In an Australian Ninja Warrior first, casting will now be open to Ninja hopefuls from the age of 16.
After five years of the program on Channel Nine, the minimum age for applications for Season 6 has been lowered from 18 to 16, expanding the field of potential Australian Ninja Warrior champions. Can history be made with a 16-year-old athlete becoming the youngest person to claim the title?
The next series will be supercharged with a whole new attitude and an extreme new course. The transformation will push Ninjas into uncharted levels of endurance.
Everyday athletes will once again put their bodies on the line to tame the world’s most difficult obstacle course and see if they have what it takes to conquer awesome Mt Midoriyama and win the coveted Ninja title, along with a potential prize jackpot of $200,000.
More developments will be announced in the coming months that will bring a whole new dimension to the format and completely amplify Ninja in 2022.
This year, the Australian Ninja Warrior Grand Final had 815,000 viewers as Zak Stolz walked away with $100,000 after being the furthest fastest competitor for season five. 918,000 tuned in for the winner’s announcement.
Zak and Mike Snow entered the finale with the advantage of a second-chance run and they both needed it. Mike just fell short with his second run, but Zak triumphed and powered through to progress to Stage 3 alongside 2019’s furthest fastest, Charlie Robbins.
Zak fell short of conquering the mountain but went one obstacle better than Charlie, and therefore winning the Season 5 title of furthest fastest.
Zak paid tribute to his late father, saying: “It is such a surreal moment and I know my father would be so proud of me. Not to mention putting a smile on my mum and other supporters’ faces. That is honestly more valuable than anything to me.”
Applications for Season 6 are now open at: www.nine.com.au/NinjaWarrior.
Australian Ninja Warrior is produced by Endemol Shine Australia for the Nine Network.