SEATTLE, WA – The NBC competition series American Ninja Warrior recently premiered its 13th season on May 31, and debuted exciting changes that will undoubtedly entertain viewers and further challenge the contestants.
Produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions, the show’s premise involves introducing viewers to some of the country’s most elite athletes as they test their abilities and attempt to trek across difficult obstacle courses.
Executive producer Anthony Storm spoke about this season’s changes including lowering the age limit to compete to 15-years-old, which he said stemmed from the success of the show’s spinoff, “American Ninja Warrior Junior.”
“The oldest age group on ‘American Ninja Warrior Junior’ is 13 and 14-year-olds, and a couple summers ago, we saw just absolutely remarkable performances by those kids,” Storm said. “And it was clear by the way they performed on that course, that they were nearly ready for the big course.”
While a large part of the show focuses on the athletes as they attempt to complete the obstacles, another important factor is the storytelling aspect that allows viewers to learn more about the contestants that they’re rooting for.
Storm said that from the beginning, the show sought to tell “Olympic type stories,” and also said that the storytelling component was crucial in order to allow the viewers to learn more about each athlete’s journey.
“For you to care as a viewer, you need to know a little bit about who they are,” Storm said. “And so, we think it’s critical that before each run or the majority of our runs, we give the audience just a little bit of insight into who they are, and why we chose to let them compete on our show and run our course, and why we think they have a story worth sharing.”
Another new major twist this season is that the contestants will now be able to choose between different obstacles which is called the “Split-Decision,” where the contestant will have to choose between two balance obstacles.
Traditionally, Storm said that the balance obstacles were the ones that the contestants dreaded the most, because those are typically the toughest to prepare for.
“We thought it would be fascinating to see what would happen if they were given a choice between two balance obstacles,” Storm said. “[Be]cause they always get to that balance obstacle, and there’s always a moment where they gather and they catch their breath, and they stare it down. But it’s still just a physical endeavor, and we thought how interesting it would be if we added a mental component to it as well.”
“American Ninja Warrior” first premiered in 2009 and as the show has grown, so has the fan base, along with the sport of Ninja Warrior itself. Storm attributed this to an increased number of Ninja gyms. He said that when the show first started, there were no Ninja gyms available for people to train in.
“The success of those gyms and the proliferation of those gyms has allowed people to train Ninja Warrior and when you train it, you want to watch it,” Storm said. “You know, you want to see what the elite athletes can do and you start to wonder well ‘can I do that too?’ and you know, you work towards a goal.”
While the show has seen extraordinary success in its 12-year run, including seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations, “American Ninja Warrior” originally started on a smaller network called G4 before eventually moving to NBC.
At the very beginning of the show’s journey, Storm said that the success and popularity of “American Ninja Warriors” was something that no one could really predict.
“The truth is that this show is cross-generational and it’s really one of the rare shows that inspires co-viewing, and so once we realized the power of the storytelling; that it wasn’t about what they were doing on the course, it was about who they are as people and what they had overcome just to get to the course,” Storm said. “And what they did on the course was the cherry on top. Once we figured out that it was about sharing these remarkable stories from people that are just like our audience, that opened up the show to an entirely new perspective.”
*Editor’s Note: A. Smith & Co. Productions was added to the article for clarity.
