Six seasons of the French edition of ninja warrior were concluded on TF1 but only two champions managed to win the €100,000 promised to the winner. Proof of the complexity of the challenge facing the new candidates for the seventh season, currently broadcast every Saturday at 9:10 p.m., victory is snatched at the end of a titanic journey and not within the reach of Sunday sportsmen. that we are.
The two reigning champions are trying the experience again and will once again be suspended from the impressive obstacles in a special stage dedicated to candidates with all records. Clément Gravier, 22 and winner of season 6, holds the French record for the best time to climb the 23-meter Tour des Héros – the event that concludes the competition – in 25.16 seconds. First winner in season 4, Jean Tezenas du Montcel reached the final in all editions of the show. Now 33 years old, he is the emblematic candidate of the competition in France.
“After my victory last year, I was on cloud nine, I didn’t sleep for two days”, confides the youngest to 20 minutes. With recordings in Cannes from March 28 to April 4, 2022, several months separate the setbacks of the candidates on the course and the broadcast. “It allows you to relive things with a different intensity. When you see it on TV, it’s almost stronger than when you live it for real ”, rejoices for his part Jean Tezenas du Montcel. Ambitions for this season 7, best memory, new rules and difficulty of the obstacles… The two reigning champions confide in a few hours of their passage on the front page.
In what state of mind do you return for this new season of Ninja Warrior?
Clement Gravel: I come back to win again, by conquering with my brother and why not the victory of the brother too.
Jean Tezenas du Montcel: I remain a competitor and I tell myself that I will try to go as far as possible. I’m not going there thinking I’m going to win, that’s not the goal at all. If I go to the final for the seventh time and I’m the only one with Clément Dumais to reach the final every time since the start of the show, that would already be good.
What did you think of this year’s course?
Clement: I find that the Memory Tower [une tour en acier dont certaines prises sont piégées et peuvent faire chuter les candidats, N.D.L.R.] a game changer, there were a lot of crashes on this obstacle. This makes the qualification path even longer. Other than that, I think the difficulty was similar to last year.
Jeans : I was really happy before qualifying to see these few new things. The Memory Tower amused me particularly to have this story of grip that you have to remember before and that can fall. Since season 3, where we moved on to much harder, bigger obstacles, we have more or less similar types of obstacles with rules that evolve a little bit and I still find that quite exciting for us.
However, you have each won the competition once after reaching the top of the Tower of Heroes. Why come back after that?
Clement: Regardless of the result last year, it’s a show that I really enjoy with my brother so it was obvious for me to come back with my brother. The course is XXL, it’s quite unique. With all the other candidates in the hotel, it’s really a week’s vacation between athletes with a very good atmosphere.
Jeans : What motivates me are the encounters. I meet very different people every year from those I meet in everyday life. I have reached the ultimate goal but I do not make it an end. It was clearly something important for me to win ninja warrior but let’s say that now I’m going for fun… I’m not going to stop living because I was the best three times or because I was beaten last year. In fact it does not change my behavior to win or lose, it has no influence.
Have you had any special training for this new season?
Clement: Not especially my training was the same as last year. Two to three months before the show I start doing a lot of cardio exercises, relaxation and a lot of rope climbing.
Jeans : I don’t really train anymore (laughter). Now I only do it for fun…
It took four seasons for the show to have its first winner. Why did it take so long?
Clement: To the first season of Ninja Warrior [qu’il a regardée en tant que téléspectateur, N.D.L.R.], people were not prepared. As the seasons progressed, even if the course became harder and harder, the candidates were more and more trained…
Jeans : The first years, the participants trained for the obstacles but not with the rope. Now the young people are training with the rope, because they want to go fast on the final stage. My goal is not to get to the rope unless I’m alone to get there. If there are too many people at the Tower of Heroes, it means that the course is too easy, I’m not at all interested in having a speed fight. What interests me is to do the toughest obstacles possible. In season 4, I went to the ropes with two competitors because the course was a little easier. During season 5, which was for me the most beautiful, I arrived alone at the rope, I did not win the prize but it is my favorite participation.
What has your respective victory changed in your daily life?
Clement: It allowed me to find some work by providing internships in rooms where I am hired by the day. It also motivated me to pass a CAP in rock climbing which I completed a very short time ago. I am now a climbing initiator and leader and if the sport continues to evolve like this, why not take the same diploma in the field of ninja.
Jeans : In my state of mind, it changed a lot because I had things to prove to myself like many young people. Before, my stress was rather suffered, I did not control it… Now it is perfectly controlled, I know when to activate it. It has become a weapon that allows me to concentrate, to have an important blood flow and it is useless to be stressed early. This stress has become something that I manage to control, I was even invited twice to speak on the subject in business schools in Paris.
And the €100,000?
Clement: The project to open a gym with my brother is still under consideration. We try to invest the money while waiting to feel fully capable of bringing this idea to fruition. We’re still too young and we wouldn’t know how to build a hall, let alone manage it, so we’re waiting for the years to come, but it’s still in the planning stage.
Jeans : They allowed me to buy a house that we are currently renovating with my girlfriend. When I arrived on the set of Ninja Warrior season 7, we had been getting up at 7 a.m. and going to bed at 10 p.m. every night for five days without stopping except to eat a sandwich to catch up. the House. I was doing plaster, I spent my days sanding, I hurt everywhere…
Do you consider yourselves as opponents on the course?
Clement: Jean is an example for me, even if I passed him last year. He was the one who motivated me to do the show. All the advice he gave me on my first season meant a lot to me. He’s more of a friend than a contestant on the show.
Jeans : Clément is a friend, I’ve known him since he was 15. He has always been more fiery on certain movements because he is younger but when you are on a Ninja Warrior course, on sight, you have about the same level… So I am not completely decrepit yet. It won’t be long but for now it’s fine (laughter)…
Does this mean that you are about to bow out on the course?
Jeans : If I come back for an 8 season, I told the production it would be the last. Even if I really like it, the ten days of filming remain a heavy investment. Today ninja warrior it’s something I know too much about and so inevitably you end up being less enthusiastic when you know something by heart. On the other hand, if I were to be offered a new challenge and I am open to proposals…
So you could find Denis Brogniart on Koh-Lanta?
Jeans : They talk to me about it all the time! I know that the question has already been put to Denis Brogniart who replied: “Why not…”. I’m not convinced that I can handle hunger and I would first have to negotiate with my girlfriend who told me that she would leave me if I participated in this program (laughter).