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ST. GEORGE — At 52 years old, local man Jon Stewart trained hard to become the oldest person ever to complete a city finals course on American Ninja Warrior.
Stewart, a father of five, returned to the competition at the Denver city finals after tearing a calf muscle on the first obstacle of the course last season. Contestants on "American Ninja Warrior," which is in its sixth season, tackle an obstacle course modeled after the Japanese game show “Sasuke” for the chance to win a prize.
Stewart qualified for the national finals held in Las Vegas, and footage of his run there will likely air Monday night on NBC or during the next week’s episode. He qualified to compete in Las Vegas by completing the Denver city finals, where he set the record of being the oldest competitor to complete a city course.
“Getting to hit the buzzer at the very end — that’s a great feeling,” he said. “The whole night and even the next day I was so wound up I couldn’t even sleep. It was the following night before I got any sleep again. It was awesome.”
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An Orem man and his Salt Lake City girlfriend both competed on the reality TV show, "American Ninja Warrior," for the second time.He loves training and said it can make a big difference on the show, because once you’re being filmed and the lights are on you, getting past the obstacles is a lot more difficult. The day after Stewart watched "American Ninja Warrior" for the first time, he built a couple of small obstacles in his backyard to see what he could do.
“I think ('American Ninja Warrior') is one of those things that people can say, ‘Hey, I can do that’ and they can actually get a shot to do it,” he said. “They do give you a chance to prove what you can do, so it’s a good opportunity to have a dream come true or meet a goal.”
The courses are tough to compete, according to Stewart. Only 15 people who competed in Denver qualified for the national competition.
“You can’t get through one of those with luck,” he said. “You need a lot of strength and determination. There were a lot of good athletes there who didn’t make it through Denver.”
Stewart plans to keep training for "American Ninja Warrior." He said the show provides good motivation to stay in shape and enjoy life.
His children are ages 31, 29, 28, 26 and 5. Two of his daughters were at the Denver finals, and his five-year-old daughter is one of his biggest fans.
“We’ll tape it, and she always wants to watch reruns or see if there is a new one on pretty much every night,” he said. “Then during commercials she wants to go outside and play Ninja Warrior.”
