Gladiators (2024 British TV series) series 1

Gladiators
Series 1
StarringBradley Walsh
Barney Walsh
Mark Clattenburg
Sonia Mkoloma
Lee Phillips
Guy Mowbray
No. of episodes11
Release
Original networkBBC One
Original release13 January (2024-01-13) –
30 March 2024 (2024-03-30)
Series chronology

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]

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

Further information: Gladiators (2024 British TV series) § The 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 Kaur 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 Livi 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 J. McCoy 5 ft 7 in, 154 lb (1.70 m, 70 kg)
Notes
  1. ^ Appeared only sparingly on the series due to major leg injury.

Contenders

The colours Red & Blue denote the colours worn by the contender. The winning contenders are marked in bold. As the series concists only from five heats, and three quarter finals, in addition to the winners of the previous episodes, the fastest runner-ups advance to the next stage.

Episodes Male Contenders Female Contenders
Heat 1 Myles Harris Finley Burkitt Kerry Wilson Tasha Lawrence
Heat 2 Jake Spence John Darwen Zoe McIntosh Marie-Louise Nicholson
Heat 3 Finlay Anderson Ashley Harwood 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 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
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
Final Wesley Male Finlay Anderson Marie-Louise Nicholson Bronte Jones
Winners Finlay Anderson Marie-Louise Nicholson
  1. ^ Wesley entered the competition as a "standby contender" to replace Finley, who got injured during the heats.
  2. ^ Fastest runner-up of the quarter finals, Jake, replaced injured contender Dev.
  3. ^ The fastest losing contender of the heats, Matt replaced injured contender Chung halfway show.

Events

Main article: List of Gladiators UK 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		TitleBBC One airdateUK viewers
(millions) [10]		Weekly Rank [10]
11"Heat 1"13 January 2024 (2024-01-13)8.371

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, Finley and Kerry, progress to the quarter finals.[15]

 
22"Heat 2"20 January 2024 (2024-01-20)7.321

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. The two winners of this heat, Jake and Marie-Louise, progress to the quarter finals.[16]

 
33"Heat 3"27 January 2024 (2024-01-27)6.635

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, Bronte and Finlay, progress to the quarter finals.[18]

 
44"Heat 4"3 February 2024 (2024-02-03)6.823

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, in so far her last appearance in this series. Other played events include Duel, Powerball and The Wall. The two winners of this heat, Chung and Nia, progress to the quarter-finals.[19]

 
55"Heat 5"10 February 2024 (2024-02-10)5.949

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.

Notable is, that one of the male contenders, Paul, is one of the all-time oldest contender in the program's entire history, at the age of 57. All of the brand-new events, Collision, The Edge and The Ring are played, amongst classical ones. The two winners of this heat, Dev and Betti, progress to the quarter finals.[21]

 
66"Quarter Final 1"17 February 2024 (2024-02-17)6.057

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. The two winners of this quarters, Wesley and Bronte, progress to the semi-finals.[22]

 
77"Quarter Final 2"24 February 2024 (2024-02-24)5.656

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, Chung and Marie-Louise, progress to the semi-finals.[23]

 
88"Quarter Final 3"2 March 2024 (2024-03-02)5.425

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. The two winners of this quarters, Dev and Kerry, progress to the semi-finals.[24]

 
99"Semi Final 1"9 March 2024 (2024-03-09)4.676

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. The winners of the semi are Finlay and Bronte.[25]

 
1010"Semi Final 2"23 March 2024 (2024-03-23)5.414

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. The winners of this semi final are Wesley and Marie-Louise, who advance to the final.[26]

NOTE: For the reason of Matt being reinstated following Chung's injury, the latter's scores in events 1 to 3 will be reflected as if Matt were competing.

 
1111"The Final"30 March 2024 (2024-03-30)5.554

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.

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. The winners were crowned as Marie-Louise and Finlay.[27][28] At the end of the show, it was announced that the casting for the contenders of series 2 was open.[29]

 

Contenders progress

Color key:

  Series champions
  The contender won the episode and advanced
  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 — WIN — WIN — WIN WINNER
Finlay — WIN — FF — WIN — WINNER
Bronte — WIN — WIN — WIN — RUNNER-UP
Wesley — WIN — WIN RUNNER-UP
Matt — OUT — OUT —
Kerry WIN — WIN — OUT —
Chung — WIN — WIN — WDR —
Jake — WIN — FF — OUT —
Betti — WIN — FF OUT —
Dev — WIN — WIN WDR —
Ash — FF — OUT —
Nia — WIN — OUT —
Tasha FF — OUT —
Finley WIN — WDR —
Paul — OUT —
Tuathlaith — OUT —
Sharan — OUT —
Alex — OUT —
John — OUT —
Zoe — OUT —
Myles OUT —

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.

References

  1. ^ "Gladiators' Getting U.K. Reboot on BBC". The Hollywood Reporter. August 25, 2022.
  2. ^ "Holly Willoughby to make 'TV comeback' with Bradley Walsh, claims insider". Express.co.uk. 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  3. ^ "Gladiators on BBC One and BBC iPlayer (2023)". GladiatorsTV.com.
  4. ^ Mannion, Jennifer (March 31, 2023). "Sheffield Arena to host return of hit 90s TV show Gladiators and audience tickets are free". Sheffield Star. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  5. ^ "Presenters Ready? Bradley and Barney Walsh are confirmed as hosts of Gladiators". bbc.com. May 3, 2023. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  6. ^ "First look at the Gladiators line up and the referees keeping them in check". bbc.com. May 31, 2023.
  7. ^ "Football commentator Guy Mowbray to call the action on BBC One's Gladiators". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  8. ^ Craig, David (30 January 2024). "Gladiators reboot is BBC's biggest entertainment launch in 7 years as ratings revealed". Radio Times. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  9. ^ Methven, Nicola (26 March 2024). "EXCLUSIVE: BBC Gladiators secures second series with bosses ready for record number of applicants". Mirror.
  10. ^ a b "Weekly Top 50 Shows". BARB. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  11. ^ Aitken, Ellidh (16 January 2024). "Fifer Kerry hails Dundee Gladiator Sheli as she lifts lid on dream TV debut". The Courier. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Gladiators: Doncaster contender Finley on his 'pinch me' moment". BBC News. 20 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  13. ^ Green, Tamika (14 January 2024). "'Smash'em Tasha': Suffolk woman braves infamous TV competition show". Suffolk News. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Gladiators: 'Dream come true' for Leeds man to appear on first episode of BBC reboot of classic 90s ITV series". Yorkshire Evening Post. 12 January 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  15. ^ a b c d e "Gladiators – Series 1: Episode 1". BBC iPlayer. BBC. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  16. ^ a b c d e "Gladiators – Series 1: Episode 2". BBC iPlayer. BBC. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  17. ^ Cumber, Robert (27 January 2024). "Bronte Jones Gladiators: Sheffield firefighter appears on BBC show". The Star. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  18. ^ a b "Gladiators – Series 1: Episode 3". BBC iPlayer. BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  19. ^ "Gladiators – Series 1: Episode 4". BBCiPlayer. BBC.
  20. ^ "Instagram".
  21. ^ "Gladiators – Series 1: Episode 5". BBC iPlayer. BBC. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  22. ^ "Gladiators – Series 1: Episode 6". BBCiPlayer. BBC.
  23. ^ "Gladiators – Series 1:Episode 7". BBCiPlayer. BBC.
  24. ^ "Gladiators – Series 1: Episode 8". BBCiPlayer. BBC.
  25. ^ "Gladiators – Series 1: Episode 9". BBCiPlayer. BBC.
  26. ^ "Gladiators – Series 1: Episode 10". BBCiPlayer. BBC.
  27. ^ Nanji, Noor (30 March 2024). "Gladiators 2024: Winners crowned after grand final". BBC News.
  28. ^ Mensah, Katelyn (30 March 2024). "Who won Gladiators? Winners revealed for rebooted BBC One series". RadioTimes.
  29. ^ "Gladiators – Series 1: Episode 11. The Final". BBCiPlayer. BBC.
  30. ^ Rodger, James (June 19, 2023). "Gladiators star rushed to hospital for operation after 'severe injury'". BirminghamLive.
  31. ^ Macdonald, Siobahn (20 June 2023). "Scots Gladiator star Sabre forced to pull out of show due to injury". Daily Record.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.