Here are the results of the “greatest run” poll

This article was published prior to Drew Drechsel’s arrest. NBC and American Ninja Warrior have since cut ties with him.

Well, well, well... The results are in and... We’re just trying to process how this whole thing went down.

Here’s a brief rundown of what’s been going on. Back in March, we decided to use the American Ninja Warrior videos available on YouTube to make a “best buzzers” bracket. (It was the early days of the pandemic lockdown! It sounded like fun!) That resulted in something like 47 different polls as we worked through the various seasons and rounds.

It’s been a journey. Some Ninjas have shared the polls on social media. Some have not. Some polls have gotten a ton of votes. Some have gotten less. With no real prize on the line, we’ve been letting the pieces fall as they may.

We took the winning run from each season, and placed them in a poll all together. Which leads us to today as we review the results of the final votes.

Here’s what we’ve got:

1. Season 7: Sam Sann at the Houston City Finals - 23,211 votes
2. Season 10: Abby Clark at the Minneapolis Qualifiers - 12,873 votes
3. Season 11: Brian Kretsch at the Los Angeles City Finals - 376 votes
4. Season 8: Jessie Graff at the National Finals (Stage One) - 239 votes
5. Season 9: Joe Moravsky at the National Finals (Stage Three) - 109 votes
6. Season 6: Kevin Bull at the Venice City Finals -100 votes
7. Season 4: Drew Drechsel at the National Finals (Stage One) - 68 votes
8. Season 5: Brian Arnold at the National Finals (Stage Three) - 54 votes

Yes, that is a very big disparity between first and eighth place. We’ve read the comments section. We’re aware some readers think there’s something unfair going on like a computer program casting votes.

Honestly, we’re not quite sure what to say. This is not an “official” poll in any way. There’s no cash on the line. There’s no trophy for the winner. There’s no history book that will record the results of this thing for generations to come. It’s fun, opinion-based, and pretty loosey-goosey. It was a conversation starter, so hey, at least we’re talking!

We’re not going to sit around guessing how Sam Sann and Abby Clark’s fans pulled those poll results together. The numbers are what that are. That means Sam Sann’s run is the winner.

We want you to focus on one thing: These. Runs. Are. Great.

All these runs exemplify what American Ninja Warrior is about and why we love it. The results include feats of incredible strength, history-making runs, jaw-dropping leaps, underdogs, elite athletes, men and women. All these runs are great.

Thank you for playing along through all these rounds! We appreciate your participation and your passion so much!