Jake Murray

Jake Murray is a wedding photographer from Denver, Colorado. He is known for his crazy antics on the course. Murray is notably a fan-favorite on the course, with many children often being inspired by him.

American Ninja Warrior 7
Jake Murray first appeared in American Ninja Warrior 7 in Kansas City. His run was cut in qualifying, but he completed the course with the fifth fastest time, out of 38 finishers. In the city finals, he failed the Body Prop, placing 10th.

In Las Vegas, he completed Stage One with the second fastest time, celebrating by doing a cannonball into the water below. He later fell on the Double Salmon Ladder in Stage Two.

American Ninja Warrior 8
Jake Murray returned in American Ninja Warrior 8, now a fan favorite. He placed 2nd in both qualifying and finals in Indianapolis, completing both courses.

On Stage One, he puzzled many people by wearing a fanny pack during his run. After he completed the course with the fastest time, he took out a pair of goggles, preparing for another dive into the water below. Then he pulled out a corn dog, took a bite out of it, threw it behind him, and jumped into the water like in the year before. This was arguably one of the most favorable moments of the season.

In Stage Two, Murray got revenge from last season on the new Down Up Salmon Ladder and even cleared the next two obstacles. Unfortunately, on the Double Wedge, his grip strength gave out on the transition to the next bar, causing him to fall in the water.

American Ninja Warrior 9
Jake Murray returned for American Ninja Warrior 9 in Denver and had a fun entrance while riding a segway and kicking his helmet at the starting line. Although he was partying at the block, the celebration was cut short when he quickly and shockingly was eliminated on the third obstacle, the Bouncing Spider. He didn’t make it to the Top 30 for the first time as well as failing to make it Las Vegas and he was devastated.

American Ninja Warrior 10
After a disappointing exit last season, Murray cut his hair for American Ninja Warrior 10 and competed for redemption in Minneapolis. In qualifying, he moved through the obstacles at a steadier pace, despite struggling on Battering Ram, and attempted the Mega Wall, but failed to complete it. He still cleared the course, finishing with the 5th fastest time. In the city finals, he was the first competitor to complete the Iron Maiden, and despite struggling on the Spider Trap, he finished the city finals course for the second time in his career, placing 3rd overall.

In Vegas, he had a fun entrance as Grant McCartney pretended to be his "shoe caddy" at the starting line. He then cleared Stage 1 with the fastest time once again, beating Drew Drechsel's time by just 0.20 seconds, once again jumped into the water like he did in ANW 7 and 8. But on Stage Two, he shockingly failed the first obstacle, Epic Catch and Release.

American Ninja Warrior 11
Jake returned in the Tacoma qualifying course of American Ninja Warrior 11 where in qualifying, he came out of the start line wheeled out by Grant McCartney in a homage to Hannibal Lecter. It was shown in the city finals that he slipped on the asylum take originally; NBC just showed his successful second take on the routine and edited the first bloop out entirely (though it was shown in its entirety in the city finals round).

Despite the awkward first take on his starting line stunt, he managed to clear the course with the 3rd fastest time. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned for him in the city finals, as in a surprising turn of events, he was quickly eliminated by the Lightning Bolts. This became the second time he failed to move on to Vegas, as he ended up placing 16th at the end of the round.

Though he did not qualify for Vegas, he was a tester for Stage One of the national finals. He demonstrated the new second obstacle, Spin Your Wheels, on the first episode of the Las Vegas finals.

American Ninja Warrior 12
Jake was invited to compete in American Ninja Warrior 12, bringing along Barry Goers and Glenn Albright. In qualifiers, Jake was able to finish the course in 54.50 seconds, the fastest anyone has cleared a qualifying course since Season 6. Jake went on to beat Ethan Swanson on the Power Tower, which advanced his teammates to the semifinals. In the semifinals, Jake moved quickly on the first part of the course, and although he struggled on the Spider Trap, he managed to clear with the fastest time by one second. In the finals, Jake once again finished with the fastest time, giving him the top seed in the Power Tower playoffs. However, in a huge shock, Jake was upset in the first round by rookie Amir Malik, the 8th seed, ending his season.

American Ninja Warrior 13
Jake returned for the fourth round of qualifiers where he once again in true Jake Murray style flew across the first six obstacles where he got the fastest time in the qualifying round.

Jake then returned for the final round of the semi-finals where after watching his roommate, Ethan Swanson fly across the course until failing the Crazy Clocks. Jake still was flying across the course even getting past the Crazy Clocks which knocked out his roommate: Ethan Swanson, he then on Split Decision went with the Diving Boards which only a few ninjas had cleared, and then floated up the Spider Trap to get the fastest time of the night going against Austin Gray on the Power Tower. They were even throughout most of the run until the Falling Shelves where Jake started going sideways which proved to be the wrong move.

He returned for the last night of the National Finals where Jake was going for the fastest time of the night set minutes before by his Blonde Boyz friend: Kyle Soderman where Jake flew across the course leaving a time of 1:14:38 on the clock which is a new speed record on the clock during the regular season beating out Drew Drechsel back in Season 9 of 1:01 moving onto Stage 2.

Jake returned to compete in the final episode of Season 13 where he flew across the first five of obstacles of Stage 2. Then he once again faced the Falling Shelves where he flew across the first three easy enough then missed the final one and he then revealed that if he didn’t make it to the top of Stage 4 he would have to reevaluate to see if he would come back. This is his best season to date so far.

Team Ninja Warrior
Jake Murray was part of Party Time, led by Brian Arnold. In the first season of Team Ninja Warrior, Murray injured his left knee on the Ring Toss against the InvincAbels, and had to be replaced by Travis Weinand. By the end of the competition however, Party Time was crowned as the champions of the competition.

Shockingly enough, his team was eliminated early in qualifying in Team Ninja Warrior 2 when they lost against the NorCal Ninjas and then later the Golden Hearts in the knockout round in qualifying.

Party Time later got redemption in American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs. Ninja where the team made it all the way to the finals. They were eventually eliminated by Labreckfast Club, the team that ultimately reigned champion in the competition.

Becoming the Ultimate Ninja
Jake is to be featured in the upcoming docuseries, Becoming the Ultimate Ninja.