S07.E10: Orlando Finals

[OnceSane]

The top 30 competitors from the Orlando Qualifier tackle the Orlando Finals course, which includes the Salmon Ladder, Cannonball Alley, Helix Hang and Invisible Ladder.

[Kromm]

Helix Hang?

 

That ought to be interesting.

[VartanFan]

Uggghhhh...drew dreschel can go away any time now. Glad he couldn't finish and yet someone else did.

Was happy for the walk on who finished and still think flip is humble-fake .

Love Travis Rosen.

[Lantern7]

Brutal course. "Survive Cannonball Alley? Here's the Double Helix, guaranteed to burn your upper body to a crisp!" And the Invisible Ladder is still deceptively grueling. I think the shock of this Final was The Giant flaming out so early on the course. He's too telegenic not to get a wild card.

[Quilt Fairy]

This was one of the easier preliminary courses. I don't understand why they didn't make some slight changes to make it harder. They seem to do that inconsistently.

 

I'm new to this show. What does it take to become a walk-on? Do they have auditions like American Idol?

[SophiaD]

Wow, that was seriously boring.  I'm disappointed.  I don't like it when everyone can just waltz on through, but watching competitor after competitor fail was just disheartening, especially the guys who almost made it all of the way through and then died on the invisible ladder because their arms had nothing left.  If that's the "wave of the future," I may find something else to watch for my soothing mind-candy of a show next year. 

 

I suppose the only plus was watching Drew Drechsel get beaten by a rookie and a walk-on at that.  I was really pleased for him - sorry, I can't remember his name.  Also, Travis Rosen training side-by-side with his young ninja son was just too cute.  Loved the Giant and the guy with gold body paint kind of grew on me.  I hope the Giant gets a wildcard, because he and his father really are so adorable.

 

I don't remember Flip Rodriguez from prior seasons, but I was impressed with his focus and his lack of grandstanding this year.  He really, really, really wanted to finish and was bummed that his arms died on him.  Oh, and wasn't that Meagan Martin cheering him on, too?  If so, why didn't she get a shoutout?

 

Other than that, it was mostly forgettable.  I hope Michelle Warnky can make it through next week.

[mertensia]

They need to have a legs obstacle in the back half of the course.

Too bad so sad Drew.

[marcee]

I don't remember Flip Rodriguez from prior seasons, but I was impressed with his focus and his lack of grandstanding this year.  He really, really, really wanted to finish and was bummed that his arms died on him.  Oh, and wasn't that Meagan Martin cheering him on, too?  If so, why didn't she get a shoutout?

In previous seasons he wore a mask. This year he took it off because "he matured".

[Taeolas]

Yeah, their back half designer really screwed up this season. Too much arm power with no chance for breaks. I don't mind seeing Cannonball Alley again, even if it was a destroyer last year, it should be something that people should expect. But leading into the Helix Hang was killer. That said, by itself, Helix Hang is probably fine; stick it right after the Salmon ladder and have a balance/leg obstacle leading to the invisible ladder and you'd have a great back half.

 

I still don't think people are quite getting the Invisible ladder, or maybe it doesn't work the way I think it should. Still, the ones who make it up the easiest (or who seem to get up fast) seem to be the ones who pump with their arms AND legs, though some burn out faster that way. The ones who just use their arms do seem to have a harder time of it and usually don't finish. 

 

So we now have 4 finals done, 2 more to go... and a grand total of 6? people who have hit the buzzer. Maybe they'll have learned their lesson for the last two; but I'm not holding my breath. (Especially with how many non-finishers the Military Round had in the first round)

[GeminiDancer]

Sam Sann is the only one who figured out that it's the legs and the abs that actually power the Invisible Ladder and not the arms. He made it look effortless.

[MyFavShows]

I was so bummed about the Giant - he seems so cool and so does his dad. I really hope they give him a wild card.

Drew Dreshel was impressive, but the signing of the shirt thing was obnoxious.

Sam Sann is clearly the master of the invisible ladder - those guys that struggled, wow did I feel for them. They were giving it everthing they had, in spite of already knowing they were going to Vegas.

The story about Travis and his son was really cool - that kid looks like he's going to be good too :). Travis is one of my favorite Ninjas. I hope he doesn't retire for a while.

Can't wait to see the weatherman next week.

Edited August 5, 2015 by MyFavShows

[theatremouse]

Sam Sann is the only one who figured out that it's the legs and the abs that actually power the Invisible Ladder and not the arms. He made it look effortless.

I think some of the guys last night got that, but at the same time, you do still need to hold on. With your arms. So there's a certain point where the arms can be SO fatigued, even if they're trying to initiate with the abs and legs, they just don't have enough left to hold on.

[Kromm]

They need to have a legs obstacle in the back half of the course.

Too bad so sad Drew.

Or a whole body one.  The Body Prop always does the trick. Simply being an Upper Body Maniac doesn't really do it for this one.

In previous seasons he wore a mask. This year he took it off because "he matured".

He made a performance of taking it off and tossing it aside. Saying that wasn't grandstanding is IMO missing why he did that the way he did.  It was just a more advanced level of grandstanding.

[Kromm]

Uggghhhh...drew dreschel can go away any time now. Glad he couldn't finish and yet someone else did.

He's on my (very short) list of people I actually WANT to fail on this show.

Yeah, him, Flip, and most of that jerky "Wolf Pack" too.

[ClareWalks]

The announcer guys mentioned that this Invisible Ladder was tougher than other cities because of the back half of the course and it is extremely true. If you're doing the IL (lots of biceps/back, some grip) after the Body Prop (lots of triceps/legs/core), it is way easier than after the Helix, because you are dividing the work. Salmon Ladder: plyometric pullups (power from biceps/back). Cannonball Alley: agility, grip strength, and biceps/back. Helix: biceps/back/grip. No wonder they were gassed by the Invisible Ladder! I would have assumed before even seeing anyone perform that almost everyone, no matter how fit, would experience muscular failure by that point.

[Taeolas]

I'm getting the feeling that they don't have course testers to run the full course. They can't get Ninjas to run them of course since that wouldn't be fair; but I have the feeling they just have interns running each stage, or maybe 1 or 2 stages to check the transition methods; but they don't seem to have anyone attempt it from start to finish to see how doable it is. 

[Kromm]

What they need to do is buy off a few of the older Ninjas who might be tempted to "retire" anyway and employ them as testers.  Along with a few younger folks who are willing to accept the trade off of a normal salary for a contract that says they can't compete (not that that year, but lets say for several years after they last do testing work). Pay them enough to make it worth their while, I guess, and people will do it.

[ClareWalks]

They could even get current competing ninjas - just have them test courses that are in different cities than they compete.

[Taeolas]

Not sure if I'd do it for current ninjas since they are a community; even with NDA's course info would leak.

 

But hiring interns (as I said) could work. I wouldn't worry about them not competing in following years since the courses do change annually; what they test in one year is no better or worse than the home made courses a lot of the Ninjas build anyway.

 

How does filming usually go for a city stage? I believe someone mentioned it's only 2-3 days per city? 

 

Day 1, they show up and set up the first half of the course.

Night 1, they film stage 1, going as long as they need.

Day 2 they set up the back half, probably while recording their local intern running the first stage for the "Demonstrate the obstacles" demo reel.

Night 2, they film the City Finals, and wrap up with the Intern filming for the Finals "Demonstrate the obstacle" demo reel.

[Way Wes Jr]

I believe the age cut off for competitors is 21.  (Seems arbitrary - was an early sponsor a beer company?)  There have got to be a ton of legal adults (18-20) who would sign an NDA for the experience of running course testing for free.

 

But hiring interns (as I said) could work. I wouldn't worry about them not competing in following years since the courses do change annually; what they test in one year is no better or worse than the home made courses a lot of the Ninjas build anyway.

 

How does filming usually go for a city stage? I believe someone mentioned it's only 2-3 days per city? 

 

Day 1, they show up and set up the first half of the course.

Night 1, they film stage 1, going as long as they need.

Day 2 they set up the back half, probably while recording their local intern running the first stage for the "Demonstrate the obstacles" demo reel.

Night 2, they film the City Finals, and wrap up with the Intern filming for the Finals "Demonstrate the obstacle" demo reel.

 

I've always assumed that (Day 1) they show up, and set up the whole course.  They just use camera angles to not show us the back half of the course.

(There is probably ample video evidence that I'm wrong.  Doesn't mean that it would be more efficient use of labor to do it my way, and they don't.)

[Taeolas]

They could set it up all at once, and just leave the Salmon Ladder out (since I don't think we see it when they hit the buzzer in the first round ); but I'm not sure they would do that. It would give contestants time to study the entire course and plan for how to do it, as opposed to leaving the second half a surprise. I doubt it takes all that long to set up most of the course anyway; it probably takes longer to fill the splash pools than it does to bolt everything together and do the safety tests. 

Edited August 5, 2015 by Taeolas

[MyFavShows]

Am I the only one who really isn't that bothered by people not being able to finish in a city final? - the top 15 is the top 15. It's clear that anyone that made it to the invisible ladder had a superior run last night. Not being able to finish in Vegas is more of an issue becuase the money is at stake there - those course are more important to be doable.

I can't wait to see people like the weatherman, Isaac C., Ellet Hall, and Brian Arnold try that invisible ladder. In fact, I would pay per view to see them run that Orlando course from last night to see if they could do it ;).

[ClareWalks]

There should be more televised Ninja events. These guys surely don't do all this training JUST for this show. ESPN could air these instead of those horrible, stupid Crossfit Games all the time. (My opinions on Crossfit in no way reflect the opinions of anyone else)

[Quilt Fairy]

The problem with testing the course after it's set up is exactly that: it's already been set up. What are they going to do if they find out it's undoable? Change something by the next day?  Assuming they even had the equipment for other challenges sitting around in a truck, are they switchable that easily?

 

The courses need to be tested before they go out on the road; I don't know any background on this show so I'm not sure if they try to do that or not.

[backgroundnoise]

There should be more televised Ninja events. These guys surely don't do all this training JUST for this show.

I heard one comment about how one of the ninja's goes to Ninja Warrior events all over the globe.  I'd like to see some of that.

[Rancide]

Uggghhhh...drew dreschel can go away any time now. Glad he couldn't finish and yet someone else did.

 

I watch this show on youtube--and by that, I mean I watch clips of individual runs of the best contestants specifically to avoid the obnoxious announcers and ridiculous interviews--so I'm out of the loop.  Why do we hate Drew?

[Way Wes Jr]

I don't hate Drew, but I do feel that he comes off both as a show-off, and entitled.  He is, admittedly, very good at this - and frankly, having just watched and read about his run at Sasuke 31 - I find myself rooting for him to do well at the Vegas final.

[Rancide]

Ah.  Thanks.  One of the biggest advantages of watching this on youtube is that basically no one annoys me because I never hear any of them speak.  Which seems like a good thing since it seems like some of the best competitors are kind of jerks.  The only one who has ever really bugged me was Flip because of his on-course antics with the ridiculous mask.  To someone who never sees any of the interviews or clips, Drew just seems really good (and really hot).  I think I will keep up the youtube only viewing!

[hjmugillecuty]

During Flip's video package about running without the mask, they showed him coming down after the wall. The pools, mini tramp, and structure were set up, but it didn't look like the actual obstacles were there.

You could tell when people weren't gonna finish the invisible ladder cause they started doing the kicking with both legs. I think we are at 8 finishers now; Venice had one, the next course had 3, the next 2, and 2 here?

My nephew is 5 1/2 and loves this show. He was on the monkey bars last month when he fell off and broke his arm. The first thing he said to his mom 'I failed the obstacle'. So we had to remind him there's no water under his obstacles.

Edited August 9, 2015 by hjmugillecuty

[jhlipton]

He made a performance of taking it off and tossing it aside. Saying that wasn't grandstanding is IMO missing why he did that the way he did.  It was just a more advanced level of grandstanding.

 

YMMV.  He ran tonight without the mask at all.  I first saw him on Jump Ciy: Seattle -- showing off was a major part of the show (Frosti was also on it, and showmanship was a large part of his points base).  Coming from that, I've seen him go from "grandstanding" to "just plain  running".

[WasillianWarrior]

He's on my (very short) list of people I actually WANT to fail on this show.

Yeah, him, Flip, and most of that jerky "Wolf Pack" too.

Flip and Drew dont bother me, but the "Wolf Pack" drives me nuts with their elitism. It doesnt help that Matt Iseman says "Wolf Pack" as many times as humanly possible in an episode (and probably a million more off-camera)!