Arrow star Stephen Amell became a real-life superhero in a celebrity edition of American Ninja Warrior. The celeb wanted to prove that he doesn’t use a harness or stunt double on the gravity defying salmon ladder, which has made multiple appearances on Arrow.
“We stole the salmon ladder for the pilot of Arrow and I mean like not sneakily — we just ripped it off,” he told Access Hollywood.
Oliver Queen AKA Green Arrow (Amell), Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), Barry Allen AKA the Flash (Grant Gustin) and Curtis AKA Mister Terrific (Echo Kellum) have all used the ladder with varying degrees of success. Oliver tells Curtis, “It’s all in the core.” But that’s actually his personal weakness, Amell admitted prior to competing.
“I wish I was quicker to activate my core and legs as opposed to relying on your biceps,” he explained.
Fortunately, Amell received some coaching from American Ninja Warrior finalist Kacy Catanzaro, who praised his upper body strength. Kacy never had to step to help unlike other celebrity coaches. In fact, the actor insisted on not doing a dumbed down version of the obstacle course.
“I wonder if I might actually be at a disadvantage because I’m fan,” Amell speculated. “I’ve watched so many city qualifiers. I’ve watched the finals. And I think at a certain point you start to think that it’s easier than it actually is.”
Amell raises the bar
The salmon ladder is difficult enough but Amell attempted it after first beating the preliminary course. He immediately moved on to the finals course where he flew up the ladder. Of course even superheroes have limits. For Amell it was the swinging pegboard, the course’s newest obstacle though it probably had more to do with fatigue.
The guest appearance would have happened sooner but the two shows film at the same time so that Amell had to fly to LA immediately after shooting in Vancouver. Like a true hero, rose to the occasion for the sake of the children. Each obstacle completed earned $5 thousand for Red Nose Day, which raises money for various children’s charities around the world. Amell completed 7 obstacles to raise a total of $35 thousand.
