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By Michael HowardAlex Nye takes a selfie during his June 3 American Ninja Warrior (NBC) appearance where he qualified for the semi-finals. Photo courtesy Alex Nye.
July 1, 2024 (Escondido) -- Escondido resident Alex Nye remembers the first time he seriously considered competing for NBC’s obstacle course reality show American Ninja Warrior. He and his brother were fans of the program and decided for his brother’s bachelor party to attempt a ninja course at a New Jersey gym.
“We were kind of naturals based on our history and our monkeyish background - the things that we like to do - so yeah that was kind of an opening moment that maybe I could actually pursue this,” he told the East County Magazine during a recent interview.
Now Nye is a regular on the program, having appeared in three previous seasons, this year being his fourth. And during the program’s sixteenth season opener on June 3, he qualified for the semi-finals round for the third time in his career. But not without some drama.
San Diego resident Alex Nye appeared on American Ninja Warrior June 3 on NBC. Photo courtesy of Alex Nye.“I did have a pretty dramatic near fall on obstacle four where I slipped in one hand and somehow recovered with one arm,” Nye said with a bit of relief.
Originally from upstate New York, Nye says he has always been a bit of the “monkeyish” type.
Nye explains: “I grew up in Upstate New York on a bunch of land. So we kind of lived out in the middle of nowhere. So my brother and I were very outdoorsy kids. Cable TV didn't play much video games, so we spent all of our time outside climbing trees, snowboarding, skateboarding, all these just fun activities. My dad made us a rock climbing wall out of our chimney and he'd to take us rock climbing. And so, it's kind of just in my nature to be like a climber and be outdoorsy and adventurous.”
NBC's American Ninja Warrior semi-finalist Alex Nye practices his skills on his home built obstacle course in Escondido. Photo courtesy of Alex Nye.Nye said it was those types of activities that led him down a path of alternative sports such as rock climbing and parkour, the urban obstacle course racing. But the big shift really came when he moved to California. He first lived in the Santa Barbara area where there was a gym that featured rock climbing and gymnastics. There, he trained with fellow rock climbers, gymnastics athletes and parkour enthusiasts.
“It wasn’t formal training,” Nye emphasized, “it was just kind of learning-through-doing as an adult – just really a love and a passion for creative movement, and things like that. And through all those things this kind of old idea of trying ninja became more realistic,” he related.
Then, in 2018, he took the plunge and competed in the season 10 show.
“Everything up to the fifth obstacle went really well and it kind of played to my strengths,” Nye recalled. “But then the fifth obstacle was a version of the flying bar. It was the lightning bolts, but that is where I had never really done a flying bar at that point. And so that's what took me out,” he said. “I fell in the water.”
Despite the fall, he still qualified for the semi-finals his first year and competed the very next night, but was disqualified when his foot skimmed the water during the very same obstacle - the flying bars. And as the saying goes, if you don’t learn from history, you’re doomed to repeat it.
San Diego resident Alex Nye qualified for the American Ninja Warrior (NBC) semi-finalist round during the June 3 episode. Photo courtesy of Alex Nye.“My second season I came across another flying bar type obstacle and unfortunately, I didn't learn my lesson from the first time,” he admitted.
Not one to give up, he used the lesson to formulate a plan. “That experience is what kind of motivated me to build my own course,” he explained. It was around that time Nye was looking to buy a home in San Diego and came across a property in Escondido he eventually purchased in 2020.
“So, the very first thing I built once I had my house here was the Flying Bar and just repped that for a few weeks,” Nye said. “And before I knew it, it became one of my biggest strengths because I got really good at it. So now, I was able to conquer that weakness and apply that moving forward to the show.”
Nye’s obstacle and training course in his backyard does more than just give him and fellow professional ninja competitors a place to train. He opens it up for amateurs and kids too as a way to promote the sport.
San Diego resident and American Ninja Warrior semi-finalist Alex Nye poses in front of his home built ninja obstacle course. Photo courtesy of Alex Nye.“Whoever is available or wants to come by and play around,” is invited he said and while, “sometimes it's like just a couple of training buddies of mine, other times it's like a bunch of kids.” Nye says to visit his Instagram page “the.jungle.sd” to learn more about visiting his obstacle course.
When not training or competing for the show, Nye owns a fine art and architectural photography business as well as being a licensed drone operator. “I fly drones,” he explains, “I'd say a lot of it is in the architectural industry. So I'll shoot the final beauty shots of a building for architects or developers and time lapses.” Those interested can see his work at alexnyeart.com.
As Nye and American Ninja Warrior fans await his next appearance on the show airing August 12 at 8 PM on NBC or streaming on Peacock, he is keeping busy by qualifying for various other ninja league competitions, appearances on commercials and getting ready for the next season which begins accepting applications in July.
“Hopefully they'll let me on the show again,” Nye says. “I’ll take another stab at the show and see how it goes.”
In the meantime, stay tuned. Sources at NBC say our hometown ninja is no flash in the pan. They recommend watching this season to see exactly how far he goes in this year’s competition.
“This season is going to be really fun,” Nye says, “I’m super excited - I think it’s going to be fun for people to watch.”
SOURCES
Alex Nye Art. (n.d.). Alex Nye Art. Retrieved June 20, 2024, from https://alexnyeart.com/
American Ninja Warrior—NBC.com. (n.d.). NBC. Retrieved June 20, 2024, from https://www.nbc.com/american-ninja-warrior
Nye, A. (2024, June 14). American Ninja Warrior [Personal communication].
The Jungle (San Diego Ninja Gym) (@the.jungle.sd) • Instagram photos and videos. (n.d.). Retrieved June 20, 2024, from https://www.instagram.com/the.jungle.sd/
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