Jawbreakers

Jawbreakers is an obstacle that was first introduced as the third obstacle in Stage Two on American Ninja Warrior 15, replacing Piston Plunge from the previous season. Competitors must jump a bar into a steel trap three times before dismounting to the landing platform. Each trap consists of a U-shaped cradle with two flaps covering the opening of the cradle, and each cradle was angled 45 degrees away from the water.

While the approach to the obstacle is quite simple: force the bar in between the flaps, generate enough momentum to jump the bar into the trap, and land both sides of the bar into the trap at the same time - competitors could take several steps to minimize the time spent:

Minimize the number of swings on each bar.
Lache from one bar to the other instead of going hand-over-hand.
Link all the laches by jumping the bar into its trap, immediately lache to the next bar, and lock it in all in one fluid movement.

Due to the nature of Stage Two being a side-by-side course, the rush of each race lead to four top competitors failing on this obstacle in its first appearance: Isaiah Thomas, Flip Rodriguez, Evan Andrews, and most shockingly, Joe Moravsky. All four of them only locked one side of a bar into the trap, failing to force the other side in.

Other Seasons Appearances[]

American Ninja Warrior: Women’s Championship 4[]

Jawbreakers reappeared as the third obstacle of the side-by-side Stage Two in the fourth ever women’s championship. In this competition, a pair of footrests was added at the beginning of the obstacle, allowing competitors to rest. Out of six attempts, it only eliminated two competitors: Mady Howard, who missed the second jump with the right side of the bar, and Jessie Graff, who accidentally kicked the final bar out of place. Interestingly, this obstacle was the deciding factor in the race between Howard and Graff, which was the first time in any race.

American Ninja Warrior 16[]

Jawbreakers appeared as the fifth obstacle during the first and seventh round of qualifiers on American Ninja Warrior 16, with several modifications. The second trap was angled slightly downwards, while the third set of cradles angled completely downwards so that its flaps was parallel to the pool of water. This required competitors to jump the bar under the cradle and thrust the bar vertically mid-air. The first trap was placed at an identical angle to its first appearance in Stage Two.

Because the obstacle was preceded by the starting platform rather than the Double Salmon Ladder, competitors could rest beforehand. Additionally, because it was not placed on a side-by-side course, competitors were allowed to take their time rather than being forced to rush, unless they want to attempt the Mega Wall. Regardless, the obstacle's modifications and the weaker competitor field resulted in a higher failure rate. Between the first and seventh rounds, 8 of the 19 competitors failed: Jesus Capote, Dillon Ruble, Madelyn Madaras, Jonah Maningo, Anthony Porter, Josh Salinas, Karson Voiles, and Karen Potts. Additionally, Isaiah Thomas completed the obstacle after failing it on Stage Two in the previous season.

American Ninja Warrior 16's Jawbreakers in Qualifiers 4 and 6

This obstacle reappeared in the fourth and sixth round of qualifying with another series of modifications. The final two cradles were angled identically to the first two cradles in its earlier Qualifiers appearance. The first cradle was angled upwards such that the flaps were perpendicular to the pool of water. In other words, the first flap was angled so that it looked like the letter D. This version was by far the easiest, as only 10 competitors failed it out of 27 attempts: Jamie Rahn, Ben Kooper, John Uga, Guang Cui, David Campbell, David Fleming, Vincent Pane, Gavin Obey, Jesse Orenshein and Verdale Benson. Joe Moravsky also cleared the obstacle after failing it on Stage Two the previous season. Furthermore, the only female competitor to attempt this version, Abby Clark, cleared it without any issues.

Jawbreakers reappeared in American Ninja Warrior 16's Stage Two. It was identical to the previous season. Possibly due to its appearances in qualifying and Stage Two of the previous season, coupled with a far stronger competitive field, this obstacle became significantly easier. In fact, out of twenty-five competitors, only three failed it: John Mack, Joe Meissner, and most shockingly, Kaden Lebsack (the latter two completed this obstacle before: Meissner in the qualifiers round, and Lebsack in the previous season). In Lebsack's case, his fall was particularly interesting: while he locked the right side of the second bar into the steel trap, he accidentally jumped the left side too high, resulting in it resting on top of the trap. When he attempted to correct his mistake, the left side slipped out, and he fell into the water. On the other hand, Isaiah Thomas, Joe Moravsky, and Flip Rodriguez were able to past this version after falling there the previous season.

Other Appearances[]

Ninja Warrior Germany[]

In Ninja Warrior Germany 9, Jawbreakers, locally called Hufeisen-Sprung (literally Horseshoe Jump), made its first international appearance, serving as the third obstacle during the Semi-finals. The first set of cradles was positioned such that it looked like a D, identical to the fourth and sixth round of the Qualifiers rounds. The other two cradles were positioned at an angle of 45° away from the water, identical to American Ninja Warrior's Stage Two version. Furthermore, a pole was added to the beginning of the obstacle to assist competitors in reaching the first bar. However, competitors were allowed to bypass the pole completely by leaping from the starting platform to the first bar.

The Jawbreakers proved to be the most brutal obstacle across the Semi-finals, as it eliminated 42 out of 77 competitors who attempted it, with the biggest shock fails from several notable competitors such as the Speed Pass winners Philipp Göthert, René Casselly, Lukas Kilian & Len Schoemakers.

And while the obstacle was not significantly brutal in American Ninja Warrior, Jawbreakers here could arguably considered to be the most brutal obstacle ever featured.

Ninja Warrior France[]

During Ninja Warrior France 9, the Jawbreakers, locally called Les Mâchoires d'Acier (literally The Jaws of Steel), appeared as the fifth obstacle in the Final' Stage One. All three set of cradles was positioned such that it looked like a D, identical to the fourth and sixth round of the Qualifiers rounds.

It eliminated eight competitors including Thomas Hubener, Kawaguchi Tomohiro, Oshima Ayano, Immy Hales, Beth Lodge, Marvin Mitterhuber, Cintya, and Alban Chelmas Trapand. It was the most brutal obstacle on Stage One that season.

Trivia[]

Unlike other obstacles on American Ninja Warrior, which debuted on the show before making their way into Ninja gyms, Jawbreakers was first adopted in gyms. Its parent obstacle is called Bear Trap, named because it resembles the tool used to trap a bear's foot. As such, fans also commonly refer to Jawbreakers as Bear Trap; both are interchangable.
The name of the obstacle also refers to a jawbreaker, the North American name for a gobstopper. It is a type of hard candy that is thought of as impossible to be bitten into; one will break their jaws trying to bite it with their teeth. However, the name for the obstacle seems to be more literal: each steel trap is analogous to a human skull, and the flaps can be similar to the jawbones. By jumping the bar into the trap and forcing open the flaps, competitors must "break the teeth" (or jaws) of the trap to complete this obstacle.
- In Ninja Warrior Germany, the obstacle was called Hufeisen-Sprung, literally Horseshoe Jump, as the steel trap cradles were thought to resemble classic horseshoes, due to their similar U-shapes.
- In Ninja Warrior France, the obstacle was called Les Mâchoires d'Acier, literally The Jaws of Steel, which was reference to the 1927 American synchronized sound family adventure film that directed by Ray Enright.
This is the first obstacle to debut on Stage Two on one season before appear on a qualifying course on a different season.
- Because American Ninja Warrior 15 and American Ninja Warrior 16 were filmed back-to-back, the Qualifiers and Semifinals of both seasons were filmed before the National Finals of American Ninja Warrior 15. As such, some competitors attempted the obstacle before American Ninja Warrior 15. This creates an interesting phenomenon in which competitors like Isaiah Thomas avenged their fall on a more difficult "returning" version of Jawbreakers before falling on the obstacle for the "first" time in the National Finals, only to conquer it again in the following season.
- This also continutes the trend of the third obstacle of Stage Two being an modified version of an city qualifiers/semifinals obstacle.
This is the second obstacle to appear in four qualifying rounds of a season, with Lasso Launch being the first.
During Josh Miller's Qualifiers run, the show included a picture of the obstacle before he could attempt the actual obstacle. However, the wrong picture was shown. It depicted the easier version (the one used in the fourth and sixth rounds of Qualifiers). The correct version should have been the more difficult variant, which was used in the first and seventh rounds.

Competitors' Success Rate[]

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

ANW	Clears	Attempts	Percentage
ANW15	24	28	85.71%
Women's Championship 4	4	6	66.67%
ANW16 (Qualifier 1)	7	12	58.33%
ANW16 (Qualifier 4)	9	13	69.23%
ANW16 (Qualifier 6)	8	14	57.14%
ANW16 (Qualifier 7)	4	7	57.14%
ANW16 (Stage Two)	26	29	89.66%
Total	82	109	75.23%

Ninja Warrior Germany[]

NWG	Clears	Attempts	Percentage
NWG9	35	77	47.30%
Total	35	77	47.30%