On ‘American Ninja Warrior,’ Union Station and a few KC ninjas get national spotlight

Ever wonder how much editing goes into an “American Ninja Warrior” episode?

We now know: A lot.

On Monday’s show, the Kansas City qualifying round filmed April 17, the TV audience was told that 39-year-old Michigan firefighter Dennis Lappin was “our very first finisher of the night.”

But anyone who was at Union Station that Friday night knew that a different firefighter, 29-year-old walk-on Dave Cavanagh of Massachusetts, was actually the first contestant to finish the course. Cavanagh didn’t even make the episode.

But this is reality TV, after all. Clearly the broadcasts are a mix of live announcing and after-the-fact voiceovers that disguise the order in which ninjas run the course, probably to build suspense.

Kansas State college student Lars Hanson of Olathe was the first competitor shown, but unfortunately he flamed out — or, more precisely, fell into the water — as he attempted the Modified Ring Toss, one of six obstacles.

Apparently no one from the Kansas City area advanced to the city finals filmed the next night. Then again, the leader board shown at the end of the two-hour episode stopped at 30 even though more than 30 finished the course.

Only three of the eight known KC contestants even got on TV. Like Hanson, who runs a youth summer camp, Independence P.E. teacher Annie Dudek merited a taped package including an interview. The mother of two made it to the fifth obstacle, a new one called Bungee Road, but hit the water.

Meanwhile, Walgreens manager Donovan Metoyer of KC, a “veteran” who’s been on the show before, failed on obstacle 3, another new one called Floating Tiles.

Speaking of missing in action, if civic boosters were expecting lots of “beauty shots” of our town, well, there weren’t many. Union Station, bathed in blue and red, was lovely, of course. Spectators who had to settle for watching from the Liberty Memorial hill across the street got some airtime, too.

“Ninja Warrior” apparently picked several athletes for their ability to tug at the heartstrings, including a 31-year-old Utah guy whose wife has a terminal illness.

His running of the course was declared a “a physical love letter” to his wife, one of several obviously scripted lines uttered by announcers Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila. (During Dudek’s run we got this from Gbajabiamila: “It’s not a hard-knock life for Annie.”)

The second and final Kansas City episode is expected to air July 13 on NBC. The ninjas who made it past the KC finals will be in Las Vegas later this month to compete for a shot at $1 million — although up till now, no one has ever claimed the top American prize.

This story was originally published June 1, 2015 at 10:41 PM with the headline "On ‘American Ninja Warrior,’ Union Station and a few KC ninjas get national spotlight."