Parish Cardenas couldn’t help but let out a cry of joy when one of his fellow competitors in the “American Ninja Warrior” qualifying round dropped into the water.

That’s because that ninja’s loss meant that San Antonio resident Cardenas, 28, would be advancing to the semi-finals in Los Angeles.

“Toward the end of the show, one of the producers came up to me and said, ‘You’re on the bubble.’ Which means, I’m number 29 and there’s only 30 people that go on,” he said. “There were two more ninjas to run, and one of them was a big ninja who always makes it, and, of course, he made it, which left one ninja. I was number 30, so I needed (the next competitor) failing.

“When he fell, I felt so disrespectful, but I screamed so loud. I was so happy.”

Cardenas排位赛在th运行3月拍摄e Alamodome. It aired last week on NBC as part of the series’ season opener, which can be streamed on Hulu and Peacock.

Now that the episode is out, Cardenas can finally talk about it, which was a huge relief, he said. People who had gone to the Alamodome and saw him compete in person asked if they could post about it, and he told them no — just like him, they had to wait.

“People would constantly ask me how I did,” he said. “I was like, you can ask me, I’m not going to tell you.”

After the episode premiered, his stepmom helped spread the word about his run at North Central Baptist Hospital, where she runs the emergency department and he is a sous chef.

“Pretty much all the nurses knew, and they were were congratulating me as soon as I came back,” he said. “I felt like a little superstar.”

This was Cardenas’ second attempt at “American Ninja Warrior,” in which athletes tackle intense obstacles, most of which involve them being suspended over pools of water. The obstacles change as the season goes on, though the end is always the same. Those who make it all the way through have to face one of the warped walls. One is just over 14 feet tall. The mega wall is 18 feet tall, and those who make it all the way up get $10,000.

Cardenas first competed in 2017. He cleared the first two obstacles then fell on the third, meaning he did not advance.

After that, he continued training for another go on the show. He also spent about two years coaching youngsters at a gym that includes ninja training. Even so, when the call for contestants for this year’s season opener in San Antonio went out, he didn’t plan to enter because he had just started his job at the hospital.

The show ended up reaching out to him, asking him to apply to compete, he said, so he did.

“I had to represent for my city,” said Cardenas, a graduate of MacArthur High School and Texas A&M University-San Antonio.

He made his appearance in a chef hat and a white T-shirt identifying him as The Chef. He also sent hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila a chicken fajita bowl he had prepared. It’s a recipe that was one of the most popular offerings in a food prep business he started early in the pandemic, and which now is on hold.

As he waited for the tone that signaled it was time for him to take the course, “The only thing going through my mind was, get to the end of the course, you better get to the end of the course and get up that wall,” he said. “That was literally all I was thinking.”

He sped through the first four obstacles then fell on the Salmon Roll, which was the fate of every other finalist who didn’t make it to the wall. The diabolical obstacle called on competitors to propel an enormous wheel along a track while suspended over the water.

Cardenas made it to that point in less than two minutes, which was good enough for him to move on.

After that, he trained as much as he felt was prudent.

“I don’t want to hurt myself,” said Cardenas, who has a degree in kinesiology. “You can’t go too hard, because then if you hurt yourself, you’re doing it for nothing.”

The semi-finals were filmed in Los Angeles in April and will start airing July 18. The finals were shot in Las Vegas in May and will premiere on NBC on Aug. 15 and 22.

Cardenas’ fate won’t be revealed until those episodes air, though he did talk about what he would do with the $1 million prize if he were the winner.

“First, I’m definitely going to pay off my student loans, but I want to open my own gym, honestly,” he said. “I want to open my own kids gym and do some coaching, because that’s also one of my dreams.”

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN