Here we go with another week of some of the strongest, most agile competitors I’ve seen on American Ninja Warrior. It’s their third stop of this season and the competitors are all still looking to get through to the next round. Jesse Graf is on this episode along with Drew Dreschel and Gabe Stewart, who are just some of the competitors to try the floating steps, flywheels, razor’s edge, ring turn, slippery summit and warped wall.
The American Ninja Warrior episode starts with Bootie Cothran, a 49-year-old who is 106 pounds, much smaller than many of the competitors they have on the show. Of course, he’s brought the #bootiebandwagon. He’s through to the wall and he hits the buzzer at 4:53. Here are some highlights of the rest of the episode:
Jessica Clayton is a captain in the Army National Guard and is a single mom of three children. She talks about staying in gyms, and sleeping in the car — wow — and after talking about giving up Ninja, she said the kids wouldn’t let her. She’s getting on her feet now. The way it works is that the top 5 women move on, so even if she falls, her time will count depending on how far she got in the competition. She saved herself on the razor’s edge. She got really far, but didn’t make it to the bell. We’ll have to see if she makes it through to the next round.
Michael Johnson, gym owner from Atlanta, Georgia is giving it a shot. I don’t understand why he tied the shirt onto his leg — they say it’s to reduce friction on the rings, but why does he get to have that kind of help? I don’t understand. The slippery summit is an obstacle actually designed by a 12-year-old fan. He slipped.
Dan Courtenay, a 41-year-old computer programmer from Alexandria, Virginia competes next. The show does a background story on his daughter Lucille with Down Syndrome. He did well, but sadly he missed the last flywheel.
Nick Patel made it through the maze and became the night’s second finisher. Morgan “Moose” Wright, 43-year-old father of two competed last year and he also made it to the top of the warped wall and hit the buzzer. Eddy Stewart made it through the course and took a shot at the mega wall, but missed. He got the smaller wall and hit the buzzer.
Gabe Stewart works at Marjorie Stone, the school which suffered the loss of 17 students from a school shooting. Many of the teachers and the students are there to support him. He’s not really a ninja and has only been training for a few weeks. He wanted to do this for the kids. He almost falls on the razor’s edge and saves himself. Sadly he falls on the rings, but he definitely makes a statement. Good for him.
Ryan Stratis gets through the American Ninja Warrior course and opts to go for the bigger wall and he gets it! $10,000!
The next American Ninja Warrior contestant is Charity LeBlanc, a mermaid? Well, she’s a YouTube sensation as a mermaid ninja. She made it to the rings, but couldn’t hold on.
Brett Sims who had an agreement with Ryan Stratis that if they didn’t finish they would have to shave their beards, made it through. The beards are safe.
JJ Woods is a hometown hero in Miami and he’s brought a family friend — a young girl who’s battling stage four cancer. Wow. I’m not crying, you are. Unfortunately, JJ Wood falls in on Razor’s Edge.
Kenny Niemitalo was able to put up the fastest finish so far.
Neil Craver missed last year because of an injury, but this year he put up one of the fastest times of the night and ran up the smaller wall.
Now it’s time for Drew Dreschel who makes it through the course in under two minutes and is now going up the big wall. He touches the top, but doesn’t get it. He does get the smaller wall in 2:24 — the fastest time of the night by a minute. Finally, Jessie Graff is competing and was the first women to complete stage 2. She finishes the course in under five minutes and decides to go to the smaller wall. She makes it to the top and is the first woman to make it to the top of the wall.
