Floating Monkey Bars

The Floating Monkey Bars is an obstacle, firstly introduced as the eighth obstacle during Pittsburgh finals on American Ninja Warrior 7.

It consisted of two bars and six suspended trays. After completing the Salmon Ladder, competitors must transfer to the two bars positioned in the first two trays. Then, they must move forward by continuing to move the rear bar to the next tray, until they were close enough to make the dismount to the landing platform.

Several competitors carelessly dropped one of the bar, resulting them must directly make the dismount to the landing platform (with most of them failed to do it).

In its debut during Pittsburgh finals, 7 out of 18 competitors could complete the obstacle, including Joe Moravsky, Elet Hall, Jamie Rahn, Mike Bernardo, Sean Darling-Hammond, and Geoff Britten. On the other side, competitors such as Brian Wilczewski, Aaron Himelright, and Todd Mitchell failed on this obstacle.

American Ninja Warrior 8
The Floating Monkey Bars made its second appearance on American Ninja Warrior 8, once again as the eighth obstacle during Atlanta finals. This time, the fifth tray was moved six inches above the others for adding difficulty.

This time around, 16 competitors attempted the obstacle, and just like during Pittsburgh finals on the previous season, seven competitors completed the obstacle. Notable competitors who went out on the obstacle included Neil Craver, Todd Bourgeois, Mack Roesch, Yuri Force, Mike Chick, and both the Brazi Bros (Lucas Gomes and Alexio Gomes).

American Ninja Warrior 9
The Floating Monkey Bars returned once again on American Ninja Warrior 9, as the eighth obstacle during Kansas City finals. This time, one tray was added at the end of the obstacle, making it seven suspended trays, with the fifth tray was placed higher than the other trays.

However, unlike during the past two American Ninja Warrior seasons, the obstacle became more brutal, as only 2 out of 9 competitors (Mitch VeDepo and Tyler Yamauchi) could complete it. This was likely due to fatigue and early eliminations from the front-half obstacles, mostly on the Broken Pipes and Bar Hop. Competitors who failed on the obstacle included Lance Pekus, Jeremiah Morgan, Dave Cavanagh, Hunter Guerard, Eric Middleton, Jelani Allen, and Alex Carson.

Later, combined with the other obstacles, Kansas City finals on American Ninja Warrior 9 became just the second city finals course in American Ninja Warrior history to have zero finishers (after Philadelphia finals on American Ninja Warrior 8).

American Ninja Warrior 11
After being absent for one season, the Floating Monkey Bars appeared as the eighth obstacle during Seattle-Tacoma finals on American Ninja Warrior 11. This time, the cradles were angled and positioned behind their support structures.

The obstacle became much more brutal once again, as only Karson Voiles, Jessie Graff, and Dan Yager could complete it out of 14 competitors who attempted it. Likely, this was caused by the brutality of the Lightning Bolts, which eliminated over 50% of the entire city finalists field. Notable competitors who went down on this obstacle included Sean Bryan, Nate Burkhalter, Nick Hanson, Mady Howard, Sandy Zimmerman, Zack Scholes, Matt Dolce, and Scott Behrends.

The three competitors who completed the obstacle eventually fell on the next obstacle, the Northwest Passage, making Seattle-Tacoma finals on American Ninja Warrior 11 became the third instance in American Ninja Warrior history where no competitor was able to complete the city finals course (after American Ninja Warrior 8's Philadelphia finals and American Ninja Warrior 9's Kansas City finals), the second consecutive time the Floating Monkey Bars was on a course that had this occurrence happened (after American Ninja Warrior 9's Kansas City finals), and the first ever instance where no competitor was able to reach the final obstacle of the city finals course.

Australian Ninja Warrior
On Australian Ninja Warrior 2, the Floating Monkey Bars appeared as the seventh obstacle during the semifinals (except in Semifinal 4), with just four trays used.

Similar to its appearance on American Ninja Warrior, the obstacle was preceded by the Salmon Ladder with no rest. However, unlike on American Ninja Warrior (where both the Salmon Ladder and Floating Monkey Bars were counted as one separate obstacle each), both the Salmon Ladder and Floating Monkey Bars on that competition were combined and counted as one obstacle. Therefore, the obstacle was named as the Salmon Ladder to Floating Monkey.

Then, on Australian Ninja Warrior 5, the Floating Monkey appeared as the fifth obstacle Heat 1 and Heat 3. This time, there were six cradles, each was placed at different position. There was a rope and a laché bar at the start as the medium to reach this obstacle, as well as another laché bar after the sixth tray. The obstacle was also paired with the Flying Shelf Grab as part of the Crossroads' Path A.

Competitors' Success Rate

 * All results based on the NBC broadcast and external information found