May 22, 2018 8:42 pm

Wednesday, Playing with Science Meets American Ninja Warrior

Have you ever browsed the channels at night and stumbled across a show that seems half reality show and half athletic competition? With people screaming “Beat that Wall!” and humans looking more like spider-monkeys as they try and conquer devilish obstacles that some evil geniuses cooked up in their lab? Well, if you have, it was probably American Ninja Warrior!

This week on Playing with Science you’ll get a crash course in the sport that’s taking over the United States. Our intrepid hosts Gary O’Reilly and Chuck Nice traveled down to Philadelphia to speak to the people who make it all happen.

You’ll hear from American Ninja Warrior hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila as they chat with Chuck and Gary about how the course continually evolves due to the ever-increasing ability of the Ninjas that run it. You’ll also hear how the psychological aspect plays a bigger role in completing the course than one might think.

After that, Ninja Drew Drechsel explains how to get up the “Warped Wall” – the infamous last obstacle on the course. Be sure to check our social media channels soon as Chuck gave it his best attempt to get up the Warped Wall. I repeat, best attempt.

We’ll also hear from other Ninjas Joe Moravsky and Najee Richardson as they tell us how their unique backgrounds help them approach the course in different ways. They also tell us about the psychological impact of running the course under the lights and in front of the fans as opposed to training at home.

All that, plus, we hear from one of the evil geniuses themselves: executive producer Anthony Storm. Find out how the course is created, how Anthony and his team find the right fail rate on each obstacle, and how some obstacles were created by kids!

Please join us tomorrow night for American Ninja Warrior: Science, Skills, and Strategy right here on our website, as well as on our Playing with Science channels on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. If you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Ian Mullen