Eric Middleton handed the qualifier spherical of “American Ninja Warrior” Season 14 and has made it to the semifinals. Elizabeth Morris, NBC
You’d be hard-pressed to search out TV hosts extra encouraging than Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila on “American Ninja Warrior.” Every season, because the ninjas leap, swing and climb their approach throughout difficult impediment programs, Iseman and Gbaja-Biamila are there each step of the way in which, giving energetic play-by-plays and rooting for every contestant’s success.
Besides, perhaps, in the case of “American Ninja Warrior” veteran Eric Middleton. As a result of typically, when Middleton succeeds, it means Iseman and Gbaja-Biamila need to eat bugs — just like the tempura-fried tarantula Middleton had them eat again in 2018 when he accomplished one of many programs.
Middleton, an entomologist who accomplished his undergrad in biology on the College of Utah, is called “The Bug Ninja” within the “American Ninja Warrior” world. On Monday evening, he appeared on the present’s Season 14 premiere — his sixth season competing. Middleton accomplished the impediment course within the qualifying spherical and has superior to the semifinals, which is able to air in a number of weeks, the present confirmed to the Deseret Information.
Who's ‘American Ninja Warrior’ competitor Eric Middleton?
Middleton first competed on “American Ninja Warrior” Season 8 again in 2016. Over time, he’s made it to the nationwide finals 4 occasions, the ultimate spherical of the present that encompasses a four-stage impediment course that will get considerably tougher with every stage, the Deseret Information reported.
Throughout Middleton’s run on the nationwide finals course in 2018, he had a tough fall that resulted in a bloody nostril. Though it’s not inconceivable, the nationwide finals course is tough to finish. Over the present’s 13 full seasons, solely two folks — together with Salt Lake Metropolis’s Isaac Caldiero — have truly been declared an “American Ninja Warrior” champion and claimed the $1 million prize, the Deseret Information reported.
“Clearly they don’t need winners each time, as a result of that will water it down and folks would have a look at it and say, ‘Properly that’s simple. Somebody beats it yearly,’” former “American Ninja Warrior” competitor Brian Beckstrand informed the Deseret Information from his dwelling in St. George, Utah. “That is motivation — it leaves it for anyone to finish. If even the seasoned veterans which can be there yearly haven’t finished it, then it simply leaves room for enchancment each time.”
Now, this season, Middleton might attain the nationwide finals for the fifth time. And perhaps, simply perhaps, he’ll make all of it the way in which to the tip this time.
Eric Middleton’s ties to Utah
Middleton’s love of entomology started when he was a child. He usually joined his mom, a geologist, on discipline journeys to southern Utah, and through one explicit journey, after “climbing on rocks and hopping over stuff,” he received bored, in response to a characteristic on the College of Minnesota’s graduate faculty web page.
That’s when Middleton regarded down and developed a fascination with the bugs he noticed crawling alongside the bottom.
“They’re so ubiquitous however they’re additionally so alien,” Middleton informed the College of Minnesota, the place he attended graduate faculty for entomology after finding out in Salt Lake Metropolis. “They stay completely in every single place however they’re so completely different from us.”
All through his runs on “American Ninja Warrior,” Middleton has loved sharing his ardour for bugs with the present’s viewers.
“It’s been actually nice to deliver extra consciousness about entomology,” he beforehand informed the College of Utah. “I’ve had folks attain out to me on Fb saying their children noticed me on the present they usually’re actually enthusiastic about bugs and excited that there’s any person else on the market who thinks bugs are cool.”
“American Ninja Warrior” airs Mondays on NBC at 7 p.m. MT.