Australian Ninja Warrior crowns first winner, golf geek Charlie Robbins

Ninja Warrior’s most unlikely underdog just became its first winner — but there’s something important Nine haven’t told you about him.

A geeky, spectacled redhead barely out of his teens who weighs in at a slight 68kg has become the unlikely first-ever winner of Australian Ninja Warrior — but it turns out there was more to this golf-mad newcomer than the show let on.

While Charlie Robbins didn’t make it up the course’s fabled Mount Midoriyama, he was the furthest and fastest to compete in Monday night’s second grand final, taking home a tidy $100,000 in the process.

This year’s Ninja Warrior would see a winner crowned regardless of if they finished the course after the previous two seasons experienced a fan backlash for “anticlimactic” finishes.

$300,000 was still up for grabs if one of the ninjas finished the course but in lieu of that $100,000 would be given to whoever made it furthest fastest.

Charlie Robbins (far right) with the rest of the top five.

In a nailbiting finish, four out of the five competitors who’d made it to the final stage of the grand final had fallen at the exact same obstacle — Robbins, Josh O’Sullivan, Bryson Klein and Daniel Mason. This meant their speed became the deciding factor in picking a winner. Robbins had reached the ‘floating doors’ obstacle first, so he took home the $100k.

Not since the Titanic, has a floating door claimed so many victims #NinjaWarriorAU

— Funny Not Funny (@FunnyNotFunny13) July 29, 2019

Earlier, Ninja favourite Ashlin Herbert provided the night’s biggest shock, falling surprisingly early during the first stage of the grand final.

Herbert slipped from the ‘Salmon Ladder’ obstacle, but recovered without falling in the pool — but his fall was an automatic disqualification. In awkward scenes, Herbert continued along the course, ignoring his disqualification until presenter Freddie Flintoff pleaded with him to stop.

Charlie Robbins on perhaps the course's toughest obstacle.

The grand final was a big ratings winner for Nine, with 1.34 million viewers tuning in to watch as Robbins was announced as winner. Those numbers saw Nine’s offering thrash Ten’s Australian Survivor and Seven’s Australia’s Got Talent, which drew 644,000 and 630,000 viewers respectively across the five capital cities.

It was also an improvement on Ninja Warrior’s season two grand final, which had peaked at 1.14 million viewers.

Chatting to news.com.au after his win, the softly-spoken Robbins said he wasn’t too sure what to do with the money, beyond a planned European holiday starting this weekend.

Robbins, 20, was the true surprise package of Ninja Warrior season three — while other competitors were introduced with awe-inspiring footage showing their tireless hours spent training, Robbins’ intro instead showed him golfing with a group of elderly friends, including his 71-year-old grandfather Taffy.

All those Ninja skills, just from golfing? Not quite.

You can’t seriously tell me Charlie is this fit just by playing golf? #NinjaWarriorAU

— Robyn Thomas (@treverp79) July 29, 2019

I feel cheated by #ninjawarriorAU so... he’s not a golfer?! then again why am I surprised. Congrats to Charlie 🤷🏾‍♀️ https://t.co/gbzsqiyi7j

— nik. (@NickiKondell) July 29, 2019

“I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was four years old, and I started training on ninja-specific obstacles about two, two-and-a-half years ago. When I was growing up, I played pretty much every sport — footy, cricket — but I ended up sticking with golf and gymnastics,” Robbins told news.com.au.

Indeed, Robbins’ Instagram reveals golfing with grandad is but one part of the keen athlete’s sporting regimen:

But hoping to stand out in the crowd, Robbins wore his golfing outfit to his initial audition for the show — and stuck with it once he got in.

It was a canny way to defy expectations — viewers expect great things of shirtless musclebound contestants like Jack Wilson or Ryan Solomon, whereas a goofy guy in a golfer’s flat cap is sure to be underestimated.

“It was pretty funny talking to people — everyone said, ‘Oh we thought you were going to do terribly and fall off on the first obstacle, but you absolutely smashed it!’,” he said.

Robbins is one of several “underdog” contestants to do remarkably well in a season that could just as easily have been titled Australian Ninja Warrior: Revenge of the Nerds. He said his success was proof having an Instagram influencer’s rippling physique didn’t automatically translate to success on the show.

“I think being fairly lightweight is an advantage — and having a gymnastics background helps heaps. I don’t think putting on as much muscle as you can is necessarily going to help you,” he said.

“Experience on the course definitely helps too; stepping up on the heats I was shaking because I was so nervous. At the semis I felt so much more comfortable and by the grand finals I felt more comfortable again.”

Robbins may not have looked the part, but he’s Australian Ninja Warrior’s first winner.

Luck surely plays a part in every run too — just look at the show’s most successful female contestant Olivia Vivian, on track for a place in the grand final before one poorly-timed jump on a trampoline saw her crash out of the competition. Robbins admitted he’d come very close to meeting a similar fate.

“One millimetre to the wrong side of the rolling log or the tuning forks and you’re in the water. In stage one of the grand final, I pretty much slipped off the propeller (obstacle), but somehow the rope ended up in my hand. I was like ‘What just happened?’ I was shocked. That’s the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

And while Ninja Warrior obstacles are designed to test human limits, Robbins revealed the biggest challenge actually happened off the course. He admits he “wasn’t prepared” for the interminable waiting that comes with making television. His first day of shooting started at 7.30am with a photo shoot and interview.

Charlie celebrates his big win.

“Then I was sitting in the city all day until it was time to head to the course. They take you through the safety briefing — and then you’re just sitting around for hours and hours and hours. That was probably the biggest shock for me, and it wasn’t much fun just sitting there doing nothing,” he said.

Robbins finally ran the course at around 1.30am, some 16 hours after his day had started.

“It was really, really hard and I definitely wasn’t prepared for it. You don’t know when you’re (running) — they’ll come in and grab five people at a time. Each time you go ‘This could be me, better get excited!’ And then it’s not you.

“I did that about 20 times over. It’s pretty exhausting.”

And while a lucky Robbins took home $100k precisely because of viewer backlash at there being no winner in previous seasons, it seems some viewers still weren’t happy he was crowned ‘winner’ despite not having completed the course.

Hi @Channel9 how is this not false advertising? You say this year there will be a winner indicating they’ll beat Mount Midoriyama when no-one does. Every year there’s a ‘winner’ so this is no different. Poor form. Why would you? #NinjaWarriorAU pic.twitter.com/f0aa4kiTNA

— Max Clarke (@maxclarke18) July 29, 2019

So there was a winner because @Channel9 decided to change the definition of winner - not because someone actually won? #NinjaWarriorAU

— Stella S (@stellamabella) July 29, 2019

It's hilarious how many people are being all outraged about #NinjaWarriorAU when Nine only said there was a winner because nobody would shut up about there being no prize the last two seasons, and yet when they say there'll be a prize-winning winner? More outrage.

— Fortuna (@FortunaDraken) July 29, 2019

And if you haven’t had your fill of Ninja Warrior, you’re in luck — Nine will tonight screen the special American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. The World, which sees four of our best Aussies go head to head with teams from the US and Europe.

Originally aired in the US in January, the special features Aussie Ninja faves Ashlin Herbert, Bryson Klein, Ben Polson, Olivia Vivian and Jack Wilson, and airs on Nine at 7:30pm tonight.