claim: 81-year-old Arthur Hickenlooper competed on the show "American Ninja Warrior."
origin: A video purportedly showing 81-year-old Arthur Hickenlooper completing an athletic obstacle course went viral in September 2017, after it was posted to the Facebook page for the television game show American Ninja Warrior: < I was more impressed that the Rubber Mask Makeup didnâ€™t fall off. Who else was waiting for him to rip off his old man prosthetic mask and reveal in the end that heâ€™s a much younger athlete? > A few aspects of the video also made us skeptical. For example, around the 20-second mark, the video shows a woman who is supposedly Arthurâ€™s wife, Ruth Hickenlooper. However, this woman also appears to be the mother ofÂ American Ninja WarriorÂ host Matt Iseman: Coincidentally, Joan Iseman also â€œcompetedâ€ during the Daytona episode of American Ninja Warrior â€” though it appears that the competitionÂ was a farce: If the video of Arthur Hickenlooper was real, surely host Iseman would have mentioned that Arthurâ€™s wife, Ruth Hickenlooper, was also his mother, Joan Iseman.Â TheÂ viral video also included two suspicious photographsÂ purportedly showing â€œHickenlooperâ€: We have not been able to find the sources for either of these photographs. However, weâ€™re skeptical that these images truly show an 81-year-old athlete. Although this personâ€™s face appears to belong to an 81-year-old, the rest of their body does not have any of the wrinkles youâ€™d expect to see an octogenarian.Â The announcers in the video also called Arthur Hickenlooper a â€œbit of a local legendâ€ who still competes in (and wins) athletic competitions in Denver. However, we found no record of an 81-year-old Arthur Hickenlooper competing in Colorado (or anywhere else). Arthurâ€™s name may be a nod to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper.Â If Arthur Hickenlooper isnâ€™t a real 81-year-old, then who wore the â€œold manâ€ mask for this episode? Our best guess is Brent Steffensen, an American Ninja WarriorÂ competitor, whoÂ posted the video on all of his social media accounts, and who bears a distinct resemblance to â€œHickenlooperâ€: Steffensen confirmed in an email that he did, in fact, compete onÂ American Ninja WarriorÂ as the 81-year-old Arthur Hickenlooper: < Well, now that the cat is out of the bag I can officially say that yes, Arthur Hickenlooper was actually played by yours truly, lol. Gotta say that it was a ton of fun!! > The idea of dressing up a younger athlete in an â€œold manâ€ costume is not new. ThrillistÂ published a video in July 2016 which purportedly showed an elderly weight lifting at Muscle Beach in Santa Monica. That video included footage of the prosthetics that were applied toÂ Kenneth Leverich, a former Junior Olympic weightlifter, to make him appear as if he were an old man. We suspect a similar process was used to create â€œArthur Hickenlooperâ€ forÂ American Ninja Warrior: