S12.E01: Qualifier 1

[Quilt Fairy]

Quote

A new season begins with round one of qualifying as the ninjas face up to six challenging obstacles....

This should be interesting.

Air date: Monday, Sept 7, 2020

[Chaos Theory]

I like the Ring Chaser.  It’s fun to watch and I like the idea of catching the good ring or having to use the much smaller one.

I am a glad both Zimmerman and Allysa Beird did so well and made it to the next round.  
 

If the mega wall was easy everyone would try it.   

Edited September 8, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[Taeolas]

I like this line up of obstacles. Maybe a bit too much bouncing (between Weight For It and Slingshot obstacle at 5), but the Rib Runner balance obstacle seemed like a great new one.  I do like the shrinking steps; not too hard but still different from what we had before. 

The Ring Chase is a great obstacle too; it encourages speed, but if you aren't lucky you still have a chance. I'm glad they showed someone successfuly doing the jump with the small ring early on to prove it is legit doable too. 

 

So looking at the final board, this round is sending 13 Ninjas forward; 2 of the women were in the Top 12 (one even finished, gratz Beird!) And Sandy's time was only 4 seconds off of Taylor's time. Basically everyone who made it to Slingshot made it through I think. 

 

So we have 8 weeks of show? So will that be 4 weeks of qualifiers, 3 weeks of elimination and 1 week for the finals? I wonder if they'll change the obstacles up a bit for each qualifier. Part of me hopes they do, but since they're all in one place I doubt they will. That could make 7 weeks of these 6 obstacles a bit tiring. 

[Lantern7]

Great to have a new season under the circumstances, even if the format has been changed. And it's fun to see some of the elite ninjas bring along their friends. Sadly, I'm thinking the two people that Drew Dreschel brought with him have also been wished away into the proverbial cornfield. If you haven't heard what's been up with Drew, do an online search and then cringe.

[Quilt Fairy]

That was a spectacular beginning!  If you're going to run ANW during a pandemic, this is the way to do it.  One of the most enjoyable ANW episodes I've ever watched; I even enjoyed the crowd sounds.  I was yelling at the screen and clapping every time someone got past the Ring Chaser.  

When Matt Hansen hit the buzzer I clapped so hard my hands hurt. 

[Rickster]

I’d guess if the Dreschel picks failed to qualify for the next round, we’ll never see or hear about them. If they did qualify, then the show will have to address the situation.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Rickster

[Lovecat]

So excited to see Mr. Huie, the funky teacher ninja—he teaches music at my middle school Alma mater, mere blocks from here!  Sad he didn’t advance, but it was sure fun to see him running the streets of my neighborhood and working the monkey bars on the playground behind the Ed Center (school district HQ, which used to be an elementary school and still has a well-used playground and ball field)!

[grandmabegum]

7 hours ago, Rickster said:

I’d guess if the Dreschel picks failed to qualify for the next round, we’ll never see or hear about them. If they did qualify, then the show will have to address the situation.

I certainly hope his actions don't affect if they are permitted to continue. But, if one of them makes it to the next round, I doubt we'll hear anything about why Dreschel isn't there. NBC's comments were pretty firm that this is a family show and they are wiping their hands of him (I assume this includes commenting on why he's not there).

[Taeolas]

It depends on who Drew picked. If they are established Ninjas (like some of the ones that were picked last night) then the duo will probably be "While We Were Awayed" and spun as the established Ninja and his pick, instead of both being Drew's pick.  It isn't difficult to cut out any "support" shot that may have had Drew in it, and the commentary can always be rerecorded. 

 

In any case, that's something to keep an eye on for the next few rounds. For now, we can celebrate the 13 that made it through this round. All 13 made it to Slingshot and beyond, so they all have a good chance of making it to the back half of the course in their next round. 

[enoughcats]

In the intro, was there a Drew sighting or was it someone who also  wears a bandana headband above his eyebrows as a sweat guard, too?

[Rosenrot]

On 9/8/2020 at 1:21 PM, grandmabegum said:

But, if one of them makes it to the next round, I doubt we'll hear anything about why Dreschel isn't there. NBC's comments were pretty firm that this is a family show and they are wiping their hands of him (I assume this includes commenting on why he's not there).

Yeah. I do wish they would address the situation even by a few words, but I doubt it.

Can we please have all the future competitions without a crowd? 

Other random notes:

- They're still milking the "first mom up the warped wall" thing? Jesus, just give it a rest! 

- The only sob story I watched was Flip's. And yes, I sobbed. No shame. 

- So happy for Alyssa!

- If I were the one to decide, Grant would wear nothing but the Pineapple Speedos™️ for the rest of the season. 🤪

I think this season is going to be short, but all the more sweeter! 

 

[Taeolas]

On 9/8/2020 at 7:21 AM, grandmabegum said:

I certainly hope his actions don't affect if they are permitted to continue. But, if one of them makes it to the next round, I doubt we'll hear anything about why Dreschel isn't there. NBC's comments were pretty firm that this is a family show and they are wiping their hands of him (I assume this includes commenting on why he's not there).

I think it is a fine line they need to walk with respect to Dreschel, and they may be erring on the side of caution. They did release a public statement saying they are breaking all connections with Drew. To say WHY they are taking that step, especially in a public comment on a prerecorded show, risks them getting into possible slander territory, since as of yet, the allegations are still allegations, they are not proven (As far as I know). It may not be technically be slander, but it is close enough that they probably don't want to risk it; especially when they are thinking of repeats and streaming of the episodes in the future afterwards. 

 

From what I've noticed, most of the time when a business breaks all connections with someone, that person just isn't mentioned again, not even to give any explanation why they were broken off. It's often seen better to just not draw attention to it; and if people are curious there are usually a lot of other ways to find out why. 

[enoughcats]

3 hours ago, Rosenrot said:

Can we please have all the future competitions without a crowd? 

So, I wasn't the only curmudgeon who found the crowd-less ness a major positive?

[Rosenrot]

1 hour ago, enoughcats said:

So, I wasn't the only curmudgeon who found the crowd-less ness a major positive?

Indeed you were not. 😄 

[Quilt Fairy]

Considering all the speculation and excitement about this season, it doesn't look like hardly anyone watched it.  Where are all the posts?  It was a really good episode, too.  Was it because it was on Labor Day?  Except, of course, what else would you have to do this particular Labor Day except sit at home watching TV?

Color me confused. 

[mlp]

2 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Where are all the posts?

I watched and was very happy ANW hadn't been scrapped.  I didn't post because I had nothing to say that hadn't already been said.  

I'm in the group that thinks "first mom" is a ridiculous thing to lionize.  KIDS are making it up warped walls now.  

[Fukui San]

Oddly, this season feels more like the Japanese version than usual, with the limited contestant pool mixture of serious contenders and human interest stories, smaller scale setting, and more sparse crowd.

[Vermicious Knid]

A contestant on the last season of Drag Race was disqualified after most of the season was shot, and they ran a disclaimer before every episode. They couldn't eliminate her completely because it turned out this person had made it into the finals. They minimized her as much as possible during each episode and she was not a finalist when they filmed the last episode that revealed the winner. If Drew or his invitees don't place they can get away with cutting them out entirely and never mentioning anything.

More excited by the newbies who got a shot they may never have than the pros.

[RedbirdNelly]

I was glad to see this back. It's a joyful show for me. I enjoy seeing people take on the challenges and I like how everyone cheers for everyone else. 

[Chaos Theory]

On 9/12/2020 at 12:42 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

Considering all the speculation and excitement about this season, it doesn't look like hardly anyone watched it.  Where are all the posts?  It was a really good episode, too.  Was it because it was on Labor Day?  Except, of course, what else would you have to do this particular Labor Day except sit at home watching TV?

Color me confused. 

On shows like this people tend to only come on when they have something to bitch about.   Since the sob stories were kept to a minimum and most of the stories tended to be Covid related I think most people just let them be.   And the “First Mom Up the warped wall” isn’t going away any time soon.   The show likes it “firsts”.   Plus yeah being a mom is different then being a dad simply due to the effects pregnancy has on a female body so having a bunch of kids and still being able to succeed in a (let’s face it) male dominated sport is kinda a big deal.  

[Lovecat]

As a shrimpy girl myself (albeit far fluffier), I love the height difference between Paulette (Pauline?) Avila and her husband Jody "Big Dog."  He could toss her up in the air, have some lunch, and still have time to brush his teeth before she came back down.

[RedbirdNelly]

14 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

On shows like this people tend to only come on when they have something to bitch about.   Since the sob stories were kept to a minimum and most of the stories tended to be Covid related I think most people just let them be.   And the “First Mom Up the warped wall” isn’t going away any time soon.   The show likes it “firsts”.   Plus yeah being a mom is different then being a dad simply due to the effects pregnancy has on a female body so having a bunch of kids and still being able to succeed in a (let’s face it) male dominated sport is kinda a big deal.  

agree with this

 on the first mom thing, last season, I was at first thinking "seriously? that's a thing?" when they were talking about a well-qualified contestant who was trying to be the first mom. I knew this was not season 1 so could not believe that was still a thing. But then the person (who was otherwise very solid) got to the wall and failed to get up. It was then I realized, yeah, this is still a thing. Then Sandy went up in style. So I don't begrudge celebrating that. 

[realdancemom]

14 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

On shows like this people tend to only come on when they have something to bitch about.   Since the sob stories were kept to a minimum and most of the stories tended to be Covid related I think most people just let them be.   And the “First Mom Up the warped wall” isn’t going away any time soon.   The show likes it “firsts”.   Plus yeah being a mom is different then being a dad simply due to the effects pregnancy has on a female body so having a bunch of kids and still being able to succeed in a (let’s face it) male dominated sport is kinda a big deal.  

I also watched it last week but I didn't really have anything to say so I didn't post. 

But I'm going to agree with you on the first mom label because it did take 11 seasons before a mom conquered a wall.  So I think it's a big deal.  Plus it seems that this season, the show is labeling each group so she was able to pick two other moms that might not have had a chance to be on the show.

I'm glad that Flip made it.  I feel bad for Dave Cavanagh since he did so well last year.  But that's the sport and a lot of good Ninjas make it to Vegas one year and then have a disappointing year the next.

[Quilt Fairy]

12 hours ago, Lovecat said:

As a shrimpy girl myself (albeit far fluffier), I love the height difference between Paulette (Pauline?) Avila and her husband Jody "Big Dog."  He could toss her up in the air, have some lunch, and still have time to brush his teeth before she came back down.

ITA!  She barely comes up to his elbow. 

[Taeolas]

How curious, the Power Tower comes back TONIGHT in Episode 2, but wasn't mentioned at all in the first episode. I wonder why....

 

No I don't wonder why. It would make sense they would've had Drew run the first night back and he clearly got in the Top 2 and ran the tower, so that had to be cut out. Since there were no unaccounted for Ninjas in the finals, then Drew probably won the Power Tower and so would've brought his other Ninjas, but they didn't seem to be mentioned at all. 

 

*Edit* Confirmation as for the lack of power tower in the first episode. Drew did get Top 2 and lost on Power Tower. I wonder if Drew did get the Mega wall in that group too? 

Edited September 15, 2020 by Taeolas

[dvr devotee]

For as much as they edited out Drew, it seems nobody went over the Teletype captions too closely, as there was one part early in the show where the caption said "[someone's name I don't remember] and Drew Dreschel." I watched it a week ago so I don't remember the exact context, but Matt was the one talking.

[Ilovepie]

On 9/11/2020 at 10:11 AM, enoughcats said:

So, I wasn't the only curmudgeon who found the crowd-less ness a major positive?

Nope. Didn't miss the crowds at all. I did hate how loud the fake crowd noise was though. I wish they would tone it down - at some points I couldn't even hear Matt and Akbar, which is ridiculous considering that noise is fake!

On 9/12/2020 at 11:53 AM, mlp said:

I'm in the group that thinks "first mom" is a ridiculous thing to lionize. 

It completely is. How many dads have made it? This is not a thing. At all.

It was interesting seeing the Island Ninja running without a crowd to play to. I actually think that helps him as he frequently gets distracted with playing up to them.....

[VartanFan]

If you listen to the commenters while not watching the action (so your attention isn’t split), you’ll hear a male commenting voice that is clearly not Matt’s and clearly not Akbar’s.  I rewound at a few different points.  DId anyone else notice this?