To be stronger than the obstacles, faster than your competitors and climb up the wall to hope to gain access to the semi-finals. The recipe is always the same. Except that it was even a little more full-bodied this year. For the return of Ninja Warrior, this Saturday evening on TF1, following a sixth edition marked by declining audiences, the first channel has set the bar ever higher. “The level of the candidates progresses over the seasons and the course becomes more and more difficult”, announces the production.
We spoil you: it’s going to be really cotton. For the qualifications of this 2023 version, access to the buzzer, which symbolizes the success of the course, will only be possible by respecting an allotted time on the first two events, with the possibility of borrowing a zip line to go faster… or risk losing everything.
To top it off, you will also have to go through the “memory tower”, the first trapped obstacle of the show. This steel tower is equipped with very capricious grips which can make the candidates fall who manage to reach it.
It will therefore really not be a health course. Even less than in 2019 when 20 Minutes had rubbed shoulders with it (with relative success). This new “hero’s journey” in the TF1 style, tested during the recording of this seventh season last spring in Cannes, a local stage, the Niçoise Clémentine Parodat was able to test it.
“I particularly worked on the explosiveness”
And she confirms: “The new obstacles are heavy”. “At the same time”, for this 25-year-old sports coach, “it’s normal”, she says, “the level of competitors increases so much each year. She is proof of that. On the poster for this first qualifying bonus, the young woman, who is also signing her first participation in the show, is a seasoned athlete. “I did a lot of dance, judo, crossfit and I’m now fully into triathlon,” she says.
She is even preparing for the Ironman (227 km of swimming, cycling and running) which will be held next June in the capital of the Côte d’Azur. What to be at the level. “You have to be in very good physical condition to Ninja Warrior. I particularly worked on explosiveness, climbing and I strengthened my fingers for the wall”, assures Clémentine Parodat.
Being the best woman, “a personal challenge”
For now, the mystery remains. We don’t know if it will make it that far. The answer will be from 9:10 p.m. with Denis Brogniart, Christophe Beaugrand and Iris Mittenaere. One thing at least is certain: Clémentine Parodat’s motivation was flawless before and during the race. Driven by the desire to be the woman who will get as far as possible in the competition, won only twice and so far only by men, Jean Tezenas du Montcel, in 2019, and Clément Gravier, last year . “It’s a personal challenge. I work like that, always giving myself new goals, ”she breathes.
She also keeps one, always the same, in her everyday life, at her work. “I try, through sport, to help people be a better version of themselves. In their body, but especially in the head. For their well-being”, explains the young woman, who will appear in the starting blocks of this inaugural bonus entitled “The heroes of the heart”.
