Tonight on NBC their obstacle course competition American Ninja Warrior returns with an all-new Monday, September 18, 2023, episode and we have your American Ninja Warrior recap below! In tonight’s American Ninja Warrior season 15 episode 15 called, “ANW Couple’s Special,”as per the NBC synopsis, “A “Ninja Warrior” spin-off in which 10 American athletes compete through four stages for the chance to go to Japan to face the obstacle course.”
Tonight’s episode looks like it is going to be a great season 15, so be sure to tune in for our coverage of NBC’s American Ninja Warrior at 8 PM – 10 PM ET! While you wait for our American Ninja Warrior recap make sure to check out all our American Ninja Warrior news, spoilers, recaps & more!
Tonight’s American Ninja Warrior recap begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
In tonight’s #AmericanNinjaWarrior episode, love is in the air! Tonight was the first couples’ championship. It was celebrating ANW couples and so truly love was in the air. Most of these couples met through the show or through something filiated through the show. Like ninja gyms and/or local competitions.
They’ve also trained together. They’ve never had to work together on a course before and so tonight was new in several ways. The couples had to complete the first round that consisted of six obstacles. They were going to run three obstacles each. And so hopefully they match each other’s energy on the field of battle or there’s going to be uncomfortable conversation back at home.
Up first was James McGrath and Alyssa Beird. The couple were both ninjas in their own right. James even proposed to Alyssa on the show after conquering the Mega Warped Wall. They were honestly the best people to open up tonight’s special episode. They were inspirational. They were attractive. They also added shock value when Alyssa fell on the third obstacle before she could finish it. It was Air Surfer and that one was always tricky. She never got to complete her run, but James kept their team alive when he ran his portion.
James finished all three obstacles. They were left with a score of four out of six. Next up was Sem Garay and Corinne Cahill. He was known as the Semsei. She was known as Little Red. This was Corinne’s first time on the course while her man was a ninja veteran. They train together. Little Red was hoping to make her debut on ANW only she fell on the second obstacle. She still got one point for her efforts. Sem had to take it from there and he too fell. Semsei got one point as well. They didn’t have enough to progress further on the course. Meaning they have to try again next year.
Then there was Joe Capo and Abby Clark. They met at college. They were both on the gymnastics team at Springfield College and they’ve been together ever since. Which has been ten years for them. They now run a ninja gym together. They were ninja veterans. Only Abby was more precise than Joe was. She finished all three obstacles. It was Joe who fell on the last obstacle. He honestly stumbled his way through completing the first when he overshot himself at the very last piece of his second obstacle. And so these two walk away with four points out of six.
The next couple had also met at college. Sandy and Charlie Zimmerman met over twenty years ago. They were also the only parents competing tonight. These two have trained together and Sandy was considered an elite ninja. There were a few issues in their marriage. They had to sit down their kids for a potential divorce talk only they somehow managed to work through their issues. They were now competing together. They understand what they have to do to stay together and that resolve came in handy on the course tonight.
Sandy completed her run. Charlie on the other hand fell on Kaleidoscope. His second obstacle. They have four out of six points and there’s no telling if they can continue to Round 2. They will have wait and see. Next up was Austin Gray and Jaelynn Bennet and their third Nate Hansen. Nate was Austin’s best friend. They all were elite ninja veterans. They all train together. Nate also gets included on their dates. Hence he’s their third. He just didn’t run tonight. They all met through their shared ninja gym and they showed off their skill. Jae finished all three obstacles and so did Austin.
These two were the first perfect finish of the night. Next up was Tee Jackson and Barclay Stockett. Barclay is an elite ninja veteran. Tee has only competed on one season so far. They train together. They run a ninja gym together. They started out as friends and then they fell in love. It was a big deal when Barclay came out as gay. She did so on the show. She also got engaged on the show. They recreated that moment before their runs tonight and it was so sweet. It was shame that their night tonight wasn’t as perfect.
Tee who ended up running first. She made it to the second obstacle when she fell. She managed to secure one point for them. The rest was up to Barclay. Barclay finished two out of three of her obstacles. She failed at conquering the Warped Wall. She was just a little too short for it and so they walked away with three points tonight. Next up was Heather Petty and Mark Antioquia. These two were adorkable. They loved dressing up in inflatable dinosaur and shark costumes. Ninja brought them together. They then figured out they have more in common and their relationship took off from there.
They were sharp competitors. Only Heather flirted with disaster early on. She almost fell on the first obstacle. She had needed a couple more turns before she finally got off of it. Heather later fell on her third obstacle. She scored two points before Mark had his turn. Mark stumbled too. He managed to straighten himself out in time. He went on to complete his three obstacles. Thereby giving them a score of five out of six.
Next up was Kyle Soderman and Meghan Johnson. These two met through ANW. They began dating long-distance and that’s all changed now. They were now living together in their new home. They just bought their first house together. Meghan was doing her residency in Emergency Medicine nearby. They were training together when they had the chance and he was better known in the ninja world than her. Until tonight that is. Meghan was doing great until she fell on her third obstacle. Kyle completed the course with all three and they now have a score of five points.
MyKayla Skinner and Jonas Hamer were next. These two were married. He’s run on one season and MyKayla was new to all of this. Only she was also a gymnastic Olympian while he was the tallest ninja tonight. He was 6’7. Not that height saved him. He wasn’t as sure on this field. He stumbled through the first obstacle. He fell on the third. He scored two points and the rest was up to MyKayla. MyKayla survived her first obstacle just fine. It was on the second that she fell. Leaving them with three points in all. MyKayla wound go on to say that this was harder than the Olympics.
Chris DiGangi and Jesse “Flex” Labreck were the final couple to finish out Round One. They’ve each hit ten buzzers on ANW. They were true ninja veterans. They were known for being calm during their own run and being worry worts when their partner was running. Tonight was no different. Jesse started off the course tonight. She had a perfect run. It was in turn followed by another perfect run from Chris resulting in them being the second couple to have a perfect score. And then came time for Round Two.
Round Two was a bit tougher. It was done on an extended course with even more obstacles. Round Two also gave the second half of the couple a chance to finish the obstacle for their partner. Up first was Alyssa and James. Alyssa gained redemption when she was able to make it past Air Surfer. James however was swinging in circles when he tackled the very same obstacles as before. He fell on Kaleidoscope. Alyssa had to go to the back half of the course on her own. She later fell on Ghost Town and they were left with five points.
They were out of the running after that.
Heather and Mark went next. Heather fell on the same obstacle as before. Mark did all of his again and he got as far as Ghost Town on the second half when he fell. But he only got half a point for doing the parts that should have been Heather’s. Which also meant they were out of the running as well. Jaelynn and Austin went next. Jaelyn finished her first three again just fine. The same goes for Austin. They then came across the second half of the course and that’s where their troubles began. Jae fell on her fourth obstacle. Austin chose not to finish her section and purely focus on his own.
Austin helped them score eight points tonight. Kyle and Meghan ran next. Meghan defeated the obstacle that tripped her up before. Meghan fell on Ghost Two during the second half. Kyle finished up his section and all in all they scored nine points. After them, was Chris and Jesse. They switched things up in who ran first. They still scored a perfect score on the first half of the course. The second half was a breeze for Chris. Not so much for Jesse. Jesse fell on Split Decision. Chris took over for her to gain a half point on what would have been her final obstacle.
They ended their runs with a score of eight and a half points. In the race for the Power Tower, the final race of the night to determine who won tonight’s championship, it came down to two couples. Kyle and Meghan vs Chris and Jesse. Kyle was a lot quicker than Chris. He gave Meghan a large enough lead that she sailed through to the finish line with no problem. And Kyle and Meghan won the twenty-five grand that can now put towards their mortgage payments.
THE END!
