Updated 10 a.m. Friday May 17: Only tickets for overnight taping sessions of NBC's American Ninja Warrior are available for Memorial Day weekend.
Tickets for 7:30 and 10 p.m. are gone. But tickets remain on the "Waitlist" for seating at 2 a.m. Saturday May 25 for the first round, and at midnight and 1:15 a.m. early Sunday May 26 for the Cincinnati finals.
Tickets are distributed to those who click on "Join Wailtist" at the On-Camera Audience website.
Starting Saturday, May 18, Second Street between Elm and Walnut streets will be closed through Memorial Day for construction of the American Nina Warrior arena and obstacle course.
Original post Monday May 6: Don't be spooked by the "Waitlist." Tickets are still available for the 8 p.m. tapings Friday and Saturday, May 24-25, when NBC's American Ninja Warrior comes to town.
Seating in the temporary arena -- to be constructed on Second Street by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center -- will be filled from the "Waitlist," says Leslie Schwartz, NBCUniversal spokesperson for the popular reality competition.
There are at least four ticketed sessions, for 8 p.m. and midnight, on both nights, she says.
The fact that the website lists the 8 p.m. tapings for the "Join Waitlist" buttonmeans that tickets are still available for those sessions, Schwartz explains. When they are filled, a different time slot will be posted online for "Join Waitlist," she says.
"Please join the Waitlist and we will email you when tickets are released for your selected date. Tickets are generally released 7-10 days in advance of each taping," the site says. "Fans on the Waitlist are notified on a first-come, first-served basis as tickets are released."
The temporary arena will seat about 450 people, Schwartz says. The minimum age to attend American Ninja Warrior is 10, the site says.
"The course will be right on Second Street with the beautiful Cincinnati skyline as our backdrop," Schwartz says.
NBC's taping will add to the crowd which comes to downtown Cincinnati every Memorial Day weekend for Taste of Cincinnati on Fifth Street, three blocks away.
On Friday night, ANW will film from dark to dawn, as 90 contestants compete in the "qualifier round." Yes, 90 contestants.
"If people are willing or interested in coming in the mid-morning hours we almost always have seats available after 3 a.m.," she says.
The obstacle course will include a couple new challenges added by producers this year, she says. A total of 20 new obstacles are being added for the auditions in Cincinnati, Baltimore, Atlanta, Oklahoma City, Seattle/Tacoma, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
The winners of Cincinnati's "city finals" on Saturday will advance to the competition in Las Vegas, along with other Cincinnati contestants who "went the farthest or the fastest" on the course, Schwartz says. The national finals again will be in Las Vegas.
The 11th season of ANW premieres Wednesday, May 29 (8-10 p.m., Channel 5), before moving to its regular time slot on Monday, June 10 (8-10 p.m.).
The Cincinnati qualifier taped May 24 will air Monday, July 1 (8-10 p.m.), Schwartz says.
The Cincinnati finals taped on May 25 will air Monday, Aug. 19 (8-10 p.m.), she says.
Hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila will be joined by new sidelines reporter Zuri Hall, an actress and E! reporter/host.
