NINJA Warrior presenter Chris Kamara seriously injured himself whilst filming for the new series of ITV’s popular obstacle course game show Ninja Warriors UK.
Although the show is known for tripping up their contestants, it was actually the 61-year-old presenter who fell over on set and “broke his back” whilst filming for the fifth series.
The former professional footballer came crashing to the ground after rushing to be first on set.
His co-presenters Rochelle Humes, 30 and Ben Shephard, 44 found Chris’ unfortunate fall down the stairs on set hilarious – with Chris joking: “Yes I did hurt myself, my back was broken.”
Ben tells us: “It’s become a [competition] about getting out [onto the set] first. Kam and I just sit in our dressing room and wait till someone sways ‘right, Rochelle’s ready, come out now.’
“So she runs out [first] and that’s exactly why he fell down the stairs, because he ran up the stairs and got really carried away, wanted to be first on the stage and then slipped in his brand new shoes and rolled all the way down the stairs,” Ben added.
The sports star, who recently admitted that he was forced to turn down a spot on Strictly because he failed the fitness test chuckled: “I did it for comedy.”
All three presenters also admitted that they find it hard to keep their laughter in when contestants fall, especially if they have a big ego.
Rochelle added that Chris and Ben’s reaction to the contestant affects how she can comfort the competitor on the show after they have fallen off the obstacles.
“They don’t keep in the laughter! The worst thing is, they’re far away so when they laugh what they forget is, I have an ear piece so when I’m trying to comfort this person, they’re still laughing and I have to blank them out of my ear,” she said.
As well as the hilarious mishaps of the contestants on the show, something that the presenters have been waiting and pushing for has finally happened – a competitor has finally got to the foot of Mount Midoriyama.
Ben told us: “There was quite a lot of expectation from us all because we got to close last year, for all to come together like it did, to get to that point was a massive relief and a real thrill and just one of the most amazing moments.
“When the completion of the course happened before he got to the thing, Kami and I practically exploded, I mean it was extraordinary.”
The fifth series has also got new obstacles, including the Momentum Shift, which includes a lot of ramming, jumping, grabbing, crawling and holding onto a gate.
“The combination of swinging and ramming and shoving and grabbing, it was just spell bounding, it was absolutely spell binding,” Ben said.
The new series has brought back previous obstacles such as the Crazy Cliff Hanger, which Rochelle admitted a lot of contestants get caught out on.
Ninja Warrior UK starts this Saturday at 6.30pm on ITV.
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