Identical twins Marquez and Nathan Green flew to Tacoma, Washington, in May to film "American Ninja Warrior."

Madison natives Nathan and Marquez Green, who are identical twins, are going to be appearing on the NBC television show “American Ninja Warrior” tonight on NBC. 

The show brings together hundreds of competitors to complete a series of obstacle courses in different cities around the United States. The top finishers then advance to the city finals and then the national finals in Las Vegas. 

Nathan and Marquez Green, who are both 21, are seniors at UW-Madison and will be appearing under the nicknames “Wisco Twinjas”. 

The episode they appeared on was actually taped in May and will be aired tonight at 7 p.m. on NBC. Marquez and Nathan are planning to watch the episode at a viewing party open to the public at The Sett in Union South on UW campus. Neither of them has told the media how they fared during their episode but a four-person crew from the NBC show flew to Madison and spent time with them recently, which suggests, perhaps, they did pretty well. 

The twins, who attended West High School before graduating from Wauwatosa East, lost their mother to cancer when they were 14. She was inspirational to their wanting to appear on the show. 

“We’re doing this in her honor and for all those kids out there who have parents battling cancer,” Marquez told media.

The twins are majoring in community and nonprofit leadership at Wisconsin and they have been long-time participants in UW-Madison’s Precollege Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE), which helps prepare high school students for college. 

“I was calmer than I thought I’d be,” Marquez told UW News. “The nerves weren’t really there. I think it had a lot to do with the taping being on Mother’s Day weekend.”

“We were doing it for her,” Nathan said. “That’s all that really mattered.”