Geoff Britten (ジェフ・ブリテン) is a cameraman from Olney, Maryland and currently living in Castle Rock, Colorado. He is nicknamed "Popeye" because of his abnormally large forearms. He is famously known for being the first ever American Ninja Warrior, achieving total victory on season 7.
American Ninja Warrior 6[]
He first competed in American Ninja Warrior 6 where he was the only rookie to complete the St. Louis Finals course. In Vegas, his run was all cut, but it was later revealed he fell on the Jumping Spider.
American Ninja Warrior 7[]
He returned in American Ninja Warrior 7 stronger than ever, with fellow competitor Joe Moravsky even choosing him as his pick to advance all the way to Total Victory. He completed the Pittsburgh Qualifying and was the fastest finisher on the city finals course. Britten set a blazing pace through all of the upper-body obstacles, including the Devil Steps, Doorknob Arch, and Invisible Ladder.
In Vegas, he completed the Jumping Spider and finished Stage One. He then finished Stage Two with the fastest time of all eight finishers finishing with 29.11 seconds remaining. He was the last to run Stage Three and he almost fell on the last rung of the Flying Bar with his grip giving out, managing to hold on with his fingertips and became the second competitor to complete Stage Three, collapsing on the mat.
Geoff Britten at Stage 3 - American Ninja Warrior
Having completed Stage Three in a slower time than fellow finalist Isaac Caldiero, attempted the final stage before Caldiero due to Issac's decision. Despite this, Britten completed the final stage with 0.3 seconds remaining, becoming the first American in both SASUKE and American Ninja Warrior history to achieve Kanzenseiha/Total Victory. Geoff is also the first competitor to have a perfect season, having hit all six possible finish buttons in a season, and clearing the Third Stage and claiming the first ascent.
Due to the rules of American Ninja Warrior, however, which stated that only the competitor with the fastest time to complete the Final Stage would "win," Britten was defeated by fellow finalist Isaac Caldiero, who ascended the tower second but in a faster time. Because of this, Controversy rose over the rules of the stage, and starting from American Ninja Warrior 8, the rules were changed to splitting the prize money should 2 or more competitors finish the final stage.
Britten was part of Team USA on the USA vs. The World 2016 tournament. Geoff was supposed to run Stage Two and Stage Three, but because of flu-like symptoms, he was replaced by the alternate Joe Moravsky. In the end, the Americans ended up winning the tournament.
Geoff Britten at the Philadelphia Finals - American Ninja Warrior 2016
American Ninja Warrior 8[]
In American Ninja Warrior 8, Geoff competed in Philadelphia. But this time, he competed along with his wife Jessica. In Qualifying, while Jessica failed the Wall Drop during her run, Geoff made history by hitting the buzzer 7 times in a row and finished the course as one of only nine finishers in 7th place at 3:33.97, especially completing the Wall Drop and the Rolling Thunder. In the Finals, however, he failed on the Stair Hopper, ending his streak of hitting consecutive buzzers. His 8th place finish still earned him to the Las Vegas National Finals.
Unfortunately, in shock of everyone, including his fellow competitors, his supporters, and his family, he went out on the first obstacle, Snake Run, in Stage One. Britten's misstep on Snake Run was one of the most unimaginable shockers in the competition, if not the biggest one, along with the falls of Brent Steffensen, Travis Rosen, Jamie Rahn, Mike Bernardo, Kevin Bull, Ian Dory, and Jo Jo Bynum.
Prior to his runs in Philadelphia, he and Ryan Stratis were shown with Alex Weber on American Ninja Warrior: Crashing the Course to see the rule walk for the obstacles, he even poked a little fun at producer Trent saying he loves catching ninjas who aren't paying the attention, plus he and Ryan were the ones who were telling Alex no pictures and they were cheering him on as he was attempting the Pipefitter.
Temporary Retirement & Behind The Scenes Experience[]
Britten announced via his Facebook and Instagram page that he will be taken time off from American Ninja Warrior and probably won't return until he is 40. He said he would give American Ninja Warrior at least one more go.
Even though he would take a time off from American Ninja Warrior, on American Ninja Warrior 9, he was hired by ATS (the group that builds all of the obstacles that are presented on the show) to become a tester for the obstacles that are built, testing out the difficulty of these obstacles and working with the producers to gauge the difficulty of the obstacles, whether or not they would increase the difficulty or tone it down.
It was also revealed by Jamie Rahn in American Ninja Warrior 10 that Britten will serve as the creative director of Ninja Nation, a new ANW business founded by Ryan Stratis, Karsten Williams, himself and Britten. The business opened in September 2018 in Lafayette, Colorado.
Return to American Ninja Warrior & American Ninja Warrior 11[]
Days after Isaac Caldiero's announcement of his return on American Ninja Warrior by attempting the American Ninja Warrior 10 course in Indianapolis, Britten also announced via the Armchair Ninja Podcast that he will return to American Ninja Warrior by attempting the American Ninja Warrior 11 course. He was also briefly shown on the sidelines during Drew Drechsel’s run on Stage Three on American Ninja Warrior 10.
It should be worth noting that Britten was eligible to return/compete on ANW in spite of working behind the scenes with ATS. The rules for working on the show and competing is that you must have a minimum of one year in between the time you worked on the show and the time you plan to compete. In other words, Britten was eligible to compete on American Ninja Warrior 11 after working behind the scenes during American Ninja Warrior 9, having ANW 10 in between as a gap year.
Britten has confirmed on competing in the Tacoma course. Although his run was perhaps the most anticipated run of the season, his return was extremely short-lived. As arguably one of the season's largest shockers, he did not even make it past the qualifying course, stumbling and falling on the Broken Bridge. This was the first time that Geoff failed to finish a qualifying course, let alone advance to the city finals and the Las Vegas finals.
On a somber note, he revealed on social media that his run was supposed to be in honor of Travis McDaniel, the former president of the ATS Team who tragically passed away from leukemia on May 1, 2019.[1] This was due to him working with ATS in 2017, one year after his last appearance in ANW 8.
Geoff has not competed since his temporary return in ANW 11. In the book Become An American Ninja Warrior, Geoff said that American Ninja Warrior 11 might be his last ever tournament. He has been rumored to have been invited to compete in American Ninja Warrior 17 prior to finding out about the format, which he then declined his spot. Geoff made a post on the ANW subreddit expressing his opinion on what he was expecting season 17 to be.[2]
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Trivia[]
- Geoff currently holds the overall record for the least number of tournaments in American Ninja Warrior to achieve Kanzenseiha, taking only two.
- With the record with the least amount of tournaments taken to achieved Kanzenseiha in any SASUKE/Ninja Warrior format is only one, as Miyake Ayako achieved her first of three straight kanzenseihas in her debut on KUNOICHI 4, Kadoi Satomi achieved one of the two kanzenseihas in her first appearance on KUNOICHI 8, and David Campbell, who achieved total victory in SASUKE Vietnam 2.
- Geoff is the oldest person to achieve Kanzenseiha, having done so at 36 years of age.
- Geoff is the first person to have a perfect season, which means he hit six buzzers (no buzzer present on Third Stage) and completed the Third Stage in American Ninja Warrior 7.
- This record will later be broken by Drew Dreschel's performance in American Ninja Warrior 11, by hitting eight buzzers due to the introduction of the Power Tower.
- Geoff formerly holds the record for the number of buzzers hit continuously without falling, at seven (including all six in American Ninja Warrior 7 and qualifying in American Ninja Warrior 8).
- Geoff was invited to compete in SASUKE 32 but was forced to withdraw when the taping was brought forward by three weeks, causing a clash between the taping of the Philadelphia Regionals of American Ninja Warrior 8 and SASUKE 32.
- Geoff has a 100% clear rate for Stages Two, Three, and Four.
- It was revealed in ANW 7 that Britten can scale the Salmon Ladder with a single arm.
- During his Stage Two run in American Ninja Warrior 7, there was an editing error with regards to his time attempting the stage:
- Upon completing the Unstable Bridge, there was 1:30 left on the clock,
- But as he attempted the Butterfly Wall, an additional 15 seconds was mistakenly added, extending his time to 1:45, Britten would complete the obstacle at 1:17, and
- The timer returned back to normal in 1:02 as he started to attempt Roulette Row.
- He is the only competitor in American Ninja Warrior to fail the first obstacle of Stage One (Snake Run) after achieving Total Victory.
- He is also one of three champions worldwide to fail the first obstacle on Stage One (or the First Stage) along with Nagano Makoto and Akiyama Kazuhiko.
- Since the opening of Britten's new business, Ninja Nation, Britten's new motto is called "1 Million Heroes". Britten calls it "one million kids and adults pushing their minds and bodies to limits they never thought was possible."
- Geoff has the seventh fastest time to conquer Stage Four right behind Isaac Caldiero, Vance Walker (second and fourth fastest time), Drew Drechsel, Daniel Gil, and Caleb Bergstrom.
- After his qualifying run in American Ninja Warrior 8 during his interview with Kristine Leahy, she asked him if he had any changes he wanted for the finals and he said remove the fifth obstacle and she said, she'll make some calls, but she doesn't think so.
References[]
Team Ninja Record[]
| Season | Episode | Round | Heat | Opponent Team | Opponent | Result | Notes | Individual Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team: Ninja Brittens | ||||||||
| 1 | 5 (Qualifying) | Round One | 3 (Anchor Run) | Elet-Trikz | Dillon Gates | Loss | 0-1 | |
| 1 | 5 (Qualifying) | Round Two | 3 (Anchor Run) | Iron Grip | Daniel Gil | Loss | Geoff fell at the Dancing Stones. | 0-2 |
| 2 | 7 (Qualifying) | Round One | 3 (Anchor Run) | Towers of Power | Brandon Mears | Win
(This is the only race that his team won throughout the competition.) |
Brandon got disqualified after falling off the course at the Fly Wheels. | 1-2 |
| 2 | 7 (Qualifying) | Round Two | 3 (Anchor Run) | Team Ronin | Flip Rodriguez | Loss | Both of them fell at the Ring of Fire. However, Flip reached the obstacle first. | 1-3 |
American Ninja Warrior Results[]
| ANW | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Failed Jumping Spider (Stage One) | All Cut. | |
| 7 | Kanzenseiha | 00.35 seconds left. First ascent, but was slower than Isaac Caldiero, thus finishing as the runner-up. | |
| 8 | Failed Snake Run (Stage One) | Stated he would no longer train for the show, because he would rather raise his family in the post run interview. |