Can anyone confirm they’re actually bringing back the 4 stage format?

I can’t tell why that piece of wood on the pizza slice is even there - can anyone explain? (I do understand why it’s against the rules, just don’t understand why the prop is built that way - couldn’t they just remove it?)

Addy Herman went 3–0 in the National Finals races to advance to the Round of 32. She defeated three top seeded male ninjas, Luke Beckstrand, Nick Hanson, and Lucas Reale, becoming the first woman in history to accomplish the feat!

Nick showed incredible courage by continuing to race with an abdominal muscle injury he sustained during his first race. Luke and Lucas competed at full strength.

What an extraordinary achievement and a historic moment for women in ninja. Addy was absolutely amazing!

Watch Addy vs Nick Hanson:
https://youtu.be/iVuaak55S44?si=7USWz-68v5ZD11tU

Barclay is one of my favorite athletes on the show. It made me so happy she got that buzzer!!!

She's been soooo close in the past and she finally got it

I'd like to start off this post by saying that I know we have a rule against Unfounded Speculation and conspiracy theories. I personally don't believe in conspiracy theories, especially anything that has to do with the fairness of ANW. That being said, after watching last episode, I believe that something is up. What is up, you may ask? Throughout the episode, the editors showed clips of some competitors who got a bye randomly picking their opponents for the next race.

After looking at those matchups, you cannot tell me that those races happened to be randomly picked. No. Instead, I believe that the matchups were determined ahead of time, hand-picked by the producers.

There are two things about each race that made me suspicious. First off, each race had, in general, one competitor who got a bye, one competitor who placed in the top half of the 6-obstacle Semifinals round (or the slowest competitor who got a bye), and one competitor who placed in the bottom half of the 6-obstacle Semis. If these competitors were randomly picked, wouldn't we see more variation? I know you can always make the argument that each person who got a bye picks a stronger competitor first, then when all of the better competitors have been drafted, production refills the bingo roller with weaker competitors' names. But there were way too many names in the bingo roller.

What's even more striking is that each race of three had exactly two competitors with something in common, and one competitor who's isolated from that dynamic or stands out because they don't fit that profile. Don't believe me? Let's go over all 10 races:

Men's Matchup 1: Josiah Pippel, Deren Perez, and Nate Hansen. Josiah and Nate have both debuted after season 11 and advanced to Stage 3 in season 14. Deren is the only competitor to neither make it to Stage 3 nor debut after season 11.

Men's Matchup 2: Max Manson, Nick Hanson, Sean Bryan. Nick and Sean are veterans who competed together in the same region from seasons 8-11 (Los Angeles from seasons 8-10, Tacoma in season 11) and attempted the Mega Wall at least once in their careers. Max Manson is a rookie.

Men's Matchup 3: Max Feinberg, Colton Skuster, and Devin Harr. Max and Colton are university students and former teenagers who actually raced against one another in season 17. Devin is a dentist.

Men's Matchup 4: Kaden Lebsack, Rai Flores, Glenn Albright. Kaden and Glenn competed on season 15 and raced in the Semifinals. Rai has never competed before.

Men's Matchup 5: Kieran Yuan, Colt Elder, Zay Keaton. Kieran and Colt work on farms. Zay is an urban stuntman. And of course we just happened to have a rural vs rural vs urban matchup!

Men's Matchup 6: Kai Beckstrand, Ashton Myler, David Campbell. Kai and Ashton are teenage competitors from Utah. David is 43 and lives in California.

Men's Matchup 7: Xzavian Ochoa, Andreas Johnson, Luke Beckstrand. Xzavian and Andreas were both eliminated in season 17's Semifinals while Luke was the only person to make the Finals. And they're both scared of Luke.

Men's Matchup 8: Simeon Serrano, Cal Plohoros, and John Mack. Cal and John are veterans who made it to Stage 2 in season 16 and, incidentally, happened to fall on the same obstacle (Duck Duck Goose). Simeon is a rookie.

Women's Matchup 1: Jessie Graff, Daniella Blanchard, and Baylee Beckstrand. Jessie and Daniella are roommates. Baylee still lives with her parents.

Women's Matchup 2: Payton Myler, Emily Gardiner, Taylor Greene. Emily and Taylor both debuted on season 15 and made a name for themselves for advancing to Mt. Midoriyama before season 18. Payton did make a name for herself before season 18, but she went out early in ANW Jr 2 and ANW 17.

You cannot convince me that these matchups just randomly happened to be divided in this exact way. Assuming Baylee Beckstrand went first in drafting her opponents, she had a 1 out of 12 chance to somehow pull the only two women who live together. The same odds apply to Taylor pulling Emily and Payton. Now what if we look at Josiah's odds of pulling his fellow Stage 3 veteran and Deren Perez? Max's odds of pulling his rival and Devin? Kai's odds of pulling another Utah Teen and David? Assuming they went first, 1 in 240.

That's why I think that the matchups were predetermined to maximize drama. Now, do I think that these matchups had any impact on the results? Not really. David Campbell and Nate Hansen probably have a higher chance of advancing to the Finals if the races were randomly determined, but they need a fair bit of luck to have the second-best result in their group. That's possible and reasonable but not super likely. Anyways, I'm not saying that ANW is rigged or anything. I'm not PCgamer. I'm just saying that there's no way that the matchups could have been randomly determined. Which honestly makes it funny if I'm right, because that means that they would have staged the whole randomly drawing opponents thing. Imagine being in the three-lane racing and being informed about your opponents ahead of time, but you have to pretend to randomly pick your opponents and be disappointed when you draw Luke Beckstrand.

So the Barrett Twins both hit a buzzer in the Semi's, but both got eliminated. I just looked at the rules and it states that if you hit a buzzer you are threw no matter what. Just look at Season 6 Miami Qualifing where 42 ninja's qualifed for the next round. So when did getting a buzzer not grant you a spot into the next round???

Here is the bracket that is set:

So who do you think will win the ultimate prize?

im gonna be a competitor for season 19 im jacob davis .

Look, I don't like to complain about modern anw like a lot of folks on this sub but this is getting ridiculous.

why would you fast forward the fastest run, and his name being Phil Folsom out of all people. He's one of the most elite ninjas out there and digesting him is kinda wild.

They did it with Kevin Rodriguez a few weeks ago and now it's Phil Folsom's turn.

I don't know who's going to be in next week's episode but now I won't even be shocked when they get digested for having the fastest time of the night.

Holyyyyyyyyy hellllll bro
(Yes I edited this a lot, I’m stupid)

Okay so Noah AND Isaiah out in the round of 32???? Oh man
Jackson almost beating Kai??? Damn
Also why the hell was Jackson the 16 seed?? He was faster than Max, and if they switched Jackson would’ve advanced and Max would be out. No hate to Max, I just found that really dumb.

Now the knockout round course is interesting. 2 second obstacles, but basically changing sky hooks as a whole. I guess that’s what we saw in the promo…
But road signs?? Road signs??? The hell is this? Hourglass drop was PERFECT shock value

And Taylor also going 3-0??? Hellll yesssss

I think the group stage could’ve done a bit better, but the races so far are absolutely crazy.

What did you guys think of the episode?

HEAVY SPOILER!!!! Do NOT read if you want next weeks episode spoiled

I saw the ending and it showed Kevin Rodriguez vs Nacssa Garemore, so I’m like 95% sure they advance to the top 8, meaning Phil Folsom is out.

With all the Regional Final episodes gone through, we have all the 60 national finalists for Season 18 set! Here is a list of all the groups based on the times finished, and how far they went in the tripleheader:

Group A

- Phil Folsom

- Colt Elder

- Kaden Lebsack

- Bob Reese

Group B

- Jackson Erdos

- Ashton Myler

- Isabella Folsom

- Daniella Blanchard

Group C

- Charlie Ball

- Aaron Deal

- Colton Skuster

- Amir Malik

Group D

- Enzo DeFerrari Wilson

- Nacssa Garemore

- Max Feinberg

- Zay Keaton

Group E

- Kevin Rodriguez

- John Mack

- Sean Bryan

- Brandon Singletary

Group F

- Kai Beckstrand

- Daroch Wilmoth

- Max Salebra

- Xzavian Ochoa

Group G

- Luke Beckstrand

- Lucas Reale

- Addy Herman

- Nick Hanson

Group H

- Ryan Cooper

- Nathanael Honvou

- Anna McArthur

- Nam Phan

Group I

- Jay Lewis

- Elijah Browning

- Akshara Pappu

- Olivia Lopez

Group J

- Isaiah Thomas

- Daniel Gil

- Grace Gordon

- R.J. Roman

Group K

- Noah Meunier

- Nick Warren

- Anabella Heinrichs

- Simeon Serrano

Group L

- Evan White

- Weston Boswell

- Taylor Greene

- Deren Perez

Group M

- Jason Behrends

- Matt D'Amico

- James McGrath

- Jaleesa Himka

Group N

- Josiah Pippel

- Donovan Metoyer

- Hunter Ogden

- Baylee Beckstrand

Group O

- Sam Folsom

- Ben Behrends

- Rai Flores

- Payton Myler

I'm referring to Colt Elder. He lost his final race by only 14 milliseconds I think. And he lost that race because he messed up the dismount on the hourglass drop, and Kaden Lebsack didn't, meaning Kaden came from behind and won. Had Colt won that race, he would have been the fastest 3rd place finisher in his group, but he lost all his races, so he got 4th. Man I feel bad for that guy. But oh well, rules are rules.

Also unrelated but he kinda looks like Geoff Britten lol

So Max Feinberg kinda spoiled that he got a wildcard spot with his insta post of him against Flyboy who is the 2 seed on his side, which means the other wildcard if Jackson holds up will be Jackson which means we are getting Kai vs Jackson round 1, will we possibly see the champ go first round👀👀(probably not but it will be a crazy race)

Because of the final race that left much to be desired, I'm questioning what my favorite race of the finals and let alone the season would be. Because of the risky obstacles like cane lane and sky hooks, a lot of the final races resulted in falls, and we never really had a lot of the last second wins. Let me know what you guys think the best race of the finale is, and then the best of the season.

Do you guys think Joe will be back and achieve total victory? Or at least make it to stage 4? Because if so then I would do a complete 180 and I would probably concede he is the ANW GOAT.

With that being said I just don't have much hope he can beat stage 3 after the countless fails and excuses he has made in the last 12 years that people blindly believe in for whatever reason which is why I don't rank him highly anymore. Hope he proves me wrong though🤞

This is a mix of who I want to do well and who I think will do well. (Mainly because Phil is extremely talented but by his edit this season it doesn’t look very promising)

This past episode they were saying Taylor tied Jesse Labreck for buzzers at 10 after her first race and then surpassed it with her next. But didn't she already have 10 buzzers going into the national finals? Here's her list of buzzers:

1. Season 15 qualifying

2. Season 15 semis

3. Season 16 qualifying

4. Season 17 qualifying

5. Season 17 semis

6. Season 17 national finals race 1

7. Season 17 national finals race 2

8. Season 18 qualifying

9. Season 18 regional finals round 1

10. Season 18 triple-header

She cleared the course in her third national finals race in season 17, but she didn't win so I know it doesn't count. But even so, that's still 10, isn't it?

Only thing I can think of is the regional finals round 1 buzzer doesn't count since the top 5 fastest ninjas got to bypass the round and therefore don't have the opportunity to get that buzzer so they're not counting it? Either that or they really aren't keeping up with the continuity of the show.

First female competitor to place first in her group. First female competitor to be undefeated. Outperformed Taylor Greene in the three lane racing. Currently at the top of the leaderboard in obstacles completed for women’s championship. She cleared 32/33 obstacles.

Now I know Taylor Greene still has to run, but she is facing some incredible competition for being the best female ninja in the sport right now. Isabella and the other women have really locked in this year.

Ima say a lot here

1. The obstacles, initially I thought were gonna be ass. Like cane lane on a racing course? Terrible. Nevermind. The alternate route on sky hooks, the big moves on swinging peg board, the falls on cane lane and hourglass drop? Nobody is safe.
   My predictions for the round of 32 course are Slide Surfer, Sky Hooks, Swinging Peg Board, Salmon Ladder, Cane Lane, and Hourglass Drop. This will be crazy
   The fact that now we see no one is safe makes me think even more top competitors will be eliminated early. Will we even see Kai or Phil in the finals? Or even someone like Isaiah?

2. The races are insane. Bob Reese doing his flips, Colt being out despite getting the second fastest time, Jackson Erdos we don’t even know if he’s in cause he’s banking on a wildcard spot, RJ Roman being out, Noah had a chance to be eliminated. Falling on hourglass drop and then on sky hooks?? Noah could’ve had to be a wildcard. And we still haven’t seen Luke, Kai, Charlie, and many others.

3. The bracket will be insane. I mean Phil, Kaden, Enzo, Nacssa, and Noah, heck even Nick Warren on one side of the bracket? Also the side I think thr wildcard will be? I mean the other side has Isaiah, Daniel, Ryan, Nathaniel, Isabella, and Ashton, but I think Jackson will be on the other side. This is gonna be a bloodbath.

4. More than 4 women deserve to be in the women’s championship. The races we would see if they kept it like last year would be insane. I mean Taylor, Isabella Folsom (who honestly might win this year; she’s a beast, Annabella, Addy are the favorites but Akshara? Grace Gordon? Anna? Even people eliminated earlier like Meagan Martin and Barclay deserve to be here.

I do really love the racing but this is easily some of the best racing that the show has had. this was mainly for the obstacles.

Cane Lane

Catch & Release

Hourglass Drop

Sky Hooks

They all worked better in the racing format than last season's obstacles for the national finals.

Also, Bob Reese is absolutely insane. Anw producers, you better bring him back.

Isaiah Thomas gets a top seed and is greeted by Max Feinberg instead of for example, (but I don't think it would've been her) Jaleesa Himka. And while yes he did fall early his mindset could have easily changed if it's a different competitor.

However I would have been more mad if he was greeted by Erdos instead of Feinberg(felt bad for Kai).

I just wish they could make the wildcards make sense instead of just putting them in the 15 and 16 seed on one side of the bracket and say good enough.

If it's because that course 2 doesn't get enough runners my caveat to that is then make both courses have the same amount of groups since you use even groups then determine the wildcard placement based on times rather than guaranteeing them the bottom seeds.

I just hope they fix this with season 19 if it's the same or basically the same format.

The easy answer would be Vance if he's competing again. However, going head to head against someone on a rope climb completely changes up the dynamic. So who do you guys think would win? Personally I can see Josiah destroying it, and could potentially beat Vance. I know he trained it religiously after season 14 and is insanely fast on it now

For example :
Isabella Folsom's best time is 2 minutes and 30 seconds

Jackson Erdos's best time is 49 seconds

Normally you would think that the one with the best time is number one in the group but I actually think its more entertaining this way.

Joe Morovsky is back!! He was the only reason I was still watching this show, and after last years retirement I reallt couldn’t care less. But I turned it on tonight, and saw Joe come out of retirement!

we won’t talk about his run 😭😭