Two local Kansas "ninja" firefighters compete at NBC's top rating obstacle course challenge "American Ninja Warrior."

Nicknamed "Tower of Power" by their colleagues, Brandon Mears and Dan Pilizzi stand at a muscular lean built of 6'6" and 6'2" respectively. Both firefighters see themselves as a team coming in to the show, Daily Herald reported.

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Both men trained at the Chicago Ninja Academy where they practiced in an obstacle course patterned after that of the "American Ninja Warrior." There were five men from the gym who qualified for the regionals, but so far Mears is the only one left running, the new site reported.

Polizzi met with a finger slip on the rings eliminating him from the competition.

"I have a lot of people say, 'Oh, I can do that. No problem.' But then they come in here and try it and realize how hard it is," Polizzi told the news site.

"It's a mental game, too, on top of the physical challenge," Mears added.

Hosted by Matt Iseman, former NFL player Akbar Gbajabiamila, and co-hosted by Kristine Leahy, the heart-racing competition series has ninja-warrior hopefuls from across different walks of life competing in the most challenging obstacle course modeled after a Japanese series "Sasuke."

The competition hops from different cities to select the best competitors to move on to the Las Vegas National Finals and compete to become the first ever "American Ninja Warrior" and take home $1 Million.

Meanwhile, at the Orlando qualifiers, 15 men will move on to Las Vegas keeping their ninja dreams alive.

One of the more inspiring competitor stories was that of Adam Arnold driving more than 1,000 miles to Orlando for the qualifiers, Bleacher Report learned.

Arnold was passed over at Kansas but wasn't taking a 'no' for an answer. Finally, he was selected at Orlando and now awaits a shot at being the first "American Ninja Warrior" in Las Vegas.  

The show's ratings have been souring to surprising numbers the past weeks, with the action-packed series taking over TV shows like "The Bachelorette" in viewership ratings, New York Post reported.

TagsAmerican Ninja Warrior, Sasuke, Ninja Warriors, NBC's American Ninja Warrior