‘American Ninja Warrior’ Winner Vance Walker Breaks Down The Dreaded Pizza Party Obstacle: “It’s Insanely Difficult”

From the first time that Vance Walker navigated the course on American Ninja Warrior Junior , fans knew he was something special. After winning back-to-back series on the children’s edition of the NBC franchise, Walker was ready to take on the main competition as a 16-year-old rookie. After his memorable debut season in American Ninja Warrior , Walker stumbled in his sophomore effort. More determined than ever , the ninja took his training to the next level for Season 15 and was able to conquer Mt. Midoriyama and take home the million-dollar prize as a 18-year-old, besting ninja vet Daniel Gil.

Now in Season 16, Walker has made ANW history once again. By besting Caleb Bergstorm’s time on the rope climb to the top of Mt. Midoriyama, Walker achieved total victory once again and won another million dollars to boot. This was the first time in NBC’s American Ninja Warrior history that a ninja achieved total victory in consecutive years. “It was bittersweet,” said Walker, thinking of Bergstorm, his friend and training partner. “I won and that was great, but to be honest, I was a bit disappointed because I wanted him to win it too.”

Walker has built his ninja reputation on hard work, so he was ready for the tough conditions of the Las Vegas-based final. As Walker succinctly put it: “Vegas is a bit of everything. It’s the lack of sleep filming overnight. It’s the dry air and the dust. It’s the elevation.” Walker had an additional challenge—cerebral palsy—so he had to work even harder to prepare himself for competition. “[I did] horrible things to myself to train for the horrible conditions,” remembered Walker. “I don’t know if people watching at home realize how difficult it is to compete in Vegas.”

Walker spoke to DECIDER over Zoom to talk about his victory celebration, the obstacle that gave his fellow ninjas the most trouble, and what he wants his legacy in the sport to be.

DECIDER: You said if you get two million dollars, you were going to buy a Rolls Royce and house. Is that still the plan?

VANCE WALKER: Probably not [laughs]. Not in this economy! I might get another car. I already have my BMW convertible. A house would be nice. I thought that I had the money for that, but I guess I don’t [laugh].

How did you celebrate your historic win? With your parents?

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I definitely celebrated my win with my parents. Right after my win in Season 16, the first thing that I did was go to the Krispy Kreme in the hotel and buy a donut [laughs. After months of having a very strict diet and very strict training, the first thing that I thought to do after I won was to celebrate with a nice treat.

You told me you’re “not afraid of hard work” and boy, you weren’t kidding. Getting up at 6AM in the rain to run? Optimizing your sleep schedule? Is any one particular discipline the key to your training?

There isn’t one thing in particular that stands out. It’s the combination of all the skills I’d been working on to deal with the conditions I’d been training for. Vegas is a bit of everything. It’s the lack of sleep filming overnight. It’s the dry air in the dust. It’s the elevation. It’s the courses. It’s four stages. It’s everything.

I did train specifically for the kinds of courses you traditionally see in the final. I would wake up at 2PM and go to sleep at 6AM in the morning. I would run with an elevation mask on in the rain and do other horrible things to myself [laughs] to train for the horrible conditions. I don’t know if people watching at home realize how difficult it is to compete in Vegas.

I want to talk about your path through the finals to achieve total victory for the second year in a row. In Stage 2, you had to face off against Flip Rodriguez. I hated to see that match-up because I wanted so badly to see both of you move on to Stage 3.

Yeah, me too!

What is it like going against a beloved vet like Flip?

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It was awesome going against Flip. I’ve looked up to him for a very long time. He was one of the first people who I watched on the show back in the day. He was one of the people who inspired me to be on the show. His speed on the course was terrifying. The thing that helped me a little bit was that he had been on the Stage 2 course eight times before, and he had only cleared at once. I’ve also struggled with Stage 2 in the past. It was a scary race. We both ended up clearing the course, but I got the win by going as fast as I possibly could. His time didn’t even get him a runoff spot because the races are just that tough this season.

Stage 3 took out so many incredible ninjas this season, including last season’s runner-up Daniel Gil. Why do you think the course gave so many legends so much trouble?

Stage 3 is always the separator between the average ninjas and the greats. Very few people have ever been able to clear Stage 3. The addition of the pizza party obstacle made it much more intense. Stage 3 is a very long course with a bunch of very difficult obstacles, one after another, so that by the time you reach the end, you’re so tired that it is tough to get that last grab. That’s what happened to a lot of ninjas on pizza party. It’s not just a difficult, long obstacle, but also an obstacle where one miss with your hand has you out.

I think that level of difficulty is where this sport is heading. There are so many good ninjas now, and the sport has evolved. They must add in more technical obstacles to challenge people. I personally love the difficult courses. Stage 3 has always been my strong suit. I’m the best at those long courses because of my endurance, but technical obstacles are always tricky. Most of my mistakes on the show have been from making a technical error. You can’t really train for that.

Can you walk me through why pizza party is such a challenging obstacle?

Pizza party is insanely difficult. You have to stay at the top of the crust, and then you have to throw it to the side. You then have to time it as it flips around and grab the bottom of the angled board. You have to flip it at the perfect speed to be able to grab it right at the bottom. If you throw the board too fast, you’ll miss it. If you throw it too slowly, you’ll miss it. We’ve never seen an obstacle that technical on Stage 3 before, but ninjas are getting so good that there has to be an equalizer.

You described Stage 3 as a lot “pumpier” than the last season. What did you mean by that?

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It’s a lot more tiring. My forearms were burning a lot more than they were last season. That’s not because last season was easy. That’s because in this season, even though there’s only one new obstacle, every single obstacle was more difficult. The stalactites were changed so that the required moves were a lot bigger. With slam dunk, the distances were farther and there were bigger drops. The cliffhangers were all smaller than last season. Pizza party was way harder than pipe dream and pressure cooker. One of the handles was missing on the road signs, so it required a reverse catch on a wedge before the last move. Even though I was able to clear both times, I was a lot more tired the second time around than the first .

The confidence you exuded approaching Mt. Midoriyama was something else, but mostly importantly, it looked like you were having so much fun. How did you manage to stay so relaxed?

I had just won the show the last season and the $1 million. I had already achieved my dream. So, coming into Season 16, I was like, “okay, well, now I can really enjoy this.” Obviously, there was a little pressure to win again because it would be historic, but I wasn’t feeling it. Once I made it past the jumping spider in Stage 1, I didn’t really care what happened after that. Once I got to Stage 4, I knew I was the fastest on the rope. I just needed to get to the top. When I saw Caleb doing so well on the rope, I was like, “oh, shoot, he might actually get it.” After he hit the buzzer, I was at the bottom like, “what just happened?” I’m grateful, though, that it worked out in my favor.

Every single interview I did on the sidelines, you could tell I was having fun with it. Interviews are usually hard for me to do. It was nice to be able to enjoy myself because I do love competition. I love the courses. Being able to brush off the pressure and focus on the here and now was really cool.

I know you are incredibly close with Caleb Bergstrom and his wife, Ashley. How did you feel after you found out you had won?

It was bittersweet. I won and that was great, but to be honest, I was a bit disappointed because I wanted him to win it too. We trained together for Seasons 15 and 16 and we reached Stage 4 both times. I wanted both of us to experience total victory.

Isn’t that the way of ninja? A million dollars is great, but you were rooting for your friend this time.

The money isn’t why we do it.

We did see Austin Gray officially retire this season, but over his time on ANW , he trained countless athletes as well as inspired 50 people to share their spare kidney. Even though you have many, many years to go before you retire, what do you hope your ninja legacy will be?

I want my legacy to be that I was the best person to ever do American Ninja Warrior [laughs] and that I had the most wins out of anybody. Luckily, right now that’s true. I don’t know if it will always be true. I want people to remember how hard I worked for it. I want them to know that I overcame all the odds with my CP. When I was a kid, I didn’t think that it would be possible to be able to walk even without braces. To go from that kid to winning American Ninja Warrior twice? What an accomplishment. As my mother would tighten my leg braces, she would tell me to never give up. I’d be like, “okay, whatever it takes.” I’ve always had that mindset. That’s what got me here today.

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