Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course

Viking (Ultimate Obstacle Course Challenge)
Genre Sports Entertainment,
Obstacle Course
Country of origin  Japan
Original language(s) Japanese
No. of seasons 7
Production
Producer(s) Monster9
Location(s) Tokyo Bay, Japan
Broadcast
Original channel Japan Fuji TV
Original run April 3, 2005 – March 25, 2007
Chronology
Related shows Sasuke,
Kunoichi,
Pro Sportsman No.1,
Kinniku Banzuke (Muscle Ranking)

Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course (海筋肉王 ~バイキング~ Umi Kinniku Ō ~Baikingu~, literally Sea Muscle King VIKING), sometimes abbreviated to Viking: TUOC, is a Japanese obstacle course endurance game show using an obstacle course produced by Fuji TV and Monster9. The English version of Viking is produced by ESPN2 with two American commentators calling the action. In Europe it airs on Eurosport 2 with the American commentators in the first season and British commentator Colin Bryce in the second. In the Philippines, Viking was aired in TV5 and hosted by Brod Pete, Richard del Rosario, and Gabe Mercardo. In Taiwan on JET TV in its original form with Chinese subtitles and Thailand on Channel 9 MCOT in Thai program "แชมป์ เฉือน แชมป์" (Champ VS Champ) in 2009, later this program are broadcast other Japanese game show like Original Iron Chef, Unbeatable Banzuke and Sasuke Ninja Warrior. The entire show is broadcast from Tokyo Bay.

Summary

The object of the show is to complete a giant obstacle course that tests the body and mind of 50 contestants for each show. Round by round, the contestants that do not get eliminated advance to the next round. There are 4 grueling stages called "1st Marine", "2nd Adventure", "3rd Fantasy" and "Final Viking". Whoever survives "Final Viking" is crowned the Ultimate Survivor. Obstacles change during each of the stages except for Final Viking at the end.

Stages

1st Marine Stage

Comp # Marine Stage Obstacles Time Limit
1 Odysseys Loading Docks Castaway Main Deck Maths Parley Cannonball Run Swing Mast Captain's Cabin 120.0
2 Odysseys Loading Docks Castaway Main Deck Maths Parley Cannonball Run Swing Mast Captain's Cabin 110.0
3 Odysseys Loading Docks Alphabet Parley Castaway Island Escape Maths Parley Cannonball Run Swing Mast Captain's Cabin 135.0

2nd Adventure Stage

Comp # Adventure Stage Obstacles Time Limit
1 Galleon Galley Rope Maze Survival Flag
or Survival Jump
Log Screw Heavenly Climb 120.0
2 Galleon Galley Rope Maze Survival Flag
or Survival Jump
Log Screw Heavenly Climb 120.0
3 Galleon Colour Fusion Rope Maze Survival Flag
or Survival Jump
Tactical Parley Heavenly Climb 135.0

3rd Fantasy Stage

Comp # Fantasy Stage Obstacles
1 Heartbreaker Steady Voyager or
Ultimate Plank
Bio Clock
2 Heartbreaker Steady Voyager or
Ultimate Plank
Bio Clock

Final Viking Stage

Comp # Viking Stage Obstacles Time Limit
1 Horizontal Rope (25m) Vertical Rope (10m) 100.0
2 Horizontal Rope (25m) Vertical Rope (10m) 100.0
3 Hawkeye Steady Voyager Ultimate Plank Heartbreaker None

Obstacles

1st Marine Stage

Each contestant has 1 minute 50 seconds (otherwise for men: 2 minutes 15 seconds; for the women: 2 minutes 22 seconds) to run from the start to stop the clock at the top by going through the obstacles.

2nd Adventure Stage

The next round has the surviving contestants try to finish the course in under 2 minutes.

Note: The two following obstacles will both be on the course and the contestant gets to choose which one they would like to do.

Note: This ends the timed part of the 2nd Adventure Stage. The following obstacle, although referred as 3rd Fantasy Stage by ESPN2 and other broadcasting systems, is the 2nd part of the 2nd Adventure Stage.

3rd Fantasy Stage

Survivors of the Adventure Stage have to complete several parts of the Fantasy Stage to make it to Final Viking. There are no time limits in any of the parts except Hawkeye.

Final Viking

The Final Viking challenge has the remaining contestants scramble across a 75-foot horizontal rope and climb up a 30-foot vertical rope to the top. If the contestant makes it to the top in under 1 minute 40 seconds, they win. One man, Makoto Nagano, who was the only man ever to get to the Final Viking stage, came close but ran out of time when he was 5 feet away from the finish. No contestant has ever completed Final Viking; but if one does he or she will be crowned the Ultimate Viking. Nagano, incidentally, has completed the fourth and final stage of SASUKE (called Ninja Warrior in the US and UK), a similar obstacle course contest, which has featured many of the same contestants that have competed on Viking.

Other versions

Viking also airs special editions of the show featuring revamped obstacle courses.

Family edition

This family version of Viking features 2 person teams (usually a parent and child, but occasionally a husband and wife) running the course. They must work as a team to get through the course helping each other to complete various obstacles. If either team member falls in the water, the team is eliminated. Children as young as 5 have competed on these episodes.

It consists of 3 (sometimes 4) stages.

Comp # Marine Stage Obstacles Time Limit
1 Rendezvous The Walls Pipe Slider Horse Vault Geography Parley Island Escape Stilt Walk Horizontal Bar Final Slope 135.0
2 Rendezvous The Walls Pipe Slider Horse Vault Geography Parley Island Escape Stilt Walk Horizontal Bar Final Slope 111.0
3 Rendezvous Great Dive The Wall Pipe Slider Horse Vault Maths Parley The Raft Stilt Walk Underwater Net Final Slope 150.0

Celebrity edition

This version of Viking features many Japanese celebrities competing against each other. Some of the events have been head to head races.

Various celebrities take on the course, including television presenters, fighters, wrestlers and comedians.

Results

The following is a list of currently available information of people who managed to reach at least the Second Adventure Stage in each competition. Under each competition, the results are listed in order of who went the farthest first. Their names are listed along with their number (1-100) from the competition, and the obstacle/stage they failed to complete. The first Viking competition was a special competition where 80 celebrities and famous athletes competed. The 2nd Competition had 100 attempts at the First Marine Stage. The obstacles used in each competition as well as a description of each obstacle are listed above. The first two Viking competitions used "layout #1" listed above, while the third Viking tournament used "layout #2". All air dates are of the Japanese broadcast on Fuji TV. If there are two or more competitors who failed the same obstacle, then who made it farthest is listed first.

Note: There is a "Brain Ship Stage" which was a stage between the First Marine Stage and the Second Adventure Stage. Competitors would be split into two groups and would be given a series of numbers to memorize. After a few seconds the numbers would disappear, and competitors would write down the numbers on a piece of paper. The person with the most mistakes from each group would be eliminated. Due to bad weather, there was no Brain Ship Stage in the first competition.

1st Competition

Aired: March 22, 2005

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 40 Kimihiro Minamide Second Adventure Stage Failed Rope Maze
No. 33 Kenta Yamasaki Second Adventure Stage Failed Rope Maze
No. 32 Yuta Yamasaki Second Adventure Stage Failed Rope Maze
No. 78 Hiromitsu Takahashi Second Adventure Stage Failed Galleon
No. 58 Terukazu Ishikawa Second Adventure Stage Failed Galleon

2nd Competition

Aired: April 4, 2005

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 90 Makoto Nagano Final Viking Failed Vertical Rope
No. 81 TERU Second Adventure Stage Failed Heartbreaker
No. 61 Hiroyuki Asaoka Second Adventure Stage Failed Heavenly Climb
No. 62 Manabu Satou Second Adventure Stage Failed Heavenly Climb
No. 51 Tomoyuki Second Adventure Stage Failed Rope Maze
No. 96 Hiromitsu Takahashi Second Adventure Stage Failed Rope Maze
No. 63 Tadashi Fukuda Second Adventure Stage Failed Rope Maze
No. 74 Kimihiro Minamide Second Adventure Stage Failed Rope Maze
No. 73 Kosuke Yamaguchi Brain Ship Stage Failed Brain Ship Stage
No. 97 Terukazu Ishikawa Brain Ship Stage Failed Brain Ship Stage

3rd Competition

Aired: October 4, 2005

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 71 Kimihiro Minamide Third Fantasy Stage Failed Ultimate Plank
No. 80 Sho Maeda Third Fantasy Stage Failed Steady Voyager
No. 76 Yuji Second Adventure Stage Failed Tactical Parley
No. 45 Hiromitsu Takahashi Second Adventure Stage Failed Rope Maze
No. 100 Hiromichi Sato Second Adventure Stage Failed Color Fusion
No. 97 TERU Second Adventure Stage Failed Galleon

See also

External links