Waiting by the Phone for Baltimore

With the Venice Beach competition for the West Coast concluded this weekend, I’ll be anxiously waiting by the phone this week to see if I get a guaranteed invite to compete in Baltimore in less than two weeks from now. No competitor hoping to get a slot in Baltimore has been contacted yet, and we were clearly told that they would start contacting people this week after the Venice competition was done, although we don’t know if that means on Monday or on Friday, making the wait that much more agonizing. Through the grapevine (or as the American Ninja Warrior casting and production teams call us, “the knitting circle”), I’ve learned that there were 109 invites that competed in Venice out of over 2,000 video submissions that were entered. I’ve long known that as American Ninja Warrior gets successful, the odds of me getting to continue to compete would get longer as the applicant pool would grow substantially driven by the phenomenal network exposure given it by NBC.

I’m still praying that I get at least one more crack at it, and will be anxiously awaiting by the phone for my invite call this week. Having been born and raised in Maryland, and having been the oldest competitor to make the regional finals in the Midwest region in American Ninja Warrior 4 (the Midwest region will largely be competing in Baltimore), I’m REALLY hoping I get the honor to compete again this year and the privilege to stand among my fellow ninjas once more.

I know I am not along in the agony of my wait…I know thousands of other ninja hopefuls are waiting for their calls either this week for Baltimore, or in future weeks for Denver or Miami. Hit LIKE if you are waiting too!

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 7th, 2013 at 8:21 pm and is filed under American Ninja Warrior 5, Getting In, Northeast Region, The Dream. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Rob Logan

    I’m with you Matt! As a 44 year old former stuntman and gymnast, I too hope to represent the older ninjas and show that dedication and discipline can get you far in life!
    I look forward to meeting you in Baltimore (contingent on the ninja gods)!

  • Michael ‘Tin-Man’ Spivey

    Michael from Newport, Or. Here. I’ll be 42 this May and so I thought would be representing NW region. I was asked for more head shots last week by a casting coordinator, thinking I had a shot… No call. Do they ‘cross region’ compete? Would they call me if Denver doesn’t have enough ninjas. Hmmm

  • Anonymous

    Hey Michael. That’s a bummer to get teased like that, I’m sure you thought you were golden after they asked you for more head shots! I don’t think they really ‘cross region’ compete much unless you originally submitted for a different region for some reason. I’m not saying to give up hope, just trying to be honest and realistic :-(

  • Anonymous

    Cool. We middle-aged ninjas are becoming more common these days!

  • http://www.facebook.com/matthew.puntin.7 Matthew Puntin

    I’ve got my fingers crossed too. Another middle-aged ninja here. I’ve also committed to waiting in line for hours, hoping that I’ll get a chance at a walk on spot. My wife and kids are joining me for the weekend.

  • Anonymous

    Geez, with this huge influx of middle-aged ninjas we’re going to need a 40+ year old division soon!

  • http://www.facebook.com/adrian.c.randall.3 Adrian C. Randall

    Hi Matt

    I didn’t get a shot to run the course in Venice Beach. I try to be walk on and my friend save a place in line of when came there at later time on Friday about several hour before the taping. Only few people who camp there at Midnight on Friday got shot. Another person who camp didn’t get pick to didn’t run the course. It so crazy because the Walk on line got miss up and the should give number tickets that were in place in line without yelling. they finally they give number on notepads of a random drawing to run the course. Id think they merge two regions together and there a lot less people to compete about 125 people. I wish you best of luck to tryout for ANW. I guess this 4 attempted to tryout next year.

  • Daniel Herweg

    Being 31, you guys have a 10+ year head start on my plan to just keep sending auditions until I am so old they take me as the token geezer, reaching for the buzzer with my cane.

    Until then I will just continue to strive to be the Bo Jackson of white collar excel jockeys and hope casting eventually finds my awkward attempts at audition tapes endearing lol!

  • Trevor

    Good luck Matt! Hope to see some good news on the blog later in the week.

    PS: I just sent you a few questions via your yahoo email.

  • ‘Tin-Man’

    Sending good vibes your way Matt!

  • Anonymous

    Thanks!

  • http://www.facebook.com/adam.reck.37 Adam Reck

    So matt, i got an email back from casting and they said i will be competing in Denver May 19th and 20th. (If i get picked that is). Still waiting day by day hoping my video was what they were looking for. You had stated above that some of the midwest might be held in Baltimore this year? and its in a few weeks? Thats not much time. And how exactly do they do the walk-ons? first come, first serve? or do they just pick certain people out of the line? And how many people do they normally pick? also i believe last year they said you showed up about 4:00 am. thay doesnt seem early enough,,, is it? thanks for your help matt, hope to meet you soon, adam

  • https://www.ninjawarriorrx.com/ninja-warrior--parkour-gyms.html Ninjawarriorrx

    TV Esquire network is best for Latest American Ninja Warrior information, videos and web exclusives. Good!!