Baltimore Orioles cameraman Geoff Britten recently became the first American to defeat the Mount Midoriyama obstacle course during a recent taping of American Ninja Warrior.
The episode showing Britten's feat aired Monday.
As Sporting News' Troy Machir notes, Britten is a 36-year-old cameraman who does freelance work for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. In his spare time, he trains to do thingslike climb Mount Midoriyama's final obstacle: a 75-foot rope climb that contestants must complete in 30 seconds or less.
Calling it a difficult task doesn't do this climb justice, and watching Britten go up the rope like Nightcrawler only adds to my growing suspicion that the people who excel atAmerican Ninja Warriorare just poorly closeted mutants.
In any case, despite his radiation-altered genetics, Britten still only made it to the top by the thinnest of margins—hitting the button with 0.35 seconds on the clock.
This was an incredible moment for the show and theAmerican Ninja Warriorcommunity, and it wasn't even the most ridiculous part of the event.
Immediately after Britten's historic climb, Isaac Caldiero—a busboy and professional rock climber from Boulder, Colorado—upped the ante and made it to the summit with 3.86 seconds left on the clock.
Having the best time, Caldiero won the $1 million at stake for the contest. Britten, on the other hand, will have to be content with making American Ninja Warriorhistory and being only slightly slower at climbing than a professional rock climber.
I could live with that. Though they could've at least thrown Britten a steak or something, you know, for making it all the way to the summit of the Aggro Crag's terrifying father and whatnot.
Dan is on Twitter, waiting for a gritty Legends of the Hidden Temple reboot.
Geoff Britten (ジェフ・ブリテン) is a cameraman from Olney, Maryland. He is nicknamed "Popeye" because of his abnormally large forearms. He is famously known for being the first ever American Ninja Warrior, achieving total victory on season 7.
In season seven, Britten again advanced to the National Finals and achieved "Total Victory", completing Stage 4 and leading Ninja Warrior commentator Akbar Gbaja-Biamila to immediately declare "Geoff Britten is the first American Ninja Warrior." After Britten's run, Isaac Caldiero finished the course over three seconds ...
So far, only ONE person has won the $100,000, and only TWO people have won the million, in the eleven seasons that the show has been on the air. NO one else gets paid, which shows the level of dedication people have for this sport. Do contestants get paid to run obstacles on American Ninja Warrior?
Despite having won the $1,000,000 prize from Ninja Warrior, he continues to live a simple lifestyle, often in a 1978 RV and off less than $10,000 a year. He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
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