Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course (海筋肉王 ～バイキング～), sometimes abbreviated to Viking: TUOC, is a Japanese obstacle course endurance game show using an obstacle course produced by Fuji TV and Monster9. The English version of Viking is produced by ESPN2 with two American commentators calling the action. In Europe it airs on Eurosport 2 with the American commentators in the first season and British commentator Colin Bryce in the second. In the Philippines, Viking was aired in TV5 and hosted by Brod Pete, Richard del Rosario, and Gabe Mercardo. In Taiwan on JET TV in its original form with Chinese subtitles and Thailand on Channel 9 MCOT in Thai program "แชมป์ เฉือน แชมป์" (Champ VS Champ) in 2009, later this program are broadcast other Japanese game show like Original Iron Chef, Unbeatable Banzuke and Sasuke Ninja Warrior. The entire show is broadcast from Tokyo Bay.

Summary

The object of the show is to complete a giant obstacle course that tests the body and mind of 50 contestants for each show. Round by round, the contestants that do not get eliminated advance to the next round. There are 4 grueling stages called "1st Marine", "2nd Adventure", "3rd Fantasy" and "Final Viking". Whoever survives "Final Viking" is crowned the Ultimate Survivor. Obstacles change during each of the stages except for Final Viking at the end.

Stages

1st Marine Stage

2nd Adventure Stage

3rd Fantasy Stage

Final Viking Stage

Obstacles

1st Marine Stage

Each contestant has 1 minute 50 seconds (otherwise for men: 2 minutes 15 seconds; for the women: 2 minutes 22 seconds) to run from the start to stop the clock at the top by going through the obstacles.

2nd Adventure Stage

The next round has the surviving contestants try to finish the course in under 2 minutes. Note: The two following obstacles will both be on the course and the contestant gets to choose which one they would like to do. Note: This ends the timed part of the 2nd Adventure Stage. The following obstacle, although referred as 3rd Fantasy Stage by ESPN2 and other broadcasting systems, is the 2nd part of the 2nd Adventure Stage.

3rd Fantasy Stage

Survivors of the Adventure Stage have to complete several parts of the Fantasy Stage to make it to Final Viking. There are no time limits in any of the parts except Hawkeye.

Final Viking

The Final Viking challenge has the remaining contestants scramble across a 75-foot horizontal rope and climb up a 30-foot vertical rope to the top. If the contestant makes it to the top in under 1 minute 40 seconds, they win. One man, Makoto Nagano, who was the only man ever to get to the Final Viking stage, came close but ran out of time when he was 5 feet away from the finish. No contestant has ever completed Final Viking; but if one does he or she will be crowned the Ultimate Viking. Nagano, incidentally, has completed the fourth and final stage of SASUKE (called Ninja Warrior in the US and UK), a similar obstacle course contest, which has featured many of the same contestants that have competed on Viking.

Other versions

Viking also airs special editions of the show featuring revamped obstacle courses.

Family edition

This family version of Viking features 2 person teams (usually a parent and child, but occasionally a husband and wife) running the course. They must work as a team to get through the course helping each other to complete various obstacles. If either team member falls in the water, the team is eliminated. Children as young as 5 have competed on these episodes. It consists of 3 (sometimes 4) stages.

Celebrity edition

This version of Viking features many Japanese celebrities competing against each other. Some of the events have been head to head races. Various celebrities take on the course, including television presenters, fighters, wrestlers and comedians.

International version

Results

The following is a list of currently available information of people who managed to reach at least the Second Adventure Stage in each competition. Under each competition, the results are listed in order of who went the farthest first. Their names are listed along with their number (1-100) from the competition, and the obstacle/stage they failed to complete. The first Viking competition was a special competition where 80 celebrities and famous athletes competed. The 2nd Competition had 100 attempts at the First Marine Stage. The obstacles used in each competition as well as a description of each obstacle are listed above. The first two Viking competitions used "layout #1" listed above, while the third Viking tournament used "layout #2". All air dates are of the Japanese broadcast on Fuji TV. If there are two or more competitors who failed the same obstacle, then who made it farthest is listed first. Note: There is a "Brain Ship Stage" which was a stage between the First Marine Stage and the Second Adventure Stage. Competitors would be split into two groups and would be given a series of numbers to memorize. After a few seconds the numbers would disappear, and competitors would write down the numbers on a piece of paper. The person with the most mistakes from each group would be eliminated. Due to bad weather, there was no Brain Ship Stage in the first competition.

1st Competition

Aired: March 22, 2005

2nd Competition

Aired: April 4, 2005

3rd Competition

Aired: October 4, 2005