S08.E13: National Finals Week 3

[OnceSane]

Quote

The top competitors from the City Finals face the last three stages of Mount Midoriyama, with five new obstacles, including the Giant Ring Swing, the Hourglass to Atari, and the Double Wedge.

[Lantern7]

Does anybody know if this will be a two-hour finale? Or will it be three? I have to shut off the TV after 10 so I can get to bed.

[Chaos Theory]

16 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Does anybody know if this will be a two-hour finale? Or will it be three? I have to shut off the TV after 10 so I can get to bed.

I doubt this year will be more then two hours.  Although don't hold me to it.  I am guessing that no one will beat round 2.  Nothing against anyone who beat 1 they are all awesome but I don't think we will see anyone on 3.

[ClareWalks]

7 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

I doubt this year will be more then two hours.  Although don't hold me to it.  I am guessing that no one will beat round 2.  Nothing against anyone who beat 1 they are all awesome but I don't think we will see anyone on 3.

Based on the preview, they clearly showed some folks on obstacles that they said were in stage 3, which is annoying because you can basically spoil yourself terribly if you pause a lot and look closely :-/

[healthnut]

It's 2 hours, there's another Bear Grylis episode after ANW tomorrow. 

[riverheightsnancy]

Almost time- GOOOOOO Jessie! And Joe, Nicholas, Jake, and the guy with the long flowing hair, and Flip! lol

[slf]

Geez, the first two contestants out on the first two obstacles? Yikes. The Giant Ring Swing looks exhausting. I don't think very many people are going to make it past Stage 2.

Hey, show, you'd be able to show everyone's run if you stopped giving us backstories. Just a tip.

Edited September 13, 2016 by slf

[riverheightsnancy]

I wonder if they made Stage 2 very, very hard because they expected Geoff to be in it and he is strong in arm challenges. 

[slf]

4 minutes ago, riverheightsnancy said:

I wonder if they made Stage 2 very, very hard because they expected Geoff to be in it and he is strong in arm challenges. 

It's quite possible, I think everyone expected to see him in at least Stage 3. I think the network wants this to be a show you can win but that no one wins very often.

[riverheightsnancy]

It was not surprising that the rock climber has been the one to go the farthest at this point. He is light and spry and young. That salmon ladder was just cruel. Plus the pole that they used on the salmon ladder had a bend in the middle, I think that is a bit unfair. 

[slf]

Holy shit, I can't believe that Flip was disqualified. I mean, that's on him if they read the rules to them beforehand, but it's so unexpected. Dang, I was so certain he'd make it to stage 3.

Edited September 13, 2016 by slf

[riverheightsnancy]

10 minutes ago, slf said:

Holy shit, I can't believe that Flip was disqualified. I mean, that's on him if they read the rules to them beforehand, but it's so unexpected. Dang, I was so certain he'd make it to stage 3.

I completely missed it. Looking down at computer work. What did he do? 

ETA: Aw man Joe went down. Stage 2 is too damn hard. 

Edited September 13, 2016 by riverheightsnancy

[slf]

8 minutes ago, riverheightsnancy said:

I completely missed it. Looking down at computer work. What did he do? 

ETA: Aw man Joe went down. Stage 2 is too damn hard. 

On the hourglass boards he skipped the second one completely, which isn't allowed. You have to use both.

Joooeeeeeeeeee. I am shocked. He's always such a strong, consistent contestant. It looked like he lost his grip? Geez.

This Stage 2 is bonkers. And Leahy needs to ask better questions. No one wants to walk you through what they were thinking and feeling as they fell.

Dammit, Drew nearly gave me and his girlfriend a heart attack. That slow walk toward the end...that's confidence.

Edited September 13, 2016 by slf

[riverheightsnancy]

Drew deserves it. I think that his strategy with the Salmon ladder was smart. It makes more sense to go down pulling the bar towards you with a defined stop. 

[Mierin]

Wow, stage 2 is brutal!

[riverheightsnancy]

Man, Jake was one of my favs, but he was not strong enough in upper body. He is a total natural and got farther than a majority of people. If he had the upper body strength, I think he would have been going onto Stage 3. There is so little time left, it seems like Drew will be the only one going through. 

[slf]

Who did Nicholas Coolridge piss off? Did they even show his entire qualifying run?! 

[riverheightsnancy]

3 minutes ago, slf said:

Who did Nicholas Coolridge piss off? Did they even show his entire qualifying run?! 

Yeah, no shit, I was gonna say that exact same thing.  I kinda love him and his view on life. 

Daniel! Wooo! 

Is it too much to ask that Jessie makes it? 

Edited September 13, 2016 by riverheightsnancy

[slf]

1 minute ago, riverheightsnancy said:

Yeah, no shit, I was gonna say that exact same thing.  I kinda love him and his view on life. 

It must suck to make it to Stage 2 and yet barely be featured on the show. It's too bad, he's so pretty and interesting to watch. 

Daniel Gil seems like such a sweetie, I'm happy he gets to move on to Stage 3.

I'm guessing Jessie falls in Stage 2. Not that I'm complaining, making it to Stage 2 is huge.

[riverheightsnancy]

God dammit. Jessie was so solid on the wave runner. Next year. 

[slf]

Jessie's grip gave out. That's too bad but what a fantastic year for her.

[riverheightsnancy]

4 minutes ago, slf said:

Jessie's grip gave out. That's too bad but what a fantastic year for her.

Oh yeah. She beat the vast majority of the men. She is hands down the Queen of ANW. 

[slf]

Just now, riverheightsnancy said:

Oh yeah. She beat the vast majority of the men. She is hands down the Queen of ANW. 

I was just thinking that, that she made it farther than most of the men. Who could be disappointed with that run? I can't wait to see her come back even stronger next year.

Stage 3 is just...stupid. They turned the body prop into some kind of mutant torture obstacle. WTH?

[ilovepuzzles]

After seeing the obstacles on Stage 3, I can just imagine someone at NBC saying, "OK, we gave away the million once. Now we need to design it so no one does it ever again."

[riverheightsnancy]

OMG, the commentators every stinking time they jinx the contestants.  They just started to say, "Drew went out on this last year and he has worked so hard to improve... and OOOHH. It took him out this year too."  

[slf]

Poor Drew. I know he wanted this and he was so strong this year. I've been a little hard on him, given some of the things he's said, but he's undeniably one of the best there is. I was impressed with how he handled the body prop.

What happens if only one person were to complete Stage 3? Would they automatically win or would they still have to climb and maybe beat the clock?

Edited September 13, 2016 by slf

[Fukui San]

1 minute ago, ilovepuzzles said:

After seeing the obstacles on Stage 3, I can just imagine someone at NBC saying, "OK, we gave away the million once. Now we need to design it so no one does it ever again."

Dreschel did better than I thought anyone could without practice on some of these new spins on obstacles. 

It's amazing the evolution of the Cliffhanger. The first one was three level ledges, like this

-----  ----- -----

Then came a raised ledge in the middle

_ _ _ _   - - - -   _ _ _ _ _

Then came a slanted ledge in the middle

                         __ -
_ _ _ _      __ --               - - - -

Then came the Ultimate Cliffhanger, which was something like this:

_____________  ---   _   ------

- _
_  - 

Now it's just a melange of jumps and slants and turns and grabs.  Each of the evolutions above caused seasons of angst and failure and practice. It's amazing that Dreschel already aced this version in the first try, and Gill wasn't that far off either.

[slf]

I really hate when they keep the camera on a contestant trying not to cry. Like come on, give them some space.

Not surprised Gil went down where he did but still, such a great effort. He's such a sweetie.

I gotta say, I loved seeing Geoff Britten there supporting the contestants. He really seemed to be rooting for them to succeed. That's classy af.

[Lantern7]

Back to the slightly unhappy endings of having no winners. Everybody goes home to train for next year's show. Well, that and Team Ninja Warrior. And maybe another all-stars competition, though I'd understand if Japan declines to send anybody to the States.

"Jessie Graff has gone further than any woman in the history of this show, and most of the men. But she didn't clear Stage Two, and you know what that means. Akbar is gonna eat her pet pig." "I see you, Sammo! I see you on my plate going into my stomach!!!" Seriously, though, Jessie has a lot to be proud about. Really hoping she can live up to her own hype in future seasons. Sorry, Kacy.

I can live with Daniel Gill as a perennial contender. He's religious, but he isn't obnoxious about it. And Drew may have made the leap. Flip might have as well, but he screwed up the obstacle. I think he could have cleared Stage Two. I don't care how punishing the course may be . . . three-and-a-half minutes is too long. I know that Daniel and Drew had to set off the warning buzzer on their runs, but I think the first two stages should be similarly timed.

I'll be rooting for The Amazing Race at the Emmys on Sunday night, but part of me would be curious to see what would happen if ANW wins. Would the camera stay on Matt and Akbar for their reactions?

[slf]

25 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Back to the slightly unhappy endings of having no winners.

It's weird but when Britten fell in Stage 1 part of me felt that there would be no winner this year. It's not like I think he's the only person who could ever win this- Moravsky, Dreschel, and Rodriguez have great odds of eventually winning, imo. It just felt like an omen somehow.

[Fukui San]

One winner every five years or so is around average given the track record of both the US and Japanese verison. The American field is generally stronger but the course designers can ramp up the difficulty to match the field. They're basically aiming at the result they want through setting up each year's course and time limits.  If I were them I'd want a winner every three or four years, I think. But you could miscalculate and have four winners in the same year, or have 10+ years without a winner. It's not an exact science, certainly.

[Lingo]

Congrats to Drew Dreschel for being this season's "winner"! He made it farther than anyone else. It was interesting that that accomplishment didn't seem to console him much. It was really touching to see him break down. I've really liked him for at least the last 2 seasons, so I'm happy he won. He seems to be really great with the kids.

Daniel Gil seems like an okay guy too, so I'm happy for him as well. But I'm glad he didn't beat Drew. It must burn up a guy like Drew, who's dedicated his life to this show, to see a young talented near-rookie like Daniel to nearly beat him in just 2 short seasons.

On the other hand, I'm SO glad Jake Murray fell. "You've got wacky antics. I HATE wacky antics!" [/Lou Grant] I was SO worried that all the camera-time and focus on this guy I don't even remember from last year was foreshadowing he was going to win. Blech.

The legend Jessie Graf got exactly as far as the legend Joe Moravsky. Never thought I'd see the day!  They are both favorites of mine, so I'm bummed they didn't get farther. They seemed to place in the middle of the pack. I'd like to know exactly where they placed. I guess I just need to wait an hour for Wikipedia to be updated. This stage 2 was unbelievably hard, BUT it definitely seems like Jessie has the skills to beat it. She just needs one good run.

I feel so bad for Flip. It felt like it was going to be his year. I wish they had shown his run in its entirety -- that would have made good TV drama.

And count me in as another person wondering who Nicholas Coolridge pissed off. He seemed to be one of their big stars last year, so it's so odd that they completely glossed over ALL of his runs this year. What's up with that??

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, slf said:

What happens if only one person were to complete Stage 3? Would they automatically win or would they still have to climb and maybe beat the clock?

They would still have to climb Stage 4 and beat the clock.  And without much respite after completing stage 3 with it's upper body burnout.

 

39 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

But you could miscalculate and have four winners in the same year, or have 10+ years without a winner.

The way it's set up, you can't have 4 winners. Remember, they had 2 people finish the course last year, but only one of them won the million bucks. Which, BTW, I think is totally unfair.

[Lingo]

Out on the Giant Ring Swing:

Michael Torres

 

Out on the Salmon Ladder:

Najee Richardson

Ethan Swanson

Grant McCartney

Thomas Stillings

 

Out on the Wave Runner:

Adam Rayl

Neil Craver

Flip Rodriguez (DQ)

Joe Moravsky

Nicholas Coolridge

Jessie Graff

 

Out on the Double Wedge:

Josh Levin

Chris Wilczewski

Brian Arnold

Jake Murray

 

Out on Stage 3:

Daniel Gil (Cliffhanger)

Drew Dreschel (Hang Climb)

 

So if you don't look at times (too tedious for me at the moment), you could say that Jessie tied for 7th place this season. Which is frickin' wicked.

[Chaos Theory]

Drew isn't my favorite by a long shot but when the lady announcer kept shoving the mike in his face after he fell with his eyes red asking him how he felt I was like "give the man some space".  

Jessie was awesome and should not be the least disappointed by that run.  She is the queen of ANW.  I am looking foward to next year just to see what she does next.  

Edited September 13, 2016 by Chaos Theory

[JenMD]

9 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

The way it's set up, you can't have 4 winners. Remember, they had 2 people finish the course last year, but only one of them won the million bucks. Which, BTW, I think is totally unfair.

According to this article, multiple finishers would now split the million.

Enjoyed the finale, but disappointed they couldn't find it in themselves to show everybody's run.  I mean, they know they have 19 runs to show over approximately 80 minutes of screen time.  They can't manage to avoid having to "while we were away" anyone at this point? 

Still, it was a fun season, full of surprises but mostly I was so thrilled watching Jessie Graff just kill it.  I've been a fan of hers since she first showed up in the chicken costume, so seeing her just get better and better and do it with such positivity was awesome. 

Not surprised that neither Daniel nor Drew made it to Stage 4.  The narrative just wasn't there for a winner this season.  Both of those guys did incredibly well getting through Stage 2 and getting as far on Stage 3 as they each did.  But yeah, the camera could have left Drew alone for a moment, geesh. 

One of the best things about this show, though, is the support all the competitors get, it's lovely to see.

I do wish NBC would chill with giving so much away in their promos, though.  They showed testers on the obstacles during the show, why not show them during promos, if they want the audience to see the obstacles in use and just throw in old shots of contestants?  They're are way too distinctive at this stage of the competition, it's easy to see who's doing what and get spoiled. That's one thing I'd definitely change.

Thanks everybody for the commentary this season, it's been fun!

[humbleopinion]

Jeff Van Gundy's daughter trains as a ninja and he is such a proud Daddy!

Good stuff.

Edited September 13, 2016 by humbleopinion

[piequinn35]

So disappointing that Flip got disqualified :(

[CrazyDog]

22 hours ago, slf said:

Who did Nicholas Coolridge piss off? Did they even show his entire qualifying run?! 

Seriously! He was amazing to watch last year, and I wanted to see what he did this time around. So disappointing. Jessie, Joe, Daniel, Geoff, Flip continue to be my favorites. I hope they all return next year.

[Quilt Fairy]

10 hours ago, JenMD said:

According to this article, multiple finishers would now split the million.

I did not know that.  It's a good change, too bad they couldn't make it retroactive. Geoff Britten deserves something besides being able to call himself the first American Ninja Warrior.  BTW, that is a good, thoughtful article about the show and the lack of compensation for the competitors.

Considering the controversy over Flip Rodriguez, I'm surprised they summarized his run on a "while we were away". They focused on the point of his DQ, but they said he was cruising through the course up until that time. Well, that sounds like an interesting run, I'd like to see the whole thing, please.

[Guest]

I have mixed feelings about the pay issue.  I don't support any major pro sports because I don't like the economics of it all (and it helps that it's just not my thing).  These athletes are getting the chance to run these amazing courses, a shot at the mil, travel expenses and it's all while doing something they love to do.  And that some of them make a career of it through gyms and whatnot is just gravy.  I don't make any money off my hobbies and I think that's true of the vast majority of people.  NBC might be cleaning house but if they didn't succeed, there would be no stage for their craft at all in this country, would there?  

I think this show is more like American Idol than NFL football.  

I don't have much respect for Caldiero asking for more $$$ to compete this year and might feel the same if all the big characters banded up and did the same.  I think I would enjoy an all-rookie season okay, to be honest.  They were all new to me this season and I loved it.  All rookie might be more fair.  As it is, I wonder how many great athletes didn't get invited because they don't have an interesting story or aren't great tv material.  I'd rather see more walk-on nobodies than amputees and cancer survivors and whatever other trauma cases they can find to check off the human interest quota.  

[callmebetty]

6 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I have mixed feelings about the pay issue.  I don't support any major pro sports because I don't like the economics of it all (and it helps that it's just not my thing).  These athletes are getting the chance to run these amazing courses, a shot at the mil, travel expenses and it's all while doing something they love to do.  And that some of them make a career of it through gyms and whatnot is just gravy.  I don't make any money off my hobbies and I think that's true of the vast majority of people.  NBC might be cleaning house but if they didn't succeed, there would be no stage for their craft at all in this country, would there?  

I think this show is more like American Idol than NFL football.  

I don't have much respect for Caldiero asking for more $$$ to compete this year and might feel the same if all the big characters banded up and did the same.  I think I would enjoy an all-rookie season okay, to be honest.  They were all new to me this season and I loved it.  All rookie might be more fair.  As it is, I wonder how many great athletes didn't get invited because they don't have an interesting story or aren't great tv material.  I'd rather see more walk-on nobodies than amputees and cancer survivors and whatever other trauma cases they can find to check off the human interest quota.  

That's interesting you should say that.  If you think about all the old guard, none of them really have any kind of tragic backstory, they are all just extremely good athletes.  Only this season did Flip reveal his dark secret.  So I think that's a relatively new thing for all reality shows, it's not enough to be good at whatever your competing for, you have to have some other horrible thing that producers feel you should be rooting for.  But , I don't feel that needs to be the case, look at Jessie Graf and Jake Murray, there is no sob story for them. But it did seem this season that every other contestant had some sort of "tragic" backstory.  It is of course all producer manufactured that they feel the viewers can't enjoy the show without some sort of drama.  Which isn't true at all.

[slf]

19 minutes ago, callmebetty said:

It is of course all producer manufactured that they feel the viewers can't enjoy the show without some sort of drama.  Which isn't true at all.

It makes me wonder if women are a large part of the audience. NBC pulled this during the Olympics and when asked why they felt the need to focus more on people's backstories than the competitions they said because women make up the majority of the audience and everyone knows women can't possibly be watching for the actual athletics! It must just be for the sob stories! Women don't like sports! NBC is pretty misogynistic about this stuff, even as it tries to make money off of women.

[Hanahope]

Well, as woman, I tend to fast forward through the 'sob stories' on just about every show I watch (Olympics, American Idol, ANW) and just watch the actual event.  I don't have the time to sit through all the sob stories, that's why I'm DVRing in the first place.  Frankly, its hard enough watching sports on TV (football, basketball, baseball) with all the damn commercials.

[Chaos Theory]

It depends on the story for me.  I actually liked the story about the one legged guy who became a WWE wrestler because it wasn't a sob story but a story of preserving and I loved watching his run.  No one expected him to get very far and he made to to the third obstical.  I also enjoy some of the other "this is who I am" stories but yeah some of the saddy sad sad stories get tiresome,

[simplyme]

2 hours ago, Hanahope said:

Well, as woman, I tend to fast forward through the 'sob stories' on just about every show I watch (Olympics, American Idol, ANW) and just watch the actual event.

Right there with you. I watch a lot of sports, but I usually have a book, crossword puzzle, or my cross-stitch there with me because there's so much filler. (My parents play games on their computers or read.) The Olympics was always bad, but this year was mostly unwatchable. We just gave up. Honestly, Mary Carillo's local and human interest segments are the only non-competition bits I want to see at the Olympics, but I never catch them. So screw you, NBC, for only bothering to show a few people, mostly Americans, competing, and spending waaaaay too much time talking to people and about people and what we'd be seeing later.

10 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

As it is, I wonder how many great athletes didn't get invited because they don't have an interesting story or aren't great tv material.  I'd rather see more walk-on nobodies than amputees and cancer survivors and whatever other trauma cases they can find to check off the human interest quota.  

And this, to me, is one of the things that definitely prevents ANW from being a sport. Although marketing plays a part in sports decisions, in most sports if you are talented enough and put in the work, you will go farther than the person who is mediocre but has a tragic story. That gets old, and producing is what really matters.

4 hours ago, callmebetty said:

So I think that's a relatively new thing for all reality shows, it's not enough to be good at whatever your competing for, you have to have some other horrible thing that producers feel you should be rooting for.  But , I don't feel that needs to be the case, look at Jessie Graf and Jake Murray, there is no sob story for them. 

I would say that they don't just cast for sob stories but for "interesting characters." Jessie and Jake certainly count as interesting characters. Jessie is female, a stuntwoman, and wears costumes. Jake has a lot of personality and does some showboating. I do think they've always tended a bit towards that, hence one of the reasons so many ninjas have nicknames.

That said, I still love this show. I think they went a little too tough with the courses this year, but we'll see how ninjas (and the courses) adjust next year.

[Guest]

I actually don't mind the sob stories if they keep them sparse and the athlete clearly didn't get chosen just because of the sob story.  This is going to sound callous but the ones that stood out to me as egregious in the city courses were the amputees.  

46 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

No one expected him to get very far and he made to to the third obstical.

I see both sides but what is the point of casting someone who nobody thinks can go far and did great by making it to the third obstacle if there's a walk-on line full of people who could do much better?  I mean, I know the point is "TV".  And I enjoy those runs, too.  But something about it feels unfair and even exploitative.  We don't have freak shows anymore but if you want to cast someone physically way outside of 'normal' because you know people find interest in that, you just do it in a 'we're so humanitarian' way.  But the goal and the outcome is the same as the old circus side show.  They're put on display solely for their unique physical traits.  It's no longer, "point and gawk at the freak", it's now presented as "be inspired by his amazing feats in the face of tragedy" but it's got some of the same feeling to it for me.  And I'm not saying amputees are freaks by any means.  

[BTScriviner]

On 9/14/2016 at 2:17 PM, Winston9-DT3 said:

I see both sides but what is the point of casting someone who nobody thinks can go far and did great by making it to the third obstacle if there's a walk-on line full of people who could do much better?  I mean, I know the point is "TV".  And I enjoy those runs, too.  But something about it feels unfair and even exploitative.  We don't have freak shows anymore but if you want to cast someone physically way outside of 'normal' because you know people find interest in that, you just do it in a 'we're so humanitarian' way.  But the goal and the outcome is the same as the old circus side show.  They're put on display solely for their unique physical traits.  It's no longer, "point and gawk at the freak", it's now presented as "be inspired by his amazing feats in the face of tragedy" but it's got some of the same feeling to it for me.  And I'm not saying amputees are freaks by any means.  

I always come back to: they're adults, and they can make the decision to appear or not. For many amputees (especially military veterans), they want to show they can still compete and do what they used to do.