Ultimate Beastmaster

I'm not joking around when I call myself a die-hard fan of the "extreme obstacle course" genre that has exploded in the past few years. But how does Ultimate Beastmaster, Netflix's newcomer compare to other long-running shows like Sasuke, S and American Ninja Warrior?

In a word: well! The show is visually stunning and awesome in design thanks to the work of ATS, the company responsible for the construction of other obstacle course shows like American Ninja Warrior. The Beast is large and impressive enough to leave a lasting impression, with obstacles that range from creative and memorable to bland and boring, although the course composition in itself is highly derivative of the tried and tested "Ninja Warrior" formula: four stages, each more difficult than the last, with a finale involving scaling a tower and an increased emphasis on upper body as the show goes on.

So what unique elements does Ultimate Beastmaster bring to the table? Simply put, its emphasis on international competition helps the show immensely. The six different languages and sets of show presenters gives the show worldwide appeal, and watching all six nationalities react to both their representatives and those of other nationalities adds a unique dimension found almost nowhere else. Even if the American announcers are relatively low in quality (at least in my opinion), they are more than compensated for by the charisma of the other countries, which caught me off-guard when watching the show.

In conclusion, Ultimate Beastmaster is a fairly by-the-books Extreme Obstacle Course programme format-wise, but juiced up immensely by a Hollywood budget and stunning visual presentation. Even if it lacks the ingenuity, competitor pool and history of shows in the "Ninja Warrior" franchise, the international focus helps it to stand out and fill a niche in the genre. If you have a Netflix membership, I wholeheartedly recommend giving Ultimate Beastmaster a try!

After watching all 3 seasons I figured I'd write a review. On a whole, this show was pretty fun to watch. There were some ups and downs which I'll go into more in depth but it was a fun ride and pretty entertaining to cheer for all the different athletes watching them overcome these extremely brutal courses. I'd recommend it if you're not looking for something too serious or maybe you're in between sport seasons and are looking for something to fill the void a little. Anyhow, onto the details.

Season 1 was pretty decent. They had a ton of competitors, some really great commentators (Brazil and South Korea were particularly great) and the course was pretty decent to watch the runners. There were some amazing athletes and it was really awesome to watch some that were just leaps and bounds better than their competitors. The HUGE flaw of this season is they tried to make things harder randomly mid season by changing a few obstacles that actually caused physical harm to competitors which was frankly unacceptable. This put a huge damper on the season for me as I don't want to watch people get hurt for the sake of something being "more difficult."

Season 2 was IMHO the best season thus far. The course got both more difficult but also safer for the athletes. It again featured some amazing athletes and the Chinese commentators were amazing (notably the woman). Some excellent athletes once again. My only gripe with this season was that there was a change in the point system which sometimes created insurmountable gaps in points. Although this wasn't bad because it basically meant the most consistently good athlete typically went on, it meant there wasn't much upset potential. I didn't mind it too much as there were just so many good athletes in this season that the finals were really superb regardless.

Season 3 was pretty tame in comparison to Season 2 and I attribute a lot of that to a change in the course to make it more luck based, which I believe is stupid, rather than skill based. This introduced some obstacles that were random timing based or that frankly seemed unbeatable. It seemed like this season they tried to have a ton more variety, which is appreciated, but having entire episodes where no one completes a level is rather boring... which brings me to my next point. The athletes in this season were halved, witch each country having half the competitors. While this was alright, the competitors on a whole felt a ton lower quality than the first and second seasons and it left me feeling as if it were a lot less fun to watch. I will admit once the finals came around the remaining athletes were once again superb but no one had the explosiveness or the raw ability that was seen in both the first and second seasons. On a whole it was still good, but fell flat for me. It was also odd to see the change in obstacles so frequently which left some preexisting ones a lot easier than they were previously (like the bar between the circling pistons and the climbing wall all of the sudden being shorter from one episode to the next).

I would really like to see future seasons of this show make the obstacle course a nice balance between S2 and S3. Safer obstacles similar to Season 3, but less random timing things (like the swinging gear, trampoline), but the fun and explosive course that Season 2 was very close to being. Variety is fun but only when people can actually seem to complete it if they have the ability, not the entire field of athletes failing.

This is some fun TV, the production value is very high, the commentators are fun, competitors are interesting. The premise of different countries competing against each other also adds another fun element.

Obstacles do tend to get a bit repetitive and, in my opinion, focus too much on upper body strength and climbing skills. Climbers dominate this show...

And as some other reviewer said, female representation is low and none of female athletes cast, are climbers. Which unfortunately results in them being eliminated early and makes it seem like they cannot be a threat to the male athletes, which is not the case in other shows like this.

This said, I do enjoy watching it and will also watch future seasons... hopefully they can iron out some of the kinks...

I found this show very entertaining, the athletes are brilliant , I was really happy when they finally added Australia and Great Britain as these two countries are very big and are the most known countries in my opinion.

However , the hosts are just annoying. Whoever thought that tiki barber chanting USA every five seconds must be insane. They are nothing but cruel to the other hosts , and whilst they pass it off as being patriotic , it is boring and obnoxious.

As well as this , the Australian hosts are completely deadpan compared to the likes of Brazil , who are constantly screaming and shouting ( plus who thought that Danii Minogue was a good host for a sports show) .

Then there are the French and Italian rival hosts , which I don't mind to much and I find can sometimes be entertaining to watch , but after you see Francesco behind the French hosts and Bianca with her wand for the millionth time , it can get very repetitive.

The female British host Kate abdo I find hardly ever talks , which makes her look like she doesn't know what's going on , whilst Stuart Bennet is constantly growling in his super low voice , he's basically carrying the entire British team in terms of commentary.

The only good hosts are the Brazilian hosts , as they are very funny and comedic , the Mexican hosts as I love their pride and watching them in general for me is a delight despite the fact I don't come from Mexico , the South Korean hosts are very good as well , and although I don't understand what their saying half the time , I love the dynamic between the two.

I really enjoyed the show but the lack of women competitors really strikes a chord. With only approximately 20% women it's rather depressing as a female to see them not have a fair chance to begin with. It is clear that the start of levels 1 and 2 are more suited to long and high jumps, more dependent on height rather than arms and a mix up of the obstacles would give a more balanced course for both men and women. Level 3/4 for example is more suited to women with the arms and climbing techniques as it involve little to no long jumps.

The fact that level one has some guys who can't climb a rope knock out women because they are a little short is very frustrating.

Also flexibility is a skill thats missed out as far as obstacles go. Would be cool if some obstacles had this involved. I get its hard to design obstacles but I think there are some obvious changes that would make the show a lot more interesting and fair.

The competitors on the show do provide a level inspiration to people and having more females i.e. role models would really help to boost the show. I highly doubt there are not enough women who would be willing and capable.