After seven seasons and thousands of competitors, NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior”
finally crowned a winner, after not one, but two competitors completed
the fourth and final stage of the challenge for the first time in the
show’s history.
Since
the series began in 2009, no athlete had ever progressed past the third
stage of the competition, but in the season seven finale, both Geoff
Britten and Isaac Caldiero finished the seemingly impossible course.
Britten completed Stage 4 first, but Caldiero subsequently beat his time
by 3.6 seconds, enabling him to win the challenge and the $1 million
grand prize — meaning that Britten went home empty-handed.
The
series is based on Japanese competition series “Sasuke,” which has run
for 31 seasons since 1997. Only four competitors have ever completed the
course and achieved “total victory” in the Japanese version of the
show. The “American Ninja Warrior” season finale was held in Las Vegas,
and the course consisted of four stages and 23 total obstacles. The
competitors had to successfully complete all three stages before
tackling the ultimate Stage 4 obstacle, Mt. Midoriyama, which stands at
8-stories tall with a 75-foot rope climb. Britten and Caldiero had 30
seconds to scale the rope and hit the buzzer.
“Winning
this event always seemed impossible,” Caldiero said. “As the first
American Ninja Warrior I want to use this opportunity to inspire the
world to find your impossible and conquer it.”
Caldiero
is a 33-year-old rock climber and busboy who honed his skills by
building replicas of Stage 3 in his back yard, while Britten is a
36-year-old sports cameraman.
“American
Ninja Warrior” is executive produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions
founders Arthur Smith and Kent Weed (“Hell’s Kitchen,” “Wizard Wars,”
“Ellen’s Design Challenge”), along with Brian Richardson and Anthony
Storm.
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