S12.E05 Semi-Final 1

[Hellga]

This is the first of two semi-finals.  I think they said it's the same thing - 12 best advance, didn't mention women specifically so far, if it would be 2 or 3.

Sandy Zimmerman's back story of building a Ninja course for a sick girl is sweet.  Wish they had more of that and less of sob stories or Grant McCartney and other 'favorite' ninjas fame-whoring... 

Good run, too.  I have never seen anyone hop with both feet on a rolling balance obstacle before... actually worked out well for her!

 

PS  Add the 'classy ninja' to the list of useless fame-whoring back stories.  And it's just dumb to run in a suit.  A good tailored suit is *expensive*, so why would you run in it, and if it's a cheap suit you don't mind ruining, it's not *classy*!  The twist on the warped wall was impressive, though.

Edited October 13, 2020 by Hellga

[EllenB]

Sorry about Gillette's cousin, but good lord, I hate NBC and their emphasis on sob stories.  "You got a sick parent? No? Brother or sister? No? Grandparent? No? Aunt? Uncle? No? Aw, shit! Cousin? Awright!!! And he's dying, right? And has kids? AND he's a veteran? Sonnie, YOU will make it to the finals, dude!"

Edited October 13, 2020 by EllenB
Autocorrupt

[Hellga]

I hope Grant McPosturing fails.  That was just dumb and annoying, wasting time dancing on the warped wall.  Though maybe his arms are burning so he was resting and covering it up with dancing?  

Yay.  Failed on the corkscrew.  And given how long he took to get there, I hope he DOESN"T make it to the finals.  I am tired of him already.  

Edited October 13, 2020 by Hellga

[saber5055]

Wow, this is some tough course. These guys need to check out how to last on the Corkscrew, There's a method.

And Kevin Bull gets yet another WWWA.

Edited October 13, 2020 by saber5055

[Hellga]

This kid Cam is really showing how to do the corkscrew.  I think getting your hands right on the opposite side of the wheel is key... he did it, unlike most (all?) of those who fell.

 

I feel bad for Jason Twait, he almost came up the spider trap, failing so close to the top gotta hurt...

Edited October 13, 2020 by Hellga

[Hellga]

Daniel Gil did great.  You know how snow leopard uses tail for balance when jumping?   Maybe his hair balanced him on the corkscrew!

[Taeolas]

1 hour ago, Hellga said:

This is the first of two semi-finals.  I think they said it's the same thing - 12 best advance, didn't mention women specifically so far, if it would be 2 or 3.

 

 

Just starting to watch it now, and it says "Top 12 Finishers And Top 2 Women will progress" 

[Hellga]

3 minutes ago, Taeolas said:

 

Just starting to watch it now, and it says "Top 12 Finishers And Top 2 Women will progress" 

I must have missed it.  They just reiterated it, Alyssa Beird failed early, so it's definitely Sandy Zimmerman and one other woman moving on.  Only Jesse Labreck is left to run.

[Hellga]

How much of Jake Murray's slow spider climb was him being tired and how much was wanting manufactured-for-NBC-drrrrama and down to the second edging out Gil?

[Hellga]

I am thinking - did we have anyone fail to make it up the warped wall this season, if they got that far?  Even last season I remember it being almost a given.  Everyone trains the heck out of it.   Is it time to raise it another half a foot or a foot?

 

For Jesse Labreck, it's once again the same spot as Chris DiGangi.  They are really joined at the hip! 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Hellga

[Hellga]

I like Jody Avila, glad he made it through the corkscrew and into the final.  Such a sweet family. 

When they showed the list of finishers, I was surprised to see Jon Alexis Jr there, I don't rmeember them showing his run, even the WWWA version.  I don't think they showed WWW of Chris DiGangi either, only mentioned him when talking about Jesse...  I would rather see that than more of Grant's dumb antics!

 

FYI:  They are moving from Monday's to Wednesdays starting next week. 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Hellga

[DEL901]

38 minutes ago, Hellga said:

I like Jody Avila, glad he made it through the corkscrew and into the final.  Such a sweet family. 

When they showed the list of finishers, I was surprised to see Jon Alexis Jr there, I don't rmeember them showing his run, even the WWWA version.  I don't think they showed WWW of Chris DiGangi either, only mentioned him when talking about Jesse...  I would rather see that than more of Grant's dumb antics!

 

FYI:  They are moving from Monday's to Wednesdays starting next week. 

They showed Chris fall just before they showed Jesse’s run.   

I saw John Alexis on the sidelines cheering one of the later runs, but I don’t remember seeing his run either.  

[saber5055]

The high point of this episode for me was Jake Murray in the cave, screaming like a little girl.

[Lantern7]

Dang, Corkscrew is a sadistic obstacle. Maybe there should be two obstacle creation contests: one for fans, one for Ninjas. Also: maybe it should be renamed "Twist and Shout," what will the yelling of the Ninjas as they rotated quickly.

3 hours ago, Hellga said:

st dumb to run in a suit.  A good tailored suit is *expensive*, so why would you run in it, and if it's a cheap suit you don't mind ruining, it's not *classy*!  The twist on the warped wall was impressive, though.

 

2 hours ago, Hellga said:

I hope Grant McPosturing fails.  That was just dumb and annoying, wasting time dancing on the warped wall.  Though maybe his arms are burning so he was resting and covering it up with dancing?   

Once again, I'm good with the wackiness, manufactured or not.  I will admit that doing a 360 while climbing Warped Wall was pushing it. I keep waiting for someone to make it up, do a flex or something like that, then fall off dramatically. I don't want that to happen. It's just something I dread.

43 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

The high point of this episode for me was Jake Murray in the cave, screaming like a little girl.

He wasn't expecting a Cave Raccoon. Cut him some slack. 😛

1 hour ago, Hellga said:

When they showed the list of finishers, I was surprised to see Jon Alexis Jr there, I don't rmeember them showing his run, even the WWWA version.

That's weird. You know Akbar loves the Giant. He loves shouting "FEE FIE FOE STEP!!!!!"

1 hour ago, Hellga said:

FYI:  They are moving from Monday's to Wednesdays starting next week. 

What time? CBS is running The Amazing Race on Wednesdays at 9 starting this week. And how many ANW episodes are there this season?

[Quilt Fairy]

20 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

What time? CBS is running The Amazing Race on Wednesdays at 9 starting this week. And how many ANW episodes are there this season?

Yep, I caught that, too.  Looks like it will be directly opposite TAR, but there are only 3 episodes left.  Of course they didn't say if it was moving to Wednesday permanently or just for next week.  There's likely to be a lot of special programming the next few weeks. 

Is it wrong that I cheered when Kid Whats-his-name fell, and that I cheered again when they said he didn't make the finals?  

Edited October 13, 2020 by Quilt Fairy

[saber5055]

My schedule shows ANW next Wednesday at 8 p.m. central, following a new ep of The Wall. My schedule also shows it being rerun Friday at 7 p.m. central in case you miss it on Wednesday.

[Vermicious Knid]

ANW had to move because The Voice's permanent slots are Mondays and Tuesdays. I saw Flip in the list to move on but I don't remember his run. Did they show it?

[ClareWalks]

Corkscrew required grabbing opposite sides of wheel and flexing and gripping HARD, while keeping abs tucked up, to slow yourself down. It required so much muscle power to survive that I'm not surprised so many looked gassed on the Dungeon afterwards.

 

I'm bummed Twait got WWWA'd. He is fun to watch. I was surprised to hear the Cake Ninja and the girl Bergie are dating, mostly because you'd think NBC would have mentioned it a billion times already.

[Taeolas]

Even though it was a Ninja Killer, Corkscrew was a fantastic addition. It's a challenge that is well within the Ninja skillset, but it's a set of movements/actions/reactions that most Ninjas haven't really practiced, so it hit them by surprise. They're used to absorbing sudden drops and doing big leaps; but the spin factor (especially fast pirouette spinning like that) is new to them. 

Dungeon was fine too, and adding the leap at the end so they couldn't just jump to the end once again shows the course designers are trying to make sure Ninjas have to do the FULL obstacle and not cheese it like they have in the past. 

As I predicted, the handle on the middle panel of Sideways was removed. I don't think it made the obstacle much more difficult either way. 

I wonder now how they divvied up the contestants for the semifinals? Did they just randomly pick who gets in the first semifinals and who gets in the second? I thought at first the first semifinals would be all of the first 2 quarterfinals, and the rest would be the last 2 quarters.... but Kevin Bull was in the 4th Quarter Finals. Looking at the Sasukepedia results, it did seem that most of the semi finalists were from Eps 1 and 2. Only 4 Ninjas were from later episodes (and only Adam Rayl qualified for the finals having come from Ep 3, and his run was WWWA'ed; I wonder if we looked closer we would see he actually ran the semifinal 2 course instead? )

Now I'm wondering if this would have been Drew's Semifinal and we're seeing some shenanigans to cover his ghosting. There should probably have been a Power Tower for the Semifinals as well, but if Drew was running it, then the Power Tower would have been cut completely from the Semis. I'm sure the Sasukepedia will have things sussed out by the time next week's Semi airs. 

[DEL901]

Regarding Drew, the announcers mentioned that one of the contestants was with Drew, but it was a passing mention since I guess they felt they had to explain where the unknown came from, but they moved along quickly.  

[saber5055]

3 hours ago, Taeolas said:

As I predicted, the handle on the middle panel of Sideways was removed. I don't think it made the obstacle much more difficult either way. 

I know! I thought of you when I saw the handle gone.

I thought Flip was shown as one of next week's competitors. I wasn't paying attention that closely since I totally missed Drew being mentioned.

[Ilovepie]

13 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Is it wrong that I cheered when Kid Whats-his-name fell, and that I cheered again when they said he didn't make the finals?  

No it is not. My husband and I high-fived each other. He is so smug and cocky. I can't stand him.

 

4 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

I was surprised to hear the Cake Ninja and the girl Bergie are dating, mostly because you'd think NBC would have mentioned it a billion times already.

I think it was mentioned when they ran in the qualifiers. I am also anti-Bergie anything.........

I was so bummed Alyssa Beird fell! I would have liked to see her over Sandy Zimmerman because in case you missed it, she's a mom - did you know that? Moms! Moms! Moms! Also, did James The Beast McGrath compete this year or was he just in the cheering section for Alyssa?

And since I'm being cranky, can I just say that it's so annoying to me that Joe M. is frequently treated like a second class Ninja rather than one of the elites. Why in the promo for next week was he not highlighted? He has accomplished more than just about anyone other than the pedophile! He's been last man standing multiple years, he is consistently hitting buzzers and always makes the finals. Just this year in the qualifier he had the fastest (or second fastest, can't remember) time and beat the Mega Wall AND Power Tower, but no - "coming up next week, The Phoenix Najee Richardson!" What does The Weatherman have to do to get some respect!??!!!

[Necromancer]

10 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

ANW had to move because The Voice's permanent slots are Mondays and Tuesdays. I saw Flip in the list to move on but I don't remember his run. Did they show it?

Flip Rodriguez got the WWWA treatment.  He was shown completing the Shrinking Steps, Burn Rubber, Warped Wall, Corkscrew, and then falling from the Dungeon. Ninja Warrior veterans Abel Gonzalez and Kevin Bull were only shown falling from the Corkscrew.  That was the extent of their airtime.  I watch only the runs and don't care about a competitor who chooses to run in a suit or a competitor who dedicates his participation to a relative who is fighting a terminal disease. 

[Rosenrot]

3 hours ago, Necromancer said:

I watch only the runs and don't care about a competitor who chooses to run in a suit or a competitor who dedicates his participation to a relative who is fighting a terminal disease. 

I love you. I'm the same. I'm also pretty annoyed by people who run only to raise awareness of some cause or another (unless the cause involves animals, in which case I'm all for it) and then fail at the second obstacle. It just takes away from competitors who take the competition seriously - i.e. as a sports competition and not as a way to get coverage. And once again, I know this is what the network wants. But it sucks IMO. 

17 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Is it wrong that I cheered when Kid Whats-his-name fell, and that I cheered again when they said he didn't make the finals?

 It is not. 😄 

17 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

but there are only 3 episodes left.

Nooooo...! I mean, I knew that, technically, but I guess it hadn't really sunk in before now as I see it written down. 😭

I like Grant, but that dance was unnecessary. 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Rosenrot

[saber5055]

4 hours ago, Ilovepie said:

What does The Weatherman have to do to get some respect!??!!!

He needs to dance, wear a suit, have a dying child/relative, make cakes, have promotional t-shirts pimping some cause. Maybe all of those. Because being a normal guy who is an outstanding athlete isn't enough any more.

[TimothyQ]

I wonder if the reason some of the popular ninjas are getting WWWA treatments is because of editing around Drew. Could he have been on the sidelines for some of them and they just couldn’t show most of the run?

Also, put me on the Kid Owhadi hate train. He’s just too smug. Gil is getting on my nerves as well for that same reason. 

[Quilt Fairy]

3 hours ago, Rosenrot said:

I like Grant, but that dance was unnecessary. 

Especially since it looked like he had his hand in his crotch while he was doing it. 

11 hours ago, Taeolas said:

Now I'm wondering if this would have been Drew's Semifinal and we're seeing some shenanigans to cover his ghosting. There should probably have been a Power Tower for the Semifinals as well, but if Drew was running it, then the Power Tower would have been cut completely from the Semis.

The Power Tower winner from each qualifier automatically brought his teammates to the semis, so there was no need for a Power Tower in the semis.  That being said, there could have been some odd cuts to eliminate Drew, but other than a lot of WWWA's, I didn't notice any. 

Edited October 14, 2020 by Quilt Fairy

[Ilovepie]

18 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Because being a normal guy who is an outstanding athlete isn't enough any more.

Maybe he should team up with Chris Digangi and they should come up with some schtick to get more attention.........

[MelinaBallerina]

22 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

so there was no need for a Power Tower in the semis. 

Depends on if they had that bonus installed this year that they had last year - Power Tower winner in the Semis got a do-over in the finals if they fell on Stage 1 or Stage 2

[dvr devotee]

On 10/13/2020 at 8:52 PM, TimothyQ said:

I wonder if the reason some of the popular ninjas are getting WWWA treatments is because of editing around Drew. Could he have been on the sidelines for some of them and they just couldn’t show most of the run?

I think this is an excellent theory. Flip and Kevin are two of the most memorable ninjas and they've competed for so long that it's inconceivable they'd get the WWWA treatment, but for editing issues.

On 10/13/2020 at 9:00 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

The Power Tower winner from each qualifier automatically brought his teammates to the semis, so there was no need for a Power Tower in the semis.

Yeah but last year the Power Tower winner in semis got the do-over pass in case of falling in stage 1 or 2 of finals. But maybe they didn't do that this year because with only two nights of semis, there would only be two people who could win do-over passes, and that lessens the excitement of the pass for the audience while also giving an unfair advantage to only two people.

Though I wonder if they did have it, and Drew won one of the passes. We'll have to watch closely to see if anyone has the patch on their clothes during finals.

On one hand, this season is way too short. I understand why, but they probably could have made another two episodes with all of the footage they likely shot. On the other hand, a normal season just seems to go on forrrrreeeeeevvvveeeerrrrr. So maybe they can find a happy medium if the world ever goes back to being somewhat normal again.

But, then again, NBC has to fill spots in their schedule, so probably not.

[ClareWalks]

From what I have heard about the finals format, it's basically a tournament on the Power Tower, so it's pointless to have a "do over pass" for that. You're racing someone in every heat, so winning a "safety pass" would screw over your opponent rather than just keeping the winner of the pass safe.

[dvr devotee]

7 minutes ago, ClareWalks said:

basically a tournament on the Power Tower,

Well that's going to be...different.

[ClareWalks]

1 minute ago, dvr devotee said:

Well that's going to be...different.

Agreed! I wish they'd have built even a single-stage "Vegas" in the dome, rewarding talent instead of just rewarding balls-out speed. Basically means no women will make the finals.

[enoughcats]

Part 2 of the semi-finals is going to be identical in content to Part 1, isn't it ?  Anything else would be unfair as all get out.

Not that the Kid is a favorite of mine, but surely he didn't lose the luck of the draw and be the first to be corkscrewed.  His body looked as if his bones and joints were made of rubber. 

[Vermicious Knid]

So only one episode for the final, instead of three? And I assume they can't do the skills tests and USA vs the World this year either.

[Quilt Fairy]

3 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

So only one episode for the final, instead of three?

Depends on how you define "finals".   After next week's second semi-final, the next episode will be all the semi-finalists in a 10 obstacle course, and the last episode will be the top 12 in a Power Tower bracket race to determine the winner.  (And yeah, not much chance of a woman getting that far.) 

I forgot that last season the Power Tower winner in each city got a mulligan in the finals. It never occurred to me that the Power Tower prize would be one thing in the qualifier but something else in the semis, but it's not impossible.  

Edited October 16, 2020 by Quilt Fairy

[Vermicious Knid]

:scowls: They should have called it quarter finals and semi finals then.

[Richness]

I loved that the corkscrew was made by another ninja. I find obstacles that make ninjas dizzy really entertaining, like the rolling log. I know they've modified obstacles from the qualifiers to the semi-finals, but is this the first time they've ever substituted entirely new obstacles into the first half of the course? And speaking of obstacle designers, where is the great Maker, Kevin Carbone?

 

I continue to watch a two hour show in under an hour. Almost every sob story and interview gets skipped. I even starting to skip some of the runs themselves due to the personalities. I'm not happy with the move to Wednesdays either since it's going up against The Amazing Race. I love TAR more even if it's on its deathbed. It doesn't need ANW driving the nails into its coffin any quicker.

[saber5055]

14 hours ago, Richness said:

I'm not happy with the move to Wednesdays either since it's going up against The Amazing Race. I love TAR more even if it's on its deathbed. It doesn't need ANW driving the nails into its coffin any quicker.

Catch the Friday night ANW rerun!

[VartanFan]

Quote

Is it wrong that I cheered when Kid Whats-his-name fell, and that I cheered again when they said he didn't make the finals? 

I was very happy.  If only it had been Daniel Gil...I can't stand him the MOST.  

Quote

What does The Weatherman have to do to get some respect!??!!!

Oh, come on!  They love him and consistently show him (from single to engaged to married to baby 1 to baby 2 to baby 3).  Without getting too far into the political realm.  I really did like him when he was joe schmo - - but then he got cocky and then he became the weatherman who is a climate change denier and he lost me.  I recognize him as a fantastical athlete, however.  

Quote

I forgot that last season the Power Tower winner in each city got a mulligan in the finals. 

Which is whey I didn't even think of Drew as really THE ANW before the creeper reveal.  He got a do-over and I'm sure at least a few more of them would have gone all the way if given another chance on the same course.  

Quote

I continue to watch a two hour show in under an hour. Almost every sob story and interview gets skipped.

Agreed!  I don't need to see them on a spinning circle, mugging for the camera.  I don't need to see the '...but a year ago, he didn't even think he would be able to walk.' stories.  It's awesome to be able to watch it in an hour. I"m now able to ffwd to the point on my DVR where I see them on the shrinking steps, hit play, and I'm at the 'boop, boop, boop, beeeep'.  

[ClareWalks]

5 hours ago, VartanFan said:

Oh, come on!  They love him and consistently show him (from single to engaged to married to baby 1 to baby 2 to baby 3).  Without getting too far into the political realm.  I really did like him when he was joe schmo - - but then he got cocky and then he became the weatherman who is a climate change denier and he lost me.  I recognize him as a fantastical athlete, however. 

Agree completely. The show loves him. They give him plenty of respect. He bugs me, though. The politics stuff, but also I really rolled my eyes last season when his intro package was like "I'm a dad now! I have a total dad bod! I used to have abs! Where did those go?!" while showing him shirtless...with a six-pack. It's like he's trying too hard to be Joe Schmo when we can plainly see that he isn't that guy anymore. This season he actually looks like he's gained about ten more pounds of muscle, too.