Series / Gladiators (1992)

AWOOGA!

Do you feel the power of the Gladiators?
Can you face the challenge of the champions?
Do you have the courage of a hero?
Do you have the will and the skill?
Do you have the speed, the strength, the heart to be a winner?
It's not for beginners.
Deep down in your soul.
Are you a Gladiator?

—The lyrics for the opening theme of the show

Gladiators is a British Game Show which aired on ITV from 1992-2000. It's one of several international versions based on original American Gladiators.

For most of its run, the show is presented by Ulrika Johnson and John Fashanu. John Sachs provides commentary and John Anderson is the referee.

A small group of contestants (usually two men and two women) compete in each week in a bunch of physical contests against each other and the titular "Gladiators"- a group of professional athletes from various backgrounds. The Gladiators aren't billed under their real names, and adopt single word aliases for their role in then show (e.g. Lightning, Warrior, Panther and Wolf). In some cases there's also an element of kayfabe, with certain Gladiators adopting a heel persona.

Since the Gladiators are strong, fit and very skilled on their fields, they generally have a distinct advantage (though, generally, the games are not designed to be unwinnable).

The series follows a knockout format with winners of each show advancing to a semifinal and then a final.

The very final episode of the series instead pits Gladiator against Gladiator.

There was also an international crossover series and a couple of Ashes series between England and Australia.

It can be a highly competitive and tense show involving some very hard games. The contestants are regular people and professional athletes, and the Gladiators aren't known for being soft-hearted. As a result, contenders are often the underdogs, which adds to the stakes.

It's also a very adaptable show: the variety of events on display meant no two episodes would be the same. It also allowed for new events to come and go over the years, ensuring less predictability.

The show was revived in May 2008 on Sky One, where an all-new team of Gladiators took on a new contenders.

It was revived a second time in January 2024, this time on BBC One.

The recurring events included:

Challenges

• Atlaspheres: The first event of the series shown. Two Contenders face two Gladiators and all are caged in large Atlaspheres^note (Think giant hamster balls made out of metal and mesh) that they have to propel from within. The contenders' task is to roll the spheres onto any of four scoring pods. They were given 60 seconds to score as many points as they could in this fashion, while the Gladiators must block the contenders from scoring.^note The South African version played this event in a one-on-one format and changed the scoring pods to a set of five oversized bowling pins to be knocked over - four silver ones worth 2 points each and a red one, which had to be the last one, worth 4 points.
• Duel: The most iconic event of the show, where a Gladiator and a Contender fight using Pugil Sticks (think oversized cotton buds, and you're nearly there) on raised platforms and try to knock the other one off. 10 points were awarded if the contender knocked off the Gladiator, 5 if they lasted the whole 30 seconds. Women's versions were mostly defensive affairs, the men's one could have the end happen at pretty much any moment.
• Gauntlet: One of the tougher events, this event has the Contender running a gauntlet of five Gladiators, all armed with either power pads or ramrods. Points were awarded for completing each section, though completing the entire gauntlet would get the most points. In the original format, the Contender got 5 points for getting through in 30 seconds, and 5 more for making it in under 20 seconds.
• Hang Tough: Another iconic piece. The objective was for the Contender to reach the opposite platform by swinging on a grid of rings. 10 points if they made it to the other side, or 5 if they were in the scoring zone after 60 seconds. Most of the time the Gladiator would manage to latch onto them and bring them down.
• Pendulum: Where a Contender and Gladiator participate in a game of "Hide and Seek" on a giant swinging ball suspended above a catch net. The Gladiator needs to reach the Contender and steal their tag from their back. Originally, the Contender got 5 points for surviving 40 seconds, and 5 more for lasting the full 60 seconds. A later rule change gave the Contender five targets to hit around the Pendulum for 2 points each.
• Powerball: Where the Contenders have 60 seconds to run through an arena with five scoring bins, trying to deposit balls in those baskets without being tackled by three Gladiators. 2 points for scoring in an outer bin, 3 for scoring in the center bin.
• Pyramid: Where the Contenders have to try and scale a pyramid guarded by two Gladiators. 10 points were awards for the first contender to reach the top and 5 for the runner up. Notorious for ending Jet's career on the show, the result of which caused the event to be suspended for a year.
• Skytrak: A spectacular event which was a 40ft in the air, upside down Scalextric track. The Contenders race each other around a figure of 8 while the Gladiators try to catch up to them and press a button to eliminate them. The winner is awarded 10 points. If both make it through, the runner-up scores 5.
• The Wall: The Gladiators need to pursue the Contenders up a wall after a head start and try to drag them off. 10 points were awards to the first Contender to scale the wall and 5 for the runner up.

After playing six of these events (reduced to five in later series), the two Contenders (without any Gladiators) then competed in a race on "The Eliminator", an obstacle course whose features varied over the years but always finished with a dash up a 45° moving floor known as the Travelator; this quickly became the most notorious obstacle in the show, due to a lot of contenders finding themselves being unable to run up it thanks to fatigue. Most matches could be won or lost here, and several Contenders who would've had no chance of winning thanks to a huge gap could find themselves overcoming the deficit. The game was won or lost solely according to who finished the Eliminator first; the preceding events were played for points, the leading Contender having half a second's headstart on the Eliminator for each point they led by.

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Gladiators contains examples of the following tropes:

• '80s Hair: Despite it being the 90's, the original ladies all had big hair; the second series on played it down. The men's styles could be pretty out there too (especially Wolf's).
• Action Girl: The female Gladiators and contestants, naturally. In particular the third season contestant, and eventual series winner, Eunice Huthart who was a kickboxing champion before entering. Her nailbiting final run at the Eliminator against Kerryn Sampey is considered one of the show's greatest moments. Eunice went on to become Angelina Jolie's favourite stunt double.
• Adaptation Expansion: Look at the American version in comparison, and you'll see a dramatically different show: the U.S. version had a relatively tamer style more akin to a traditional Saturday afternoon sports telecast (although still stylized) and other sports-oriented competition shows such as Battle of the Network Stars and later Nickelodeon GUTS. The British version took the same basic format up to eleven by turning it into a Darker and Edgier primetime spectacle with elements inspired by Professional Wrestling. U.S. viewers were exposed to the British version during the international tournaments, while NBC's primetime revival would be modeled more after the British version than the original syndicated run.
  • And now, the series (albeit severely edited) appears on MGM-owned diginet Charge!
• Anti-Climax: When Vinnie Jones appeared on a celebrity edition, he teased a showdown with Wolf, with even a bit of shoving. The two were put up against each other in the Joust (a modified Duel using mechanical bulls and half-pugil sticks), where Wolf absolutely destroyed Jones in seconds.
• Anyone Can Die: Downplayed, nobody actually died, but gladiators could leave due to injury, or be cut from the show due to lack of popularity, or having been fired for more controversial reasons. By the end of the run, there were only four of the original Gladiators left (Wolf, Lightning, Saracen and Cobra). There were also several injuries to contenders over the course of the show which meant the backup contenders were required.
• Ascended Fangirl: Eunice Huthart; probably the most well known of the female contenders over the years eventually became the gladiator Blaze.
• Big Bad: Wolf. The song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" played whenever he lost. Conversely, Wild Thing played when he won.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: At the end of the final episode's farewell montage, Michael Van Wijk steps out of character as Wolf, the show's most enduring Heel, as he leaves for the last time.
  Michael Van Wijk: Here we go. This is the end. Eight years I've been coming to this arena, eight years I've been [slight pause] trying my best. And now it's all over. Well, I've enjoyed it. It's been a great time and I'd like to say goodbye to all my fans. [smiles, gives a thumbs up, walks away]
• Breakout Character: After contender Eunice Huthart won the game she was invited to return as a Gladiator herself, adopting the "Blaze" persona for the role. Huthart is the only contestant from the original ITV series to make that leap to a permanent role.
• Career-Ending Injury: Several Gladiators, such as Jet and Amazon, retired after suffering injuries during games. A number of contenders were also taken out of the running this way.
• Catchphrase: "H'Gladiators....ha-readaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" for John Anderson, and Fash's "Awooga!"
• Celebrity Edition: There were four celebrity specials produced between 1993 and 1997. John Fashanu and Sir Steve Redgrave were among the winners.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Pursuit became very popular soon as it appeared, it was essentially a mini Eliminator with Gladiators pursuing the Contenders, which added to the tension. However it mysteriously vanished in later series with no explanation as to why.
• Clothing Damage/Wardrobe Malfunction: Some of the more contact-based games occasionally ended up with the contenders' uniforms either being stretched or completely torn. Wolf was a frequent offender, after being reprimanded for pulling down a contender's shorts on Hang Tough he claimed it was unfair as the man still had his underwear on. John Fashanu was particularly unlucky during a Celebrity episode when a tackle during Powerball completely ripped open the front of his shorts, forcing him to use a powerball to cover his modesty until he could go backstage to change.
• Cool Old Guy: At 40, Wolf was by far the oldest of the gladiators even when the series began, and he stayed right until it ended when he was 47, yet he consistently proved himself as fit as any of them. At that age, in such a physically intense show, that was no mean feat.
• Dare to Be Badass: The theme song.
• Deadpan Snarker: Commentator John Sachs frequently made sarcastic (though good-natured) jokes at the expense of contenders, gladiators (especially Wolf) and even members of the audience. Ulrika Johnson, John Fashanu and a big chunk of the Gladiators would also make sarcastic quips here and there.
• Don't Try This at Home: Always said at the end of the episode.
• The Dreaded:
  • Many gladiators had a talent for a given event (Shadow for Duel, Saracen and Lightning for Hang Tough, and so on), while others like Nightshade kicked arse no matter the event.
  • Hang Tough was the most likely event for Wolf to kick off: he would usually end up being disqualified, getting a yellow card, lashing out at the contender, arguing with the referee or yelling at the audience.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Mike Adamle showed up in the series 3 celebrity special from 1994 as a teaser for the International Gladiators event later that year. Sharron Davies appears in the audience of the same special, supporting her then-husband Derek Redmond who's competing. She would go on to appear in series 4 as a Gladiator named Amazon.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • The first series only featured six games - Atlaspheres, The Wall, Danger Zone^note Known as "Assault" in the original US version, Swingshot, Hang Tough, and Duel - in that order in all episodes except Heat 6 {which played Danger Zone first, followed by The Wall, Duel, Atlaspheres, Swingshot, and then Hang Tough. This was due to Warrior suffering an injury in the Atlaspheres event, which was filmed after he had already faced the heat contenders in Duel, therefore requiring Duel to be aired first to maintain continuity). The Eliminator also went straight from the zip lines to the Travelator, rather than having the balance beams before it.
  • John Anderson did not wear his signature black cap in the first series, and he was also more subdued when doing his event introductions.
  • The uniforms the contenders wore in series one varied in colour from show to show. Afterwards, the female contenders generally wore pink and yellow (except for a brief period in series three when they wore a different shade of pink {almost red-like} and light blue, respectively), while the male contenders wore red and blue (with series two having a lighter shade of blue, and the contenders wearing black shorts with red/blue tank tops early in series three).
  • Gauntlet was introduced in the second series, and was RIDICULOUSLY easy - the contestants only had to make their way past three Gladiators who were spread further apart, and was changed to the more standard five Gladiators in the next series. The scoring system was also based on who got the faster time of the two, whereas from series 3 onwards, 10 points were scored if it was beaten under 20 seconds, and 5 if they completed it within 20-30 seconds.
  • The Wall in the first series - female competitors were given a 20 second head start, with the males getting 15. From series two onwards, they both only get 10 seconds which increased the tension and made it less of a guaranteed points haul.
  • The title sequence for the show qualifies for this too - in the first series, the announcer introduces the contestants, along with their occupation and where they come from, which leads into him reading off the names of the Gladiators. The second series onwards adopted the more familiar title sequence with the rotating logo in space, with images of the Gladiators flying by during the theme song.
  • The closing titles for season 1 didn't feature the warning about not trying any of the stuff on the show at home. A wordy version of it was played halfway through the season 2 credits (More or less saying don't try this at home, both contestants and Gladiators are well trained, and that safety equipment is mandatory), and from season 3 onwards, a simple "For safety reasons, do not attempt to recreate any of the events you have seen on “Gladiators”." message played at the start of the credits.
  • The theme song for the credits kept changing in the original run - the first season used a shortened version of the full theme song, season 2 used "The Power Rap", and season 3 used "Tussle With The Muscle" (Which was slightly remixed for season 4). Later closing themes include a Gladiators cover of "The Boys Are Back In Town" and "The Gladiator Stomp". In comparison, the revived series only used one piece of music (That of its title sequence) for its short run.
• Fanservice: The whole damn show. Reasonably attractive and extremely muscular and athletic people competing in a variety of games while wearing leotards and other barely-there clothes? If it wasn't for the strict focus on the games, you'd wonder how the show got to keep going.
• Foil: Vulcan was brought in from the Australian series to be this to Wolf.
• Golden Snitch: The Eliminator in general but specifically the Travelator. Several contenders would go into the Eliminator with a massive lead, hold it throughout the course and then stumble at the Travelator as their opponent zipped up with no problems. While this was no doubt disappointing it did make for some dramatic finishes.
• Irony: Cobra and Lightning entered as contenders, and were only called up as reserve gladiators when they were short of numbers. They are two of the four (Saracen and Wolf the others) to have appeared throughout the show's run.
• I Shall Taunt You: Whenever Wolf lost an event, they'd play "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" over the PA system just to rub it in.
• Heel: Wolf played this for all it was worth: (playfully) shoving contenders, ripping up banners and generally being the "nasty one". It actually helped to make him one of the most popular Gladiators. He did occasionally drop the theatrics and decide to play nice, but only for an episode or two at a time.
• Large Ham: John Anderson was this with his famous "GLADIATORS, READY!" Catchphrase.
• Laughably Evil: Wolf. Obviously.
  "Quiet! QUIET! (beat) I'm trying to do an interview.."
• Leg Focus: Jet's signature pre-event move was to pretend to play Air Guitar using one of her legs.
• Kayfabe: Some things on the series, like Wolf's personality, was just part of the act and part of the fun. Then again, Ulrika did have an affair with one of the Gladiators (possibly Hunter).
• Loophole Abuse: In the first series, a contender greased up her legs and took the laces out of her shoes during the Wall event so the Gladiator would not be able to hold her. She got away with this as there was technically no rule against it; but such a rule was immediately put into place, and the Gladiator (Scorpio) was later given a rematch with her when the contender made it to the semi-finals.
• Market-Based Title: Duel was renamed from Joust in American Gladiators. A different game called Joust (A modified Duel using mechanical bulls and half-pugil sticks) was brought in early in the original run, but was axed for safety concerns.
• Mighty Glacier: Some contenders were very strong and did well in strength-based events, but did poorly in those requiring speed - including, crucially, the Eliminator. The most extreme example was Roland Hill, a strength athlete who dragged cars uphill for fun and held the world record for tearing telephone directories in half; he went into the Eliminator with a huge points lead giving him a massive 15.5 second headstart. He lost to Steve Quick. (Steve's victory in the next round was similar, though less extreme on all counts.)
• Ms. Fanservice: Jet stood out as this being a childhood crush for an entire generation of young men.
• One-Steve Limit: Well and truly averted with a presenter, commentator, and referee (and a few contenders) all named John (though the presenter often went by his nickname of Fash). Four of the gladiators are Mikes (Cobra, Saracen, Warrior, and Wolf)
• On-Set Injury: invoked
  • Gladiators is a very physical show, with plenty of scope for injury to both contenders and Gladiators. Due to the nature of the show, any injury is also likely to be worked into the episode, becoming a focus of attention onscreen.
  • Panther (Helen O'Reilly) falls awkwardly when a "Tilt" challenge goes wrong. Although she lands in the net, she's seriously hurt. The episode acknowledges the injury, showing a slow-motion replay of her fall, the contender staying with her until medics arrive, and her removal from the arena on a gurney. All of this is covered in commentary. Zodiac, who steps in to replace her for the next round of the challenge, then asks the arena audience to cheer for Panther. O'Reilly took five months to recover from neck and back injuries, but did eventually return to the series.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The Gladiators' uniforms (before they were redesigned for series 7) followed this pattern. Female Gladiator uniforms had a pink background while the male Gladiators wore blue.
• Recycled Soundtrack: In season 7, new games Vertigo and Dogfight had their own unique composition for the first couple of times they were used. After the third or fourth time, the music for those events were replaced with the music from Pursuit and Pyramid, respectively, as those two events had been scrapped.
• Running Gag: Cobra's inflatable sheep, Larry, which he brought out regularly at the start of the show from series 2 onwards. He was the joker of the bunch after all.
• Scary Black Man: Shadow. He never needed to speak, but had the Death Glare down to perfection.
• Serious Business: Despite the theatrics, it was treated as a highly competitive sporting event, the Gladiators were all professional athletes (some had competed at the Olympics) meaning the contenders had to try harder to even stand a chance. Interviews, commentary and even the presenters and referees having a sporting background helped a lot.
• Special Guest: See Celebrity Edition.
• Spin-Off: 1995 brought the children's version Gladiators: Train 2 Win, which was a Foreign Remake of the U.S. children's version Gladiators 2000. At first, it was basically a scaled down version with two teams of kids, along with educational content and questions shoehorned into the games, much like its U.S. equivalent. However, by the second half of its run, the format was changed: the educational stuff was expunged, and each pair also had a Gladiator on their team who participated alongside them. This meant that the Gladiators were now competing against eachother!
• Sunglasses at Night: Given its timeslot, Trojan and his trademark specs qualify.
• Take That!: When a contestant effectively cheated to get away from Scorpio during The Wall, new rules were introduced, and said contestant got Scorpio again the next time she appeared. Needless to say, Scorpio got her revenge.
• Temporary Substitute: When John Fashanu had to leave the show after the first five series due to allegedly fixing football matches, Jeremy Guscott took over his spot as co-host for Series 6 and 7. After being found not guilty, Fash would return for the final series.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Usually when Wolf lost his temper. One time he stole a foam hand from a child spectator and ripped it up. The kid did get an autographed replacement, though. Wolf's temper accounted for his popularity, since he was one of the only Gladiators with any kind of personality.
• The Worf Effect: Nightshade's only loss in Duel on her final appearance; she'd been ill for a while before then.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • All the Gladiators would say this of the contestants win or lose...well, except for Wolf.
  • And even Wolf would admit this on occasion. During events though everyone was highly competitive.

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For safety reasons, do not attempt to recreate any of the events you have seen on “Gladiators”.