Deren Perez is a coast guard from Guam and also lives in Plymouth, England. Though he resides in a U.S. territory, Perez actually has dual citizenship in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and as such was able to compete on both American Ninja Warrior and Ninja Warrior UK, as well as SASUKE Vietnam due to the show's leniency to foreign competitors.
Ninja Warrior UK[]
Ninja Warrior UK 4[]
Perez competed in Ninja Warrior UK 4 in 2018. In this competition, he performed exceptionally, placing 1st in his heat, Heat 2, and later going on to clear the semi-finals course placing 7th.
In the finals round, he finished Stage One with 117 seconds left. He remarkably finished Stage Two with 37 seconds left on the clock and became one of only five remaining competitors to make it to the Third Stage. Finally, he made it to the Flying Bars before fatiguing on the second cradle of the obstacle. He ultimately went the second farthest out of every competitor participating in the tournament. He also was the first to beat Ninja Warrior UK's Crazy Cliffhanger.
Ninja Warrior UK 5[]
Deren also competed in Ninja Warrior UK 5 - but nearly fell on the Floating Steps and took two attempts to clear the Warped Wall. In the semi-finals, he completed the course in 3:06 - he was just 7 milliseconds ahead of Matt Varela-Christie. In Stage One, he cleared with 1 minute and 52 seconds left. In Stage Two, he cleared with 27 seconds left. In Stage Three, he seemed to have a solid grip on the fifth ledge on the Crazy Cliffhanger, but shockingly lost his grip with his left hand and let go completely from the momentum and failed.
SASUKE Vietnam[]
SASUKE Vietnam 5[]
Deren had the first SASUKE tournament with SASUKE Vietnam 5. He he cleared the Stage 1A with 113.10 seconds left, but that wasn't enough to get the "Run of the Night" award. But in Stage Two, he shockingly failed the Rope Swing part of Salmon Ladder, when he couldn't transit to the first rope.
American Ninja Warrior[]
American Ninja Warrior 9[]
Perez competed in 2017 in American Ninja Warrior 9's Kansas City course. In qualifying, his run was cut but he failed Crank It Up, placing 27th overall and advancing to the city finals.
In the city finals, he failed Crank It Up again. He placed 22nd overall, and therefore didn't advance to the national finals that season.
American Ninja Warrior 13[]
Deren was originally slated to return in ANW 12 for his second ANW competition. However, he was unable to due to the postponement of the season from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Likely to make up for this, he was able to participate in the 2021 ANW 13 season, competing on American Ninja Warrior for the first time in four years. He participated in the second episode of qualifying, where his run was all cut, but he made it to the fifth obstacle, V Formation, before failing. This was enough for him to advance to the semifinals as he placed 24th in the leaderboard. In the city finals, he put up a good run and made it all the way to Split Decision and chose Tuning Forks but failed it. Fortunately, his time was good enough to place him 6th and advance to the national finals this time around.
In the national finals, his run was digested, but it was shown that he failed Tire Run, ending his sophomore season.
American Ninja Warrior 14[]
He returned for his third season, competing in the last qualifying episode. His run was digested, but at Split Decision he went for the Despicaballs which he ended up failing, ending his season and making it the first time that he was eliminated during the qualifiers.
American Ninja Warrior 16[]
Deren was confirmed competing in American Ninja Warrior 16. However, his run was cut but it has been confirmed that he failed the Pole Vault in the seventh qualifier rounds and he did not make the runoff. This would mark his second straight time being eliminated in the qualifier round.
American Ninja Warrior 17[]
Deren returned to compete for his fifth season in the sixth and last qualifying episode. His run was digested, but he got revenge on both Crank It Up (which he failed twice in season 9) and V Formation (which he failed in season 13), and he ended up hitting his first ANW buzzer in 9th place, advancing to the semifinals for the first time since ANW 13.
He later competed in the last semifinals episode. His run there was also digested, but he failed on Corkscrew (which he previously competed in ANW 13), going out on the eighth obstacle. He placed 17th overall and advanced to the national finals for the second time.
In the national finals, Deren first raced against Noah Meunier in a digested performance, where Deren went out on the Ring Jump after his foot hit the water on the dismount and he lost the race. He then went up against Amir Malik and lost that race as well after he failed the Salmon Ladder. Lastly, he went up against Spencer Johnson. Though he couldn't advance to the next round, he did manage to beat Spencer who failed the Floating Monkey Bars, while Deren was able to complete the course, ending his season on a high note.
Trivia[]
- He and Tim Shieff are currently the only two competitors to have competed on regular seasons of both American Ninja Warrior and Ninja Warrior UK.
- Both of them hold both US and UK citizenship, thus making them eligible to compete on both shows.
Results[]
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Ninja Warrior UK[]
| NWUK | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Failed Flying Bar (Third Stage) | Transition to 2nd Cradle. | |
| 5 | Failed Crazy Cliffhanger (Third Stage) | Transition to Fifth Ledge. |