Who is your favourite Gladiator?

[noblegiraffe]

We've been watching this every week with the kids and have been pleasantly surprised that it's something that we're all really enjoying, even our hard to drag away from his computer teen boy sits down willingly.

Our family favourite is definitely Legend, he's hilarious and we all hope that when he's competing that he'll be interviewed at the end. Loved the bit where he complained about the lights being in his eyes when he failed on the Wall.

From the women it's a toss-up between Sabre and Fury. Oh to have the confidence of Sabre! And Fury is just awesome and so fierce.

DD lives for this show, she has a huge crush on Dynamite and Diamond.
Legend looks like a friend of ours in his younger days and it's become a family giggle.
I watched it in the 90s and Wolf lived near me and would see him all the time. I love they've kept it as camp as it was back then.

You are so right @ClaudiaWinklepanda, we can be contenders together! 😎👍🏻

Some of Gladiators held pads in Gauntlet in the 90s, but the pads were slightly smaller so more easily controlled. (I am somewhat embarrassed to be able to answer this one too!!)

My DS's love Sabre and Nitro! I love how smily Giant is but he has such a strange body shape!

Does anyone remember the game Tipping Point? With the tipping platforms that they had to pull on a rope to save themselves falling off?

I love the campness too. The outrage from my children over Viper's cheating 😄

Yes, it's really good family entertainment isn't it? DD is 13 and loves it. I bet she'd have loved it when she was small too.

I'm very pleased that they alternate the female and male contenders starting, and that they don't call the females 'ladies' or 'girls'.

In the old gladiators the women got a 20 second headstart on the wall, however the wall was much more difficult.

Gauntlet is rubbish.

Yes as someone said above, the ref is quite nice, shame about the tattoos.

Sabre annoys me due to her wiggling about like she needs the toilet.

I agree, I absolutely loved it back in the day, a far bigger range of games.

This time around they play the same five every week and they're just a bit shit tbh!

I guess they've gotten rid of a lot of the old games as they were too 'dangerous' 🙄

Swingshot was brilliant

Think what you are calling tipping point was called tilt? If I remember correctly panther got a very nasty back injury from it

My dd really likes Bionic and keeps complaining that he's hardly on.
We've been loving it and it's really rare that we sit down and watch something together.

Our other favourites are Nitro, Legend and Phantom and Fury, Saber and Diamond.

I do wish they'd have more games though. I used to like the one that was a big pyramid and they had to race to the top and the Gladiators would throw them back down and try to push them off!

I wonder whether they had a limited budget because they had no idea it was going to be this successful. Hopefully they'll have another series and the money to bring more games in.

I did hear that they gave out free tickets to be in the audience in Sheffield and way more people turned up than they expected so they had to turn people away.

I'm really glad they kept the original theme tune, it's such a banger.

Ah yes, it might have been Tilt - I just remember them tugging and pulling and I think the contenders got 3 turns?

Remember the game where the contestant ran around an obstacle type course and the gladiator was firing tennis balls at them from a gun type contraption?!

Can't see that making a comeback either!

My 7 year old has just realised that the series is near the end and is gutted. As per the streaming generation, can't understand why the next series isn't ready to go NOW!

It's funny isn't it
Mine is always like this
Cos she watches so much on Netflix etc where all the episodes are there already

Ooh I can answer this, it was shown a few weeks ago when something happened (can't remember what) and they had to restart the game. A shot showed a ladder propped up against the podium. Not very cool, they just climb up. Someone must have to toss the pugil stick up to them.

I do love this programme and think this modern incarnation is perfectly decent . I am a Barney fan. I think he's a lovely young man.

Nitro and Fury seem the best and most honorable.

People declaring Giant a good chap, or wondering how on earth he is so muscular, might want to Google him...

I did google him after the revelation earlier in the thread and it said that all Gladiators were drug-tested and that he's clean.

He said he used steroids while he was a professional bodybuilder (which seems pretty common?).

Not sure professional bodybuilders would all own up to that. It's more his dubious YouTube vids. I mean, I guess anyone would give up steroids if TV came knocking. It's not great for the Beeb , though, and I expect he'll quietly disappear.

I actually find Viper really funny because he’s so ridiculous. I like them all. I think Athena is underused. Hope the next series is longer!

No, I'm sure that professional bodybuilders would like to claim it's all their own hard work, but just a quick google brought up this men's magazine casually talking about and promoting legal steroid use so it doesn't seem like it something that's particularly unusual or shocking https://www.mensjournal.com/entertainment/best-steroids-muscle-growth-2022

I don't know what dubious YouTube videos you're talking about unless the one where he promoted the use of steroids?

Why does Viper never speak?

The game where the gladiators swing back and forth trying to knock the contestant off the bridge is so funny as they look so undignified doing it.

I wonder if some of the games wouldn't pass health and safety now. Didn't Jet fall off the Pyramid and get quite a serious injury?

I would love the game back where they were in the cages that rolled? Was usually the first game of the show in the nineties. Can't for the life of me remember the name of it.

It's good they kept the songs as well, another one bites the dust and the giant fingers. DD wants me to look out for tickets to go and see it live.

I think he can't speak English well.

Really?

I just thought the producers had made into his character for him not to talk

I think it was called Atmospheres.

I am sad, I know!!!