Australian Ninja Warrior: Ben Polson reveals truth about grand final result

The winner of Australian Ninja Warrior, Ben Polson, has revealed the grand final was actually different to what viewers saw on TV.

The Australian Ninja Warrior winner has revealed the truth about last night’s grand final – and it wasn’t what we saw on TV.

On Channel 9 last night, viewers saw Zak Stolz scale Mount Midoriyama first followed by Charlie Robbins. It then came down to a nailbiting finish as Ben Polson managed to beat Charlie’s time by one second to snatch the title of Australia’s first Ninja Warrior champion.

But as Polson told news.com.au this morning, the running order was very different on the night.

“I was actually the first one to climb up the rope,” he said. “The other two boys watched me climb up and then it was Zak and then Charlie.”

Zak, Ben and Charlie.

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All three contestants made it up the 22m rope to the top of Mount Midoriyama in under 30 seconds, but they weren’t told by producers how quickly they had done it so they had no idea who had won.

“It was hard to celebrate (on top of Mount Midoriyama) knowing you’ve done your best but you don’t know if it’s enough,” Polson told news.com.au.

“I knew that I’d done it under 30 seconds … but we didn’t know anything (about the result) until we stood there about half an hour later and they slowly read it out and announced it,” Polson told news.com.au.

He's done it: Ben Polson masters the Mountain! 🎆⛰️🎆 #NinjaWarriorAU pic.twitter.com/MAqhGhbXeO

— Australian Ninja Warrior (@NinjaWarriorAU) August 10, 2020

That scene where Polson was told he had won was not aired as part of last night’s grand final.

“By that time I was so mentally fatigued and exhausted, I was practically delusional,” Polson said about the moment he was told he’d won. “When they read out my name it was surreal … I was just going through the motions.”

Polson said the realisation of his achievement didn’t hit him until the following morning when he was sitting in his hotel room with girlfriend and fellow Ninja, Olivia Vivian.

“I was eating some baked beans and just thinking about everything,” he said. “And then I just burst into tears. That was my time to release all the emotion. I was just thinking of the whole journey and it kind of just hit me in that moment. And then Olivia looked over to me and said, ‘Gees, they must be some pretty good baked beans’.”

Ben Polson with his girlfriend Olivia Vivian.

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Reflecting on his win, Polson said it “felt amazing” but added it was a “bittersweet victory” knowing both Zak and Charlie had such phenomenal runs.

“While it’s awesome to take the win, unfortunately it comes at the expense of those two legends,” he told news.com.au. “It’s good and bad.”

Polson walked away with $400,000 thanks to his win and he plans to chat to some “smart people” to make the money last as long as possible.

But he will splash a bit of cash on some fun, saying: “I think I’ll take Olivia and myself on a trip to Japan and maybe Egypt when the world opens up again.”

Fun fact: Ben Polson revealed to news.com.au how he trained for Mount Midoriyama – the 22m rope climb which ninja’s have to scale in less than 30 seconds. And it involved some very early mornings.

“I do training at 1am, so I’ll be doing a rope climb at one in the morning because I know that when we film the TV show it’s usually at that time of the night,” he said.