Gladiators (2008 British TV series)

Gladiators is a British television series which aired on Sky One from 11 May 2008 to 25 October 2009. It was a revival of the earlier series of the same name and based on the American version of the show. The US, UK and Australian versions of the show were all revived in 2008.

For the original series, see Gladiators (1992 British TV series).

Gladiators
GenreGame show
Created byDan Carr
John Ferraro
Presented byIan Wright
Kirsty Gallacher (Series 1)
Caroline Flack (Series 2)
StarringReferee:
John Anderson (Series 1)
John Coyle (Series 2)
Narrated byAlan Parry
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes27 (inc. 8 specials)
Production
Production locationShepperton Studios
Running time60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companyShine TV
Release
Original networkSky One
Original release11 May 2008 (2008-05-11) –
25 October 2009 (2009-10-25)
Related

For the first series, the show was hosted by Ian Wright and Kirsty Gallacher with original Referee John Anderson returning. For the second series Wright was joined by Caroline Flack due to Gallacher not wanting to return. Another change was the removal of Anderson due to the producers wanting to give the show its own feel and cut ties with the original series. He was replaced by well known boxing referee John Coyle for series two. The winners of the series each earned £50,000.

The show was cancelled in May 2009 by then director of programmes, Stuart Murphy.[1][2] A second revival is set to be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in 2023,[3][4] to be presented by Bradley Walsh alongside his son Barney.[5]

Format

Series one featured 32 contenders (16 male, 16 female). Men and women competed in separate tournaments, with two men and two women competing in each episode. Contenders took part in events against the Gladiators, trying to earn as many points as possible before the final event, the Eliminator. In that event, each point separating the contenders translated into a half-second advantage. The four events leading up to the final were selected from a total of eleven events.

The grand prize in Series 1 was £50,000 per winning contender.

Changes from the original series

The show featured a lineup of new Gladiators, with new costumes. However, Amazon, Panther, Siren and Warrior share names with gladiators from the original UK series and several others share names with those from international series. Many of the Gladiator costumes were noticeably more revealing than in the original series, with male Gladiators Atlas and Oblivion in particular wearing very little.

Due to Sky One's greater advertising requirements, and contestant interviews prior to each of the events starting, the number of events before the Eliminator was cut from five to four. The revival also featured new music.

Events
Main article: List of Gladiators UK events

The new Gladiators studio set meant that there was only room for 11 events, 9 events from the original series: Duel, Gauntlet, Hang Tough, Hit & Run, Powerball, Pursuit, Pyramid, The Wall and Suspension Bridge. The two new events were Earthquake and Rocketball, which originated in the first and second American Gladiators series respectively.

Notable changes from the original series include Duel, Hang Tough, Hit & Run, Pursuit and Suspension Bridge now being played over water. The revised Eliminator featured a swimming section, a climb to the top of the Pyramid and (for series 2) two Travelators.

The Gladiators

Female Gladiators
Alias Series Name Stats Description
First Last
Amazon 2 2 Zoe Williams 5 ft 10 in
10 st 6 lb		 Regal and Amazonian, nature's powerful force runs through her veins.
Battleaxe 1 2 Shirley Webb 5 ft 9 in
13 st		 A weapon of war; domineering, aggressive and indomitable,
Battleaxe is a warrior Queen.
Cyclone 1 (temp), 2 2 Donna Williams 5 ft 4 in
9 st 5 lb		 Fast and furious, Cyclone leaves destruction all around her.
Enigma 1 2 Jenny Pacey 5 ft 11 in
10 st 4 lb		 Mysterious and beautiful, contradictory and unpredictable,
Enigma is impossible to capture.
Ice 1 1 Caroline Pearce 5 ft 6 in
9 st 4 lb		 Ice is Cold, steely, frosty and beautiful.
Inferno 1 2 Jemma Palmer 5 ft 6 in
9 st 10 lb		 Inferno is hot, fiery, dangerous and destructive.
Panther 1 2 Kara Nwidobie Sharpe 5 ft 10 in
13 st		 Beautiful, sleek and prowling, fierce and aggressive,
Panther is the most powerful of them all.
Siren 2 2 Amy Guy 5 ft 9 in
9 st		 The goddess of perilous seduction, expect no mercy. She will entice any contender into the waters and show how dangerous she can be.
Tempest 1 2 Lucy Boggis 5 ft 9 in
10 st 7 lb		 Naturally beautiful, Tempest is a force of nature bringing furious agitation and commotion.

Male Gladiators
Alias Series Name Stats Description
First Last
Atlas 1 2 Sam Bond 5 ft 11 in
16 st 7 lb		 As strong as He-man, Atlas fights hard but with dignity.
Destroyer 1 1 Damar Martin 5 ft 11 in
17 st		 Determined and strong, angry and unstoppable – nothing gets in his way.
Doom 2 2 Wayne Gordon 6 ft 3 in
15 st		 Mere mortals beware, there’s a dark cloud that looms, judgment day is afoot and Doom is your worst nightmare.
Goliath 2 2 Mason Ryan 6 ft 6 in
20 st		 A man-mountain with brute force.
As frightening to look at as he is unstoppable.
Contenders will always be in his shadow – because his shadow’s so big!
Oblivion 1 2 Nick Aldis 6 ft 3 in
16 st 7 lb		 Oblivion leaves nothing in his path as he extinguishes the opposition.
Predator 1 2 Du'aine Ladejo 6 ft 2 in
13 st 5 lb		 Volatile, quick and poisonous,
Predator hunts down prey and takes no prisoners.
Spartan 1 2 Roderick Bradley 6 ft 3 in
15 st		 Handsome, disciplined and brave, Spartan is the perfect warrior.
Tornado 1 2 David McIntosh 6 ft 0 in
15 st 4 lb		 Violently destructive and full of unstoppable energy,
Tornado will leave you in a spin.
Warrior 2 2 Daniel Singh 6 ft 3 in
17 st 8 lb		 A savage beast who takes no prisoner.
A Warrior in name and nature with a fearful battle cry.

Leader of the pack

Wolf (who featured in all eight series of the original Gladiators) returned to be the Gladiators' "Leader of the Pack". He featured in all episodes of series 2. His real name is Michael Van Wijk.

Series winners

Series One (2008)
  • Male winner: Simon Wray
  • Female winner: Anna Miller

Series Two (2009)

Champion of Champions (2009)
  • Male winner: David Staff
  • Female winner: Anna Miller

Music

All the music to the new series was specially composed by British composer Paul Farrer also known for his music for The Weakest Link and Dancing on Ice. Other artists' music has been used in certain events.

Injuries

Series One

According to reports, at least one contestant has had to withdraw from the opening episode, while one of the Gladiators slipped on a bridge and had to leave the set. Another Gladiator had a stomach bug and Enigma suffered from an injured ankle. In addition, Enigma was involved in an incident on Gauntlet where Leanne Lennox kicked a ram rod into her face, resulting in a confrontation and then her being disqualified. Contenders also suffered injuries including a broken toe suffered by Nicola Trench on Earthquake, a damaged knee suffered by Gavin Sunshine in Gauntlet, a shoulder injury suffered by Joel Grant Jones in Powerball, as well as Greg Kirk suffering a broken arm in the quarter-finals during Powerball. One contender, Gavin Sunshine, was so badly injured that he refused to start after his whistle and the other contender, Kevin Dixon, won the show by default.

Sky1 responded to say that health and safety is their number one issue, and they want to minimise the injuries, but pointed out that; "This is Gladiators – a tough physical show for athletes. It's not Family Fortunes!"[6]

Series Two

In the second episode of "Gladiators: The Legends Strike Back" female legend Scorpio suffered an ankle fracture while participating in The Wall.[7]

In the fourth episode, a female contestant, Gemma Green had to pull out due to sustaining a knee injury in Gauntlet just before the Eliminator. David Staff broke his nose during the semi-finals while on Earthquake with Doom. However he went on to score points. He later went on to win the eliminator and eventually went on to win the series as Male champion. He also competed on the champion of champions special, aired on 5 April 2009, and won. Also Gladiator Warrior sustained an injury during gauntlet where contender Justin Thompson clashed and hit his head, and cut just above his eye. He was taken off and fellow gladiator "The Big O" Oblivion took his spot.

Gladiators G-Zone

Originally advertised as Gladiators: G-Force, this short ten-minute program profiled a selection of the gladiators, including Spartan, Panther and Atlas. With a 2min profile of Oblivion, not previously shown, appearing as part of a repeat run.

Transmissions

Original series
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
111 May 200824 August 200815
24 January 200929 March 200912

Specials
DateEntitle
6 July 2008Celebrity Special
31 August 2008The Legends Return
16 November 2008Battle of the Forces
21 December 2008The Legends Strike Back
15 February 2009Battle of the Forces
5 April 2009Champion of Champions
12 April 2009Battle of the Athletes
25 October 2009The Legends Last Stand

References
  1. "Gladiators Axed!". 21 May 2009. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  2. Holmwood, Leigh (21 May 2009). "Sky1 axes Gladiators and Don't Forget the Lyrics". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  3. "Contenders Ready! Gladiators Ready! Iconic entertainment series Gladiators is set to burst back onto screens in 2023". BBC. 25 August 2022.
  4. Ritman, Alex (25 August 2022). "'Gladiators' Getting U.K. Reboot on BBC". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  5. "Presenters Ready? Bradley and Barney Walsh are confirmed as hosts of Gladiators". BBC. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  6. Conlan, Tara (18 April 2008). "Gladiators return hit by injuries". The Guardian.
  7. "'Gladiators' return hit by injuries". Digital Spy. 18 April 2008.
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