S09.E04: Kansas City Qualifiers

[Lantern7]

Quote

Competitors face six challenging obstacles, including the Hang Glider, Broken Pipes and Crank It Up; veterans Lance Pekus, Brandon Mears and Dan Polizzi return; Olympic decathlete Jeremy Taiwo takes on the course.

Cowboy Ninja! Towers of Power! A silver medalist!! Don't know about the female turnout; if the cable listings are to be believed, the "Fantastic Four" run next week.

ETA: Good episode, with a lot of poignant stories. I will say that Maggi Thorne's pink ribbon was hard not to look at when she talked about her divorce. On a lighter note, Lance Pekus seems to be over last year's flameout, as well as two seasons of underperforming on Team Ninja Warrior.

[slf]

I was listening to and not watching the first guy's lead-in so I thought maybe he was gonna wear booty shorts. I was actually disappointed. Those shorts looked like a normal length to me.

Poor Omar. I was hoping he'd make it farther into the course. But it was sweet how happy his mom was for him.

I got such a kick out of the mom who owns her own gym. There's always at least one contestant who basically falls through every obstacle and it was her and she was so happy.

Finally, this show makes a big deal about someone's age when it actually makes sense. 70. I'm not even half his age and I can't do...any of the stuff he can, damn.

Oh my God, I laughed so hard when "The Lizard" fell. He was doing really well and I know he was trying to play it off like there was some strategy to his choice to turn around but it honestly seemed more like he was trying to show off.

"He's got a chance to be the first finisher tonight." Um, he's 12 ft tall, I think he can handle the warped wall. Congrats, tho, to Brendan and his wife.

Devin's shoes were the best thing anyone's ever worn on this show, including Jessie's chicken costume. Really great run. I thought he was gonna fall on the bar hop so I wasn't surprised when he gassed out on the warped wall.

Michael J. Fox is such a great guy! I always love seeing him! Jimmy Choi kicked ass. Went out on the same obstacle as Adam Arnold, I think?

Ouch to the guy who basically went down crotch first on the broken pipes. But he seemed genuinely happy when his girlfriend made it past that point. I was impressed by how calm she was, no struggle at all til she gassed out.

Question: sometimes when contestants are on the first obstacle the crowd...grunts? Or something? What is that, exactly?

Jelani, what a fantastic rookie. They're right, a lot of these rookies are coming in with just a fantastic skill level. That was an impressive save on the broken pipes. I love that he brought his grandpa, who was so happy!

Kyle is another great rookie. Having to do the bar hop right after crank it up is brutal but he did so well. Loved how excited his family was. (He didn't have his hearing aide in during the interview so I was confused at first, if someone was signing for him during his interview with Kristine.)

I'm really annoyed we didn't get to see Tyler's run. If someone makes it through we should be able to see them compete.

Maggie Thorne, great to see her. I enjoyed watching her lead-in as much as her run, tbh; she and the other ninjas are so cute together.

I liked the bird guy's celebration atop the warped wall a lot better than the yelling a lot of other contestants do. It was dorky af but I liked it.

[Chaos Theory]

It's weird that this course seemed easier then the previous ones.   There were no "oh my god...what kind of sadist created that?"  Still not many got all the way through an no women in the top 30.

I am happy for Maggie Thorne.  I like watching her chear in others so it is nice to see her do well.  

[BindsTheTuna]

Maggi Thorne's husband must have done something RULL bad. She seemed so devastated still. It was great to see all her ninja pals have her back.

[LadyNebula]

I'm sorry, but the Swan guy is a frickin' idiot.  That bridge stunt is not only stupid, but probably illegal.  The show lost some points with me for showcasing that.  I also don't give a crap about Maggie Thorne's divorce.  Yeah, divorce sucks.  I feel for her.  But it's something millions of people go through.  I'm sick of all the sob stories, really.  Just shut up and run the damn course.

 

That said, I was loving Jelani and Devin.  I'm pissed Tyler got WWWA'd.

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

It's weird that this course seemed easier then the previous ones.

I thought the combination of the last two absolutely-upper-body-only obstacles was exceeding hard, and guaranteed that no woman could finish.  That crank thing should have been a back-half obstacle.

[saber5055]

I was disappointed Short Shorts Guy went first because that means for sure he's going to fail and fail early. I liked his '70s gym shorts and red shoes. Now I hate Maggie Thorne's ex husband because I imagine him a cheating beyotch. WTH, you have all those kids and you bail on your family? *rantover* I was surprised to see a couple ninjas do that crank thing. That was cruel, and followed by bar hop IF you managed to make it through the crank. I wish there were two, not three, cranks. I thought this course was a lot tougher than others. Even the broken pipes were meaner than usual. I think if someone falls then clings to the broken pipes, that s/b a DQ. Someone could just do a belly crawl over the entire length of the thing the way they are letting people use their hands and legs to get through. Good to see Lance make it, plus some new guys who really rocked it. I'll remember their names if they continue to succeed, the show promotes them, and they don't get WWA'd (like Nick Coolderidge).

[Terrafamilia]

Yeah, those "short" shorts may count as short in this day and age where guys seem to be afraid to show even a hint of thigh and so wear what are basically culottes but back in my day we were made of sterner stuff (and we walked 10 miles to school, uphill both ways).

[ClareWalks]

Maggi Thorne wears waaaaaaay too much makeup. Whoa, lady. Take it down several notches. There are drag queens out there thinking "girl, you are doing an obstacle course, maybe don't wear two pairs of false eyelashes at once."

[saber5055]

I was wondering if Maggie's eyelashes would come off if she fell into the drink. And I'll bet that 70-year-old ninja wore gym shorts at least that short when he was in high school. Matt and Akbar do like to make fun of what some guys are wearing. Even if those red shorts are nowhere near short. They actually reminded me of a (very hot) ex boyfriend who wore a pair just like those, and wore them quite well if I do say so myself. (Just like that ninja guy did. Nice gams!)

[simplyme]

2 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

Maggi Thorne wears waaaaaaay too much makeup. Whoa, lady. Take it down several notches. There are drag queens out there thinking "girl, you are doing an obstacle course, maybe don't wear two pairs of false eyelashes at once."

Probably, but I've had a mad girl crush on her since last season's Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge when I realized exactly how much of a badass she was. She also apparently was Jessie Graff's college roommate. (source: https://www.americanninjawarriornation.com/2016/6/9/11886352/jessie-graff-talks-with-former-roommate-maggie-thorne-about-life-as-kick-butt-athletes ) 

[Destiny74]

Maggie.  She's the one who is always on the sidelines going ape$hit crazy for people.  Hell, she almost dropped her kid last year when her hubby ran.  I think she needs to take it down a notch.  But, I feel bad for her because her marriage is over and she's hurting.  I was wondering if her husband cheated or just decided he didn't love her anymore.  I think the later would be worse, so living alone, without me and your kids, is the best choice?  Ugh!  Then again, we didn't really get any info on the details...not that we are owed anything. It's not the Maury show. Oh, but I am impressed with her makeup.  No running, no smearing, she looked good when talking to Christine.  I want to know what brand she uses and what kind of chisel type makeup remover she needs to make it budge.

Loved the 21 year old who grandpa drove him.  So glad he finished.  What a great save on the pipes!  Kid's got a future in ANW.

The Mom who opened her own gym.  Great job but, does anyone but you and you kids use it?  There was no one else there.  Oh, and the later contestant who works for her.  I guess he coaches her kids exclusively.  ?

Darin(?) with the gold accessories?  What a cool guy.  Liked him a lot.  However, if I was going to do ANW, the Warped Wall would be the one obstacle I would run at the end of my full workout EVERY SINGLE TIME.  Not at the beginning, but when I had spent all the energy of the workout because the end is where it is going to be when you compete for real.  

Great that Lance Penkus made it through.  That hat almost got him though.  And you could tell he was a little scared of the pipes, with good reason.  Anyway, great job!

I was thrilled to see that all 5 women who advanced fell on the Crank.  4th obstacle, not bad, and a toughy at that.  Not like other cities where women who fell on the second obstacle still advance.

70 year old.  I still prefer the Geriatric Ninja.

Finally, Lizard guy... I was glad he fell.  He was trying to impress and do something different, Jackhole!  Just run the darn course!

Edited July 5, 2017 by Destiny74

[Guest]

On 7/4/2017 at 1:52 PM, simplyme said:

Probably, but I've had a mad girl crush on her since last season's Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge when I realized exactly how much of a badass she was. She also apparently was Jessie Graff's college roommate. (source: https://www.americanninjawarriornation.com/2016/6/9/11886352/jessie-graff-talks-with-former-roommate-maggie-thorne-about-life-as-kick-butt-athletes ) 

They mentioned it in the show last night, too.

Maggi did seem crushed but who knows... maybe she had affairs or just flamed out on things.  I think divorce can be just as hard when you caused it or chose it, sometimes harder.  

I thought Jelani was being a little silly when he talked about aiming for winning the million before his run, as opposed to just aiming to hit the buzzer.  Then I felt schooled after.  

The back stories didn't bother me this time.  I guess compared to American Grit, this feels like Emmy material.  

[slf]

On 7/3/2017 at 9:20 PM, Chaos Theory said:

I am happy for Maggie Thorne.  I like watching her chear in others so it is nice to see her do well.  

Ditto. She's always so supportive of her friends (and previously of her husband) and she kicks so much ass on Spartan. I do think she's a better fit for team obstacle racing but she did really well.

On 7/3/2017 at 11:48 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

I thought the combination of the last two absolutely-upper-body-only obstacles was exceeding hard, and guaranteed that no woman could finish.  That crank thing should have been a back-half obstacle.

Yeah, individually either might not have been so bad. But putting the Crank It Up right before the Bar Hop was an arm-killer for most.

[Ciarrai]

Ugh Brandon Mears. Stop being a meathead and just run the course.

On 7/3/2017 at 8:04 PM, LadyNebula said:

I'm sick of all the sob stories, really.  Just shut up and run the damn course.

This. I don't want to watch the sob stories of a person who fails on the second obstacle (70-year-old excluded). I'd rather watch the runs of everyone who finishes, and then learn more about them in the next round.