Gladiators (2024 British TV series) series 1
Season of television series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The first series of Gladiators aired in the UK in Spring 2024 on BBC One,[1][2] and is also available on video on demand platform BBC iPlayer.[3] The series was filmed in June 2023 at Sheffield Arena in the city of Steel.[4]
Barney Walsh
Mark Clattenburg
Sonia Mkoloma
Lee Phillips
Guy Mowbray
30 March 2024
| Gladiators | |
|---|---|
| Series 1 | |
| Starring | Bradley Walsh Barney Walsh Mark Clattenburg Sonia Mkoloma Lee Phillips Guy Mowbray |
| No. of episodes | 11 |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 13 January – 30 March 2024 |
| Series chronology | |
The show is presented by Bradley Walsh and his son Barney Walsh, with ex-premier league Mark Clattenburg, Sonia Mkoloma and Lee Phillips acting as the referees.[5][6] The voiceover commentary is provided by sports commentator Guy Mowbray.[7]
The premiere episode of the rebooted Gladiators attracted a total audience of 6 million viewers, and became the biggest entertainment launch of the network in seven years.[8] The entire 11-part series averaged with nearly 10 million total viewers on BBC One, making it confirm its second series for the following year.[9]
Gladiators
In May 2023, the following 16 elite athletes, such as professional bodybuilders or Olympic athletes were revealed as the cast of the rebooted series of Gladiators.
| Males | Females | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gladiator name | Real name | Stats | Gladiator name | Real name | Stats |
| Apollo | Alex Gray | 6 ft 6 in, 249 lb (1.98 m, 113 kg) | Athena | Karenjeet Bains | 5 ft 4 in, 148 lb (1.63 m, 67 kg) |
| Bionic | Matty Campbell | 6 ft 6 in, 260 lb (1.98 m, 120 kg) | Comet[a] | Ella-Mae Rayner | 5 ft 8 in, 146 lb (1.73 m, 66 kg) |
| Giant | Jamie Christian-Johal | 6 ft 5 in, 280 lb (1.96 m, 130 kg) | Diamond | Liv Sheldon | 6 ft, 176 lb (1.83 m, 80 kg) |
| Legend | Matt Morsia | 6 ft 1 in, 212 lb (1.85 m, 96 kg) | Dynamite | Emily Steel | 5 ft 5 in, 141 lb (1.65 m, 64 kg) |
| Nitro | Harry Aikines-Aryeetey | 5 ft 11 in, 187 lb (1.80 m, 85 kg) | Electro | Jade Packer | 5 ft 8 in, 154 lb (1.73 m, 70 kg) |
| Phantom | Toby Olubi | 6 ft 5 in, 247 lb (1.96 m, 112 kg) | Fire | Montell Douglas | 5 ft 10 in, 148 lb (1.78 m, 67 kg) |
| Steel | Zack George | 6 ft, 236 lb (1.83 m, 107 kg) | Fury | Jodie Ounsley | 5 ft 7 in, 163 lb (1.70 m, 74 kg) |
| Viper | Quang Luong | 6 ft, 200 lb (1.83 m, 90 kg) | Sabre | Sheli McCoy | 5 ft 7 in, 154 lb (1.70 m, 70 kg) |
- Notes
- Appeared only sparingly on the series due to major leg injury.
Contenders
The colours red and blue used below denote the colours worn by the contender. The winning contenders are marked in bold. As the series consists of only five heats, and three quarter finals, in addition to the winners of the previous episodes, the fastest runner-ups advance to the next stage as wildcards (marked with WC).
| Episodes | Male Contenders | Female Contenders | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat 1 | Myles Harris | Finley Burkitt | Kerry Wilson | Tasha Lawrence (WC) | |
| Heat 2 | Jake Spence | John Darwen | Zoe McIntosh | Marie-Louise Nicholson | |
| Heat 3 | Finlay Anderson | Ashley Harwood (WC) | Alex McKnight | Bronte Jones | |
| Heat 4 | Matt Jones | Chung Leung | Sharan Riyat | Nia Rutter | |
| Heat 5 | Dev Pankhania | Paul Campbell | Tuathlaith Murtagh | Betti Worth | |
| Quarter Final 1 | Finley Burkitt/Wesley Malé[a] | Finlay Anderson (WC) | Tasha Lawrence | Bronte Jones | |
| Quarter Final 2 | Jake Spence | Chung Leung | Marie-Louise Nicholson | Nia Rutter | |
| Quarter Final 3 | Dev Pankhania | Ashley Harwood | Kerry Wilson | Betti Worth (WC) | |
| Semi Final 1 | Dev Pankhania/Jake Spence[b] | Finlay Anderson | Betti Worth | Bronte Jones | |
| Semi Final 2 | Wesley Male | Chung Leung/Matt Jones[c] | Kerry Wilson | Marie-Louise Nicholson | |
| Grand Final | Wesley Male | Finlay Anderson | Marie-Louise Nicholson | Bronte Jones | |
| Winners | Finlay Anderson | Marie-Louise Nicholson | |||
- Notes
- Wesley entered the competition as a "standby contender" to replace Finley, who got injured during the heats.
- Fastest runner-up of the quarter finals, Jake, replaced injured contender Dev.
- The fastest losing contender of the heats, Matt replaced injured contender Chung halfway through the show.
Events
The first rebooted series of Gladiators consisted from 8 preliminary events, from which 5 were played in each episode. The final obstacle course The Eliminator is played at the end of each episode.
The series saw the return of the following events, in order of appearance:
- Duel, in which the contender and gladiator try to knock each other down from an elevated platform using a pugil stick.
- Gauntlet, in which the contender must bypass four gladiators in a gauntlet shaped obstacle course.
- Hang Tough, in which the contender and gladiator start from opposite platforms and must use gymnastics rings to travel through the air.
- Powerball, in which the contenders must score points by getting a ball to a basket while being attacked by three gladiators.
- The Wall, which is a climbing race of a thirty feet high vertical Wall; in which the contenders must reach the top without being pulled down.
In addition, three new games appear. In order of appearance:
- Collision, in which the contenders must cross a suspension bridge, whilst four gladiators are swinging towards, trying to knock this off the bridge.
- The Ring, in which the contenders must reach a central button, whilst a gladiator tries to tackle this down.
- The Edge, which is a cat-and-mouse hunt 30 ft (9.1 m) above arena floor, where the contender must cross a grid platform as the gladiator chases this.
Episodes
Note, that the episodes may not be filmed in the order of broadcast, e.g. the heat rounds may be in different order, or the second semi final was recorded before the first.
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | BBC One airdate | UK viewers (millions) [10] | Weekly Rank [10] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1 | 1 | "Heat 1" | 13 January 2024 | 8.37 | 1st | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The series begins, with four contenders taking on the new Gladiators. The contenders are Finley Burkitt, a 22-year-old railway trackman from Doncaster; Myles Harris, a 32-year-old DJ and IT engineer from Leeds; Tasha Lawrence, a 41-year-old nurse and personal trainer from Ipswich; and Kerry Wilson, a 34-year-old dogwalker from Dunfermline.[11][12][13][14] Events of the first heat include the returning games Duel, Gauntlet, and Hang Tough, with two new games called Collision and The Ring. The two winners of this heat progress straight to the quarter finals.[15]
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| 2 | 2 | "Heat 2" | 20 January 2024 | 7.32 | 1st | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The second of the heats, in which four new contenders take on the Gladiators. The contenders are John Darwen, a 31-year-old occupational therapy student from Preston; Jake Spence, a 23-year-old steelworker from Sheffield; Zoe McIntosh, a paramedic in the West Midlands; and Marie-Louise Nicholson, a 28-year-old fitness coach from Dublin. Events include returning contests Powerball and The Wall, as well as a new game – The Edge – in which Gladiators chase the contenders on a platform thirty feet (9 m) above the arena floor. Two Gladiators make their debut – Bionic in Duel, and Comet in The Wall.[16]
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| 3 | 3 | "Heat 3" | 27 January 2024 | 6.63 | 5th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The third heat, with contenders are Bronte Jones, a 23-year-old firefighter from Sheffield;[17] Alex McKnight, 29-year-old civil servant; Finlay Anderson, a 34-year-old army officer from Edinburgh; and Ashley Harwood, a 28-year-old salesman from London.[18] Events Duel, Gauntlet, The Wall, The Ring and The Edge are played, in addition to The Eliminator. The two winners of this heat again progress to the quarter finals.[18]
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| 4 | 4 | "Heat 4" | 3 February 2024 | 6.82 | 3rd | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Contenders for the fourth heat are Matt Jones, a 41-year-old civil servant from Cardiff; Chung Leung, a 33-year-old software engineer from London; Sharan Riyat, a 33-year-old dentist from Buckinghamshire; and Nia Rutter, a 37-year-old stay at home mum from Blackpool. In this heat, Gladiator Comet makes her debut in Hang Tough, which was her last appearance in this series due to injuries sustained. Other played events include Duel, Powerball and The Wall.[19] None of the brand-new events were played in this heat.
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| 5 | 5 | "Heat 5" | 10 February 2024 | 5.94 | 9th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The last of the heats. Contenders for the fifth heat are Tuathlaith Murtagh, a 29-year old activity manager from Belfast; Betti Worth, a 31-year old gym fitness trainer from Bolton; Dev Pankhania, a 30-year old HGV mechanic from Essex;, Paul Campbell, a 57-year old salesman from Sheffield. All of the brand-new events, Collision, The Edge and The Ring are played, amongst classical ones.[21]
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| 6 | 6 | "Quarter Final 1" | 17 February 2024 | 6.05 | 7th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The quarter finals begin. Contenders for this episode are Finley and Tasha from Heat 1, the latter qualifying as the fastest female runner-up from the heats; and Finlay and Bronte from Heat 3. However, as contender Finley was injured during the heat, a standby contender, Wesley, took his place for the quarter-final and competed for the place in the semi-finals. The first of the quarters consists from events Duel, The Wall, The Ring, The Edge and Gauntlet.[22]
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| 7 | 7 | "Quarter Final 2" | 24 February 2024 | 5.65 | 6th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The second of the quarter finals. Contenders are Jake and Marie-Louise, the winners of Heat 2, and Chung and Nia, from Heat 4 respectively. The second of the quarters consists the events Powerball, The Wall, The Edge, Gauntlet and Duel. The two winners of this quarters progress to the semi-finals.[23]
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| 8 | 8 | "Quarter Final 3" | 2 March 2024 | 5.41 | 5th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The last of the quarter finals. The contenders are: Dev and Betti from Heat 5, Ash from Heat 3, who qualified as the fastest male runner-up and Kerry from Heat 1. The events played include The Ring, Collision, and Hang Tough for the last time in this series.[24]
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| 9 | 9 | "Semi Final 1" | 9 March 2024 | 4.67 | 6th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The first of the semi finals. Quarter-final winners Dev and Bronte, as well as the fastest runners-up Finlay and Betti, competed for the place in the finals. However, Dev had to withdraw from the competition due to injury and was replaced by Jake, the next fastest male runner-up. Powerball, Duel, Gauntlet, The Wall and The Edge are played in this episode. Gladiator Sabre injured herself on The Edge and had to retire from this series, although appeared in Semi Final 2 as her game had been recorded prior to the injury.[25]
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| 10 | 10 | "Semi Final 2" | 23 March 2024 | 5.41 | 4th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In the last semi final, battling for the final places for the Grand Final are male contenders Wesley and Chung, and female contenders Kerry and Marie-Louise. During the fourth event, Powerball, Chung injured himself and had to withdraw from the competition. He was replaced by Matt, the competitor who lost to him in the heats, for the remainder of the competition. The episode also sees Sabre's last appearance during the series, and Dynamite appearing in 4 different events, which is more than any other Gladiator has participated in a single episode.[26]
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| 11 | 11 | "The Final" | 30 March 2024 | 5.54 | 4th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Series Champions are crowned here. The male finalists are Wesley Male and Finlay Anderson, and female finalists are Marie-Louise Nicholson and Bronte Jones. This episode will also feature a rematch against Finlay and Wesley after the latter beat the former on the Eliminator. Events of the final are Gauntlet, Duel, The Edge, The Wall and Collision. Former Gladiators legend Saracen, Mike Lewis, appeared on the audience for the finale.[27][28] At the end of the show, it was announced that the casting for the contenders of series 2 was open.[29]
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Contenders progress
Color key:
- Series champions
- Series runners-up
- The contender won the episode and advanced
- The contender won the episode as a substitute for an injured contender
- The contender was medically withdrawn from the competition
- The contender lost the episode but was the fastest finisher out of the other eliminated contenders and thus qualified
- The contender lost the episode and was eliminated
| Contenders | Episodes | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heats | Quarter Finals | Semi Finals | Final | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | ||
| Marie-Louise | N/a | WIN | N/a | WIN | N/a | WIN | WINNER | |||||
| Finlay | N/a | WIN | N/a | FF | N/a | WIN | N/a | WINNER | ||||
| Bronte | N/a | WIN | N/a | WIN | N/a | WIN | N/a | RUNNER-UP | ||||
| Wesley | N/a | WIN[a] | N/a | WIN | RUNNER-UP | |||||||
| Matt | N/a | OUT | N/a | OUT[a] | N/a | |||||||
| Kerry | WIN | N/a | WIN | N/a | OUT | N/a | ||||||
| Chung | N/a | WIN | N/a | WIN | N/a | WDR | N/a | |||||
| Jake | N/a | WIN | N/a | OUT | N/a | OUT[a] | N/a | |||||
| Betti | N/a | WIN | N/a | FF | OUT | N/a | ||||||
| Dev | N/a | WIN | N/a | WIN | WDR | N/a | ||||||
| Ash | N/a | FF | N/a | OUT | N/a | |||||||
| Nia | N/a | WIN | N/a | OUT | N/a | |||||||
| Tasha | FF | N/a | OUT | N/a | ||||||||
| Finley | WIN | N/a | WDR | N/a | ||||||||
| Paul | N/a | OUT | N/a | |||||||||
| Tuathlaith | N/a | OUT | N/a | |||||||||
| Sharan | N/a | OUT | N/a | |||||||||
| Alex | N/a | OUT | N/a | |||||||||
| John | N/a | OUT | N/a | |||||||||
| Zoe | N/a | OUT | N/a | |||||||||
| Myles | OUT | N/a | ||||||||||
- Notes
- See Contender notes above
Gladiator injuries
Two of the female Gladiators were injured during the filming of the series. Comet (Ella-Mae Rayner) sustained several bone fractures in her legs in several places – including the talus – as well as sustaining a Lisfranc injury, three ruptured ligaments, and a dislocated bone, when competing in her speciality event Hang Tough in aired Heat 4. Sabre (Sheli McCoy) also injured her hamstring as a result of her attempt to push contender Bronte off The Edge in Semi-Final 1. Owing to these incidents both of the Gladiators had to go on hiatus for the remainder of the series.[30][31] Male Gladiator Bionic (Matty Campbell) also made fewer appearances during the season due to minor shoulder- and leg injury.
Controversy
In January 2024, upon the series premiere, the BBC discovered past use of anabolic steroids by Gladiator Giant (Jamie Christian-Johal) from a 2022 YouTube video, which the video has since been deleted. The Gladiator himself stated that he has not been in contact with any kind of "performance enhancing drug" since his professional career ended. The BBC also stated that upon the casting for the Gladiators and contenders, they had to complete multiple tests in case of any prohibited steroid-use; the tests were negative for all of the Gladiators.[32] Consequently, it was reported that Giant would still return for the second series of the show.[33]