American Ninja Warrior has been airing for seven seasons now, and in that time, no contestant had ever even made it to the fourth and final stage of its obstacle course, Mount Midoriyama. Since the show first began airing in 2009, numerous contestants had made it to the third stage, but it had never been completed. That is, until Monday night, when two contestants, Isaac Caldiero, a professional rock climber and busboy, and Geoff Britten, a freelance cameraman, finally pushed through. Then, for good measure, they went and completed the fourth and final stage as well.
Thousands of competitors flocked to six different qualifying cities earlier this year to try their hand at the competition’s $1,000,000 prize, which included former NFL player Brendon Ayanbadejo and MMA fighter Felice Herrig. But only two were left standing in the finale in Las Vegas on Monday night. First, Caldiero became the first person to ever complete the third stage.
Later, Britten became the second. But in the end, it was Caldiero who took home the grand prize, climbing the 75-foot rope of the fourth and final stage just 3.86 seconds ahead of Britten’s time.
For his part, Britten goes home with nothing, other than the prestige that comes with being the second person to ever complete the third stage, and the first person to ever complete the fourth. Unfortunately for him, he was just four seconds too late.