‘American Ninja Warrior’ Renewed for Season 8

The three-time Emmy Award-nominated competition series American Ninja Warrior will return to NBC this summer for its eighth season. Production begins in the spring. The premiere date will be announced in the near future.

American Ninja Warrior is hosted by Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila. The popular obstacle course competition series will shoot in six cities for its eighth season, including Los Angeles (Universal Studios backlot), Atlanta (The Home Depot Backyard at Mercedes Benz Stadium), Oklahoma City (State Capitol Building), Baltimore (Rash Field) and Cincinnati (downtown). It will also make its inaugural trip to the Pacific Northwest and its first time shooting indoors at Washington’s Tacoma Dome.

The show’s national finals will again take place in Las Vegas.

American Ninja Warrior follows competitors as they tackle challenging obstacle courses in city qualifying and finals rounds throughout the country. Top competitors in each of the city finals rounds move onto the national finals, where they compete on a four-stage course that includes multiple obstacles on each stage. The winner, who must complete all four stages, including the final 75-foot rope climb, takes home a grand prize of $1 million.

Also, the competitor who goes the farthest on the national finals course wins $100,000. Last season’s inaugural “last ninja standing” was American Ninja Warrior veteran Drew Drechsel. Drechsel has competed on eight seasons of the show to date and recently served as the captain for Team USA on the show’s annual “USA Vs. the World” telecast.

Last season, American Ninja Warrior introduced several new elements and changes to the format, including lowering the competitors’ age limit to 19, allowing a new generation of competitors to enter, and the fan-favorite 18-foot mega-warped wall, which offered competitors a chance to instantly win $10,000.

This season will bring more changes to the course and to the gameplay, including new rules for the mega-warped wall and never-before-seen obstacles.

Last year American Ninja Warrior delivered a 1.3 rating in adults 18-49 and 5.9 million viewers overall in “live plus seven days” Nielsen ratings, making American Ninja Warrior the most-watched broadcast of the night in each of its final five telecasts of the summer. The show consistently appears in the top-10 rankings among primetime shows on the Big 4 networks in numerous key demographics, including a #3 ranking among kids 2-11 behind only the two editions of America’s Got Talent.

American Ninja Warrior is based on the worldwide hit show Sasuke, from Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, which is now in its 36th season in Japan.

American Ninja Warrior is executive produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions’ founders Arthur Smith and Kent Weed. Brian Richardson, Anthony Storm, and Kristen Stabile also serve as executive producers.

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