'American Ninja Warrior' season 11 qualifiers: Brian Burk steals hearts with his inspirational story and enthusiasm
After a long wait, 'American Ninja Warrior' season 11 kicked off with its thrilling qualifiers episode in Los Angeles.
This season NBC's 'American Ninja Warrior' gave us a lot of firsts. The first Mega Wall completion that was accomplished by Scott Willson, the first Power Tower face-off that happened between Hunter Guerard and David Campbell. But that's not all, we also got to know the first National Finalist, since Guerard is now safe.
Throughout the premiere, we got to see a lot of excitement, adrenaline, and without a doubt many inspirational stories from the competitors.
If there is a new season of 'American Ninja Warrior' without a doubt there will be new obstacles. This season premiere we were introduced to the 'Shrinking Steps' where the ninjas have to run across five steps. The catch? Each step gets smaller as they go.
Introduced next was “Walk The Plank” which required the contestants to climb up a slanted platform and once they get far enough up, the platform will dip over and they will have to jump over to the next bar to get to the platform safely.
In each qualifier, we will get to see 30 ninjas advance to the city finals. Though each contestant that qualified to the city finals was impressive, one contestant who stood out and won hearts of fans was Brian Burk.
Burk came in ninth with the time of 03:58.38. Burk who is also known as The Burkinator is on the autism spectrum and is not defined by his diagnosis. Around two and half years ago, Burk fell in love with Ninja Warrior training and is a natural when he is on the course. You could see him smile at every obstacle course and he even did the splits once he completed the course on top of the Warped Wall.
Apart from being a pro on the obstacle course he also goes to engineering school. After taking a look at Burk's performance on the course and his inspirational story, fans could not stop showering Burk with their support and love.
"I’ve always loved American Ninja Warrior but tonight I raised the bar as I watched a young man with Autism race #ImNotCryingYoureCrying #DifferentNotLess," wrote a fan on Twitter.
Another fan said, "Never say someone with #Autism can't do anything they put their mind to. I saw on American Ninja Warrior tonight and other times before the total opposite. Just because someone has a disability doesn't mean they are not smart and talented."
"First we see a kid with Autism in America’s Got Talent give the world a ray of hope it needs. And one day later a kid with Autism beat the Américan Ninja Warrior course. SIMPLY AMAZING! Dream big folks, said another fan.
We can't wait to see Burk's enthusiasm in the city finals.
'American Ninja Warrior' season 11 airs every Tuesday. Check your local listings for more information.
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