Dreschel pled guilty to 2 counts.
Thanks. I didn’t know who was keeping tabs of this (Primetimer wasn’t) and didn’t feel like doing another search every week. Full details here. Everything else in my last two posts still holds, of course.
Finally watched the couples competition but couldn’t understand the rules on part two. Why were some competitors allowed to come in after the other fell for half points and some only allowed to start the next segment? Why was Austin Gray not allowed to start at the ghost thing? They seemed to be trying to set up Jessie and Chris to win. Not too impressed overall.
It’s been a while since I watched it, but I think the rule was, if the first competitor fell before completing all of their obstacles, they were out for that round, so if their partner fell as well, the team’s run ended - but if the first competitor made it all the way through, and their partner then fell, the first competitor could continue from where their partner fell.
Austin didn’t fall. His partner fell on the salmon ladder but instead of starting on the next obstacle which was the ghost one, he started on the one after that.
Update: somebody reported on changes to the format for 2025, which will be entirely in Las Vegas and recorded around October 1, 2024. If you remember the COVID-19 format, it’s pretty much just like that:
- All three rounds in Vegas
- Going back to the old format for the semi-finals, where a certain number of first round competitors advance and do solo runs
- The finals will be entirely head-to-head, with a $250,000 prize to the winner
Yes, that means no more finals “stages” and no more Mount Green Mountain - er, Mount Midoriyama.
The reason they gave for the change: almost all ninja competitions now are “speed running,” and side-by-side “obstacle coursing” (the international name for this, although the last obstacle is almost always a Warped Wall) will be part of the Olympics Modern Pentathlon in 2028.