rooting against them in three final round because I don’t think it would have been fair to displace the Australians after getting, what, like one win needed, wasn’t it?

[Lantern7]

Heads up: NBC will be rerunning this special on Monday night, presumably after The Titan Games.

[Idk]

On 1/30/2020 at 2:00 AM, Lunula said:

Does it bother anyone else that they title this USA vs the World? Every year this bugs me, it's the "world" competing against one another, not just the USA. Irksome.

Personally, I would've liked at least 4 teams competing instead of only 3. I get that the US "hosts" the event, so that team would always be there - but why no team from Japan? And why is Europe bunched into the entire continent rather than having a country team like the US? I understand Australia is both a country and a continent, but I'd love to see country teams instead of huge regions. I think it could only help the other teams to work with individuals they've directly competed against and know via the regular season. Is there not enough interest in the rest of the Ninja world to do this?

Like others, also surprised that Daniel didn't run the rope event. I'm not bothered that a team other than the US won; however, I think it's kinda cheap that they were literally killing it and then lost on one "winner takes all" event. That's where having more than 3 teams would make it more level and it could be more like a tournament to make it to the next round, where they wipe out previous point totals until you get 2 final competitors. 

 

USA is a Continent, not a country. I get your point though. It was very unfair that most of these objects, the Aussies and the Europeans haven't even seen before. And I thought the use of "world" was very underminded.

[surreysmum]

14 hours ago, Idk said:

USA is a Continent, not a country.

Excuse me?  The United States of America most definitely is a country, not a continent.  If you want to claim that "America" is a continent, that's different, although many of us are taught it's two continents, North America and South America.

Speaking from Canada, a country in the continent of North America, but definitely not part of any continent called "USA".