Yamada Katsumi's Glove Disqualification

Yamada Katsumi's Glove Disqualification (simply known as Glove Case in Japanese community) is a disqualification that occurred during SASUKE 12's Second Stage, where Yamada Katsumi was disqualified for failing to remove his gloves before attempting Spider Walk.

For safety reasons, competitors were advised to wore gloves on Chain Reaction, but it must be removed before attempting Spider Walk. Yamada did not know about this (and the rule was never explicitly stated) and thus was given a do-over of Second Stage. The re-run ended in another dispute, this time as the button to finish the stage seemed to have malfunction, so a second do-over was given, resulting in three runs in total. Most people have only seen his first run, due to the fact only the first run was shown on the TBS and its rebroadcasts later, with the other two being exclusively shown on an episode of the magazine show ZONE.

Yamada's First Attempt
This was the only run shown in the TBS broadcast and all other broadcasts there after. During his introduction to the stage, Yamada is shown wearing his red and white gloves for his iron works job. Nervous about Chain Reaction after the last tournament's accident, Yamada brings these gloves to the course. He uses those own gloves on Chain Reaction, but forgot to take them off before Spider Walk, thus triggering a disqualification. He goes on to defeat Balance Tank that he failed in SASUKE 11 and ultimately clears with 3.55 seconds left. However, the judges rules that Yamada has been disqualified as he failed to remove his gloves before Spider Walk as required. Yamada appealed, stating he was unaware that removing the gloves was compulsory before Spider Walk, as it wasn't explained to him beforehand. As a result, the judges gave Yamada a rare second attempt at the course.

Yamada's Second Attempt
Yamada's second run was cut from the TBS broadcast, but shown on an episode of ZONE, a magazine show similar to the future show SASUKE Mania. In this run, Yamada cleared most of Second Stage, but despite seemingly pressing the button with a second left, was considered timed out on Wall Lifting. Yamada again protested in response, claiming there was a mechanical problem with the button. After review, the judges then awarded him an unprecedented third attempt of Second Stage. He was given a ten-minute break to allow Jordan Jovtchev and Nagano Makoto ran first, as well to let him rest for a while.

Yamada's Third Attempt
Yamada's third and final attempt was (like his second run) also shown exclusively on ZONE and never shown in the original TBS broadcast in full. The only official SASUKE footage of this run was shown during SASUKE 12's Opening, where Yamada was shown falling off Brick Climb after his left foot missed a brick, making him fell to the bottom of the obstacle. Yamada suffered an injury on his right foot as a result of the fall and struggled to continue, taking several seconds to recover before eventually completing Brick Climb with 20 seconds remaining. He then timed out midway through Spider Walk.

However, he continued to run the rest of the course, similar to what had happened in SASUKE 8. The producers shouted at Yamada over and over to stop, but an emotional Yamada didn't care about/listen to them, shouting in anger as he crossed Gyakusō Conveyor and Wall Lifting. After pressing the red button once more (though he knew it was useless), he proceed to lean his body on the gate, resulting in the gate tearing away from the platform, dropping him and the gate together to the ground. His father then came to carry the emotional Yamada to the sideline. He was interviewed shortly afterwards and he expressed his regrets and apologies, especially to the producers for his behaviour during the third run and Nagano Makoto for failing to making their dreams to attempt Third Stage together come true. He then proceed to say "Makoto will win it for me", which made Nagano walk away in tears over his friend's fallen dream.

Ultimately, the judges ruled that Yamada's first run would be the official result, ignoring the re-runs.

Timeline
山田勝己手套事件