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A local show gets a network audience.
The same Venice Beach qualifiers, but this time NBC is watching too.
A rhythm worth tracking.
Season three runs the same core format as its predecessor — Venice Beach qualifiers feeding a Boot Camp elimination stage — but splits its field across three color-coded teams and adds a new "heavenly ropes" race to Boot Camp's gauntlet. The bigger news is off the course: NBC picks up the finale for a primetime replay, the show's first network crossover and an early signal of where the format is headed.
The #04 slot.
Slot #04 of 6 in the American Ninja Warrior Editor's Canon. Season three is a refinement season more than a leap forward. Boot Camp gets more interesting — splitting the field into three color-coded teams and adding a "heavenly ropes" race gives the elimination stage more texture than season two's simpler version — but qualifying is still a single city, which caps how much the field depth can grow. The real news is off the course: NBC picking up the finale for a primetime replay is the first sign the show is bigger than its cable-network home, a preview of the multi-city, multi-network format still two seasons away.