Sam Folsom is a college student from Woodriver, IL known for having a ninja course in his barn that he calls the "Danger Zone". He's also the husband of fellow competitor, Isabella Wakeham.
American Ninja Warrior 13[]
Sam first competed in the fifth and last qualifying episode, alongside his mentor Jamie Rahn. His run was digested, but he cleared the course in his rookie debut in 12th place, despite missing the Mega Wall.
Sam later competed in the fourth and last semifinals episode. His run there was also digested, but he hit himself on the ear on Drop Zone but he still cleared the obstacle. His run later ended at the eighth obstacle, going out on Crazy Clocks after his knee slightly pushed the middle ledge after he jumped to it, ending his rookie season.
American Ninja Warrior 16[]
Sam returned three seasons later in American Ninja Warrior 16. His qualifying run was digested, but he shockingly failed on Duck Duck Goose, an obstacle which he created for the Obstacle Design Challenge and completed in the second Couples Championship. Luckily, his time was fast enough for him to move on to the semifinals as he placed 11th, barely missing out on having to be in the run-offs.
Sam later raced against Jody Avila in the last semifinal episode. It was a close race that Jody had the lead for most of it, but then Sam got ahead on Spin Hopper and cleared the course before Jody. He additionally had the fastest time in that round, which have him a chance to compete in the Safety Pass race against John Mack. The Safety Pass race was really back and forth until John failed on Spin Hopper and Sam cleared the course in 41 seconds, giving him the Safety Pass for his first national finals appearance.
On Stage One, Sam would go surprisingly slow throughout the course, though he would get his first Stage One buzzer with 2.51 seconds left on the clock, having the second slowest time out of the 26 finishers of Stage One and he didn't need to use his Safety Pass. On Stage Two, he raced against his good friend, Kaden Lebsack. Sam won the race after Kaden shockingly failed on Jawbreakers and he cleared the course, advancing him to Stage Three. On Stage Three, Sam was looking strong until he failed on the new Pizza Party, ending his best season to date.
Sam is set to compete in American Ninja Warrior 17.
Trivia[]
- Sam is the second competitor to get to attempt his own fan-submitted obstacle, after Kevin Carbone. Unlike Carbone however, Sam is the first to fail to complete his own creation on the course.
- Sam is the first competitor to fail two seperate fan-submitted obstacle (Duck Duck Goose and Pizza Party) twice in the same season.