In all five seasons of SASUKE Vietnam, the Third Stage, locally called Vòng 3 (literally Round 3 in Vietnamese), also referred to as Stage 3 similar to most International SASUKE/Ninja Warrior shows, always serves as the second of four "full" courses in SASUKE Vietnam. As of present, SASUKE Vietnam included four different Third Stages, with all of them sharing one singular goal: to press the button at the top of the final obstacle in order to advance to the Final Stage.
Format overview[]
Similar to SASUKE and most international SASUKE/Ninja Warrior formats, competitors would face all Third Stage obstacles with no time limit, and competitors who cleared all obstacles were advanced to the Final Stage.
In the first two SASUKE Vietnam seasons, the Third Stage was the combination of balance and upper body strength course since the introduction of the Spinning Bridge as the second obstacle. After David Campbell, Nguyễn Phước Huynh and Lê Văn Thực's total victories in SASUKE Vietnam 2, the Third Stage course was completely redesigned since SASUKE Vietnam 3. All obstacles except the Pole Maze were either new, returning, or modified, most notably the modification of the Cliffhanger Kai into the Crazy Cliffhanger and the Spinning Bridge was replaced by Floating Boards, making the Third Stage would become the most grueling stage, focusing on upper body endurance. On SASUKE Vietnam 5, the number of obstacles in the Third Stage were increased from 6 to 7.
Starting from SASUKE Vietnam 2, a timer was instituted, similar to SASUKE 29 (although there was not a graphical timer shown on a TV screen until SASUKE Vietnam 3, but there was a digital physical timer placed on the finish platform), but two rules that competitors allowed to rest for as long as they wanted and only one competitor advanced to Final Stage was not used. Since SASUKE Vietnam 3, there was a graphical timer shown on the TV screen like SASUKE 29, American Ninja Warrior 10 and in most of the other International SASUKE/Ninja Warrior formats. During the broadcast in SASUKE Vietnam 3, the graphical timer also shown the number of competitors attempted Stage Three, made it similar to SASUKE RISING era broadcast.
In every SASUKE Vietnam seasons since SASUKE Vietnam 2, after cleared the obstacle, competitors have a resting time to rest before attempted the new obstacle. The resting times between these obstacle were 60 seconds as well, then reduced to 45 seconds since SASUKE Vietnam 3. On SASUKE Vietnam 5, to make the returning Pipe Slider harder, competitors have only 10 seconds to rest after cleared the Crossing the River.
In SASUKE Vietnam 2, there was a rule saying that competitors were only allowed to return to the starting platform up to three times if they feel they can't cleared the obstacle now (not touched the water or not disqualified). If they did it on the fourth time, they would be disqualified. However, due to it is nearly impossible to return to the starting platform in most obstacles (except Pole Maze), this rule was used only for the Pole Maze since SASUKE Vietnam 3.
Course layout[]
SASUKE Vietnam 1 and SASUKE Vietnam 2[]
On the first two SASUKE Vietnam seasons, the Third Stage featured 6 obstacles in total, which all obstacle were from SASUKE. This is the course layout of the Third Stage:
- The first obstacle was a pole vault obstacle, in this case Pole Maze.
- The second obstacle was a balance based obstacle, in this case Spinning Bridge.
- The third obstacle was a upper-body strength obstacle, in this case Rumbling Dice.
- The fourth obstacle was a I-beam obstacle, in this case Spider Flip.
- The fifth obstacle was the most iconic obstacle in the Third Stage, in this case Cliffhanger Kai.
- The sixth obstacle was the combination of upper-body strength and sliding obstacle, in this case Pipe Slider.
SASUKE Vietnam 3 and SASUKE Vietnam 4[]
After David Campbell, Nguyễn Phước Huynh and Lê Văn Thực's total victories in SASUKE Vietnam 2, the Third Stage course was finally redesigned since SASUKE Vietnam 3. Some changes of the course (including the first American Ninja Warrior's obstacle Pole Grasper) making Third Stage would become the most grueling stage, focusing on upper body endurance, including:
- The second obstacle, Spinning Bridge was replaced by Floating Boards
- The third obstacle, Rumbling Dice was replaced by Hang Climbing, with Pole Grasper placed before served as a part of this obstacle rather than a standalone obstacle.
- The Hang Climbing also directly connected with Spider Flip without any rest between two obstacles.
- The fifth obstacle, Cliffhanger Kai was modified to a new Cliffhanger version, the Crazy Cliffhanger.
- The sixth obstacle, Pipe Slider was replaced by Flying Bar.
On SASUKE Vietnam 4, despite no new obstacle, several obstacles such as Pole Maze, Floating Boards and Crazy Cliffhanger were modified.
SASUKE Vietnam 5[]
In SASUKE Vietnam 5, the Third Stage underwent another change in the course layout, with the most significant being the increase in the number of obstacles to seven.
- The second obstacle, Floating Boards was replaced by the Crossing the River.
- The Crossing the River also directly connected with Pole Maze without any rest between two obstacles.
- After two seasons hiatus, the Pipe Slider returned as the third obstacle.
- The Hang Climbing (including Pole Grasper), Spider Flip, Crazy Cliffhanger and Flying Bar were moved to obstacle positions 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Third Stage obstacles overview[]
By English[]
By Vietnamese[]
| SASUKE Vietnam | Obstacles | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Đường Zig Zag | Cầu Quay | Lật Xúc Xắc | Cú Nhảy Của Nhện | Treo Người Trên Vách | Trượt Ống | |||
| 2 | Đường Zig Zag | Cầu Quay | Lật Xúc Xắc | Cú Nhảy Của Nhện | Treo Người Trên Vách | Trượt Ống | |||
| 3 | Đường Zig Zag | Ván Treo | Vách Nghiêng | + | Cú Nhảy Của Nhện | Vách Kép | Xà Bay | ||
| 4 | Đường Zig Zag | Ván Treo | Vách Nghiêng | + | Cú Nhảy Của Nhện | Vách Kép | Xà Bay | ||
| 5 | Đường Zig Zag | + | Đu Xà Qua Sông | Trượt Ống | Vách Nghiêng | + | Cú Nhảy Của Nhện | Vách Kép | Xà Bay |
Third Stage results[]
After five seasons of SASUKE Vietnam, only twelves competitors cleared the Third Stage (both were in SASUKE Vietnam 2) and received their chance to attempt the Final Stage (Mount Midoriyama).
| SASUKE Vietnam | Clears | Attempts | Percentage | Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 9 | 0% | - |
| 2 | 12 | 38 | 31.58% | Vũ Văn Đạt - Chu Văn Bản - Araki Naoyuki - Mat Redho - Vũ Trí Mạnh - Nguyễn Việt Dũng - Nguyễn Huy Hạnh - Đỗ Văn Quang - David Campbell - Mike Bernardo - Nguyễn Phước Huynh - Lê Văn Thực |
| 3 | 0 | 14 | 0% | - |
| 4 | 0 | 27 | 0% | - |
| 5 | 0 | 24 | 0% | - |
Trivia[]
- SASUKE Vietnam has the record for the most competitors clearing the Third Stage in a season of any international SASUKE Ninja Warrior show, with 12 competitors achieving this feat in SASUKE Vietnam 2. This record was possible because the Third Stage from SASUKE Vietnam 1 remained unchanged, and with 38 competitors attempting it, experienced contenders like Đỗ Văn Quang, Nguyễn Phước Huynh, and Lê Văn Thực improved their performance from their first attempt. Additionally, the Third Stage in SASUKE Vietnam 2 was relatively easy for international competitors, allowing several of them, including Araki Naoyuki, Mat Redho, David Campbell, and Mike Bernardo, to clear this stage on their first attempt.
- SASUKE Vietnam was the second international SASUKE/Ninja Warrior show (after SASUKE) to have featured both Pipe Slider and Flying Bar in the Third Stage during at least one season, in this case SASUKE Vietnam 5.
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