Nate Hansen is a business student from Boulder, Colorado. He suffers from Growth Hormone Deficiency, and therefore only stands 5’2". He is also known as "The Gnarly Ninja" or "Gnarly Nate".
American Ninja Warrior 12[]
Nate first competed on American Ninja Warrior 12 as a part of Tyler Gillett's team. He ended up completing the qualifying course and hitting the first buzzer of the season. He advanced to the semifinals placing 3rd. In the semifinals, however, he surprisingly failed on the new balance obstacle, Burn Rubber. He placed 23rd overall, and did not advance to the finals.
American Ninja Warrior 13[]
Nate competed in the 4th qualifier of the season. He had high hopes for himself beginning his sophomore season, and ultimately he cleared with a time of 2:03:53 being the 4th fastest finish of the night. He later competed in the last semifinals episode. There, he was the first shown to have finished the course, placing 7th overall. On Stage One, however, he failed the Jumping Spider, ending his sophomore season.
American Ninja Warrior 14[]
Nate competed on the fourth qualifier round of American Ninja Warrior 14. He was the last runner to be broadcasted on the episode. He delivered a smooth run, being the fastest finisher of the qualifier that round in addition to one of just 8 finishers that night. It is worth noting that although he was the final finisher shown on broadcast, he was actually the first competitor to finish the course during the raw taping, being the 24th competitor to run overall.[1]
Nate later competed in the fourth semifinals episode. There he once again cleared the course, this time with the 2nd fastest time, meaning that he was able to go to the Power Tower to race against his good friend Austin Gray. On the Power Tower, Nate got hung up on the ropes and it looked like Austin was going to get the Safety Pass for the second year in a row. But on the cliffhanger ledge, Austin ended up slipping off so than all that Nate had to do with clear the rest of the Power Tower, which he did, which meant that he had the Safety Pass for his second appearance at the national finals.
On Stage One, history repeated itself as he failed the Jumping Spider again, but since he had the Safety Pass, he was given another chance. On his second run, he got revenge on the Jumping Spider, but got hung up on Tetherball (which took out his good friend Austin Gray earlier). When he reached the cargo net on Fly Hooks, he had 14 seconds to climb, and so he had to race for the buzzer. Fortunately, he was able to finish with 02.96 seconds remaining, and so he moved on to Stage Two.
On Stage Two, he was shown as the last runner and he had little trouble, clearing the stage with 9 seconds left. On Stage Three, he had a good save on Patriot Pass and he a lot of trouble on Pipe Dream as he tried to reach out on the last two poles. He eventually decided to jump to the last pole and cleared it. He ultimately failed on Eyeglass Alley, which was the same obstacle Austin failed on last season, after he slipped off the final eyeglass, ending his best season to date.
American Ninja Warrior 15[]
Nate returned in the second half of the first qualifying episode in American Ninja Warrior 15. Like previous seasons, he flew through the first part of the course with ease, but rushed and shockingly fell on the fifth obstacle, Ring the Bells, making it the first time he failed in qualifying. He still managed to advance to the semifinals by placing 7th overall.
He later competed in the first semifinal episode, racing against another fan favorite competitor, Jackson Twait, in the final full race shown. Nate reached the Slingshot first, but got hung up on that obstacle after the bar was left hanging on one elastic band on each side, giving Jackson the win. Despite the loss, Nate was one of the two best non-winners and once again advanced to the National Finals.
At the National Finals, Nate easily completed the first four obstacles of Stage One. But unfortunately, he missed the playing card on The Gambler. On a shocking note, this meant his season ended without a buzzer.
American Ninja Warrior 16[]
Nate returned in the fifth round of qualifying on American Ninja Warrior 16. As usual, he flew through the early obstacles. However, in an unexpected turn of events, he failed the backwards transition on Heavy Metal, which shocked everyone in the process. In the post-run interview, he said that he was worried about hitting his head on the second hook like a lot of other competitors had that night and during the previous episode. His run put him in 13th place, where he was in danger of being eliminated from the competition. Ultimately, he was eliminated by the final runner, his good friend Austin Gray, who completed the Spinning Bridge in a faster time and the course altogether. This meant that Nate didn't make it to the semifinals for the first time in his career and the second straight season he failed to hit a buzzer.
American Ninja Warrior 17[]
Nate competed in the second round of qualifying in American Ninja Warrior 17. His run was digested for once, but it was shown that he fell early on the Log Runner, an obstacle he had managed to clear twice in the past, not moving onto the semifinals for the second year in a row and the third straight season where he didn’t hit a buzzer, thus ending his worst season to date.
His attempt on both Fly Wheels and Log Runner would later be uploaded to the Ninja Warrior Instagram channel.
Trivia[]
- He is the fourth ninja after Drew Drechsel, Flip Rodriguez, and Joe Moravsky to successfully clear Stage One on their second try.
American Ninja Warrior Results[]
| ANW | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Failed Jumping Spider (Stage One) | ||
| 14 | Failed Eyeglass Alley (Stage Three) | ||
| 15 | Failed The Gambler (Stage One) |