Ninja Warrior Germany

Ninja Warrior Germany
Genre	Sports entertainment Sports competition
Based on	Sasuke
Presented by	Laura Wontorra Jan Köppen Frank Buschmann
Country of origin	Germany
Original language	German
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	22
Production
Camera setup	Multiple-camera
Running time	44-45 minutes
Production company	Norddeich TV
Original release
Network	RTL Television
Release	July 9, 2016 (2016-07-09) – present
Related
Sasuke American Ninja Warrior Ninja Warrior UK

Ninja Warrior Germany (Template:Lang-de) is the Ninja Warrior spin-off airing in Germany on RTL as of Spring 2018. Based on the Japanese broadcast television show, Sasuke, and internationally known as Ninja Warrior, contestants in the show are faced with completing various obstacle courses.

Format

Each season's competition starts with around 250 contestants and is divided into three stages - five qualifier rounds, two semi-finals, and the final round. The assault course that is used on the program is contained within a specially made studio, and features a variety of obstacles either taken from or based upon Sasuke, with both the warped wall and the "quintuple steps" being used in every episode.

Each qualifier round consists of fifty contestants, and features six obstacles used in the course, four of which differ between the rounds. For example, the first qualifier might feature a swing rope obstacle, but the second qualifier might switch it for a monkey-bar styled obstacle. To qualify, contestants must be within the top ten, either by getting the furthest on the course, or if they complete it, having the fastest time.

After the qualifiers, the fifty semi-finalists are split evenly between the two semi-finals, and tackle nine obstacles. Unlike the qualifiers, the first six obstacles must be completed within a set time-limit, but contestants then can freely tackle the remaining three obstacles in their own time. Like the qualifiers, the top fifteen contestants in the semi-finals would move on to the finals, based on who got the furthest or achieved the fastest time. Once in the final, the fifteen finalists tackle three separate stages of obstacles - while the first two stages are timed, with the first stage consisting of nine obstacles and the second consisting of five, the final stage is not timed and consists of three obstacles. Whoever manages to go the furthest or completes all three stages, is declared "The Last Man Standing" and wins. However, in the event that more than one contestant beats all three stages, they then tackle one more obstacle to determine the winner - climbing (fictional) "Mount Midoriyama" with a 70 feet (21 m) rope.

The show's format features a similar approach to that of American Ninja Warrior, in that footage in episodes focuses on the highlights of contestant runs. Commentary of a contestant's run is mainly done by the presenters, Köppen and Buschmann, while Wontorra often interviews contestants before their run, and occasionally those who fail a run. In some instances, the interview is conducted by Köppen and Buschmann if a contestant's run was successful, especially during the qualifiers.

Season overview

Seasons	Start date	End date	Last Man Standing/Total Winner
1	9 July 2016	30 July 2016	Oliver Edelmann
2	12 August 2017	1 October 2017	Moritz Hans
3	22 September 2018	16 November 2018	Alexander Wurm

4 Nations Special

On November 25, 2018, for the first time, a "4 Nations Special" took place, in which the best participants from Germany, UK, France and Spain stood against each other competed. The special consisted of three courses, each with three laps, in each of which one athlete of each nation competed. The fastest athlete in the round received three points for his nation, the second best two points, the third best one point and the slowest none. The two nations with the most points then entered the overall victory at Mount Midoriyama. The teams consisted of:

• Germany: Oliver Edelmann, Benjamin Grams, Moritz Hans, Rene Kaselowsky, Max Sprenger, Alexander Wurm
• Great Britain: Ruel DaCosta, Christopher De Stefano, Louis Parkinson, Tim Shieff, Dion Trigg, Jonny Urszuly
• France: Thomas Ballet, Valentin Dubois, Clément Dumais, Mehdi Hadim, Guillaume Moro, Jean Tezenas du Montcel
• Spain: Carlos Catari Ramones, Jonathan Grande Lindo, Eric Lopez, Jonathan Iris Manuel Matamoros, Facundo Regalini, Sergio Verdasco

After the three courses Germany came with 25 points and Spain with 12 points in the last round, which René Kaselowsky and Eric López contested for their nation. In this Kaselowsky could climb the Mount Midoriyama faster than his competitor López and thus won the overall victory for Germany.

Celebrity Specials

November 2017

As part of the RTL Spendenmarathon broadcast on November 24, 2017, 23 celebrities lined up on a circuit with simplified rules at six obstacles. By Sven Hannawald, Jörn Schlönvoigt, Julius Brink, Paul Janke, Alexander Keen, Philipp Boy, Gil Ofarim, Björn Otto, winner of American Ninja Warrior, Isaac Caldiero, Patrick Bach, Massimo Sinato, Lars Riedel, Mario Basler, Ansgar Brinkmann, Oliver Pocher, Detlef Steve, Thomas Häßler, Mario Kotaska, Jürgen Milski, Beatrice Egli, Eva Habermann, Panagiota Petridou and Liz Baffoe denied the nine first named as "finishers", and the next three as the next best, the second obstacle course. Boy, Otto and Caldiero also reached the finish in the second round. The fastest, Isaac Caldiero, denied the third round and defeated the Mount Midoriyama (a 20m high rope climbing).

In the first round, the participants earned €1,000 per obstacle overcome (plus €1,000 start-up bonus) and 2,000 euros in the second round. 20,000 euros were earned in the third round, a total of €190,000 for children's projects.

June 2018

In June 2018, three celebrities competed against each other in eight celebrity teams. Each team consisted of two men and one woman:

• Team Bachelor: Paul Janke, Jessica Paszka, Christian Tews
• Team Let's Dance: Massimo Sinató, Isabel Edvardsson, Gil Ofarim
• Team Dschungelkönige: Peer Kusmagk, Melanie Müller, Marc Terenzi
• Team Fußball-Legenden: Thomas Häßler, Yasmina Filali, Mario Basler
• Team Sporthelden: Björn Otto, Tanja Szewczenko, Philipp Boy
• Team Große Klappe: Ansgar Brinkmann, Verena Kerth, Jürgen Milski
• Team Beach Action: Julius Brink, Miriam Höller, Lazy Dee
• Team Chartstürmer: Beatrice Egli, Jörn Schlönvoigt, Luca Hänni

The Team Sporthelden prevailed in the final against the team Chartstürmer and won €107,000 for "Wir helfen Kindern". As the women had previously injured both teams, Beatrice Egli was replaced by Miriam Höller and Jessica Paszka joined Tanja Szewczenko.

November 2018

As part of the RTL Spendenmarathon on November 23, 2018 another celebrity issue took place. A total of 26 celebrities lined up the course. Paul Janke, Florian Ambrosius, Melissa and Sven Hannawald, Lars Riedel, Lars Riedel, Ross Antony, Uschi Disl, Alexander Klaws, Joey Heindle, Philipp Stehler (Bachelorette candidate), Sebastian Fobe (Bachelorette candidate), JJasmin Wagner, Philipp Boy, Sarah Lombardi, Julius Brink, Heike Henkel, Roman and Heiko Lochmann, Miriam Höller, Björn Otto, Jenny Frankhauser, Maximilian Arland, Jörn Schlönvoigt, Luna Schweiger, Fabian Hambüchen and Grant McCartney (American Ninja Warrior).

The participants earned per obstacle overcome in the first round €1,000(plus €1,000 start premium) and in the second round corresponding to €2,000. So succeeded in the first round €137,000 to earn, with moderator Jan Köppen defeated the wall in a special insert and he played so €1,000. For 13 participants it went into the second course, which added another €72,000. The third round was won by the three best: Fabian Hambüchen, Philipp Boy and Grant McCartney, who were now able to beat the "Mount Midoriyama". Each time the rope was marked, it was worth €1,000 for the good cause, and as the fastest way to tackle the final obstacle, American Ninja Warrior Grant McCartney became the winner of the day.

A total of €238,000 were earned for children's projects.

Team Ninja Warrior

From April 22 to May 27, 2018, the first German Team Ninja Warrior took place. In this version, the candidates do not compete individually, but in teams of three. Each team consists of two men and one woman. Eight teams compete in each show. In the preliminary round, the three members of a team in direct duels against another team, the women always form a duel. There will be one point for the winners of the first two rounds and two points for the winner of the third round. If there is a tie after three runs, there is an additional round of the run. In the KO round, the four winning teams each compete against a losing team. The four winners come one round further, the losers of the knockout round are eliminated. The winning teams will ultimately compete in the final qualifying, which will take place as relay race, with each team member having to overcome three of a total of nine obstacles. The faster team reaches the final show.

In the big final the team "Magic Monkeys"(René Kaselowsky, Simon Brunner, Denise Pirnbacher) beat the team "Queen of Kingz" (Arleen Schüßler, Benedikt Sigmund, Christian Harmat ) and won the prize money of €100,000.

Production

The first season with five episodes was recorded from May 19-24, 2016 at the Dm-Arena in Karlsruhe, Germany. there also the second from June 15-21, 2017. In 2016, a special titled Ninja Warrior – Das Phänomen was produced.

Ratings

Season	Episodes	Premiered		Ended
		Date	Premiere viewers (in millions)	Date	Finale viewers (in millions)
1	5	9 July 2016	2.18	30 July 2016	2.92
2	9	12 August 2017	2.92	1 October 2016	3.27
3	9	22 September 2018	TBA	16 November 2018	3.00

External links

• RTL website for Ninja Warrior Germany: https://www.rtl.de/cms/sendungen/show/ninja-warrior-germany.html