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On Monday, Aug. 21, Northern Westchester resident Emily Gardiner, of Bedford Hills, will show just how tough she is on the finals of the show at 8 p.m. in Las Vegas. The grand prize is a cool $1 million.
Known around town and school, as the "Ninja girl," Emily made it through the entire season of ANW competing with -- and beating -- her father Rich Gardiner to make it to the finals.
She trains from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day except Sunday and then coaches younger children on ninja techniques at Grit Ninja in Pleasantville where she trains.
She and her dad are the only father/daughter duo competing on ANW this season, the teen said from her Bedford Hills home.
"We thought it would be an interesting idea that the producers of the show might like," Emily said.
They did and they were chosen to be on the show.
But as Rich Gardiner didn't make it through the whole competition, Emily kept flying through the tough competitions that take incredible strength, coordination, and good old fashion willpower.
Emily says her dad has been her sports mentor her whole life, but she quickly surpassed him in experience in both ninja competitions and ninja classes.
Now she coaches her dad.
Emily says, with a laugh, he gets too worked up before he runs, and needs coaching on his mental game and calming down.
She also takes the competition so seriously there is a large wooden ninja rig in her backyard and she spent her 16th birthday training.
Emily competed on ANW Jr. 3 and hopes that experience will help her in this speed-oriented season.
Her mentor on Junior was Jesse “Flex” Labreck, her huge hero. And she has her boyfriend, Kevin, who lives in Rhode Island cheering her on.
There is a huge watch party planned at Grit Ninja so there will be plenty of people to cheer Emily on through the competition and face the show's monster, the 18-and-half-foot wall.
Emily couldn't say whether she won or not, but she did say the entire experience was "incredible."
And once her days on "American Ninja Warrior" are over, Emily plans on school and is thinking about working as an athletic trainer or personal trainer as a career.
"This has been an exciting experience," the happy teen said.
The show airs at 8 p.m. Monday on NBC.
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