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Gladiators
Original Gladiators (UK) Logo
Created by	Dan Carr & John Ferraro
Starring	Ulrika Jonsson (Presenter: 1992 - 2000) John Fashanu (Presenter: 1992 - 1996, 1999 - 2000) Jeremy Guscott (Presenter: 1997 - 1998) John Sachs (Commentator) John Anderson (Referee)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	8 (Original series) 2 (International Gladiators) 4 (Train to Win) 2 (The Ashes) 2 (Springbok Challenge)
No. of episodes	102 (Original series) (inc. specials) 14 (International Gladiators) 33 (Train to Win) 6 (The Ashes) 14 (Springbok Challenge)
Production
Producer	LWT
Production locations	National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England
Running time	60mins (inc. adverts)
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	10 October 1992 - 1 January 2000 (Original series) 7 January 1995 - 8 June 1996 (International Gladiators) 2 September 1995 – 13 March 1998 (Train to Win) 30 December 1995 - 1 February 1997 (The Ashes) 3 January 1998 - 2000 (Springbok Challenge)
Related
Gladiators (2008-2009)

Gladiators is a British television series produced by LWT for ITV from 10 October 1992 to 1 January 2000. It is an adaptation of the United States game show American Gladiators. An Australian spin-off and a Swedish one followed. A revival of the show was broadcast on Sky1 in 2008 and 2009 prior to being axed.

The show was originally presented by John Fashanu and Ulrika Jonsson. John Fashanu was replaced by Jeremy Guscott in 1997, before returning for the final mini series in 1999.

The referee was John Anderson and the timekeepers over the show's run were Andrew Norgate, Derek Redmond and Eugene Gilkes. John Sachs commentated for the show from the beginning to the end and the gladiators were cheered on by a group of cheerleaders, known as G-Force.

Despite being made by London Weekend Television, all episodes of Gladiators and International Gladiators were recorded at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. Gladiators: The Ashes 1 and Gladiators: Springbok Challenge 2, however, was filmed on the sets of the Australian and South African versions of the shows respectively.

The Gladiators

Female

Male

An unseen UK Gladiator called Shark, real name Metin Hussein, was hired but never used in action. He was all set to be a new bad guy but for unknown reasons he was dropped just before the filming of the 1997 series. He was briefly featured in the background on the Gladiator Training Camp clips in Mauritus. He was replaced by Khan.

Cobra and Lightning were originally not on the 1992 team but were actually going to be contenders. It was decided that two more Gladiators would be needed and so both were added to the final team as reserves, However by show three of that series both were upgraded to full time members of the team. They both stayed with the show till the very end.

Laser, like Cobra and Lightning was originally going to be a contender, then a reserve Gladiator before being upgraded to full member of the team, replacing an injured Nightshade half way through the 1996 series.

Fox, a contender at the original 1993 Wembley live shows, joined the team as a reserve Gladiator four years later. Like Laser the series before, Fox was added to the team full time filling in for fellow new female Gladiator Gold, who had injured herself during training for the series.

Both Fox and Laser would later join the MTN South African Gladiators Team. Whilst Fox would keep her Gladiator name, Laser who competed in the first Springbok Challenge series was renamed "Sheena" she however never competed in a domestic series of MTN Gladiators.

The events

The contenders

Applicants who wanted to take part in the show had to go through fitness tests to before they were selected to take part in the show. Future British 400 metre hurdler Chris Rawlinson and Wales International Rugby Union winger Glen Webbe were the most famous of these to compete. Most competitors achieved brief local fame, but series three women's champion Eunice Huthart earned great recognition, and briefly presented late night television before becoming a stunt double.

Controversies

The relationship between "Hunter" (James Crossley) and presenter Ulrika Jonsson was a tabloid focus during 1996 and 1997. The pair initially denied the affair, but later Jonsson admitted it in her 2003 biography.

After the Wembley live shows in 1993 Phoenix, Flame and Hawk were sensationally sacked from the show having received the lowest number of votes in a magazine poll.

"Bullit" having only just joined the team for the 1993 live shows, was dropped from the show shortly after they had finished. He remains the only Gladiator (excluding Blaze) who was not transferred over to the TV series, No reason for this was ever given.

"Shadow" was sacked from the show in 1994, after a newspaper uncovered evidence that he had taken steroids.

"Warrior" after being arrested for a fire arms offence found himself also cut from the show in 1998.

"Raider" remains the only Gladiator on the show to receive a straight Red Card and face an exclusion from the show for having pushed a contender who beat him in the Gauntlet. The contender, while on the floor, had kicked Raider out of the Gauntlet so as to win, and was not punished.

Gladiators Nightshade, Jet, Amazon and Zodiac all quit the show following serious injury, either during training or on the show itself. Panther suffered one of the most shocking injuries during a game of "Tilt" in series 3, She made a welcome return to the show the following series and remained with the show for a further two years before hanging up her lycra for good.

Contender Nicola Bawden caused controversy following the very first game of The Wall after she literally gave Scorpio the slip. Scorpio had managed to get hold of her, but she slipped off moments later and dropped to the floor. It turned out that Bawden had greased her legs so Scorpio could not get a firm grip of her. It also turned out that Bawden had undone her laces so that Scorpio could not hold onto her trainers. Strangely, Bawden was not disqualified for this, but when she advanced to the semi-finals, Scorpio was given a second chance to chase her up The Wall. This time, she was successful in wrenching Bawden off The Wall.

John Anderson

John Anderson has been the head official for all nine series (including the revival). Before every event he called: "Contender ready! Gladiator ready!," similar to his American counterpart, Larry Thompson, but also he added a countdown, "Three! Two! One!" before starting the match. During celebrity specials Anderson took a more light-hearted attitude to the show such as adapting his call to "Little contender ready!" when Willie Carson took part.

Former American League (Major League Baseball) umpire Al Kaplon adopted Anderson's countdown before the whistle in the 2008 US revival.

Anderson is also known as John 'Kipper' Anderson, due to his renowned love for kippers with his Scottish breakfast in the mornings.

Train 2 Win

In the late 1990s, when the popularity of the programme began to wane, a spin-off entitled Gladiators: Train2Win was produced and was broadcast on CITV in 1996, based on Gladiators 2000, the kids' version of American Gladiators. The show featured two teams of children, each captained by a gladiator (varying each week) which sought to gain the most points. Some of the games differed from those on the parent show; for example, the "Eliminator" round was more similar to the "Pursuit" round (though it still featured the famous "Travelator").

Celebrity specials

Four celebrity specials were produced during the shows history. The first one, in 1993 was broadcast in the week between semi-final 2 and the final and the other three in 1994, 1996 and 1997 were broadcast over the Christmas period.

Celebrity special winners

1993: John Fashanu
1994: Derek Redmond
1996: Steve Redgrave
1997: Celebrities v Jockeys - Jockeys team (Bob Champion, Willie Carson, Tony Dobbin, Carl Llewelyn and Peter Scudamore) Celebrities Team (Bradley Walsh, Mark Speight, Paul Ross, Mr. Motivator, Samuel Kane)

International shows

While the show itself was inspired by the USA's American Gladiators, the UK show inspired many other countries to start their own series. The first two countries to get in on the act after the US and UK were Russia and Finland. All four appeared on the first International Gladiators series. Shortly after this series other countries such as Nigeria, Australia, South Africa and Germany followed the trend. The last two nations to broadcast the show were Denmark and Sweden, Denmark beginning in 2002 and ending quickly afterwards. Sweden started in 2001 and ended in 2004, after much success including the only ever Gladiators PC game, 'Gladiatorerna'. With Sweden gone in 2004, no other nations remained, and therefore the Gladiators craze was over for the time being until discussions erupted in the United States in 2007 about a revival.

Legends

There have been three "Legends" shows for the new Sky1 series, one for the first series and a further two for the second series. In these specials, former Gladiators from the UK show's original incarnation return as special contenders, taking on the might of the new generation of Gladiators. These specials are filmed in the aid of charity.

For the first show "The Legends Return", Gladiators Wolf, Lightning, Flame, Hunter, Trojan, Ace, Rebel and Rocket made a welcome return in the new revamped 2008 arena. The event was broadcast on 31 August 2008 on Sky1 and resulted in the women "Legends" defeating the current Gladiators and the male "Legends" beaten by the current group of Gladiators.

Former Gladiator Hunter proved he still has what it takes in the arena by instantly defeating Spartan on Duel. Hunter lived up to his crown of being the "Ultimate Gladiator", a status he achieved in "Battle of the Giants" in 1999.

A second show for Series 2 was recently filmed, "The Legends Strike Back". Returning from Legends 1 were Wolf, Lightning, Trojan and Rocket, who were now joined by Scorpio, Cobra, Siren and Bullitt. It was classed as the very first show of Series 2 and was broadcast on 21 December 2008.

Legends 3 has also now completed filming. The returning Female Legends were Vogue, Rebel and the original Panther and Siren. The returning Male Legends were Ace, Cobra, Khan and Trojan (who is now the only Gladiator, male or female, to take part in all three Legends shows). It was due to air on Sky2 during August 2009, but was dropped before airing. The Sky website labelled it as a repeat, but it has never aired before. Sky1 finally aired the Legends 3 special entitled "Gladiators: The Legends' Last Stand" on 25 October 2009.

Because of copyright issues with ITV, the Legends were not allowed to wear their trademark Gladiator costumes and instead had brand new costumes made especially for the charity specials.

Sponsorship

The show was first sponsored by Kellogg's Frosties in 1994, then by Del Monte Fruit Burst between 1996-98, and finally by Ready Brek in 1998.

Toys

During 1992 and 1995, Hornby made a selection of Action Figures + Playsets.

ACTION FIGURES

• B800- Jet
• B801- Shadow
• B802- Wolf
• B803- Saracen
• B804- Cobra
• B805- Warrior
• B806- Male Contender
• B807- Female Contender

PLAYSETS

• B821- Duel
• B822- Atlasphere Attack (With Wolf)
• B823- Danger Zone (With Warrior And Male Contender)
• B824- Atlasphere Challenge (With Cobra And Male Contender)
• B825- Super Duel (With Shadow And Male Contender)
• B826- The Ultimate Challenge (With Saracen And Male Contender)

B823 (Danger Zone) was due to have a Hawk action figure included but because he left the show it was later scrapped, although a few sets left the factory with Hawk figures still in them.

A second wave, released in 1993, contained:

• Hunter Action Figure
• Zodiac Action Figure
• Trojan Action Figure
• Panther Action Figure
• The Wall Playset

A later International Gladiators wave contained:

• Terminator (Finland) Action Figure
• Dynamite (Russia) Action Figure
• Hawk (United States) Action Figure
• Hunter (United Kingdom) Action Figure

An addition to this wave, a Gauntlet playset with Lightning (United Kingdom) action figure, was cancelled and never went into production.

A final "Australian gladiators" wave contained:

• Taipan Action Figure
• Tower Action Figure
• Vulcan Action Figure
• Hammer Action Figure
• Condor Action Figure
• Male Contender Figure
• Duel Playset

Transmissions

Original series

International Gladiators

Train2Win

The Ashes

Springbok Challenge

Specials

Current Transmissions

Television channel Challenge currently air repeats of the show. To this date they have aired all 8 series, but currently only have the rights to series 3-8. They have also shown both Ashes series, both International Gladiators and most of the Specials. The only series they have never aired to date are both Springbok Challenge series nor the train2win series.

Virgin 1 is currently showing series 5-8 plus the second ashes as well as the specials, it also showed series 3-5, both International series and both Ashes series, while its predecessor ftn showed series 1-4, both International series and the first Ashes series.

References

1. "Hurt girls looking for a father figure" http://news.scotsman.com, 23 April 2002. Retrieved: 30 June 2007

External links

• Gladiators at UKGameshows.com
• Gladiators at Gladiators Zone
• Gladiators at Challenge.co.uk
• Gladiators at IMDb

• 1990s British television series
• 2000s British television series
• 1992 in British television
• 1992 television series debuts
• 2000 television series endings
• British game shows
• Gladiators (British TV show)
• ITV television programmes
• Sports entertainment