G4 And NBC Team Up To Give Fans The Most Action-Packed Event Of The Summer With Season Three Of G4's Hit Series "AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR"

Ten-Episode Season Premieres Sunday, July 31 at 8PM ET/PT on G4 and Continues Throughout August Culminating with a Two-hour Special Primetime Finale Episode from Japan Airing on NBC

"American Ninja Warrior," G4's biggest and most successful original program to date, returns this July to give fans the ultimate "Ninja Warrior" competition featuring harder U.S. trials and more accomplished competitors which, together, combine for intense obstacles, heart-racing tests and stunning upsets.

To match the mounting difficulty this season, G4 has upped the bounty, offering the chance to win a $500,000 K∙Swiss endorsement contract for the U.S. competitor who can finish all four stages of the finals in Japan, along with becoming the face of a nationwide advertising campaign for K∙Swiss and G4. From its premiere in December 2009, "American Ninja Warrior" has been a ratings powerhouse and staple of G4's original programming, with a record-breaking season two delivering over 8 million unique viewers in December 2010.  

Matt Iseman (Host of Versus' "Sports Soup") and MMA Fighter and Belator Fighting Championship commentator Jimmy Smith will return as co-hosts along with G4's own Alison Haislip ("Attack of the Show," NBC's "The Voice") providing reports from the grueling tryouts and main event in Japan. Produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions ("Hell's Kitchen," "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," "Pros vs. Joes"), "American Ninja Warrior" debuts Sunday, July 31 on G4 with two episodes from 9:00 - 11:00pm ET/PT. 

The series will continue on G4 Sunday, August 7 from 9:00 - 11:00pm ET/PT, Sunday August 14 from 9:00 - 11:00pm ET/PT and Sunday, August 21 from 9:00 - 11:00pm ET/PT.  The final two-hour episode will air in Primetime on Monday, August 22 from 9:00-11:00pm ET/PT on NBC, broadcasting the American competitors' final stage of their journey as they head to Japan to take on the world's toughest obstacle course.

Prior to the two-hour finale on NBC, G4 will air a special American Ninja Warrior themed "Attack of the Show!" at 8:00pm ET/PT which will give viewers an inside look at the final stage and prepare them for the main event.  The next day, G4 will air an encore presentation of the two-hour finale on Tuesday, August 23 from 9:00-11:00pm ET/PT.

"G4 viewers have made 'American Ninja Warrior' a phenomenon," said Neal Tiles, President, G4. "The second season's finale was the highest-rated original program in G4's history and has left fans wanting even more fast-paced, ninja action.  This year's competition has been designed with one goal in mind - - to find an American who can finally conquer the course in Japan," Tiles added.

Since it began in 1997, Ninja Warrior (or Sasuke, as it's known in Japan), has only seen three competitors out of 2,600 ever successfully complete all four stages - none of whom were American. Last year, the second season of "American Ninja Warrior" concluded with four of the ten Americans making it as far as the third stage, only to fall victim to the world's most unforgiving obstacle course. No competitor, American or otherwise, successfully achieved "total victory" last year.  This season, ten Americans will again get the chance to use the skills they have trained for and acquired in the hopes to become the first American to be crowned a true Ninja Warrior.  The quest starts Sunday, July 31 at 8 PM ET/PT only on G4.

Viewers will watch the path to international superstardom from the very beginning, starting with the arduous U.S. trials in Venice, California as a more than 300 athletes are pared down to the top 15.  From there, these 15 contestants will be whisked away to a remote mountain training facility in California and tested with the toughest boot camp ever created. Only the ten strongest and most iron-willed will remain at the end of the boot camp and move on to stand before the feared and dreaded four-stage course in Mt. Midoriyama, Japan.  

Joining the top ten in Japan to compete in the Ninja Warrior obstacle course will be the winning bidder of the public auction set up by G4 and the Tokyo Broadcasting System Television (TBS), who produces Sasuke ("Ninja Warrior"), in May. The auction raised thousands of dollars for the American Red Cross' earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Japan and, while not eligible for the K∙Swiss endorsement contract, gives the winning bidder the once-in-a-lifetime chance to conquer the world's most diabolical obstacle course alongside the elite athletes they have watched for years.

For additional info and exclusive video content please go to: http://www.g4tv.com/americanninja