Happy National Cake Day!

Who should we celebrate with on National Cake Day? Da Cake Ninja, David Wright, of course! Lucky for us, David Wright was sweet enough to give us a peek into his cake-filled world. We honestly wondered if David’s love of cake may have been slightly exaggerated for television. Nope! This season 11 rookie LOVES cake… A LOT!

David’s love of cake collided with his love of Ninja at his first big Ninja competition – a UNAA (Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association) Regional event. David was feeling pretty nervous, so he did what any Ninja would do (or not!)… he ate two slices of cake! It worked. His nerves settled right down, and he did well in the competition.

If it works, why change it, right? David has eaten cake before every single American Ninja Warrior competition since, with one exception…

His rookie season was going so well…

Oklahoma City Qualifiers — ate cake, hit the buzzer!

Oklahoma City Finals – ate cake, hit the buzzer!

And then the National Finals in Vegas, David was another one of the unfortunate victims of food poisoning. As David prepared to run the course, he hadn’t quite fully recovered from the food poisoning, which meant he was in a very unfamiliar mood – the mood for no cake.

National Finals Stage 1 – no cake, no buzzer!

Despite his early exit in Stage 1, David had a phenomenal rookie season. In fact, David was the only season 11 rookie to hit a buzzer in both the City Qualifiers and City Finals.

Brett Deering/NBC

We sure hope that David experiences less food poisoning and more cake in season 12. His cake history runs deep, and we certainly don’t want it to stop now!

Caution: By our count, this cake-eating strategy has only worked for roughly 0.0001% of Ninjas. Embrace it at your own peril!

Here are a few more fun facts about David and his love of cake:

• David’s favorite cake flavor changes often, but his top three flavors are red velvet, strawberry, and lemon.
• David can bake a cake if his life depends on it, but he’d rather eat cake made by someone else, especially his sisters.
• Growing up with eight siblings, birthday celebrations were plentiful in David’s youth. His family called him a garbage disposal for cakes. On his birthday, David cared much more about the cake than his presents!
• Even though David’s love of cake began with his family, he also loves eating cake with his Ninja buddies. Why? The shock value! The Ninjas cannot believe how much cake David can eat!
• David once entered a rock climbing gym and spotted a large tray of ginormous Valentine’s Day cupcakes – complete with a chocolate-covered strawberry on top of each one. He proceeded to eat one cupcake after each route he climbed, which resulted in eating 12 massive cupcakes in 30 minutes!

David, you amaze us! We can’t wait to see you devour some cake and some courses in season 12!