Gladiators (1992 UK TV series)

Gladiators
Genre	Sports
Created by	Dan Carr John Ferraro
Presented by	Ulrika Jonsson John Fashanu (1992–96, 1999–2000) Jeremy Guscott (1997–98)
Starring	John Anderson (Referee) John Sachs (Commentator)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	8 (Series) 2 (International Gladiators) 2 (The Ashes) 2 (The Springbok Challenge)
No. of episodes	112 (Series) 14 (International Gladiators) 6 (The Ashes) 14 (The Springbok Challenge)
Production
Location(s)	National Indoor Arena
Running time	60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s)	LWT in association with The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Distributor	ITV Studios
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	4:3 (1992–98) 16:9 (1999–2000)
Original release	10 October 1992 (1992-10-10) – 1 January 2000 (2000-01-01)
Chronology
Related shows	Gladiators: Train 2 Win (1995–98) Gladiators (2008–09)
External links
Website

Gladiators is a British television entertainment series, produced by LWT for ITV, and broadcast between 10 October 1992 and 1 January 2000. It is an adaptation of the American format American Gladiators. The success of the British series spawned further adaptations in Australia and other countries.

The series was briefly revived in 2008 on Sky 1, before again being cancelled in 2009. The series was originally presented by John Fashanu and Ulrika Jonsson; however, Fashanu was replaced by Jeremy Guscott from 1997 to 1998. The series was refereed by John Anderson. John Sachs was the show's commentator, and the series was accompanied by its own group of cheerleaders, known as G-Force.

The series also spawned a version for children, entitled Gladiators: Train 2 Win, which was broadcast on CITV between 1995 and 1998.

Format

The format of the series involves contestants battling against a 'Gladiator' in a number of events in order to secure points for the final event, The Eliminator. Typically, four contenders would appear in each episode, two male (Red and Blue) and two female (Pink and Yellow), and each contender would compete in five or six events, depending on the series or time constraints.

In each event, the contenders will score a number of points, usually ten for a win. Typically, both male and female contenders would compete in the same events; however, during series six, this format was removed, and female contenders would play easier games, whilst the male contenders would play more difficult games. Once all five or six games are played, the number of points is totalled and the contestant with the highest number of points gets a headstart in The Eliminator assault course with every point ahead of their competitor worth half a second. The winner of The Eliminator then goes on to compete in the next round.

A typical series contains fifteen episodes - eight heats, four quarter finals, two semi-finals and the grand final. Occasionally, a celebrity or charity special will be broadcast after the grand final. Once a contender had won the eliminator, his or her score would go onto a leader board. The top 4 scoring males and females went on to the semis. With the final season (series 8), it consisted of just 3 episodes: 2 heats and a grand final.

Events

Despite being made by London Weekend Television, all episodes of Gladiators, International Gladiators, the second series of The Ashes and the first series of The Springbok Challenge were recorded at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, whose ITV provider is Central. The first series of The Ashes and the second series of the The Springbok Challenge, however, were filmed on the sets of the Australian and South African versions of the shows respectively.

The event line-up changed from series to series, with new events being added every series, however over the years some events were dropped due to safety reasons (Joust, Pole-Axe, Pyramid and Tilt), some never made it onto screen (Breakthrough & Conquer and Cyclotron) and one just disappeared without any explanation despite being both very popular and not causing any injuries (Pursuit).

Cast and crew

Presenters

Over the course of the 8 domestic Series, Gladiators had 3 main presenters. Former TVAM weather girl Ulrika Jonsson was with the show from the first episode and in many ways was the main anchor due to her TV background. Despite having no hosting experience, footballer John Fashanu was given the role of male host of the series. For Series 6 and 7 he was replaced by Rugby player Jeremy Guscott.

The Gladiators

Notes

Both Cobra and Lightning were never originally intended to be Gladiators. Instead, they trained and entered as contestants, and it wasn't until hours before the first recording that it was decided two more Gladiators would be required for the series. This is the reason neither appear on the cover of the music CD that was released to accompany the series. They were both upgraded to full-time participants in show three, and both remained until the very end of the programme.

Fox originally appeared as a contestant during the Wembley live shows of 1993. She was hand-picked to be a reserve Gladiator for the sixth series, however, she ended up becoming a full-time participant after Gold injured herself during training. When the British series ended, Fox became a member of the South African Gladiators team, appearing in their final domestic season.

Laser originally trained and entered as a contestant, but was later made into a reserve Gladiator. However, she ended up becoming a full-time participant after Nightshade injured herself during an event. When she appeared in the first Springbok Challenge, she appeared as a Gladiator for her native South Africa and her Gladiator name was changed to Sheena.

Vulcan joined the British Gladiators series after his native Australian edition of the series was cancelled. In international Gladiators 2 and both Ashes competitions, he competed for Australia.

Wolf later became the team coach for the new set of Gladiators, who appeared in the 2008 revival of the series.

Diesel and Vulcan only participated in the "Battle of the Giants" special in season 8.

Contenders

Applicants who wanted to take part in the show had to go through vigorous fitness tests before they were selected to take part. Footage of several of the tests were broadcast during behind-the-scenes segments during both the first and second series. Notable competitors on the show include future British 400 metre hurdler Chris Rawlinson, and Wales International Rugby Union winger Glen Webbe. Female wrestler Non Evans who appeared only once as a contestant during the sixth series. Cage fighter Alex Reid also appeared as a contestant during the seventh series. 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. Several competitors from the show's history later went on to appear on Total Wipeout, the most notable being series seven contestants Colm Curran and Micah Hudson. Series 5 winner Mark Mottram went on to become a professional stuntman and was Pierce Brosnan's stunt double in the James Bond films. He appeared in Batman (as Heath Ledger's double). He is married to Debbie Mottram, who was a cheerleader he met on Gladiators. Series 1 winner Weininger Irwin appeared in the BBC series Back in Time for Brixton in November 2016, in which a family experience 50 years of black British history;^[1] in one episode, he and his family watched his victory in the first Gladiators series final.

John Anderson

John Anderson has been the head official. 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. John had an assistant on the show, known as the "Official Timekeeper". The role was predominately filled by Andrew Norgate who was also a producer. Norgate was replaced by athlete Derek Redmond for series 3.

Spin-offs

International Gladiators

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 country to get in on the act after the United States and UK was Finland. All three appeared on the first International Gladiators series. They were joined by Russia who participated in several international shows but never had a domestic series. Shortly after this series other countries such as Australia and South Africa followed. They participated in IG2 along with Russia, UK and United States and Germany (Germany never had a domestic season and this was their only venture into Gladiators). Japan had a brief forray with a series entitled Bang,Bang,Bang,Bang. Some American Gladiators did appear. Other countries that launched their own version included Nigeria, Denmark and Sweden in the 21st century. Sweden started in 2001 and ran for 5 seasons making it one of the longest running versions. With Sweden gone in 2004, no other nations remained, and the Gladiators craze was over. Discussions spurted in the United States in 2007 about a revival.

Gladiators: Train 2 Win

In the late 1990s, when the popularity of the programme began to wane, a spin-off entitled Gladiators: Train 2 Win 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").

Controversies

• During the first series in 1992, on the very first game of The Wall, Contender Nicola Bawden slipped away from Scorpio (Nikki Diamond). 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. It also turned out that Bawden had undone her laces so that Scorpio could not hold onto her trainers. Although this wasn't explored on the actual programme, the incident was given mention on the show's first home video release, Into the Arena, as Scorpio made a complaint. John Anderson, after reviewing the footage, ruled that while Bawden did use excessive grease on her legs there was no actual rule prohibiting this therefore she was allowed to retain the points she had earned. However Anderson also said that Bawden's actions were not in the spirit of competition, and so new rules were immediately put in place to prevent her or any other contestants from trying the same trick. Scorpio was shown to be unhappy with the referee's ruling and with Bawden's apparent lack of sportsmanship, but when Bawden advanced to the semi-final Scorpio would get another chance to pull her off the wall and was successful on her second attempt.
• After the Wembley live shows in 1993, Phoenix (Sandy Young), Flame (Kimbra LeAnne Standish) and Hawk (Aleks Georgijev) were sacked from the show, having received the lowest number of votes from fans in a magazine poll. Series show runner Nigel Lythgoe was heavily criticised for the decision, and was slammed by TV critics for such ruthlessness. For reasons unknown, Bullit (Mike Harvey), who also appeared at the live shows, was never transferred to the television series. He was dropped for unknown reasons, and despite many press articles regarding the incident, no reason for his departure was ever given.
• During the third series in 1994, Panther (Helen O'Reilly) suffered one of the worst injuries on the show when she fell from her platform during Tilt and severely injured her back. She returned to the show later in the season and remained with the show for a further two years before retiring permanently.
• After the third series in 1994, a newspaper uncovered evidence that Shadow (Jefferson King) had taken steroids. King later confirmed the rumours were true and was axed shortly afterwards.
• Series five became known as the "season of injury". Before filming started Jet (Diane Youdale) retired after being injured during a live show in Sheffield on Pyramid. This led to the event being dropped for the season. It did return but wth a new layout. Amazon (Sharron Davies) severely injured her knee during training and had to pull out (although she appeared on all publicity for this season). Laser was brought in as a replacement and even used the same costume but with changes, making her debut in the fifth episode. Zodiac's (Kate Staples) appearances were limited to only 2, both on Danger Zone, due to an injury on Pole Axe during pre filming training. She retired permanently the following year. Nightshade (Judy Simpson) made only sparse outings during the season due to a severe virus picked up the previous year in Australia during filming for the Ashes series. She had to be helped off after a game of Skytrak by the training team and final curtain call came when beaten on her speciality event Duel, her only defeat during domestic competition. This was her last ever outing.
• Also during the fifth series in 1996, it was reported by the media that Hunter (James Crossley) and show presenter Ulrika Jonsson were in a relationship with each other. Although heavily denied at the time, Jonsson later admitted it in her 2003 biography.^[2]
• After the sixth series in 1997, Warrior (Michael Ahearne) was sacked from the show, after being arrested for a firearms offence. Despite many questions at the time about his departure, the real reason was only revealed six months later in a newspaper article.

Format changes

Series seven (1998) saw the show have a major overhaul. 2 new male Gladiators joined the team. One of which was Vulcan, the "bad boy" of the Australian version of the show. He was brought in to be a rival of Wolf. Behind the scenes aspects were added including clips of the contenders selections and training. 3 new games were introduced, the most since 1994 although all 3 flopped with viewers. As well as the new games, 3 of the most established events (Powerball, Pendulum and Gauntlet ) had rule changes.

Another change was the Gladiators' costumes. The "logos" (Crossbow for Hunter, Cards for Ace etc.) were removed and a standardised outfit was brought in, albeit customised for each gladiator. The actual "cut" of the costume remained the same for all gladiators from the previous year and no two design were the same. The main design was part of the word "Gladiators" written in black on each outfit.

Despite the changes, Viewing figures continued to drop and the series was axed in early 1999. However ITV agreed to film another 4 episodes. These episodes were filmed in summer 1999 at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham. Consisting of a 3-part mini-series which saw previous winners compete to be crowned "Champion of Champions" and a one off special entitled "Battle of the Giants" where male gladiators competed against each other for the title of "Ultimate Gladiator". The honour went to Hunter (James Crossley). These 3 episodes attracted good ratings for the time slot with the series making it into a new millennium, finally bowing out on New Year's Day 2000.

Transmissions

Merchandise

During the show's first three seasons, popular model makers Hornby made a selection of action figures and playsets based on the show. In 1992 the first wave of figures was released consisting of Gladiators Jet, Shadow, Wolf, Saracen, Cobra and Warrior as well as generic action figures of a male contender and female contender. Six playsets were also released - Super Duel, Duel, Atlasphere Challenge, Atlasphere Attack, The Ultimate Challenge and Danger Zone. Danger Zone originally shipped with a Hawk figure, but when he was sacked from the show the figure was replaced by Warrior but a number of the packs with Hawk made it to stores. In 1993 a second series was released consisting of Gladiators Hunter, Trojan, Panther and Zodiac along with second versions of Jet and Wolf. A new play-set of The Wall was also released. A final wave of series branded 'International Gladiators' was then released featuring a second version of Hunter along with figures of American Gladiator Hawk, Russian Gladiator Dynamite and Finnish Gladiator Terminator. A Gauntlet playset and figure of UK female Gladiator Lightning were advertised but never released.

Along with these popular models and play sets everything from plates to clocks were released. Two CD and Audio Tape compilations were released during the early years of the show, containing tracks such as Holding Out For A Hero, We Are Family & The Boys Are Back In Town, as well as the instrumental music used during events.

VHS releases

During the show's first four series, a number of VHSes were released. These contained episodes, specials or other material exclusive for home release. Many quickly sold out and are rare. The following VHS releases are available:

• GL001 - Into the Arena - Contains Heats 1 and 2 from Series 1 (1992)^[3]
• GL002 - Powerplay - Contains Heats 3 and 4 from Series 1 (1992)^[4]
• GL003 - The Conflict - Contains Heats 5 and 6 from Series 1 (1992)^[5]
• GL004 - Countdown - Contains Semi Finals 1 and 2 from Series 1 (1992)^[6]
• GL005 - The Ultimate Challenge - Contains the Grand Final from Series 1 (1992)^[7]
• GL006 - The Very Best of Gladiators - Contains the special episode "The Challenge of the Gladiators" (1993)^[8]
• GL007 - Gladiators Return - Contains the special episode "Return of the Gladiators" (1993)^[9]
• GL008 - Contenders Ready, Gladiators Ready - Contains Heats 1 and 2 from Series 2 (1993)^[10]
• GL009 - Arena Attack - Contains Heats 3, 4 and 5 from Series 2 (1993)^[11]
• GL010 - Battleground - Contains Heats 6, 7 and 8 from Series 2 (1993)^[12]
• GL011 - Combat - Contains Quarter Finals 1-4 from Series 2 (1993)^[13]
• GL012 - The Ultimate Challenge '93 - Contains Semi Finals 1 and 2 and the Grand Final from Series 2, plus the special episode "The Battle of the Gladiators" (1993)^[14]
• GL013 - The Climax - Contains Semi Finals 1 and 2 plus the Grand Final from Series 3 (1994), plus footage from the "International Challenge of Champions I" (1993)^[15]
• GL014 - The Gladiators Challenge '94-'95 - Contains the special episodes "The Return", "The Celebrity Challenge" and "The Fighting Forces Challenge" (1994)^[16]
• GL015 - International Gladiators: The Showdown - Contains Semi Finals 1 and 2 plus the Grand Final from International Gladiators I (1994)^[17]
• GL016 - The Power To Win - Contains the special episode "The Power To Win" (1995)^[18]
• SV001 - Jet: A Video Profile - Contains the special episode "Jet: A Video Profile" (1995)^[19]

References

External links

Gladiators
Versions	United States Original 2000 Revival Arab World Australia Original Revival Denmark Finland Japan Nigeria South Africa Sweden United Kingdom Original Train 2 Win Revival International 1 2 The Ashes 1 2 Springbrook Challenge 1 2
Related	Events United States United Kingdom Video game
Category