Battle ready
Rebecca Maddern heads back to the Australian Ninja Warrior course
Australian Ninja Warrior is not for the faint-hearted. The popular competition has been putting some of the country’s fittest people through the ringer for four seasons now and, just when you thought it couldn’t get any tougher, they’ve upped the ante yet again.
“I think there’s more than 20 new obstacles that we and the viewers have never seen before, and the ninjas have never seen,” host Rebecca Maddern said.
“We’ve got ninjas racing side-by-side, we’ve got an underwater obstacle this year, we’ve got fast passes so that if you win your heat and win a power tower challenge you go straight through to the grand final. So at every single turn there are different levels to this competition.”
This obstacle course is designed to push all of the ninjas to the max and to keep things exciting – considering that last season the mighty Mt Midoriyama was finally conquered by Ben Polson, who walked away with $400,000.
Midoriyama remains, but it’s become a little bit tougher to get there with the addition of these new obstacles for the wannabe ninjas who entered this year’s competition.
“They hadn’t trained for any of these obstacles before so even though everyone’s been training for 12 months – surprise, surprise – there are some new ones you’ve never seen before,” Maddern said.
It’s actually been branded the toughest course yet, and it’s in the new location of Sydney Olympic Park for the first time.
Another new addition to this year’s competition is tennis star Nick Kyrgios, who will be on the sidelines alongside retired Aussie rules star Shane Crawford.
“Nick Kyrgios is fantastic, he brings just a really exciting layer to the commentary which we just totally enjoy,” Maddern said.
“The pressure is not on him to be the athlete, so we see a wonderful side to Nick Kyrgios that maybe people haven’t seen before.”
Even Kyrgios was blown away by what the ninjas can do, and what they put themselves through.
“I think what surprised Nick was how difficult these obstacles are. When he walked up to the course for the first time he just said to me ‘I can’t believe how high these obstacles are, how challenging these obstacles are. I just don’t know how anybody does this’,” Maddern said.
While Maddern and her co-host Ben Fordham can tell the viewers at home just how challenging the course is, having Kyrgios reiterate that proves just how tough it is.
“Ben and I can stand in the tower and tell everybody how hard these obstacles are, but when you have a current athlete on the ground with his jaw open, that’s when you realise how difficult this course is.” she said.
There are some new faces keen to make their mark and be in with a chance to walk away with the prize money and the prestige of being named Australian Ninja Warrior.
“We’ve had a lot of brand new ninjas this year, who you think would be at a disadvantage. However what we’ve seen is that the newbie ninjas are just as good as the seasoned ones and I think that’s really shaken up the competition,” Maddern said.
“The ninjas with four seasons under their belt are very fearful of the newbie ninjas. They really take it up to a lot of our seasoned ninjas and that brings a whole new dynamic to season five.”
Rebecca Maddern: What we’ve seen is that the newbie ninjas are just as good as the seasoned ones and I think that’s really shaken up the competition.
■ Australian Ninja Warrior, Monday-Wednesday, 7.30pm, Channel 9 and 9Now