S07.E14: Vegas Finals, Part 1

[OnceSane]

The finalists head to Las Vegas, where they tackle Stage 1 of a four-stage course, modeled after the Mount Midoriyama course in Japan. Obstacles include the Sonic Curve and Double Shock.

[Lantern7]

Looks like we're going to get a record number of second rounders. Dunno who to feel more sorry for . . . Sam Sahn or Jessie Graff. Brutal eliminations.

 

Anybody else feel that Piston Road should be retired? At least the Warped Wall has been tweaked, with a shorter run-up. A lot of competitors wound up skipping pistons altogether. Sonic Curve does effectively replace the Halfpipe Attack, though.

[Taeolas]

Warped Wall has always had a shorter run up compared to the qualifiers (and was a foot or two taller IIRC). But unlike previous years, you can't cut the corner on it. Last year we had a lot of ninja's cut the corner from the curved wall and gain a flatter approach. Now the curved steps lead to a platform on top of the warped wall's first curve, so they can't cut them off.

 

Piston Road itself is probably due for a change up. Not sure with what, they want something similar to the Quintuple steps, but harder, but clearly the Ninja's have mastered it completely. 

 

Still, despite my worries earlier, it looks like the first stage is beatable. 16 out of 50 is respectable, which means we should see ~30 out of 100 moving on; 30% might be a bit high, but if we want to see someone beat the course, we need a lot going through. 

 

Similarly, if Stage 2 is similarly designed, we should see 10 move on to Stage 3, and 3 attempting Stage 4. On the other hand, Stage 2 and 3 are upper body, and the designers seem to have over designed the upper body challenges this year, so it might be tough.

 

Final thought, Flip seems to have lost a lot of his arrogance, and is just focusing on the course. He put through a very solid performance. On the other hand, Bull seemed to be careening through the course like a bull through a china shop. It almost cost him a few times. I hope he calms down and takes things at a more reasonable speed for the next stage. 

[Quilt Fairy]

I was really sorry to see my beautiful blonde hottie Nicholas Coolridge go out on the jumping spider.

[AuntTora]

I was really sorry to see my beautiful blonde hottie Nicholas Coolridge go out on the jumping spider.

 

 

Agreed. He's got a real Jan Michael Vincent circa "Danger Island" thing going on.

[backgroundnoise]

Since this is the finals, I was hoping the focus would be on the runs and not have any up-close-and-personals.  How disappointing for the (many) finishers and their families and friends who were relegated to the "while we were away" snippets just to provide more background color for people for whom we've seen it all before.  And way to give away the proposal ahead of time, show.

 

Britton(?) is appearing to be unstoppable. 

[Quilt Fairy]

And way to give away the proposal ahead of time, show.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

[dubbel zout]

How disappointing for the (many) finishers and their families and friends who were relegated to the "while we were away" snippets just to provide more background color for people for whom we've seen it all before.

 

I know. It's Vegas—let's see the entire run of everyone who finishes. Those competitors work just as hard as the ones who get all the attention.

 

The proposal made me cringe. I hate public ones anyway—it always feels so passive-aggressive, like the guy has to bully the woman into saying yes.

[AZChristian]

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

 

Before the commercial, the announcers said that the contestant had a surprise for his girlfriend, whether he completed the course or not.  It was pretty obvious what they meant (a proposal).  Even I got it . . . and a lot of stuff goes right over my head.  After the commercial, the guy took his turn, wiped out, and then proposed to his girlfriend.

[Passing Strange]

I know. It's Vegas—let's see the entire run of everyone who finishes. Those competitors work just as hard as the ones who get all the attention.

 

The proposal made me cringe. I hate public ones anyway—it always feels so passive-aggressive, like the guy has to bully the woman into saying yes.

I agree. It's frustrating to come back from commercial and see only snippets of some runs, especially the successful ones. Making it to Vegas is an accomplishment. These folks deserve to have their runs shown and viewers deserve to see them. I'm more interested in athleticism than back story, especially at this point.

 

The proposal made me cringe, too. Because there's nothing more romantic than a wet man wearing a loincloth and sneakers kneeling in dirt to propose.

[Quilt Fairy]

Sorry 'bout that. I was flipping channels during the live airing because there are so many commercials. I was watching the recording this morning and I finally saw the proposal. I can think of better places to do that.

 

While I definitely think they shouldn't shunt a successful run to the 'while we were away' basket, they were pretty good about the back stories last night. I only saw a couple that were real personal. Most of them focused on how the contestant did in the city rounds, which, after more than 3 months of competitions, I found helpful.

[Fukui San]

I've only been able to see the clips on the web site,  so I've just seen five runs and not much filler. Good times.

Piston Road itself is probably due for a change up. Not sure with what, they want something similar to the Quintuple steps, but harder, but clearly the Ninja's have mastered it completely. 

 

Still, despite my worries earlier, it looks like the first stage is beatable. 16 out of 50 is respectable, which means we should see ~30 out of 100 moving on; 30% might be a bit high, but if we want to see someone beat the course, we need a lot going through. 

 

Similarly, if Stage 2 is similarly designed, we should see 10 move on to Stage 3, and 3 attempting Stage 4. On the other hand, Stage 2 and 3 are upper body, and the designers seem to have over designed the upper body challenges this year, so it might be tough.

The US version seems to like inventing their own obstacles more than reusing ones from the Japanese version's past.  Their obstacles have been mostly good, so that's fine. Otherwise I'd suggest having the first obstacle be the Long Jump or Rolling Hill. The Rolling Hill in particular had a lot of different strategies and took out some notable names in the past tournament.

 

Around 30 passes was my guess for the first stage.  My guess for the second stage would be around 12 will pass.  That should be centered around the salmon ladder and wall lifting.  The third stage will be almost all upper body endurance tests, and maybe 2 or 3 will pass to reach the final round, which has never been attempted before in the US version, I believe.

[Taeolas]

Considering they had 50 contestants to get through, no matter what that would be more than their ~90 minute window (after commercials), so some clipping is to be expected. And really, overall I don't mind seeing some of the successes cut down to "While you were aways". With 16 successful runs, it would have started getting tiring after awhile if it was the full 150 second run each.  (That would have been ~50 minutes just for the successful runs; over half of their available time)

 

I still want less human interest stuff, and fast forward through most of it, but considering how many successes there were, I don't mind some of them getting abbreviated runs. Really, I think I prefer to see the Wipeouts as much as the successes. 

 

Even with the successes, we got to see the Top 3 fastest, as well as some great runs. So all in all, I'd say this was probably decently put together (as opposed to the city stages at least). A bit much padding, but less (to me) than we usually get. 

 

Really by the end of the 2 hours, I was getting a bit tired of seeing the same 8 obstacles over and over... and not really looking forward too much to next week when it's another 2 hours of the same course (I want to see Stage 2 and 3 NOW!), but that's just how the competition is laid out. 

[VartanFan]

Bummed about some of the old guard flaming out, particularly Paul Kasemir.  I feel like his depth perception was messed with by the cargo neg behind the bars.  Happy to see Brian Arnold do well. 

 

Sam Sahn is breakin' my heart!

[AuntieDiane6]

 

Sam Sahn is breakin' my heart!

 

I don't think the issue is technical.  He needs to gain some weight to get a better liftoff.  

 

The same issue can be seen with Chinese "women" gymnasts.  The little ones don't get any lift off the spring board because they are too light. 

[lorikauai]

My kids and I were screaming for Tremayne Dortch. We were so excited to see him finally make it past the jumping spider and then finish the course just before the buzzer. Also excited for Dustin McKinney. We were really disappointed for Jessie Graff. She was so close to passing the warped wall and I think she would have had a chance to complete the stage.

 

So tired of the human interest stuff, especially when most of it was rehashed from the qualifying and city final rounds. I get it. Flip is more focused. He took off his mask. You didn't need to tell me 3 times, show. 

[Quilt Fairy]

Bummed about some of the old guard flaming out, particularly Paul Kasemir.  I feel like his depth perception was messed with by the cargo neg behind the bars. 

This is what I thought as well. It looked like the bars were not solid red but were had red and white stripes that approximately matched the width of the spaces in the cargo net. I wondered if that was intentional, but then no one else seemed to have that particular problem.

[Fukui San]

Oof.  David Campbell.  You had it man.  I really feel bad for him. He's been doing this since before there was an American version, and just seems like a cool dude.

 

Every year there's one guy who just doesn't go fast enough, who dawdles from obstacle to obstacle. This year it was that Young guy.  I guess they can't flip the switch from the prelims in which the clock only occasionally comes into play to now when the clock is all important. 

[MyFavShows]

Proposals on shows like these are annoying. I also hate when people use marriages and other life events and emotions that many, many average people experience as a "back story" or intro piece - like a full segment about how a guy got engaged? Really? They have done those. So you bought someone a ring? That's your story? Or also the segments about how a guy loves his kid/kids? Like the rest of the competitors who are parents, and the rest of the parents in the world, don't love their kids?

I don't mind the backstories when they actually are something unique and interesting - like Ellet hall living in the woods, the guy w/ the sick wife, Sam Sann, those w/ unique occupations, those w: personal challenges, etc. - but someone getting engaged/married or a father that loves his kid is not a unique story!

Was happy to see the opera guy do well. Sam Sann and Jessie Graff were heartbreaking. That Geoff Britton looks like a serious contender.

Edited September 2, 2015 by MyFavShows

[qtpye]

I always wonder about that guy who quit his job (sorry I do not remember his name) just solely for the purpose of wining this competition.  He must have a very supportive wife and family.  The other ninjas see to do a pretty good job of balancing jobs, careers, and family while still training for the course.  Also, since it is  extremely difficult, it seems sort of like quitting your job to win the lottery.  I do not care how athletic and talented you think you are...it is highly unlikely you are going to win the million dollars.  However, watch this guy win it all this year, so I might not know what I am talking about.

[AuntieDiane6]

 

I always wonder about that guy who quit his job (sorry I do not remember his name) just solely for the purpose of wining this competition.

 

Do you mean Brian Arnold?  I liked him but I THINK he never married the mother of his 3 children (IIRC, the show said that he and his girlfriend had 3 kids) and is a stay-at-home dad.  Being cynical, I think that he wants to keep the million for himself after she supports them all these years … I noticed that they haven't mentioned her this year so maybe they've broken up.

[MyFavShows]

I wonder if Brian Arnold at least makes some money from ANW appearances, or if he has sponsors?

[heckkitty]

Ugh. Don't these people realize we watch this despite the sob stories, not because of them?  Show me the whole run of people who finished, for pete's sake.

[SharonH58]

Anyone else notice Kristine was a little..sharp with some ninjas?  She seemed snotty to David Campbell. I hope they replace her, she is not good at interviewing.  They need to go with someone who is familiar with the sport and not a 'pretty face'.

[WasillianWarrior]

Anyone else notice Kristine was a little..sharp with some ninjas?  She seemed snotty to David Campbell. I hope they replace her, she is not good at interviewing.  They need to go with someone who is familiar with the sport and not a 'pretty face'.

Thank you! I have been thinking that since her first show. I think she comes off as cold and arrogant. I was never a huge fan of Jenn Brown, but I realized she had a terrible job and wondered why the show even does on-the-spot interviews with the fails, especially the unexpected and clearly emotionally devastated ones. Watching Kristine on Season 7, it's apparent how much grace and compassion Jenn Brown actually had! Yeah, its an uncomfortable job, but Kristine comes off as horrifically uncaring and condescending. Watching her aggressively seek comment from a brokenhearted Anthony Scott made me want to punch her! 

[Ciarrai]

Maybe Jenn will come back for the next season, since she had a baby less than a year ago. Maybe Kristine is her maternity leave replacement?

 

I can hope. I really don't like Kristine.

[jhlipton]

The proposal made me cringe. I hate public ones anyway—it always feels so passive-aggressive, like the guy has to bully the woman into saying yes.

 

It really puts the woman on the spot, if she's unsure (or just no interested in marrying the guy).  If she acts anything other than enthusiastically happy, she's a "bitch".  Heaven help her if she says "no".  Her only option is to act happy, then, when the cameras are off,tell her guy "No f**king way, dude!"

 

 

We were really disappointed for Jessie Graff. She was so close to passing the warped wall and I think she would have had a chance to complete the stage. 

 

Ugh, me too.  She came so darn close!  Still and all, she did better than most women and a lot of the men!

[flingle]

Did anyone else think that Noah Kauffman's shirt had a massive picture of a kitten face on it? They flashed to him during someone's run (Brian Arnold maybe?) and I thought it was an ...interesting fashion choice. They showed him later on and it became clear that it was a picture of wolf eyes peeking through a band on his chest, but I like my first impression of a kitten better!

[Lingo]

Ugh. Don't these people realize we watch this despite the sob stories, not because of them?  Show me the whole run of people who finished, for pete's sake.

 

I disagree. I bet this show wouldn't get ratings so high if it's just people running the same course, over and over. I think it's the same with every sport. You show me some high-level athleticism, and I'll watch for a little while, but if it just keeps repeating I'll eventually tune out. But if you tell me the stories underlying the competitions then I'll get hooked.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

When Jessie Graff mentioned that she was the only woman to qualify for Vegas based on city finals, Mr. EB and I yelled a 70s Show-esque "BURN!" at Michelle Warnky. I know, we're going to hell.

[heckkitty]

I disagree. I bet this show wouldn't get ratings so high if it's just people running the same course, over and over. I think it's the same with every sport. You show me some high-level athleticism, and I'll watch for a little while, but if it just keeps repeating I'll eventually tune out. But if you tell me the stories underlying the competitions then I'll get hooked.

 

I see your point, but I don't really feel like I need to see the same stories 4 times, when there are people finishing Stage 1 & Stage 2 without it being shown. BTW, did you know Flip Rodriguez used to wear a mask, but now he doesn't because, maturity or something (or he wasn't getting enough attention with it anymore)? Thanks, show.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

If they insist on showing back story segments through the finals, they should at least tell us something new or, gasp, highlight the non "superstar" contestants rather than regurgitating the same facts and footage during city trials, city finals, and Vegas. I watch for the athleticism, not the sob stories. But I am the same way about the Olympics. You could eliminate all the athlete background stories and I would still watch.

I disagree. I bet this show wouldn't get ratings so high if it's just people running the same course, over and over. I think it's the same with every sport. You show me some high-level athleticism, and I'll watch for a little while, but if it just keeps repeating I'll eventually tune out. But if you tell me the stories underlying the competitions then I'll get hooked.

Yet somehow people still watch track and field, golf, and marathons on tv! I get what you are saying in theory but most sports are repetitive in nature (baseball: hit ball and run around the bases) and people still watch without needing backstories about each athlete during the broadcast. I think it's just the possibility that no one knows for sure what will happen that keeps people watching.

[Lingo]

Yeah but do you watch hours and hours of any one of those sports? If you do -- if you're a fan of any sport -- then you probably know a lot about the backgrounds of the players, or at least their records in the sport, which drives a lot of the drama. (For me, it's tennis.) In more established sports the personalities are blended together with the narrative of team and their season and their particular background with today's opponent, etc. With ANW there's not a deep record of stats to chew on, so they go on more about their personal backgrounds, but either way there's a focus on the individuals and their "stories."

 

Anyway, I don't think there's nearly so many hours of TV of track/field or marathons in a year as there are of ANW in a single season, and even if there is they're not getting the same ratings.  Golf...is inexplicable to me. I don't know how anyone watches that for more than half an hour. It must be, again, the individuals involved, that would be my guess.

 

Blah, I'm rambling. Time for dinner.

Edited September 18, 2015 by Lingo