Scott Willson

Scott Willson IV is a Chess Instructor from Laverne, California, who first competed in American Ninja Warrior 7. On the ANW course, Scott Willson is nicknamed The Chess Ninja.

Scott has also been a contestant on the game show, Wipeout. On the show, his full name was revealed as Scott Wilson IV. Wilson was nicknamed on Wipeout as "The Checkmater". He was on a special episode in which male competitors would try to beat the whole course to not only win $50,000, but to win a date with the co-host, Jill Wagner. Scott appeared in the fourth episode in the seventh and last season of Wipeout, where he made it to the Wipeout Zone, the last stage of the show. Willson completed the course, but lost to fellow Wipeout competitor Nick Santos. However, he was actually awarded a $500 cash prize for being the last competitor standing in the second round, the Sweeper.

American Ninja Warrior 7
Scott first competed in Venice in American Ninja Warrior 7. His run in qualifying was cut but it was revealed in his submission video for ANW 8, that he had failed on the Tilting Table and didn't make the top 30.

American Ninja Warrior 8
Scott returned to compete in Los Angeles in American Ninja Warrior 8 his run in Qualifying was cut but it was revealed that he failed the I-Beam Cross he did manage to gab the final spot in the top 30. in the city finals he failed the Salmon Ladder and placed 22nd overall.

Willson also competed in Team Ninja Warrior 2 as an alternate for Daniel Gil's team, "Iron Grip". Willson filled in for Nate Burkhalter after he injured his right arm on the Floating Tiles. Willson proved to be a formidable replacement, winning against JJ Woods in the knockout round match-up against Team Ronin. His team later lost against Joe Moravsky's team, the Storm Team in the relay showdown.

American Ninja Warrior 9
Scott returned to compete in LA again in American Ninja Warrior 9 where he failed the Battering Ram but placed 28th and moved on to the city finals.

In the city finals his run was digested but it was shown that he failed the Cannonball Drop. Willson placed 29th overall, and once again did not move on to Vegas.

American Ninja Warrior 10
Scott returned to compete in LA for the third straight year in American Ninja Warrior 10. His qualifying run was once again cut, but he failed the Doorknob Drop, making it his third straight year falling on the fifth obstacle in city qualifying. He still qualified for the city finals by placing 14th.

In the city finals, Scott was rushing and tried going for a long dismount on the Spinning Bridge. While attempting it, he fell over and almost twisted his back in the process. He placed 28th out of 34 city finalists competing, and once again did not advance to Vegas.

American Ninja Warrior 11
Scott returned to compete in Los Angeles again for American Ninja Warrior 11 with a comedic new nickname, the "Chess Teaching Gym Owning Parkour Ninja Educating Guy who also jumps out of planes now and might eventually teach that too, or not, who knows? Ninja". For the first time in his career, he completed the qualifying course. Not only that, but his first buzzer was at the top of the Mega Wall, which he succeeded on his first attempt. As a result, he received a $10,000 cash prize and placed 6th overall, guaranteeing him a spot in the city finals.

In the city finals his run was digested but it was shown that he had finally got revenge on the Salmon Ladder (the obstacle he failed back in ANW 8), and made it all the way to the Leaps of Faith before falling. Like qualifying, he placed 6th overall at the end of the night, and he advanced to the national finals for the first time in his career.

His run in the national finals was cut, but it was revealed that he failed the Double Dipper.

Trivia

 * Willson is the third ANW competitor to have previously competed on the game show, Wipeout, after Jessie Graff (who competed on the first season of Wipeout), and Jim Klimek (who competed on the sixth season).
 * Later, Jeremy Rivette and Wilson Kennedy became the third and fourth Wipeout competitors to also compete on American Ninja Warrior. Rivette previously competed in season 5 of Wipeout, while Kennedy previously competed in season 4.
 * Out of the five however, Scott is the only one to have won money from both game shows. He was awarded $500 for being the last competitor standing on the Sweeper in Wipeout, and has received $10,000 for his Mega Wall completion in American Ninja Warrior 11.