What got you interested in Ninja Warrior?
It was entirely accidental. I also loved Ninjas, Samurais and Japanese culture as a kid, and devoured every book I could. I had this one really thick book about Ninjitsu that I must have read about 50 times and can remember every page some 20 years later. So, when I saw that there was a Japanese show called Ninja Warrior I was so super pumped, and then crushingly disappointed when I saw it was just a reality TV show, but then I got really, really obsessively into it and have pretty much watched every minute of every iteration since.
American Ninja Warrior has easily become my favourite, I truly love this show. I love that the producers keep developing seemingly more and more impossible obstacles and the ninjas continually prevail. I love that it’s incredibly difficult and that difficulty only serves to push people harder. I love that everyone supports each other… no one is honestly competing with each other, it’s the community versus the course. I love that you really only get one shot a year… and so luck does absolutely play its part. Mostly though, I love the way this show makes me feel. My wife laughs and cries with the competitor’s ups and downs, and I have never finished a show feeling uninspired. Watching the show and dreaming about my own attempts is honestly the highlight of my week. It’s incredibly motivating.
How are you enjoying the US?
I am absolutely loving it. I won’t lie, quite a few family and friends warned us about traveling across because unfortunately it’s only ever the bad news that is heard abroad. Far from being dangerous, everyone in America has been so incredibly friendly and warm. The landscape here is incredible, and so varied, I honestly had no idea just how much natural beauty there is. Winter-time was astounding, I didn’t know that you could just have metres of snow piled up on the side of the road for months without it melting, it’s really exciting.
How is it different from Australia?
It’s funny, both countries are really similar, with almost identical cultures, and obviously I’d seen a lot of American TV shows and movies, so I wasn’t expecting any culture-shock at all. I have been amazed at all the little differences though. Firstly, I don’t want to damage Australian Tourism at all, but I have to say it’s really, really nice not to have to be on the lookout for spiders and bugs and snakes all the time. I had no idea just how much checking for spiders I did in Australia. In the US the gas is cheap and the cars are monster big. I’m no maths guy, but I think gas is about 4 or 5 times the price that it is here. Thinking about it, everything is different; the trees, the cars, the houses, the food, the people, the experiences, the opportunities. I honestly didn’t expect to love the US as much as I have.
How are you a ninja warrior expert?
In the US I’m definitely not, but in Australia, a lot of the Ninja Warrior television programmes were really hard to find, there’s a lot of regional restrictions where you can’t order from Amazon or watch on YouTube things that are easily available here, so my passion and obsession for the last decade has been something that hardly anyone had heard of. Now that Australian Ninja Warrior has been announced to air in Australia in 2017, everyone is super pumped. American Ninja Warrior has been running for 8 years, so a whole industry of Ninja Warrior gyms and Ninja Trainers exists here that just doesn’t exist in Australia… so I’ve been training on obstacles that just don’t exist in Australia yet, so I definitely think I might be one of the most experienced people in Australia. The producers of the show even asked for my advice, that was pretty rad.
Anything else to add?
Yes, when I first started training, I found it really hard to find any useful information, and I had a huge amount of questions that just went unanswered for years… so I’ve now started a website, a blog and a weekly video (www.australianninjawarrior.com.au) to help build the community and answer all the questions of people that are just learning about Ninja Warrior now. I am so excited to be at the forefront of something that is just incredible in the US. If I could help build a community that is even a fraction as supportive as the Ninja Warrior community in America I would be a very, very happy ninja. Thank you so much for your time, please contact me via the website if you’re excited or curious about anything Ninja Warrior.
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