Ninja Warrior
Contents |
Host
Voiceover:
Stuart Hall (2007-8)
Jim North (2011-)
Broadcast
Challenge, 1 October 2007 to 2016?
All 4, 1 August 2022 (40 episodes)
Synopsis
Okay... watch this show very carefully, or you may find yourself believing you are watching a repeat of something not so very different. See if you can guess...
100 contestants begin the game (Link number one...). Of these, roughly 98 will be knocked out towards the beginning of the proceedings (Strike Two...). It's basically a giant obstacle course - there are four stages: Almost all will be knocked out in Round One, a couple will survive to Round Two. On a good year someone might make it to Round Three. The aim is to make it to the end of the stage of the course within the time and... uh, not fall in the water. (Three... hint: It's not The Krypton Factor).
Like its stablemate Takeshi's Castle, Ninja Warrior gains most of its entertainment from watching people fall off large obstacles into muddy water. It's fine if that's what you like, but if you want to see something in the same vein that's got a little bit more athletic prowess, try Endurance UK instead. Oh, sorry, it got axed...
Stuart Hall isn't bad doing the voiceover job, but unless you're the sort of person who enjoys watching pain in large chunks, watching 23 minutes of people falling off the same obstacle course probably isn't your sort of thing.
Key moments
Someone falling in the water.
A contestant nearly making it... but not quite. Try again next year.
Trivia
Stuart Hall narrated the first three series, with Jim North taking over for subsequent series. North subsequently redubbed all of Hall's episodes after he was imprisoned in 2013.
Challenge held the rights to the first 25 contests until expiration in 2016, Channel 4 currently hold the rights to the show with contests 26 to 33 released simultaneously on its All 4 catch-up service on 1 August 2022.
Web links
See also
Ninja Warrior UK, an all-British version filmed in Manchester.
