'American Ninja Warrior': A champion will be crowned for the first time in four years

Unlike other reality competition shows, NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” doesn’t crown a champion every season. The first (and last) time an athlete won the $1 million grand prize was in 2015, when two men finished the grueling, four-stage obstacle course.

But a winner will be named in the Season 11 finale (Monday, 8 ET/PT).

“Every year, there's a World Series champion and a Super Bowl champion, but we don’t know if we’re going to get a Ninja Warrior,” says executive producer Arthur Smith. “It’s a quest and it’s so elusive.”

That elusive honor went to Isaac Caldiero four years ago, after both he and competitor Geoff Britton managed not to fall on three exceedingly challenging stages of obstacle courses, then climbed a 75-foot rope in under 30 seconds. Caldiero, now 37, was crowned the winner, because his rope climb was three seconds faster than Britton’s. That made for an exceptionally dramatic season.

But since then, no ninja has completed the third stage, let alone the Stage 4 rock climb. So producers had to get creative with novel incentives for speedy course finishes.

The two ninjas with the fastest qualifying runs competed for a Speed Pass, which automatically advances them to National Finals regardless of their performance at regional finals. The two competitors with the best course times in those City Finals went head-to-head for a Safety Pass, which gave them one do-over in Stage 1 or Stage 2 of the national finals. Both made it easier for contestants to advance.

And while the Warped Wall has long been an “ANW” staple, a taller version offered cash prizes for those who attempted it, but increased the risk of elimination.

“We’re not a very complacent group in ‘Ninja.’ Just as we’re reinventing the course, always adding a dozen or so new obstacles a year, we always try to throw new wrinkles into the show to keep it fresh,” says Smith. “It adds another layer of excitement to their runs.”

The show’s upgrades didn't knock out too many ninjas: 21 contestants made it to the third stage, far more than in previous seasons, and are heading into Stage 3 for the finale.

We can't reveal much more about how the show ends, just that the winner is a man. (But viewers already knew that, because only men have made it to Stage 3 of Season 11.) And that the “ANW” finale is quite the emotional nail-biter.

But women have made strides in “ANW” over the past decade, and more female athletes have competed on the show each year.

Kacy Catanzaro was the first woman to conquer the Warped Wall in 2014. Jessie Graff became the first female competitor to complete the Stage 1 course in 2016, and Stage 2 course in an “ANW” special in 2017. This year, Michelle Warnky and Jesse “Flex” Labreck became the second and third women to complete City Finals courses, and Sandy Zimmerman became the first mom to hit a buzzer.

“I think it’s gonna happen,” says Smith of a woman's chances of winning it all. “We don’t know when, but we have ideas on who it’s gonna be.”

But that doesn't mean that Smith is going to help male or female athletes get closer to Stage 4 in the future. He plans to make next year’s courses even more challenging.

Says Smith, “We love our ninjas, but we’re never going to make it easy for them.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Ninja Warrior': A champion will be crowned in a thrilling finale