Aidan Gonzales, a senior film concentration major at Texas State University, is a featured contestant in this year’s American Ninja Warrior (ANW) reality competition TV show. The 17th season was filmed in Las Vegas in Fall 2024 and began airing on NBC on June 2 with episodes available the next day on Peacock.
Gonzales advanced through his qualifying round, which aired June 23 on NBC. His semifinals round episode will air on NBC on July 14 at 7 p.m.
The aspiring filmmaker and his family have a long history of ANW fandom. Back in 2014, the Gonzales family was on vacation in Colorado when a rainy day spoiled their outdoor activities. They turned on the TV back in the hotel room and watched their first episode of ANW.
“I fell in love with seeing all these strong people going through challenging obstacles while being cheered on,” Gonzales said. “When we got back to Houston, we found out there was a ninja gym 15 minutes from our house that trains people specifically for American Ninja Warrior, so my dad took me there.”
When Gonzales arrived at the gym, he saw Sam Sann, who is regarded as one of the top ninjas from the show.
“It was so surreal because I was cheering for him on TV, so seeing him at the gym was really cool,” he said.
Since he did gymnastics as a child, Gonzales knew he could compete, so he trained by running through similar obstacles from age 11 through 17 at Iron Sports where he would later become a coach.
When he returns home to Houston during the summer and winter breaks, he still coaches part time, running kids and adults through basic and advanced obstacle moves.
Gonzales submitted his application and accompanying video to be on the show in July 2024. He received the call that he’d be accepted about three weeks later in the middle of coaching a class.
He was flown to record for the show in Las Vegas in September 2024. He had to take a few weeks off from in-person classes, but he made it work to make his dream a reality.
“I ran the qualifying course on a Monday, then found out I advanced to the semifinals, so I ran again the next day,” he said. “The semifinals course is somewhat the same but with more added to make it a lot harder.”
Even though he considers the experience of appearing on ANW a surreal experience, it was exactly how he imagined it.
“There was a crowd on the side, and the obstacles in front of me were super colorful and bright, and the cameras were all focused on me,” he said. “It was such an insane moment. I wasn’t very nervous because there was so much going on. The greatest part was it didn’t feel like I was competing with other people because everyone was there to cheer you on.”
While the world waits to watch the results, he said he’s going to continue to train harder and get stronger.
“It’s really cool to have people watch you on screen and look up to you like how I looked up to other people when I watch the show,” he said. “It’s a full circle moment.”