Good grief, the negative reviews are troubling! There seems to be a pattern, as I noticed all of the one, two, and three star reviews listed the following: social justice, autism, BLM, and contestants sharing details about their hardships. Were people drunk when they were looking at this? Or perhaps they're making stuff up for the purpose of fearmongering? Because I've been watching American Ninja Warrior for years, and with the exception of the contestants being candid about the challenges they've experienced, I don't recall the first three. No one has ever gone on this show to protest anything racially or socially motivated. Many of the contestants aren't even people of color, nor are they gay. The episode I watched last night, a 16-year-old white girl's introduction was about how much she enjoys playing basketball with her two younger brothers. She didn't say if she was attracted to boys or girls. A contestant might've said their child has autism. I can't remember for sure, but so what if they did?? Maybe I have a more favorable perception of this show than the negative reviewers because I'm not judgemental or close minded. I can notice something that makes a person different from me, but I notice and keep it moving. I don't even pay attention to it after my brain makes note of it. It's like noticing someone has acne when my face is clear. I see it, but at the same time I could care less. As for the viewers that are irritated by the contestants' backstories: you have a serious lack of compassion. You're not the only one who's had trials and tribulations. We've all been through something, whether it was catastrophic or mildly upsetting. It's not like the contestants are trying to tell a sob story for the sole intention of pulling at the audience's heartstrings. Plus their backstories don't even last that long! I applaud ANW for displaying the human side of people. That's what makes it so inspiring. I root for everybody, but I love seeing women compete on the obstacle course. Since the beginning of time women have been told they have no upper body strength, and they're physically weaker than men overall. From what I've seen all of that is BS! I get excited when this is on. It's not trying to promote "wokeism" - it's just people of various ages competing on a gymnastics/parkour style obstacle course. If you're not inspired, then you need to do some major soul searching.
