R.J. Roman

**R.J. Roman** is a musician from Orlando, Florida. He is currently the bass player for the band *Emuness*, which he has played ever since childhood to cope with his personal stress.

R.J. also has a twin brother named Robert, who serves as the drummer in *Emuness*.

## American Ninja Warrior 10

R.J. first competed in Miami in American Ninja Warrior 10. In qualifying, he failed the Slippery Summit but placed 14th overall at the end of the night. In the city finals, he got redemption on the Slippery Summit despite a few struggles. However, he later continued all the way to the Crazy Clocks until gassing out. At the end of the night, he placed 11th overall and advanced to Vegas in his rookie season. His run on Stage 1 was digested but it was shown that he finished with 21.90 seconds remaining. On Stage 2, he failed Wingnut Alley, and was one of the top rookies that year along with Zach Day and Mathis Owhadi.

## American Ninja Warrior 11

He returned in Atlanta on American Ninja Warrior 11. This season, he was determined to participate in the Power Tower showdown. In qualifying, despite struggling on the Bouncing Spider, he still blew through the course with relative ease. Unfortunately, he just missed out on the Power Tower, as Tyler Gillett and Drew Drechsel beat him as the top 2 of the Atlanta qualifying round; he placed 3rd overall. In the city finals, his run was digested, but it was shown that he gassed out at the end of the course, failing Spider Trap. In Vegas, despite a near fall on Tire Run, Roman made it past Stage 1 for the second year in a row. He was also one of 21 competitors to complete Stage 2 that year. On Stage Three, however, he fell very early at the second obstacle, Iron Summit.

## American Ninja Warrior 12

R.J. was invited to compete in the modified Season 12, bringing along Jessica Helmer and Ben Melick. He blazed through the qualifying course with a time of 1:10, earning him the fastest time and a spot on the Power Tower. R.J. went on to narrowly beat Sean Bryan on the power tower, earning his teammates a spot in the semifinals. In the semifinals, his run was digested, but he was shown to have finished the course with the 4th fastest time. In the finals, R.J. failed the Dragonback after the bar became uneven on the second drop. Unfortunately, he finished in 9th place, missing the Power Tower playoffs by 3 seconds.

## American Ninja Warrior 13

R.J. returned to compete for this fourth season, participating in Qualifier 3. It was also revealed that he cut his hair to make it shorter. His run was digested, but it was shown that he attempted the Mega Wall, but failed it. He then bounced back to the regular Warped Wall, earning the fastest time of the night. He later competed in the third semifinals. His run there was also digested, but it was shown that he wanted to get back to the Power Tower as he blazed through the first eight obstacles. He was a bit tired by the time he got to the Split Decision, so he went for the Diving Boards and he failed there. Despite this, he once again qualified for the national finals, by placing 7th overall. In Vegas, he was a favorite to go all the way to Total Victory. Unfortunately on the Fly Hooks, he was never able to get the transition on the first hook to the second hook, getting stuck here. Eventually he backflipped into the water after the time was about to run out on him, ending his season and marking the first time that he failed on Stage One.

## American Ninja Warrior 14

RJ returned to compete for his fifth season. He first competed in the first qualifying episode as the last runner of that episode. His run was arguably the best of his career. Outside of a stumble on the Domino Effect, he once again blazed through the course with the fastest time, making it the third straight season that he managed to do so. After missing it the previous season, he successfully scaled the Mega Wall (one of four to do so in that episode), winning $10,000. He later competed in the third semifinals episode. There he almost went to got revenge on the Diving Boards at Split Decision but he changed his mind went for Flipped Around which he cleared despite being pumped. He than went on to hit his second buzzer on a semifinal course. He placed 3rd overall and missed out on the Power Tower, but he still advanced for his fourth appearance at the national finals. In the national finals, he was once again a favorite to go all the way. He got revenge on the Fly Hooks and finished Stage One with 30.91 seconds remaining. On Stage Two, he was one of ten to clear the Falling Shelves, and ultimately Stage Two with 40.48 seconds left, and he advanced to Stage Three for the first time since ANW 11. On stage 3, he got past the second obstacle this time around. He nearly failed on Pipe Dream, but he still cleared the obstacle. On the Flying Bar, he grip was starting to give out on him on the second to last cradle so he decided to skip the last cradle, just getting the dismount, and he managed to clear, becoming the third of a record five competitors to clear the third stage this season. On the final stage he was the second competitor to run. He started off strong, but he unfortunately timed out about 70 feet up, ending his best season to date. He had the fourth best performance of the season.