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Reality star Drew Drechsel is a veteran of the coveted reality show, American Ninja Warrior (ANW). He started his ANW career in season four, which aired in May 2012, and went on to appear in all of the show's seasons until season 11, which aired in 2020.
Following his long career on American Ninja Warrior, Drew Drechsel moved to Sasuke 27, a Japanese reality show that was similar to ANW. He was on the Japanese show for eight seasons.
However, in 2020, Drew Drechsel was arrested and charged with multiple charges related to the s*xual abuse of a minor and manufacturing child p*rnography. Following this, Drew was removed from both shows, and his footage was also edited out.
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Season 16 of ANW premiered on June 3, 2024, and since then, fans have been curious to know more about 35-year-old Drew and where he is right now. He is currently awaiting a court decision on his case and is in a detention center in Philadelphia.
Details on American Ninja Warrior star Drew Drechsel
Drew Drechsel was born on January 6, 1989, in Fairfield, Connecticut. However, at the time of his arrest, Drew was based in Orlando, Florida. He is imprisoned at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia and is currently awaiting a court decision.
While April Beckner was his girlfriend at the time of his arrest, it is unclear if the two got married since then. April and Drew have a son named Korey Kade Drechsel, who was born in December 2019 and is named after Drew's best friend.
Drew always had a knack for acrobats and stunts. From a very young age, he started doing parkour, which he later took up professionally, and would often perform parkour at various shows and events.
His long run on both American Ninja Warrior and Sasuke was a result of his years of parkour practice. Drew was one of the top contenders on Sasuke, the Japanese reality show. He also bagged the winning trophy for American Ninja Warrior in its eleventh season.
However, soon after his season 11 win, Drew was charged with child s*xual abuse and arrested in August 2020. He has been in a detention center in Philadelphia since then and is awaiting the court's decision.
Drew Drechsel's gym
Apart from contesting on the reality shows, Drew also had a state-of-the-art gym called the New Era Ninja Academy. In the gym, he taught based on his acrobatic expertise and taught both children and adults how to work with obstacles. It was specifically designed to equip students with the know-how of the ninja sport.
Most of its staff members and some of its students were former and future American Ninja Warrior contestants. Many of the younger students of the gym also went on to become contestants on the children's version of ANW called American Ninja Warrior Junior.
However, according to reports, New Era Ninja Gym was also the place where Drew supposedly s*xually assaulted a minor.
Details on Drew Drechsel's child abuse allegations
In August 2020, it was reported that the ANW star was arrested and charged with luring a 15-year-old girl for s*x and producing p*rnographic content. The reality show winner was arrested at his home, near Orlando, Florida. Drew's arrest came after the victim, who was 19 at the time, made a complaint to the Cherry Hill Police Department in New Jersey in 2019. She claimed that she was between the ages of 15 and 17 when she and Drechsel had physical and cybers*x multiple times.
After a halt in his trials because of the pandemic, Drew pleaded guilty to two counts in 2023. The first count was "receipt child p*rnography" and could get him a sentence of up to 40 years in prison. The second count was "enticement to travel for illicit s*xual conduct" and could get him a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
However, Drew's sentencing day was postponed and rescheduled multiple times, and he is awaiting a court decision while being imprisoned in Philadelphia.
In the aftermath of his allegations, NBC removed all the seasons of ANW, which featured Drew, from its streaming partner Peacock. They edited him out of the episodes of the then-ongoing season 12 as well.
New episodes of American Ninja Warrior season 16 drop every Monday at 8 pm ET on NBC.
