R.J. Roman is a musician from Orlando, Florida. He is currently the bass player for the band Emuness, which he has played ever since childhood to cope with his personal stress.
R.J. also has a twin brother named Robert, who serves as the drummer in Emuness.
American Ninja Warrior 10[]
R.J. first competed in Miami in American Ninja Warrior 10. In qualifying, he failed the Slippery Summit but placed 14th overall at the end of the night. In the city finals, he got redemption on the Slippery Summit despite a few struggles. However, he later continued all the way to the Crazy Clocks until gassing out. At the end of the night, he placed 11th overall and advanced to Vegas in his rookie season. His run on Stage 1 was digested but it was shown that he finished with 21.90 seconds remaining. On Stage 2, he failed Wingnut Alley, and was one of the top rookies that year along with Zach Day and Mathis Owhadi.
American Ninja Warrior 11[]
He returned in Atlanta on American Ninja Warrior 11. This season, he was determined to participate in the Power Tower showdown. In qualifying, despite struggling on the Bouncing Spider, he still blew through the course with relative ease. Unfortunately, he just missed out on the Power Tower, as Tyler Gillett and Drew Drechsel beat him as the top 2 of the Atlanta qualifying round; he placed 3rd overall. In the city finals, his run was digested, but it was shown that he gassed out at the end of the course, failing Spider Trap. In Vegas, despite a near fall on Tire Run, Roman made it past Stage 1 for the second year in a row. He was also one of 21 competitors to complete Stage 2 that year. On Stage Three, however, he fell very early at the second obstacle, Iron Summit.
American Ninja Warrior 12[]
R.J. was invited to compete in the modified Season 12, bringing along Jessica Helmer and Ben Melick. He blazed through the qualifying course with a time of 1:10, earning him the fastest time and a spot on the Power Tower. R.J. went on to narrowly beat Sean Bryan on the power tower, earning his teammates a spot in the semifinals. In the semifinals, his run was digested, but he was shown to have finished the course with the 4th fastest time. In the finals, R.J. failed the Dragonback after the bar became uneven on the second drop. Unfortunately, he finished in 9th place, missing the Power Tower playoffs by 3 seconds.
American Ninja Warrior 13[]
R.J. returned to compete for this fourth season, participating in Qualifier 3. It was also revealed that he cut his hair to make it shorter. His run was digested, but it was shown that he attempted the Mega Wall, but failed it. He then bounced back to the regular Warped Wall, earning the fastest time of the night. He later competed in the third semifinals. His run there was also digested, but it was shown that he wanted to get back to the Power Tower as he blazed through the first eight obstacles. He was a bit tired by the time he got to the Split Decision, so he went for the Diving Boards and he failed there. Despite this, he once again qualified for the national finals, by placing 7th overall. In Vegas, he was a favorite to go all the way to Total Victory. Unfortunately on the Fly Hooks, he was never able to get the transition on the first hook to the second hook, getting stuck here. Eventually he backflipped into the water after the time was about to run out on him, ending his season and marking the first time that he failed on Stage One.
American Ninja Warrior 14[]
RJ returned to compete for his fifth season. He first competed in the first qualifying episode as the last runner of that episode. His run was arguably the best of his career. Outside of a stumble on the Domino Effect, he once again blazed through the course with the fastest time, making it the third straight season that he managed to do so. After missing it the previous season, he successfully scaled the Mega Wall (one of four to do so in that episode), winning $10,000. He later competed in the third semifinals episode. There he almost went to got revenge on the Diving Boards at Split Decision but he changed his mind went for Flipped Around which he cleared despite being pumped. He than went on to hit his second buzzer on a semifinal course. He placed 3rd overall and missed out on the Power Tower, but he still advanced for his fourth appearance at the national finals. In the national finals, he was once again a favorite to go all the way. He got revenge on the Fly Hooks and finished Stage One with 30.91 seconds remaining. On Stage Two, he was one of ten to clear the Falling Shelves, and ultimately Stage Two with 40.48 seconds left, and he advanced to Stage Three for the first time since ANW 11. On Stage Three, he got past the second obstacle this time around. He nearly failed on Pipe Dream, but he still cleared the obstacle. On the Flying Bar, his grip was starting to give out on him on the second to last cradle so he decided to skip the last cradle, just getting the dismount, and he managed to clear, becoming the third of a record five competitors to clear the third stage this season. On Stage 4, he was the second competitor to run. He started off strong, but he unfortunately timed out about 70 feet up, ending his best season to date. He had the fourth best performance of the season.
American Ninja Warrior 15[]
RJ returned to the course in American Ninja Warrior 15 for his sixth season and it showed shots of his runs from Ninja Warrior Germany: Four Nations Special 3 and talked about how he hasn’t fell in the water yet in over a year. In Qualifying, he finished the course with the fastest time of the night, marking the fourth straight season where he got the fastest time and kept the not falling in the water streak alive. Since he finished under 1:20, he got to try the Mega Wall. Unfortunately, though his fingers just touched the ledge but couldn’t get over it causing him to just miss out on $10,000.
In the semifinals, his race against Daniel Osmer was surprisingly digested, but after Daniel fell on the Beehive, R.J. got the win and he later finished with the fastest time, earning him a spot in the Safety Pass race, going against his friend Elijah Browning. R.J. ultimately won the race, thus earning the Safety Pass.
In Vegas, on his first attempt on Stage One, he was on a fast pace, but began to slow from the middle of the course. As a result, in a similar fashion to American Ninja Warrior 13, he got hung up on the last obstacle, this time on Thread the Needle, and due to fatigue, he ended up falling. Luckily, thanks to the Safety Pass he earned in the semifinals, he would get a second attempt on Stage One. On his second attempt, he got revenge on Thread the Needle, and then completed Stage One with 41.44 seconds left. On Stage Two, he took on Ben Behrends. R.J. successfully completed the course and made another appearance on Stage Three, while Ben ultimately fell on Epic Air Surfer. In Stage Three, he was the last runner, and had few troubles, clearing it with the fastest time out of eight finishers. On Stage Four, he started off strong, but ran out of steam and unfortunately timed out for the second straight season.
Trivia[]
- Just before his Stage 2 run in American Ninja Warrior 10, he said that he has a skin disorder called vitiligo, which causes white patches on certain parts of his skin. These white patches are noticeable on his fingers. He is also the first known competitor to have it.
- He is the third ninja to clear the ANW12 and ANW14 version of the Falling Shelves.
- With his performance on American Ninja Warrior 14, R.J. became the second competitor to have attempted all six stages of the show at least once.
- He is the first competitor thus far to have failed every stage at least once ahead of Vance Walker.
- He holds the record for fastest time on a semifinals course with 48 seconds
- He, Josh Levin, Drew Drechsel, Daniel Gil, and Kaden Lebsack are the only ninjas to conquer Stage Three twice. He, Daniel Gil, and Kaden Lebsack are the only ones that have done it twice in the regular season.
- He and Kaden Lebsack are the only two ninjas to have done it in back-to-back season.
Results[]
American Ninja Warrior[]
| ANW | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Failed Wingnut Alley (Stage Two) | Transition to third wingnut. | |
| 11 | Failed Iron Summit (Stage Three) | Digest. | |
| 13 | Failed Fly Hooks (Stage One) | Digest. First fall on Stage 1. | |
| 14 | Failed Rope Climb (Stage Four) | Time Out. | |
| 15 | Failed Rope Climb (Stage Four) | Time Out. |
Ninja Warrior Germany: Four Nations Special[]
| Season | Stage | Round | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | First Stage | 1 | Clear (01:15.48) | Attempted the Mega Wall, but failed to complete it on his first and only attempt. Cleared the stage slower than René Casselly. Earned 2 points for Team USA. |
| Third Stage | 3 | Clear (02:XX.XX)* | Digest. The first moveable bar of the Up for Grabs fell off after he transitioned to the first stationary bar, so he had to make a far laché from the first stationary bar to the second stationary bar. Earned 3 points for Team USA. |
Extra Note*: His exact clear time on the Third Stage of that special is unknown, since it was not officially shown during the broadcast. However, during his profile piece before his Qualifying run in American Ninja Warrior 15, Roman himself mentioned that his clear time on that stage was sub 3:00 minutes.
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