American Ninja Warrior Finds a Champion!

If you are a dork like myself and you tune into the show American Ninja Warrior on NBC, you know most of the names: David “Flip” Rodriguez, the man with the cool masks. The tremendously athletic couple of Brent Steffensen and Kacy Catanzaro. After seven seasons in syndication, the show has finally found the first (and second) man to conquer the obstacle course. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with American Ninja Warrior, the USA version is based off a similar version in Japan in which competitors from all walks of life compete on giant obstacle courses to conquer “Mount Midoriyama.” Thousands of individuals compete in lighter versions of the obstacle course in their respective regions with each region sending representatives to the finals in Vegas. In Vegas, the finalists must then traverse four stages of the replicated “Mount Midoriyama” in order to win the one million dollars. Up until 2015, none of the competitors to reach Vegas have made it past stage three.

On Monday, someone finally claimed the million dollar prize. Well, two people had their claim to it. Professional baseball camera man Geoff Britten was the first to scale the 75-foot rope in the thirty second time limit, hitting the buzzer with less than a second left. His performance was topped by bus boy and climber-extraordinaire Isaac Caldiero, who scaled the rope with a few seconds to spare. Because Caldiero’s time was slightly better, he was awarded the million dollar prize. In my opinion, a very poor showing by the producers of the show. The reasoning behind only paying one competitor was that they did not anticipate having two people complete Stage Four of Mount Midoriyama. Britten showed a great deal of restraint and respect after watching his competitor finish the challenge to win the money. Britten deserves SOMETHING from the show, not just recognition for a job well done.

Money aside, my hat’s off to both Geoff and Isaac for doing something most of us can just watch in awe.

(Thanks to Deadspin for some story details).