Australian Ninja Warrior TV combatants hope to lure viewers off the couch and into fitness

A GROUP of “warriors” — led by former footy star Beau Ryan — hopes to inspire viewers to get off the couch and burn up the calories as part of the Australian Ninja Warrior TV show.

A DECADE-LONG obsession with culinary TV has inspired Australians to embrace their love of a feast. Now a group of “warriors” hopes to inspire their compatriots to get off the couch and burn up the calories.

These combatants will be setting an excellent example for Aussies watching at home, with former NRL star and Footy Show comic Beau Ryan saying the Channel 9 show is one of the toughest things he’s ever done.

It’s Australian Ninja Warrior, a fiendish four-stage obstacle course competition that began in Japan in 1997 as a show called Sasuke (a name closely associated with a mythological ninja from Japanese legend).

Australian Ninja Warrior stars (from left) Nathan McCallum, Francis Cullimore, Jenna Douros, Beau Ryan and Scott Evennett. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Both the Japanese version and reboots under the name Ninja Warrior have since been screened across the world in the US, Britain, Denmark, France and many other countries.

The tests are so tough, however, that despite being tackled by thousands of competitors, only seven people have managed to conquer the course and be crowned Ninja Warrior.

Of those, four were from the Japanese series — with one of the competitors, shoe salesman Yuuji Urushihara crowned twice. The nine US seasons of the show have produced just two American Ninja Warriors and it took seven seasons to produce the first.

Sydney media analyst Steve Allen says the time is right for TV that focuses on something other than food. “I certainly think we’ve had our fill of cooking programs,” says Allen, managing director of Essence Media.

“I think (Australian Ninja Warrior) could easily be a hit because there hasn’t been anything like it for a generation.”

“There is too much softness and cotton wool, and people know they need a kick in the butt, some discipline.”

It is certainly a step up physically from a lot of other disciplines, says Ryan.

“In terms of physical toughness and the effect on my body, it’s one of the toughest things I’ve done for a long time — you can’t really prepare for what happens,” Ryan tells BW Magazine.

The former Wests Tigers and Cronulla Sharks player is one of 250 competitors in the Australian version of the show, pared down from 5000 registrations coming from all walks of life, with the competitors’ backgrounds including Olympians and other professional athletes to doctors and tradies.

Among those professionals is Cronulla trainer, mentor and former commando Scott Evennett. The 30-year-old, who did three tours of Afghanistan and one to East Timor, says there needs to be a renewed focus on fitness in Australia.

“I don’t think it could have come at a better time,” he says.

“There is too much softness and cotton wool, and people know they need a kick in the butt, some discipline.

“Seeing these athletes might inspire them to think, ‘I’ve gotta get started as well’.

“Most people will hit a challenge like this and say ‘no’ and not back themselves, when they actually do have the ability in them to do whatever they want and that message in Ninja will go out to whoever watches.”

Scott Evennett shows immense upper body strength in episode two.

Competitor Jenna Douros says that the program is also part of a trend enabling women to take their place in sporting events alongside the men.

“It couldn’t come at a better time, the world is exploding into fitness,” says the 26-year-old public servant and fitness model from Canberra.

“It’s booming especially here in Australia where gyms are now 24 hours. And there are all kinds of changing perceptions around females in sport, and everyone knows the girls can do it as well as the boys.”

Almost 30 per cent of Australian Ninja Warrior competitors are women. But gender does not provide the edge it may do in other arenas.

The game unfolds over five heats, three semi-finals and a grand final — with those who complete it earning the right to scale the final obstacle, a huge edifice of steel in Japan, called Mount Midoriyama. To get to that point every other obstacle must be completed, on the purpose-built course on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour.

“The nice thing was that all the contestants were rooting for each other, backing each other.”

While all the competitors were super fit, they came from a wide variety of sporting disciplines. “In my group we had bodybuilders, gymnasts, parkour guys, cross-fitters, former elite athletes and all-round adrenaline junkies,” says Ryan.

“It was a really good mix in my group and I was surprised to see how well some people went and how poorly others went. To get through the opening stages it’s just a mix of grip strength and mental toughness, but by the end it’s just endurance and strength.”

BW magazine, July 8.

While Ryan didn’t quite know what he was in for, the show came as no surprise to 27-year-old Central Coast travel, fitness and fashion blogger and model Nathan McCallum. A longtime fan of overseas versions, he found being forewarned was still not quite forearmed.

“I think you have to be an all-rounder to do it well,” he says.

“The climbers have an advantage because they are lightweight but very strong. But when it comes to explosive power, then having some muscle helps, so you really have to approach it from a holistic approach. But I wish I was better at climbing and I wish I had better grip strength.”

Francis Cullimore competes in heat two of episode two.

One athlete happy to watch from the sidelines is former Test fast bowler Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff. The England Ashes star is a host of the program alongside Rebecca Maddern and Ben Fordham.

“I turned up with every intention (of having a crack at the course),” Flintoff says. “But then I looked at it and then I looked at some of the people not being able to do it and I thought, ‘Well, I’m 17 stone (108kg) and I’ve got long arms and my fingers aren’t that strong so I’m not sure I can do any of this, I’ll just fall off, or pull something or just end up in a pickle.’ So I was more than happy watching other people have a go.”

Flintoff was familiar with the show’s concept, having watched the UK version with his kids, and rates the Australian efforts.

“I don’t know if it’s something about Aussie culture, but you just seem to be so fit in Australia,” he says. “I think maybe it’s because the sun’s out so people take their tops off a lot more and so they make sure they actually have abs, but in Britain you’re in clothes the whole time, so you don’t need a great rig.”

Jenna Douros takes a leap.

Nathan McCallum gets airborne.

But he notes the game is not so much competitors against each other, but against themselves and their own limits, psychological and physical.

“The nice thing was that all the contestants were rooting for each other, backing each other because you’re not actually against each other, you are up against the course, because it is so hard.” he says.

That intensity led Scott Evennett to draw on the mental strength honed in the army.

“(Military training) set me up very well to deal with nerves, emotions and going to a scary place, it gave me an edge in comparison, but I still had to get very specific with my training,” he says.

Overseas, the show gets under the skin of competitors who turn up for another crack. Some Japanese wannabe warriors have tried the course up to 20 times. And Beau Ryan is already thinking about what he could have done better.

“I did a lot of warm-up stuff before I went on, which, looking back I probably wouldn’t do next time, because by the time I started my forearms were gone, so if I had my time over I’d preserve a lot more energy,” Ryan says.

Australian Ninja Warrior airs on Channel 9 tomorrow from 7pm