Template:Infobox reality talent competition

The eighth season of the obstacle course reality competition series American Ninja Warrior is set to premiere on June 1, 2016 on NBC. Hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila will return for their respective seventh and fourth seasons, alongside sideline reporter Kristine Leahy who returns for her second season. The grand prize will stay even with season 7, at $1,000,000. In addition, 28 new obstacles have been created for this season, as well as 40% more female applicants over last season.[1]

Course schedule

Qualifying airing Finals airing City Qualifying date Finals date Venue
June 1, 2016 July 11, 2016 Los Angeles, California[2] April 5, 2016 April 6, 2016 Universal Studios Hollywood
June 8, 2016 July 18, 2016 Atlanta, Georgia[3] March 18, 2016 March 19, 2016 Turner Field
June 13, 2016 July 25, 2016 Indianapolis, Indiana[4] April 27, 2016 April 28, 2016 Monument Circle
June 20, 2016 August 1, 2016 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma[5] May 13, 2016 May 14, 2016 Oklahoma State Capitol
June 27, 2016 August 22, 2016 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania[6] May 26, 2016 May 27, 2016 Richmond Power Plant

City courses

Los Angeles

The Los Angeles qualifying round featured five new or modified obstacles and concluded with 17 finishers. Stuntwoman Jessie Graff became the first woman in ANW history to make it up the new 14 1/2-foot Warped Wall. Along with Graff, who finished 11th, a second woman, professional rock climber Natalie Duran, who finished 19th, moved on to the city finals. This was the first time two women made it into the Top 30. Kevin Bull earned the "POM Wonderful Run of the Night" with the fastest time (2:02.81). Additionally, actor Brennan Mejia, the Red Power Ranger from Power Rangers Dino Super Charge, made an appearance.[7][8]

Atlanta

The Atlanta qualifying round featured three new or modified obstacles and concluded with 27 finishers. Gym owner Drew Drechsel earned the "POM Wonderful Run of the Night" with the fastest time (1:19.44).[9]

Indianapolis

The Indianapolis qualifying round featured four new or modified obstacles and concluded with 25 finishers. Rock Climbing coach Meagan Martin was the only woman to advance to the city finals, earned the "POM Wonderful Run of the Night" with a time of 6:30.08. She became the first woman to scale the warped wall three years in a row. The Indianapolis round also featured IndyCar drivers Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, and Josef Newgarden as well as NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and one-legged wrestler Zach Gowen. However, none ended up moving on to the Indianapolis city finals.[10]

Oklahoma City

The Oklahoma City qualifying round featured three new or modified obstacles and concluded with 15 finishers. Even though personal trainer Artis Thompson III didn't advance to the city finals, he earned the "POM Wonderful Run of the Night" for making it to the end of the fourth obstacle, the Tire Swing with a prosthetic leg. The Oklahoma City qualifying round also featured Kacy Catanzaro, Brent Steffensen, Sam Sann, Daniel Gil and Lance Pekus. Two of them ended up moving on to the Oklahoma City finals. However, Kacy Catanzaro failed on only the third obstacle, the Log Runner. She may once again be wild-carded to the Las Vegas finals this year. Pekus and Sann failed on the Log Runner and the Tire Swing, respectively. Additionally, basketball player, Flip White Jr. from the Harlem Globetrotters, made an appearance.

Philadelphia

The Philadelphia qualifying round featured two new or modified obstacles and concluded with 9 finishers. High school track coach and ANW rookie Anthony DeFranco earned the "POM Wonderful Run of the Night" with the fastest time (1:44.37). Michelle Warnky, Jesse Labreck, Rachael Goldstein and Allyssa Beird, who finished 17th, 28th, 29th and 30th respectively, all moved on to the city finals - the first time four women made it into the a city qualifier Top 30 in ANW history. Other competitors also included Geoff Britten, who continued his streak of hitting every course buzzer, as well as veterans Joe Moravsky, Ryan Stratis, and Jamie Rahn, who all moved on to the city finals.[11]

City finals

Los Angeles Finals

The Los Angeles finals round featured one new obstacle, The Wedge, and concluded with one finisher, the lowest number of any final to date. Rock climber and engineering student Josh Levin, who was a rookie, earned the "POM Wonderful Run of the Night" and the only finish (8:21.30). Jessie Graff came in second place, breaking her own record for the highest finish by a woman in a city competition.[12]

The Wedge earned its spot as possibly the hardest obstacle ever as Flip Rodriguez, Kevin Bull, Nicholas Coolridge, Grant McCartney, Nick Hanson, Ben Melick, Jackson Meyer, and 11 other competitors failed on this obstacle. In total, 2 of the 20 competitors who faced it were able to beat it, giving The Wedge the highest failure rating of any obstacle to date, edging out Cannonball Alley in Season 6, and Hourglass Drop in Season 7.

Veterans Brian Kretsch, Alan Connealy, and Jesse La Flair all failed the course. In the end, veterans Kevin Bull, Flip Rodriguez, Grant McCartney, Nicholas Coolridge, Ben Melick, and several others joined Levin and Graff to qualify for Vegas.

Atlanta Finals

U.S. Nielsen ratings

No. in

season

Episode Air date Timeslot Rating/Share
(18–49) 		Viewers
(millions) 		Nightly
rank 		Weekly
rank 		DVR
18-49 		DVR
Viewers
(millions) 		Total
18-49 		Total
Viewers
1 "Los Angeles Qualifier" June 1, 2016 Wednesday 8:00 p.m. 1.7 7 6.35[13] 1 6[14] 0.5 1.20 2.2 7.55[15]
2 "Atlanta Qualifier" June 8, 2016 1.6 6 5.80[16] 2 8[17] 0.4 1.16 2.0 6.96[18]
3 "Indianapolis Qualifier" June 13, 2016 Monday 8:00 p.m. 1.9 6 6.84[19] 2 8[20] 0.5 1.29 2.4 8.13[21]
4 "Oklahoma City Qualifier" June 20, 2016 1.8 7 6.54[22] 2 4[23] TBA TBA TBA TBA
5 "Philadelphia Qualifier" June 27, 2016 Monday 9:00 p.m. 1.9 7 6.32[24] 2 3[25] TBA TBA TBA TBA
6 "Los Angeles Finals" July 11, 2016 Monday 8:00 p.m. 1.8 7 6.34[26] 2 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

References

  1. ^ "Ninja Warrior". Twitter. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  2. ^ "'Northwest Ninja' from Port Angeles competes for $1 million in televised contest". PenninsulaDailyNews.com. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  3. ^ Ho, Rodney (March 11, 2016). "Watch 'America Ninja Warrior' regional qualifiers at Turner Field March 18–19 for free!". AJC.com. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  4. ^ Criscuolo, Nina (April 22, 2016). "American Ninja Warrior sets up in the Circle City". WISHTV.COM. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  5. ^ Lackmeyer, Steve (February 19, 2016). "'American Ninja Warrior' to film episode at Oklahoma Capitol". NewsOK. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  6. ^ McQuade, Dan (February 25, 2016). "American Ninja Warrior Qualifiers to Be Held in Philadelphia". PhillyMag.com. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  7. ^ Barnes, Katie. "'American Ninja Warrior' Season 8 premieres with a historic night for the women competitors". espnW.com. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  8. ^ Webster, Danny. "American Ninja Warrior 2016 Results: Recap from June 1 Episode". bleacherreport.com. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  9. ^ Barnes, Katie (June 9, 2016). "Atlanta women competitors take a bath in American Ninja Warrior, Episode 2". espnW. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  10. ^ Lee, Nikki. "Indianapolis Qualifying Recap: Everything you ever wanted in one episode". ANWNation. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  11. ^ Lee, Nikki. "American Ninja Warrior Philadelphia qualifiers recap: We really need to stop being surprised by this". ANWNation.com. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  12. ^ Barnes, Katie. "Jessie Graff has historic night in first city finals episode of 'American Ninja Warrior'". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  13. ^ Porter, Rick (June 2, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: 'Masterchef' premiere adjusts up, 'Wayward Pines' adjusts down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  14. ^ Porter, Rick. "Broadcast weekly Top 25: NBA Finals, 'America's Got Talent' lead the week of May 30-June 5". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  15. ^ Porter, Rick. "Broadcast Live +7 ratings: 'Bachelorette,' 'America's Got Talent' premiere lead the week of May 30-June 5". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  16. ^ Porter, Rick (June 9, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: NBA Finals adjust up but lowest of series so far". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  17. ^ Porter, Rick. "Broadcast weekly Top 25: NBA Finals down but still dominant in week of June 6-12". TV by the Numbers. ((cite web)): |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  18. ^ Porter, Rick. "Broadcast Live +7 ratings: 'Bachelorette' and 'America's Got Talent' top the week of June 6-12". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  19. ^ Porter, Rick. "Monday final ratings: 'So You Think You Can Dance' adjusts up, 'Reign' and 'Whose Line' ajdust down, final NBA numbers". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  20. ^ Porter, Rick. "Broadcast weekly Top 25: NBA Finals rule the week of June 13-19". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  21. ^ Porter, Rick (July 5, 2016). "Broadcast Live +7 ratings: 'America's Got Talent' has biggest gains for June 13-19". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  22. ^ Porter, Rick. "Monday final ratings: 'Bachelorette' adjusts up, 'Spartan' and 'Mistresses' adjust down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  23. ^ Porter, Rick. "Broadcast weekly Top 25: 'America's Got Talent' leads the week of June 20-26". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  24. ^ Porter, Rick. "Monday final ratings: 'Bachelorette' adjusts up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  25. ^ Porter, Rick. "Broadcast weekly Top 25: 'America's Got Talent,' 'Bachelorette' top the week of June 27-July 3". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  26. ^ Porter, Rick (July 12, 2016). "Monday final ratings: 'American NInja Warrior' adjusts up, 'Mistresses' adjusts down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
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