Toyota Print Buyer Weldon Molony deserves kudos for being selected from more than 200,000 applications all keen to take part, and then making it through an audition process that whittled down 1,200 potential candidates to just 200 who’d feature on the televised show. 

Molony tells us that he’s always loved “wacky events”. What’s more, the fact that he spent 12 hours in A&E after the audition phase didn’t seem to put him off!

As for his Ninja Warrior experience “small, skinny and speedy” Molony was making great progress up until the point where “my body was raising cheques that my brain just couldn’t cash” and he came to grief on the Cargo Net Swing. 

But the crowd loved his can-do attitude and bright yellow smiley t-shirt. “I can honestly say that it is ‘a lot harder than it looks’,” he says. “I loved every minute of the competition and was surprised at each stage that I made it to the actual TV series. If I’m honest I think my age, size and track record of lack of respect for self-preservation probably sealed the deal.”

See it on ITV Player, episode one, about 36:30 minutes in.