Doorknob Drop

The Doorknob Drop is an obstacle, firstly introduced as the fifth obstacle on American Ninja Warrior 10 in Los Angeles.

It featured 2 boomerang-shaped boards, with the second half of the first board facing each other with the first half of the second board. Each board contained a different number of doorknobs (17 doorknobs on the first board and 10 doorknobs on the second board). The first board was symmetrical, while the second board had its first half much shorter than its second half.

Competitors must climb up a rope to reach the first board. Then, they must use their upper-body to traverse the first board's doorknobs (in a similar fashion with the Doorknob Arch). After that, they must make the transition to the second board by turning their body around, then traversed the second board's doorknobs, and finally made the dismount to the landing platform. When the competitors reached the end of each board, it would tilt in favor of their weight, creating a drop that tested their grip strength. Also, several doorknobs were stationary, while others would rotate when the competitors grabbed on them (similar to the Doorknob Grasper).

During Los Angeles qualifiers, the obstacle was proven to be brutal, as it took out many top competitors, including Flip Rodriguez, Kevin Bull, Tiana Webberley, Grant McCartney, Anna Shumaker, Selena Laniel, Gabe Hurtado, Zhanique Lovett, Scott Willson, Jeremy Rivette, Westley Silvestri, Anthony Trucks, Austin Seibert, Verdale Benson, Ruben Arellano and Davyon Hancox. In total, 27 competitors fell on this obstacle and only 10 competitors were able to complete the obstacle.

During Los Angeles finals, the obstacle was made easier by drastically reducing the speed of the drop and one doorknob at the first board was modified. As the result, only Zhanique Lovett fell on the obstacle.

The Doorknob Drop was attempted early during Celebrity Ninja Warrior: Red Nose Day 2. However, the number of doorknobs was reduced to 22 (13 doorknobs on the first board and 9 doorknobs on the second board), and the doorknobs were more peg-like and stationary. Among the 5 celebrity competitors who attempted the obstacle, only Derek Hough failed to complete it.

Australian Ninja Warrior
On Australian Ninja Warrior 4, the Doorknob Drop appeared as the fourth obstacle in Heat 1 and Heat 2. This time, the obstacle featured eight doorknobs on the first board and six doorknobs on the second board, with a pole as the medium for competitors to reach the first doorknob.

Similar to the one that happened during Los Angeles qualifiers on American Ninja Warrior 10, the obstacle was proven to be ruthless and brutal, as only eleven competitors completed this obstacle across two heats (eight competitors in Heat 1 and three competitors in Heat 2). The obstacle was served as the cut-off for the competitors in those two heats to advance to the semifinals.

This obstacle would also appear as the second obstacle in Stage Three of Australian Ninja Warrior 5, but now competitors would use the rope to reach the first doorknob. From there, Zak Stolz, the Last Man Standing of the competition, failed on the dismount to the landing platform.

Competitors' Success Rate

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