S10.E00: Celebrity Ninja Warrior For Red Nose Day

[Lantern7]

Tonight, NBC tries to make red noses a thing by linking them to charity. And that means having starts of various shininess try their best on a scaled-down ANW course!

Of course, Akbar went last. And I'm thinking he's been rehearsing a lot longer than the other celebrities. Dude has abs. And while he did have some problems with the course, he managed to complete it under the watchful eye of Kevin Bull. Okay, he skipped one obstacle, but he had a torn bicep. Totally legit. But I think the real MVP was Matt for shouting out his colleague's entire name: Akbar Oluwakemi-Idowu Gbajabiamila. Dang. I had to look it up; Wikipedia has the last name as "Gbaja-Biamila," but I don't remember ever seeing a hyphen.  Oh, and he has cute kids, most of whom never to see their daddy play in the NFL.

Can't really remember much else. Ne-Yo and Drew Dreschel's double backflips were sweet. I think Colton from Superstore might be the biggest ninja to ever take on the course.

New season starts in six days! Will Midoriyama be conquered once more?

[mlp]

Akbar must work on staying in shape on a regular basis.  That guy is BUILT.  I've always known that he's a big guy but it never really registered with me because he's always standing next to Matt, also a big guy.  He just dwarfed Kevin Bull.  It was almost comical.

Red Nose Day has been a fund-raising event for charity in England for a long time and only spread to the U.S. in recent years.  NBC didn't create it.

[VartanFan]

I think Nastia Lukin was a boss.  I would have liked to see her legit try the wall before Drew and Barkley helped out.  I think she would have made it....she rocked it!

[LadyNebula]

To be fair, NBC isn't trying to start a thing with the red noses. Red Nose Day has been going on for a long time in the UK. They're just trying to make the whole event a thing in America. 

 

I thought tonight was a lot of fun, and I'm glad they raised a lot of money. 

[ClareWalks]

When Kristine complained that Akbar wasn't "keeping his Ls" I was like "they JUST EXPLAINED that he has a torn bicep." You cannot "keep an L" with a torn bicep. I thought everyone did well, except Garrett, but he had fun with it :)

[Lovecat]

I shall henceforth refer to our impressively jacked commentator as Akbar Gbajbiahumina-humina. Holy abs, Batman!  And those Gbajbiababies were a. dor. a. ble.

[saber5055]

When Akbar first started hosting this show, his last name was hyphenated on screen. Past seasons are rerun here, and I noticed the hyphen and that it disappeared later on.

Derek Hough said he would donate $10,000 of his own money if he got to do the next two obstacles after he went out. I was hoping they would show that. He was a star last Red Nose Day so I was surprised he went out earlier this time. Ne-Yo was a total surprise. Who knew? Respect.

Nastia also was a surprise. She's so thin, I was surprised she did so well. I think she could have made it up the wall without help, but the teamwork was cool.

They did save the best for last. Akbar rocked it out of the park. I didn't have a clue he was so big ... and so fit. Matt was so funny, saying he'd never take his shirt off next to Akbar. I'm good with Akbar going shirtless for the entire upcoming Ninja season.

i loved this show last year and it was just as good this year. I wish they would do more celebrity challenges. Looking forward to next year's Red Nose Day Ninja Event. And since Derek was a "rerun" from last year, I wish Stephen Amell had come back too. He makes for some nice scenery. Next year, show?

Edited May 25, 2018 by saber5055

[Quilt Fairy]

11 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

When Kristine complained that Akbar wasn't "keeping his Ls" I was like "they JUST EXPLAINED that he has a torn bicep." You cannot "keep an L" with a torn bicep

I think she was just being snarky because "not keeping his Ls" is a frequent Akbar comment.  I was really surprised that Akbar did the door knob thing after skipping the flying shelf grab.  I realize the shelf grab involves a lot more torque on the muscles, but don't you need biceps for both of them?

[ClareWalks]

5 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I think she was just being snarky because "not keeping his Ls" is a frequent Akbar comment.  I was really surprised that Akbar did the door knob thing after skipping the flying shelf grab.  I realize the shelf grab involves a lot more torque on the muscles, but don't you need biceps for both of them?

If you keep the arms straight it's not too bad, he probably used more biceps at the top of the warped wall. I hope it was only a partial tear and he didn't make it worse!

[srpturtle80]

I loved this. I was impressed with Ne-Yo and SUPER impressed with Nastia! I know Akbar was a defensive end so he’d be a decent size but I was blown away by how ginormous he is lol! His kids were so freaking cute.

I loved how supportive both and ninjas and celebs were being of each other. This is one of the reasons I love ANW as a whole, even while competing against each other, the ninjas always appear to show so much support and love for each other. Warms my cold heart lol. 

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, srpturtle80 said:

I loved how supportive both and ninjas and celebs were being of each other. This is one of the reasons I love ANW as a whole, even while competing against each other, the ninjas always appear to show so much support and love for each other. Warms my cold heart lol. 

So much this. The support system is so gratifying to see, especially how things are in this world right now. I also love the ninjas working with the celebs. I wish some ninjas would be on DWTS or other reality shows. Wrong network for Dancing though I guess.

[jhlipton]

12 hours ago, srpturtle80 said:

I loved how supportive both and ninjas and celebs were being of each other. This is one of the reasons I love ANW as a whole, even while competing against each other, the ninjas always appear to show so much support and love for each other. Warms my cold heart lol. 

Totally agree.

This was awesome fun.  Ne-Yo rocked the course as did Nastia (I had just watch Gabby Douglas on Celebrity Undercover "Boss", so it was a night for all-around gold medalists!) and Akbar.

[Destiny74]

I thought they all did great, even the big guy.  He knew he would not make it through but had fun with it anyway.  All for charity.

I chuckled when they were giving Akbar razzes about the "L" s.  It is his thing.  That and saying someone is tearing up the course only to biff immediately after Akbar speaks those words.  He is a nicely put together man though.

I think Megan Martin should be on next season's DWTS.  She looked good with the few steps she did with Derek.  And, I mean, Housewives is on Bravo and they are NBC owned.  Besides, I don't think NBC owns MM...at least I hope not.

Can't wait for the next season.  One week.

[jhlipton]

20 minutes ago, Destiny74 said:

I think Megan Martin should be on next season's DWTS.  She looked good with the few steps she did with Derek. 

I would love that!!!  She could do lifts all day long!!!

[slf]

Loved Ne-Yo's "I'm not doing that!" after Drew swung upside down off an obstacle. He was my favorite of the night with Nastia and Akbar and Derek right behind. (I think Derek may have gotten the ANW bug. Dude seems to genuinely want to run a course.)