I have been a huge Sasuke and ANW fan but the last couple of seasons of ANW have gone way overboard on fluff pieces.
I think it is very disrespectful to the other competitors to have their runs skipped over to make room for all of this uninteresting backstory. Let everyone tell their story on the course, not in a lame bio which runs longer than their actual obstacle course run.
Everyone has a story and issues in life to deal with... the ones who hardly get to be seen are not being treated fairly. Maybe show some of the fluff in a little window while they are running, but these overproduced segments are just terrible TV and are hogging up the whole episode ...just NO...STOP IT!!!!
Between commercials, fluff pieces and fluff after interviews on the sideline, there really is only about 10 minutes of actual competition. If this trend continues, I will be skipping ANW alltogether as the skip button is getting worn out on the remote as it stands now.
Since Casey's run and climbing of the wall, women have been included more and more on the show and I think it is good to have women included, but the courses are getting too nerfed to cater to lesser athletes and this is also taking away from the sport. Additionally, it is disrespectful to women to have a female announcer relegated to the sidelines and only get to ask fluff questions instead of being able to announce the runs as they are happening. I think if you want to be inclusive to women , that needs to be changed as well.
TLDR, cut out the fluff which runs longer than the contestants actual runs and toughen the course up to make it a legitimate competition again.