American Ninja Warrior Episodes Are Back For Season 6

American Ninja Warrior episodes resumed on Monday, May 26, as season 6 came to a rolling start. This will make it the seventh time Americans are afforded the opportunity to successfully complete the entire incredibly challenging ‘ninja’ obstacle course. And yep, nobody has genuinely won the series thus far, reports Zap2It!

So what is American Ninja Warrior? It’s an NBC competition show in which the most athletically inclined Americans try to individually beat an obstacle course that contains the likes of shaking bridges, barrel climbs, spinning logs, rope climbs, slack ladders, cannonball alleys and more.

The show was spawned back in 2009 as a spin-off to Sasuke. Dubbed just ‘Ninja Warrior,’ Sasuke is a 17-year-old Japanese program that follows the exact same theme. The only difference is that its final episodes occur at the infamous Mount Midoriyama, which is in fact not a mountain, but rather a special obstacle course owned by Tokyo Broadcasting System. American Ninja Warrior instead concludes in an identically named mountain that just happens to be located in Las Vegas.

Like other competitions, American Ninja Warrior starts by travelling to different cities in search of the best athletes. The cities included this year are Los Angeles, Dallas, St. Louis, Miami and Denver.

If an American Ninja Warrior competitor wins his or her city’s competition, he or she then must compete in in Mt. Midoriyama. Beating the treacherous ‘mountain’ would net the winner a whopping $500,000, as well as the official title of American Ninja Warrior. Unfortunately, this has yet to occur. The good news is that according to executive producer Kent Weed, it’s not all about winning:

“It’s the stories of the people that separates us [from other reality shows]. How people overcome adversity to achieve their goals, whether they’re doing it for a friend who’s ill, a mother that had breast cancer or whether it’s a personal achievement they’re trying to overcome like weight loss, beating drugs or alcohol. It’s personal human achievement and it’s something that audiences can identity with.”

Regardless, this season’s episodes are going to be hosted by Matt Iseman and co-hosts Akbad Gbaja-Biamila and Jenn Brown. Furthermore, it will feature notable competitors like U.S. Olympic luger Kate Hansen, personal trainer Kim Lyons and U.S. Olympic Rower Susan Francia, to name a few. Other season 6 contestants include teachers, firefighters, sports enthusiasts and military members.

The season is slated to run until the finale on September 15. To catch its episodes, just tune into NBC every Monday night at 8pm EST. In the meantime, to get an idea of the type of fortitude it takes to survive the grueling challenges ahead, check out the season 6 tryout video below:

Images via [Google Images]