'American Ninja Warrior' will feature a Wilmington fitness trainer on Monday night

A year ago, D'Angelo Lewis-Harris was lying on his back across both lanes of traffic on North Market Street in Wilmington after being struck from behind by an SUV while running on the shoulder.

Bleeding, with a broken ankle and broken wrist with several damaged tendons, the Wilmington personal trainer had gone flying in the air when he was hit by a Nissan Rogue going about 45 mph before landing on the car's windshield.

"I'll never forget it. I thought I was paralyzed. My whole left side of my body was numb," says Lewis-Harris, 36, a prevention specialist with Wilmington's West End Neighborhood House.

After a year of work in the gym, Lewis-Harris' comeback will be complete Monday when he competes on NBC's "American Ninja Warrior" at 9 p.m.

Lewis-Harris ran the obstacle course on the sports reality competition when the show visited Northeast Philadelphia last month, taping at the Port Richmond power station.

Whether it's family, friends, students or clients, everyone has been trying to get Lewis-Harris to spill the beans about how he did, especially since the winner takes home $100,000 this year.

With Lewis-Harris stiff-arming even those closest to him, the father of two certainly isn't going to let anything slip while being interviewed by The News Journal.

But Lewis-Harris did have this to say about his upcoming nationally televised moment: "I knew how strenuous the course was and the depths of my injuries. It was a win for me just to be able to step on that course and have my kids beside me."

Only 125 people made the cut to compete out of 70,000, Lewis-Harris says. Of those, fewer will make it onto televisions across the country, but Lewis-Harris is among them, NBC officials say.

"America Ninja Warrior" is in its 10th season, a spin-off of the Japanese sports entertainment program "Sasuke." The show, hosted by Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, made its debut in 2009 on G4 and began also being aired on NBC in its fourth season.

The competition features contestants attempting to complete an obstacle course, much like ABC's "Wipeout," which ended its seven seasons run in 2014. The 10th season of "American Ninja Warrior" was filmed in six U.S. cities, including Philadelphia.

In addition to the winner receiving $100,000, each contestant who reaches the top of the show's new 18-foot "mega wall" gets $10,000.

On television, the wall looks imposing. In real life, it's downright intimidating, even for a ball of muscle with washboard abs like Lewis-Harris.

"Pardon my French, but it's f---ing insane," he says. "It was the most intimidating thing: 18 feet, straight up."

Lewis-Harris calls his "America Ninja Warrior" appearance a "bucket list" moment, having watched the original Japanese program in the late '90s and always wanting to give it a try.

So what did he have to do to get on the show? Pretty much just open his e-mail.

After competing in a California calisthenic competition last fall before his January wrist surgery, "America Ninja Warrior" reached out to him in an e-mail, asking him to apply for the show.

He didn't believe it. He literally didn't believe it.

"I assumed it was a bot or someone phishing. I let it sit in my e-mail for five weeks. Unreal," says Lewis-Harris, father of 11-year-old D'Angelo and 7-year-old Akara.

When he finally responded and sent the workout videos they requested, he eventually got the call. He was in. Producers seemed especially interested in his story of being hit by a SUV and fighting back to full strength in the gym.

"When I heard back from them, there was nothing that was going to stop me from participating," he says. "My mindset pre- and post-accident is seize the day and make the most out of every opportunity. I knew I could get myself right, so I pushed it."

There was one problem — he just underwent wrist surgery and only had five months to recover. And since much of the competition is based on grip strength, his current greatest weakness, he knew he had an uphill climb ahead of him. 

No matter how he places on Monday's show, he says he will apply to be on the program again next year, looking to tackle the course at full strength.

"When they gave us a tour of the course, I was looking at it and thinking, 'Damn, if I was 100 percent, this wouldn't be so difficult at all.' That was the hardest pill to swallow," he says. "So I'm going to enjoy my summer and by August, I'll be in full training mode, ready to do it again."

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).

IF YOU WATCH

WHAT: Wilmington's D'Angelo Lewis competes on "American Ninja Warrior"

WHEN: Monday, 9 p.m.

WHERE: NBC