The taping of the Los Angeles California episode of American Ninja Warrior Season 12, scheduled to take place this weekend at Universal Studios, has officially been postponed. Universal Studios earlier today announced they were closing the park due to concerns around the coronavirus COVID-19, which immediately made people wonder if the taping would still go on.
The producers of the TV show, A. Smith and Co, posted a statement tonight notifying fans & competitors of the decision to postpone filming:
To All our American Ninja Warrior Competitors:
It is with great sadness that we announce we are cancelling the American Ninja Warrior competition scheduled in Los Angeles for this weekend. As many of you know, the news related to the Coronavirus is moving very quickly. After much discussion, the producers at A. Smith and Co., in conjunction with NBC, have decided it is in everyone’s best interest to postpone the competition.
At this time, we don’t have answers on when, or where, the rescheduled competitions will be held, but we will do our best to make sure anyone who was confirmed to compete on season 12 gets a chance to run the course. We will be following world events and will be in contact with you about alternate dates. We will give you as much lead time as possible for training and travel plans.
Your health is our top priority. We appreciate your patience and hope to see you soon.
Thank you,
The American Ninja Warrior Producers:
At this time, it is a postponement, not a cancellation. This means that they could try again another weekend at Universal, try again in a completely different city (probably the most unlikely scenario due to permitting issues), or tape for a third weekend in one of the two other filming cities, which both are already hosting two filming weekends. It is also possible the episode completely gets eliminated.
They do state that they hope that all the competitors who have gotten the call to compete in Los Angeles will get their chance to run the course. The most obvious solution would be for them to get a chance to run in the new taping date, if it happens. Alternatively, they could try to sprinkle the competitors across the 4 other filming locations, if they can’t find a time or location to tape this episode.
The postponement of Los Angeles will bring up the question of if the St. Louis of Washington DC episodes will also get delayed. At this point, no statement is being made about those. It’s reasonable to say that if the cornavirus pandemic continues to spread, those tapings might also get postponed or cancelled. However, producers will likely wait until closer to see what the situation is in St. Louis and Washington DC closer to the filming dates.
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