S11.E10: Seattle/Tacoma City Finals

[Quilt Fairy]

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The competition returns to the Pacific Northwest's Tacoma Dome, where the competitors including Jessie Graff, Lance The Cowboy Ninja Pekus, Meagan Martin, Sean Bryan and more face up to 10 challenging obstacles, including the new Northwest Passage

[Lantern7]

Thanks, @Quilt Fairy!

In other news . . . shit, Jake Murray bit it hard. I know he tries to be a “character,” but I don’t think that factored into his fall.

ETA: Lightning Bolts just took out Lance Pekus. Opens up another slot for another unknown to shine.

Edited August 6, 2019 by Lantern7

[ams1001]

Why did Akbar sound so surprised that the gymnast was good on the balance obstacle?

I don't dislike Lance Pekus, but after the comment about how he always takes off his shirt at some point (which I hate...run without it from the start or keep it on, I don't care, but stop stripping halfway through), I laughed out loud when he fell. (I felt a little bad about it...)

[EllenB]

I giggled at the Pekus splat, too, and I do not feel bad at all.

I like Sandy Zimmerman, but good grief, all she did was pop a kid or so out.  They treat her like she's a blind double amputee with cancer.

[ClareWalks]

Go Scott Behrends! I hope making it to the floating monkey bars holds up.

[ams1001]

Ouch, Dan! I was thinking earlier that those handles could be dangerous...and I was right.

(Is it me or do they really like to focus on the blood streaming down their faces?)

[Lantern7]

44 minutes ago, EllenB said:

I like Sandy Zimmerman, but good grief, all she did was pop a kid or so out.  They treat her like she's a blind double amputee with cancer.

Isn’t being a mother the same thing? 😜😜😜 Seriously, though, the better sympathy angle wouldn’t been vying for two spots in the same region as Meagan Martin and Jessie Graf.

Whoops, down goes Meagan. Looks like Sandy’s going to Vegas.

ETA: Awwwwwwwww . . . Lobo is a cute Bull Terrier. Too bad his human (Alex Hatch) got struck down by the Lightning Bolts.

ETA: Nobody cleared the course? Damn.

Edited August 6, 2019 by Lantern7

[EllenB]

Okay, another chuckle when the so-called Papal Ninja splatted.  Working for that nest of molesting vipers does NOT make you special.

Yay, Jessie!  I'm sad she didn't finish, but how awesome that she got farther than anyone else!

[DEL901]

Two women in the top 8.  Fantastic.   And I am sure Sandy wasn’t far out of the top 12.  Great stuff. 

[Fukui San]

That “Figure 4” technique was insane. Looked like they were giving themselves MMA submission holds. 

Do we know anymore how many overall competitors go to Vegas? When this started 100 was a sacred number. But I’m not sure we know anymore. 100 doesn’t divide by 12 evenly, and there’s no mention of Wild Cards. 

[enoughcats]

I found myself feeling sorry for the editors who had to turn this fluster cluck of a series of performances into two hours of marginally interesting content.  

At a certain point, I think the editors gave up and just showed where all the WWWA fails happened.  Tne consistant falls were too predictable, and even I could tell that someone's arm strength was about to fail. 

Was it too much upper arm?  Even the "professional rock climber" (?Megan Martin????) didn't have the upper body strength.

[heckkitty]

There should be a contingency for when 2 women make the top 12. Sandy was #13; she should have made it too. 

[SophiaD]

I don't like episodes when no one finishes.  To me, that says that the course is poorly designed. Also, I can't believe that Sandy Zimmerman isn't getting to go to Vegas, and those forgettable women from a few weeks ago are.  It was a bit refreshing that we'll get to see some new faces in Vegas, although I'm sure the producers were tearing their hair out over the two relative unknowns who made it to the Power Tower.  

Really enjoyed Jessie Graf, even though she didn't hit that elusive buzzer and was just a bit too slow to make it to the Power Tower.  Mady Howard really impressed as well.  I'm also very happy for Dan Yager and Nick Hanson.  Dan was really at a disadvantage in the new Power Tower, though.  

I don't tend to take dislikes to competitors, although I like some more than others, but the whole "Papal Ninja" thing really bothers me for some reason. Maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon.

Akbar did do a good job catching a fish during his moments, even though I still don't like them (the moments, that is).  They did a nice job showcasing Seattle, too.

[mlp]

4 minutes ago, SophiaD said:

I can't believe that Sandy Zimmerman isn't getting to go to Vegas, and those forgettable women from a few weeks ago are. 

I don't root for women just because they're female but I totally agree with this.  Sandy did very well, especially for her age, and she got beat out for Vegas by a couple women who didn't even make it as far as the wall during their qualifying runs.  

I hated to see Nick Hanson fall.  I'm glad he made it far enough to go on.  Ditto Jessie, of course.  I was so hoping she'd get to the buzzer and I'm sure everyone else was too.

Matt and Akbar must have had a competition to see who could wear the ugliest jacket.  Yike.  And Akbar's looked too small.  I guess that's a trend but it looked bad on a man that big.

[Pepperclove]

That was one tough course. I suspect only Drew and the top climber guys (Ian Dory, Geoff, an in-shape Isaac) could have gotten through that ninth obstacle. Jessie was close though! If she could have gotten to the top, getting down the other side might have used different enough muscles to be doable (I say this as someone who can’t even do a pull-up, of course). I wonder how much she has practiced that figure four thing or if she learned it on the fly from seeing Dan Yaeger do it.

I was really hoping Jessie would make the Power Tower. I think she would have beaten Dan - he looked like he was still suffering the effects of that head injury. If no one wins this year, will it be known as the season of the head injuries? It definitely seems like the course designers could pay a little more attention to safety.

[Taeolas]

I don't think we'll see Northwest Passage as an obstacle again. On paper it seems okay enough, but there is a definite safety issue with the heavy handgrips falling onto ninjas. Looking at the design I was thinking "Damn there's a good chance those could fall out and hit someone..." and then it happened. Maybe if the grips were tied down so you move them one slot, then get a fresh grip to move to the next; then there isn't a chance of them falling and hitting someone. 

But yeah this seemed extra heavy on the arm strength. with no real opportunities to rest and use the lower body instead for a bit. Basically from the Lightning Bolts to the Northwest Passage it is ALL upper body and grip strength (and reaching), and that seemed to be too much. 

And if anyone had made it past Northwest Passage, I doubt they would have the arm strength left to push the doors up on the power climb. (At least their legs would probably keep them in the tower as long as they want)

As for the final group, what I think they should do is have a minimum of 15 people progressing from the City Course.

Start with the Top 15 finishers.

If the Speed Pass winner didn't make the top 15, drop the 15th person and bring them in.

If the Top 2 women didn't make it in the Top 15, drop the last 2 and bring them in. So worst case scenario, you have the Top 12 finishers along with the Top 2 women and the Speed pass winner. 

Of course if you complete the course, you are in no matter what; but I don't think they've ever had a city finals course so easy they had 15+ finishers. 🙂 (Now that I think of it there may have been one years ago that had a lot of finishers but not sure if they had that many...)

[ClareWalks]

Glad Scott Behrends made it. He is our local ninja (I go to his gym!) and a very nice dude.

Jake Murray...that guy has always rubbed me the wrong way. I get it, he's zany and wacky and carefree. But he just comes across as cocky, like he's not even trying, just expects to win. I majorly got that vibe last night through the first obstacles and I wasn't surprised when he fell. And then he was like "I have no idea what happened?" Of course not, because you weren't thinking/concentrating. YMMV but I am turned off when contestants just don't even seem to care, when there are thousands who would have loved the opportunity to really compete.

[ams1001]

5 hours ago, Pepperclove said:

I wonder how much she has practiced that figure four thing or if she learned it on the fly from seeing Dan Yaeger do it.

I feel like I've seen her do it before. I could be wrong, though..

[DEL901]

I wonder if Megan Martin is injured or something.  At the city qualifier (filmed the day before the final), she was 5th among the women and just squeaked into the final.

Edited August 6, 2019 by DEL901

[ClareWalks]

1 hour ago, DEL901 said:

I wonder if Megan Martin is injured or something.  At the city qualifier (filmed the day before the final), she was 5th among the women and just squeaked into the final.

Last year they talked a lot about how busy she's been with non-ninja stuff, it could be that she hasn't had as much time on obstacles lately. Then again, Jessie Graf has been similarly busy, but she's been an absolute demon at the gym (and everywhere else) so that might make up for lack of obstacle-specific training.

[Fukui San]

I don't think it's physical for Meagan. She failed on a precision obstacle and she was insufficiently precise. A bad match of competitor and obstacle. I'd still probably choose her first among women Ninjas for brute strength.

[Conotocarious]

What a boring Power Tower. I know speed is the rules but Graff got farther than anyone on the course and for her not to get a chance at the Power Tower is annoying. 

And I’m sure he was checked out but that ninja who got bonked with the handle should be evaluated for a concussion. He should not have been running the Power Tower.

[Chaos Theory]

Thisclose to seeing Jessie Graff on the power tower.  That was the most disappointing thing of the night.  

Another night of watching a group of talented women.   I don’t usually care about the men until Vegas.  Watching the women interest me more.  I felt a little bad for the mother ninja lady.  Like last weeks Maggie Thorne you can have the run of a lifetime and still come up short when going up against real talent. 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[healthnut]

After two relatively easy courses, this course was way too hard. Too many upper body obstacles, did they really think anyone was going to get past that ninth obstacle? They had a similar obstacle a couple of years in OK City, again after the flying monkey bars and it was only one ascent and I believe only Tyler Yamaguchi finished that obstacle. So why make it more difficult when no one could finish it before?

As for the women rule, I’m glad the women are improving and it should get to a point where women who make it up the warped wall don’t make it to Vegas. The issue comes from LA finals and especially Atlanta, where you have women who don’t make it up the warped wall and get to go. 

I’ve always felt that people who get farther on an obstacle should get credited over people who just get there faster.

It does seem like they are going to have an odd number of people running in Vegas, but I believe that’s been the case since they’ve had the women’s rule. 

[eel21788]

2 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

Then again, Jessie Graf has been similarly busy, but she's been an absolute demon at the gym (and everywhere else) so that might make up for lack of obstacle-specific training.

I think Jessie Graf's training as a stunt woman does more to prepare her than people who only train for specific obstacles. She has to be very precise with her movements when most of her scenes have to be shot in a single take. She also has to be very aware of her body movements because an inch to the right or left can ruin a stunt, cause her serious injury, or can literally be the difference between life and death.

[enoughcats]

3 hours ago, ams1001 said:

9 hours ago, Pepperclove said:

I wonder how much she has practiced that figure four thing or if she learned it on the fly from seeing Dan Yaeger do it.

I feel like I've seen her do it before. I could be wrong, though..

It might not be that particular pretzel, but we have seen contorted contestants rest their arms by hanging from their other arm or legs where the part of them wasn't expected to connect to the obstacle.  I don't remember any of them having much success, because when arms are tired, they are tired.

6 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

I think Jessie Graf's training as a stunt woman does more to prepare her than people who only train for specific obstacles. She has to be very precise with her movements

We've seen her precision before, a couple of years ago, way up in the air when the contestants were moving around (physically climbing around) very large plexiglass boxes several feet apart. If I remember correctly Jessie was the only one up there who realized she could hold onto one and stretch and make secure contact with the third one; every body else tried to jump with many failures. 

[eel21788]

11 hours ago, mlp said:

 Sandy did very well, especially for her age, and she got beat out for Vegas by a couple women who didn't even make it as far as the wall during their qualifying runs.  

Only one didn't complete the wall. The other was Jessie Graf. If Sandy hadn't posed and clapped for herself at the end of every obstacle, she might have beat out Mady Howard's time. She seemed to forget she was in a timed race.

[VartanFan]

Quote

Only one didn't complete the wall. The other was Jessie Graf. If Sandy hadn't posed and clapped for herself at the end of every obstacle, she might have beat out Mady Howard's time. She seemed to forget she was in a timed race.

This has driven me bonkers forever (seriously, look at past years and years).  I get that you can be excited and stuff but just DO the course.  Don't dance.  Don't pose and show your muscles mid-warped wall.  Don't buy your own hype.  

That gash to the head looked like it might need stitches....but I refuse to watch any non-course footage.  I wouldn't have put him on the speed course after that.  Damn...some real 'name' ninjas bit it early.  

[mlp]

1 hour ago, eel21788 said:

If Sandy hadn't posed and clapped for herself at the end of every obstacle, she might have beat out Mady Howard's time.

1 hour ago, VartanFan said:

This has driven me bonkers forever (seriously, look at past years and years).  I get that you can be excited and stuff but just DO the course.  Don't dance.  Don't pose and show your muscles mid-warped wall.  Don't buy your own hype. 

I agree.  All the showboating and/or waving to family has been one of my pet peeves for many seasons.  The best ninjas focus and celebrate later.  Another peeve is the silly nicknames and t-shirts on newbies who haven't even accomplished anything yet.

[sd dude]

What is Meagan's relationship status?  I could swear that one of her cheering section alongside her parents was identified as her boyfriend.  But the only info on the net has her listed as married to a different man since 2016.  Not that those things are mutually exclusive of course. . .

[sweetandsour]

5 hours ago, eel21788 said:

Only one didn't complete the wall. The other was Jessie Graf. If Sandy hadn't posed and clapped for herself at the end of every obstacle, she might have beat out Mady Howard's time. She seemed to forget she was in a timed race.

Just checked the times on wikipedia and Sandy would have had to cut out at least 1 min 6 seconds (but likely more) to beat Mady's time as one of the top 2 women.  Maybe cumulatively, Sandy spent that long between obstacles, posing/clapping/resting, but I don't think she could have cut out 1 min 6 seconds.  I think sometimes there's showboating done as a "multi-tasker" - they needed to rest anyway.

Mady reached the floating monkey bars at 2:55:42.  Sandy was the 12th person until Jessie bumped her to 13th.  The person ahead of Sandy (11th, then bumped to 12th by Jessie) was Sean Darling-Hammond, who reached the monkey bars at 4:01:23.  So Sandy reached the same obstacle at no faster than 4:01:24.  That said, I don't know how close she was to reaching the monkey bars faster than Sean.  If she'd beat him there, she would have advanced not as one of the top 2 women, but legitimately one of the top 12 (besides Sean Bryan), which happened to include 3 women.  I wish that had happened!

I agree this course was too hard and I have to wonder how many people were able to complete the finals course through the ninth obstacle as testers.  Maybe a couple of guys were able to do it and the producers highly underestimated how hard the course was, period, and relative to the other cities.

[JenMD]

I just adore Jessie Graff so much.  She is cool as a cumber, doesn't let slip ups rattle her.  She crossed the Broken Bridge like she was walking on clouds.  Her saves on the Floating Monkey Bars were so smooth.  She's just awesome.  While I was crushed that she didn't finish, I do love that she once again makes history, as the first woman who went the furthest on any obstacle in a City Final.. 

We've got a City Final with a first - this is the first time no competitors made it to the 10th obstacle. 

Other than that, lots of shocking falls and some surprising faces not advancing to Vegas.  And I could do with a little less blood.  Yikes, that was scary.  Stop trying to maim the competitors, show.

[Nonja]

17 hours ago, Pepperclove said:

If no one wins this year, will it be known as the season of the head injuries?

Indeed it should.

9 hours ago, healthnut said:

I’ve always felt that people who get farther on an obstacle should get credited over people who just get there faster.

I wholeheartedly agree here. It seems wrong that someone would go farther and not come out on top.  

Im bummed for Jake Murray, but he'll be back. And as painful as it was to watch Nick Hanson fall, at least he made it to Vegas again! I cant wait for his stage one comeback.

I like Sandy Zimmerman and all, but the "I had a hard childhood but overcame it and followed my dreams, and you can too" narrative has been done sooooo many times. Im blaming this on the show, not her personally. If they are going to force feed us gratuitous backstories they really need to get more creative. 

Now I know what Im about to say will probably bring on the torches and pitchforks, but...every year, when no woman hits a city finals buzzer, a small piece of my heart is still pleased that it remains Kacy Catanzaro's legacy. Despite the media storm that came after her (and chewed her up, and spit her out), watching her beat that city finals course was such an inspiring, powerful thing and I kind of like that is still hers and hers alone. There. Now I shall slither away quietly...

[bybrandy]

If three women legitimately made the top 12 would three women go? 

[Conotocarious]

4 minutes ago, bybrandy said:

If three women legitimately made the top 12 would three women go? 

Yes. And then I would hope they’d eventually phase the top two women out.

[Taeolas]

While that hasn't happened yet, last year it did come close. 2 courses had the Top 2 women finish mid pack (and a 5th women was also in her course's Top 15) and 2 more on different courses were within 20 seconds of the Top 15. 

This year of the 4 cities run, only 1 (this one) has had the women reach the Top 12. The other 3 cities the women seemed to be well outside the Top 12.

For next week, we do have Allyssa Berid who should put on a strong show, but I'm not sure if the other 4 will be able to do a strong showing. So maybe we have a chance of a 3rd woman getting in the Top 12.  Crank it Up is a bit of a ninja killer, even if its tweeked so I'm not sure if any others can get past it. 

For the last city, Cincinnati, we have Jesse and Michelle who both finished the course. They have a strong chance of getting deep in the second half and hitting the Top 12. Amanda and Jeri both went out on the same obstacle that took out many of the men (in fact Jeri and Amanda were 29 and 30 in the Top 30 so they legit made the finals and not just the Top 5), so there is a legit chance we could see 3 or even 4 women in the Top 12, depending on the back half of the course. 

[Ilovepie]

On 8/5/2019 at 10:08 PM, SophiaD said:

I can't believe that Sandy Zimmerman isn't getting to go to Vegas, and those forgettable women from a few weeks ago are. 

This was seriously a bummer. This is the second week where multiple women get to at least the 8th obstacle but are out of the top 12 or top 2 women and are sent packing. It's a problem. I think they are going to have to rethink how they are advancing the women because this method isn't selecting the strongest women competitors overall, and that's too bad.

I was rooting for Jessie to hit a buzzer so hard, but that 9th obstacle was ridiculous. I hope we never see it again. I just want a woman to hit a City Finals buzzer so we can stop hearing about Kacy being the only woman to do it. It's not even fair because the course has gotten exponentially harder since Kacy did that. I would be willing to bet if they were competing when Kacy hit that buzzer that both Jessies, Alyssa Beird and maybe even Barclay Stockett or Tiana Webberly would have hit it too. Odds are if she were still competing today she wouldn't even make it to back half, let alone the buzzer. Apples to Oranges. The field of women competing is so much stronger now than it was five years ago. I think that's why Meagan Martin is not going to Vegas this year. She is strong but slow and she is being surpassed by better up and coming women. I was really impressed by Mady and Sandy (Mom and sad backstory notwithstanding).

I was bummed Jake fell. I think he's the only "wacky ninja" I actually like. Sean Bryant grew on me during the All Star competition, but I hate the "Papal Ninja" nickname. He's not a priest - he's a computer nerd! I am glad Nick Hansen advanced. He seems nice and not an attention hog like his "best friend" Grant......

The Power Tower is only interesting when it's known ninjas and it's a close race. This week had neither, so it was boring. Also, the design with all of those things hanging down looks messy and not very interesting to watch people swinging on. I think the tower design in the qualifiers was visually better.

[DEL901]

9 minutes ago, Ilovepie said:

This was seriously a bummer. This is the second week where multiple women get to at least the 8th obstacle but are out of the top 12 or top 2 women and are sent packing. It's a problem. I think they are going to have to rethink how they are advancing the women because this method isn't selecting the strongest women competitors overall, and that's too bad.

I was rooting for Jessie to hit a buzzer so hard, but that 9th obstacle was ridiculous. I hope we never see it again. I just want a woman to hit a City Finals buzzer so we can stop hearing about Kacy being the only woman to do it. It's not even fair because the course has gotten exponentially harder since Kacy did that. I would be willing to bet if they were competing when Kacy hit that buzzer that both Jessies, Alyssa Beird and maybe even Barclay Stockett or Tiana Webberly would have hit it too. Odds are if she were still competing today she wouldn't even make it to back half, let alone the buzzer. Apples to Oranges. The field of women competing is so much stronger now than it was five years ago. I think that's why Meagan Martin is not going to Vegas this year. She is strong but slow and she is being surpassed by better up and coming women. I was really impressed by Mady and Sandy (Mom and sad backstory notwithstanding).

Great points about the courses getting harder.  I didn't watch from the beginning... I started maybe around when Kacy came on the scene.  The warped wall used to be the giant killer.  Then people got good and they added a foot.  Then another foot.  Now it is 14 feet and almost never stops anyone.  The course has to keep evolving... except in the case of obstacle #9.  That just has to go.

[Taeolas]

If they had swapped Northwest Passage and Monkey Bars it probably wouldn't have been as bad (other than needing a way to climb back up to Monkey Bars). NWP is clearly a major strength drainer, and at the 9th spot, it happens when the arms are already burning. If it was in the 8th slot, the arms are fresher so more people would probably get past it. 

Floating Monkey Bars are a known obstacle, and while tiring, they aren't as tiring as a new obstacle with a lot of climbing. They'd probably want to remove the reach up portion (the 4th swing over?) but otherwise it would probably have been doable even after a gruelling Northwest Passage section. Especially since Ninjas would have a chance to stand and rest their arms a moment before attempting it. 

[sd dude]

35 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

Now it is 14 feet and almost never stops anyone.

Just to be precise, it is now 14 1/2 feet, which might have been the difference between Kacy climbing the wall in 2014 (when it was 14 feet even) and failing on her three attempts in 2017, which kind of proves the point Ilovepie was making above about the evolution of a more difficult course being a total gamechanger.

[eel21788]

20 hours ago, sweetandsour said:

Just checked the times on wikipedia and Sandy would have had to cut out at least 1 min 6 seconds (but likely more) to beat Mady's time as one of the top 2 women.  Maybe cumulatively, Sandy spent that long between obstacles, posing/clapping/resting, but I don't think she could have cut out 1 min 6 seconds.  I think sometimes there's showboating done as a "multi-tasker" - they needed to rest anyway.

Mady Howard finished the course in 8th place. If Sandy Zimmerman hadn't been screwing around after every obstacle, she might have been able to beat at least one of the four men who came in after Mady.

16 hours ago, Nonja said:

I like Sandy Zimmerman and all, but the "I had a hard childhood but overcame it and followed my dreams, and you can too" narrative has been done sooooo many times. Im blaming this on the show, not her personally. If they are going to force feed us gratuitous backstories they really need to get more creative. 

Yeah, at least she couldn't be labeled The First Foster Child to Get Up the Warped Wall because it had been done before.

[Quilt Fairy]

3 hours ago, eel21788 said:

If Sandy Zimmerman hadn't been screwing around after every obstacle, she might have been able to beat at least one of the four men who came in after Mady.

On the opposite side of the people who wave after every obstacle (seriously, do it in the qualifier if you must, but not in the finals), there are the guys who are so focused on speed - even before this year with the Power Tower - that they don't take enough care on the balance obstacle or something like Lightning Bolts and end up in the drink. 

I don't even remember, who won the Speed Pass in the qualifiers here?  I still find the Power Tower boring as hell, it's over so fast.  And the Speed Pass seems superfluous if the person who wins it is always going to compete in the finals anyway, in order to have a chance at the Safety Pass.  I like the idea of the Safety Pass, there are certain failures in Stage 1 and Stage 2 that just cry out for a do-over, but I'd prefer a different method for obtaining it.  

Edited August 7, 2019 by Quilt Fairy

[sweetandsour]

3 hours ago, eel21788 said:

Mady Howard finished the course in 8th place. If Sandy Zimmerman hadn't been screwing around after every obstacle, she might have been able to beat at least one of the four men who came in after Mady.

Yep, I said this, too.  I replied to your comment about whether she could have beat Mady's time and also the idea of her beating the 12th place person (Sean).

[SamFortune]

Can anyone explain how Sandy Zimmerman lost the 12th spot to Sean Darling-Hammond?

SDH finished with a 4:01, while Sandy finished with a 3:55.   They both fell on the same obstacle, the Floating Monkey Bars.  What am I missing?  Was it that SDH hit the mat before falling into the water counted as him finishing the obstacle? 

On a tangent, ANW is just so frustrating this year since removing the running clock and not letting us see everyone's times at the end like every other year.   I take notes in my head during an episode like how close one ninja finished an obstacle vs another, etc.  With no times to compare it just drives me crazy.

I'm also watching Australian Ninja Warrior and they not only give everybody's actual time at the end, but we get a little thumbnail of their pretty face to boot.  Easy peasy.

[Nonja]

8 hours ago, eel21788 said:

Yeah, at least she couldn't be labeled The First Foster Child to Get Up the Warped Wall because it had been done before.

LOL. They could do a whole slew of darkly dramatic and cynical "firsts"~ First functional alcoholic up the wall, first felon, first illegal immigrant...

To be clear, Im making fun of the "firsts" and not any of those actual things. 

[AdorkableWitch]

I hope we never see NWP again because it was not only ridiculous but also dangerous. It feels like way too many people have gotten injured this year. 

[DEL901]

7 hours ago, SamFortune said:

Can anyone explain how Sandy Zimmerman lost the 12th spot to Sean Darling-Hammond?

SDH finished with a 4:01, while Sandy finished with a 3:55.   They both fell on the same obstacle, the Floating Monkey Bars.  What am I missing?  Was it that SDH hit the mat before falling into the water counted as him finishing the obstacle? 

On a tangent, ANW is just so frustrating this year since removing the running clock and not letting us see everyone's times at the end like every other year.   I take notes in my head during an episode like how close one ninja finished an obstacle vs another, etc.  With no times to compare it just drives me crazy.

They measure based on when someone started an obstacle, not how far on the obstacle they got or what time they fell. 

[srpturtle80]

19 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I don't even remember, who won the Speed Pass in the qualifiers here? 

Sean Bryan.

Man this season has had a lot of blood. I hope that is a trend that does not continue. 

I love Jake Murray so I was sad to see him go out so early. I, however, was not sad to see Lance Pekus go. 

I thought for sure that Jessie had it. Goodness she was close. It was a bummer that there wasn’t a single finisher. 

Poor Sandy Zimmerman, she looked so disappointed. I do wish they would restructure the rules about which women got through, this season has really shown the problem with the current rules. 

[enoughcats]

I wish they wouldn't lie to us.  

Is there anyone out there, anyone at all, who doesn't know that the two shows from any given city are filmed in the same week? 

The clothes of the spectators will give the seasons away, if nothing else.  

Last episode, they used the olde "Six weeks ago when we were here"  as if they reset up the first half of the run exactly as it was six weeks ago. 

Even Papal Ninja (hate that name, BTW) gave their lie away.  He hurt his ankle six weeks ago and is still favoring the other ankle?  I don't think so.  And all of his church buddies had so much money they could fly to where ever twice in two months for a less than four minute run?  Vow of poverty took a hit with supposed duplicate hits. 

This also has implications for those that make it to the city finals.  They have had some access to the second half of the course while the first prelims are run.  Many the rings aren't up, but the superstructure and lights are there.  They can tell which parts of their bodies are going to be most stressed.  This time it was upper body and from the superstructures, that would have been obvious. 

I think that honest comments....susie creamcheese showed her newness three days ago when she fell on obstacle three.  Let's see how she does tonight.   

[healthnut]

In my perfect ANW world, the show would run two nights a week, one for the qualifiers and one for the finals, it would take six weeks to get through the pre-season instead of twelve and it would negate this stupidity of pretending they run the finals six weeks later. 

So this was the region Geoff fell in, I wonder if that’s why the course design was so upper body intense, they were expecting Geoff to be on it. Certainly would’ve liked to see him on it.