page_title: American Ninja Warrior
section_title: 2012–2014
hierarchical_section_title: American Ninja Warrior / Season synopses / 2012–2014
caption_attribution_description: English: The entrance to the American Ninja Warrior season 4 regional course in Venice Beach, California. Here the G4 TV channel is filming competitor auditions for the Northwest Region (see description from https://www.flickr.com/photos/chiropractic/6803662312/in/photolist-bztp1U-bNmr8X-HSvUwY-Hn2kCf-HSvUrs-Jf6HcW-bndyNd-mWVXqH-bndxLC-mWVUCF-mWXRiQ-6sFpNj).
context_page_description: American Ninja Warrior is an American sports entertainment competition based on the Japanese television series Sasuke. It features hundreds of competitors attempting to complete series of obstacle courses of increasing difficulty in various cities across the United States, in hopes of advancing to the national finals on the Las Vegas Strip and becoming the season's "American Ninja Warrior."
  To date, only Isaac Caldiero, Geoff Britten, and Drew Drechsel have finished the course and achieved "total victory". Caldiero and Drechsel are the only competitors to win the cash prize. The series premiered on December 12, 2009, on the now-defunct cable channel G4, and airs now on NBC with encore episodes showing on NBCSN. Since 2020, the show also airs on Spanish-language network Telemundo.
context_section_description: The fourth season was notable for differentiating American Ninja Warrior from Sasuke and began what is known as "the modern era" of the series. Following the ratings success of the third season's NBC primetime special, the fourth season aired on both G4 and NBC. It premiered on May 20, 2012, on G4, and concluded on July 23, 2012, on NBC. City qualifier courses were aired on G4, while the city finals courses aired on NBC. With an increased production budget, preliminary rounds were held in three different locations across the United States. In addition to Venice, Los Angeles, six regional qualifier competitions (Northeast, Northwest, Midwest, Midsouth, Southeast, and Southwest) took place in Dallas and Miami. During the National Finals, which were held for the first time in the United States, Brent Steffensen was the only competitor to reach Stage 3 and became the Last Ninja Standing. He went further on Stage 3 than any American had ever gone before—including on Sasuke.
  The fifth season premiered on June 30, 2013, on G4, and concluded on September 16, 2013, on NBC. City qualifiers and finals courses aired on both G4 and NBC. Regional competitions were held in four different locations: Venice, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Miami, and Denver. In the Los Angeles qualifier, Jessie Graff became the first woman to qualify for a city finals course. During the National Finals, 41-year-old Joyce Shahboz became the first woman to compete there twice in two years (as a wild card), while Brian Arnold fell on the final obstacle of Stage 3 and won the title of Last Ninja Standing.
  The sixth season premiered on May 26, 2014, and concluded on September 8, 2014, with original episodes airing solely on NBC. Regional competitions were held in Venice, Los Angeles, Dallas, St. Louis, Miami, and Denver. In the Dallas qualifier, Kacy Catanzaro became the first female competitor to make it up the Warped Wall. Later in the Dallas finals, she became the first woman to complete a city finals course. Catanzaro's two runs have been described as the first "viral moment" of the show and are credited with increasing the seventh season's submissions ten times over. During the National Finals, Joe Moravsky fell on the antepenultimate obstacle of Stage 3 and became the sixth season's Last Ninja Standing.
caption: Filming at the entrance of the Venice, Los Angeles course during the fourth season
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