American Gladiators
Encyclopedia
American Gladiators is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 competition
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 that aired in syndication from September 1989 to May 1996. The series matched a cast of amateur athletes against each other, as well as against the show's own gladiator
Gladiator
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...

s, in contests of strength and agility.

The concept was created by Dan Carr and John C. Ferraro, who held the original competition at Erie Tech High School in Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...

. They sold the show to Samuel Goldwyn Productions/MGM where the concept was enhanced and became American Gladiators.

An effort in 2004 to launch a live American Gladiators show on the Las Vegas Strip
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...

 became mired in a securities fraud
Securities fraud
Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a practice that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in losses, in violation of the securities laws....

 prosecution. However, the television series was restarted
American Gladiators (2008 TV series)
American Gladiators is an American competition TV show that aired on NBC and Citytv in Canada. Hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali, the show matches amateur athletes against each other and the show's own "gladiators" in contests of strength, agility, and endurance...

 in 2008. Episodes from the original series were played on ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic is a sports channel that features reruns of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such programs includes biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added commentary on the event...

 from 2007 to 2009. Several episodes are available for download on Apple's iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

 Service.

Tournament format

American Gladiators ran on television from 1989–1996, and was conducted in a tournament style format.

In the first two seasons, two tournaments were held in each season. Twenty contenders (ten of each gender) in each half-season tournament were chosen from a nationwide contestant pool based on tests of strength and agility, with several alternates chosen in case a contender could not continue due to injury. Two contenders of each gender competed on each episode. Five preliminary round matchups were played with the winners automatically advancing to the quarterfinal round, along with the three highest scoring losers. Any alternates from that point on came from the previous round's losers.

Later, the tournaments used a single elimination format, with the last two contenders meeting in the half-season tournament final. The winners of each half season tournament received a cash prize and advanced to the Grand Championship at the end of the season, with more money and a new car available for the winner. The runners-up in the Grand Championship received a smaller cash prize.

In seasons three and four, the tournament format was changed. The preliminary round consisted of six matchups on each side, with the six winners advancing to the quarterfinals and no wild card berths
Wild card (sports)
The term wild card refers broadly to a tournament or playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal play.-International sports:...

 available for the preliminary round losers. The quarterfinals consisted of three matches, and the winners of those matches all advanced. In addition, the highest scoring quarterfinalist that did not win was given a berth in the semifinals. The semifinal winners then met each other to determine the half-season champion and the spot in the Grand Championship.

For season five, the tournament format was revamped again, with the entire tournament now conducted in single elimination format. Eight preliminary match-ups were played, and the winners of those match-ups were seeded
Seed (sports)
A seed is a preliminary ranking that can be used in arranging a sports tournament. It is called a seed because of the analogy with plants where the seed might grow into a top rank at the end of that tournament, or might instead wither away...

 depending on their performance. No wild card spots were made available to losing contenders.

In seasons six and seven, a single tournament was spread out over the season. Also, there were no quarter final rounds; the top 4 highest scoring contenders would advance to the semi-finals.

During the first half of the first season, the show's set resembled that of an ancient Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 gladiatorial arena
Colosseum
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...

, with the stands raised high above the ground. For the second half, the show's set was changed into a modern indoor sports arena style. An onscreen clock was added in the second half of the season, which allowed viewers to see how much time a contender had left to complete an event.

The hooded figures that officiated the games were replaced by veteran NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 referee
Referee
A referee is the person of authority, in a variety of sports, who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on the fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport...

 Bob McElwee
Bob McElwee
Robert T. "Bob" McElwee is a former American football official, who served for 41 years, with 27 of those years in the National Football League from 1976 to 2003...

. Starting in Season 2, former Pacific 10 football referee Larry Thompson became the referee.

After being based at Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a movie studio and theme park in the unincorporated Universal City community of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use...

 for the first two seasons, production moved to the CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. It is located at 4024 Radford Avenue and takes up a triangular piece of land, with the Los Angeles River bisecting the site...

, into a studio referred to as "Gladiator Arena". Other aesthetic changes were made as the series progressed.

Events

In each episode, the contenders competed in a series of events. Six to eight events were played per show, varying from season to season. Most of the events tested the contenders' physical abilities against the superior size and strength of the Gladiators, who were mostly pro or amateur bodybuilders and former football players. In most events, the contenders were not directly pitted against each other, but against the Gladiators. In each event, the contenders earned points based on their performance.

In the first half of season one, the points in each event were given in minimum 5 point increments, with 100 points usually the maximum in every event. After the first half of the first season, single point increments were used. Events with a clear winner typically earned the contender 10 points for a win, 5 points for a draw, and no points for a loss. Events without a clear winner and loser (such as Powerball, Atlasphere, Swingshot, and Snapback) earned the contender points for each success.

Starting with the fourth season, the final event before The Eliminator, was labeled "Crunch Time", and was played for more points.

Season six used a format in which events were referred to as "rounds", because more than one game was played per round. Three games per show were played by both males and females and 3 were split between the males and females, two in one round. In split rounds, the men went first, then the women. Including the Eliminator, 10 events appeared in each episode, and the lineup of single and split rounds changed during the season. The sole exception to this format was in the semi-finals & Grand Championship; each round was a single event.

There were four lineups used during the season:
  • Pyramid | Assault/Hang Tough | Whiplash/Joust | Gauntlet/Tug O War | Snapback| Powerball
  • Swingshot | Assault/BreakThrough & Conquer | Whiplash/Tug O War | Snapback | Pyramid | Joust/Gauntlet
  • Powerball | Whiplash/Hang Tough | Skytrack | Swingshot | Assault/BreakThrough & Conquer | Joust/Gauntlet
  • Swingshot | Tug O War/Whiplash | The Wall | Hang Tough/Assault | Powerball | BreakThrough & Conquer/Gauntlet


The Eliminator was the final event played in each episode, and determined which contender would win that day's competition. The contenders competed side-by-side to complete a large obstacle course as quickly as they could. In the first two seasons, the Eliminator had a time limit, and both contenders started the course at the same time. Contenders scored points for every second left on the clock when they finished the course; the contender with the highest final score won the day's competition. Beginning in season 3, the contender in the lead was given a head start
Head start (positioning)
In positioning, a head start is a start in advance of the starting position of others in competition, or simply toward the finish line or desired outcome...

 with each point they led by worth a half-second; the first contender to cross the finish line won.

Of the events that debuted in the show's first season, only six lasted the entire original run on American television: Breakthrough and Conquer, The Wall, Joust, Assault, Powerball, and the Eliminator, although The Wall did not debut until the second half of the first season.

Segments

Throughout the series, American Gladiators had several regular segments that were not related to the competition of the day. These segments were used to allow the audience to get to know the Gladiators or to highlight some of the best moments of past competitions.
  • Gladiator Moments (Season 3): Gladiators reflect and talk about their favorite moments of the first two seasons of American Gladiators.
  • Ask a Gladiator (Seasons 3 and 4): Fans write to their favorite American Gladiator asking them questions.
  • Csonka's Zonks (Season 4): Brief array of clips featuring the funniest moments of the show which includes mostly hits, tackles, and tumbles of the contenders and Gladiators.
  • 30 Seconds With: (Season 5 on): Gladiators are asked a number of fill-in-the-blank questions. In the final season the questions were taken away and it was just the gladiators talking about a random topic.

Production notes

The show was taped at Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a movie studio and theme park in the unincorporated Universal City community of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use...

 until 1991, then moved to Gladiator Arena
CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. It is located at 4024 Radford Avenue and takes up a triangular piece of land, with the Los Angeles River bisecting the site...

 for the rest of its initial run. The National Indoor Arena
National Indoor Arena
The National Indoor Arena is a large indoor arena and is owned by the NEC Group. It is situated in central Birmingham, England and was opened in 1991, as the largest indoor arena at the time in the UK...

, home to the UK version, hosted the International Gladiators competitions.

The series, a co-production of Trans World International and Four Point Entertainment, was distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Television
Samuel Goldwyn Television
Samuel Goldwyn Television 1 was a U.S. television production/distribution division of The Samuel Goldwyn Company that started in 1979. SGT's best known series was the competition series American Gladiators, which was very successful in first-run syndication for seven seasons and has recently been...

.

Prizes

During the first half of season one, the intention was to reward the winners by promoting them to the role of American Gladiators, but that reward was never implemented and was abandoned after the first half of the first season.

The show awarded cash prizes depending on how far the contenders advanced. For the first five seasons, $10,000 cash was awarded for winning the half-season finals. Runners-up in these finals were guaranteed $5,000. Contenders that lost in the semi-final rounds were guaranteed $2,500 for advancing that far. Grand Champions received $15,000 more, while the runners up won $10,000 more. In the first four seasons a new car was awarded to the Grand Champion, and the runner up received a Club Med vacation. The runner up prize was eliminated in the fifth season.

To coincide with the change in tournament structure in Season Six, contenders won $2,500 for winning matches in the preliminary rounds and semi-final rounds. $25,000 was given for winning the Grand Championship in season six, while $20,000 and a guaranteed berth in International Gladiators 2 was given for the seventh season.

Hosts and other personalities

Joe Theismann
Joe Theismann
Joseph Robert "Joe" Theismann is a former quarterback in the National Football League and Canadian Football League . He achieved his most enduring fame in his 12 seasons playing for the Washington Redskins, where he was a two-time Pro Bowler and quarterback of the winning team in Super Bowl XVII...

 and Mike Adamle
Mike Adamle
Michael David "Mike" Adamle is a sports personality and former National Football League player. He is best known as the co-host of American Gladiators series for seven years....

 co-hosted American Gladiators during the first season. Following Theisman's departure prior to the 1990 season, Adamle continued to host the program through the final season in 1996. Adamle's co-hosts included Todd Christensen
Todd Christensen
Todd Jay Christensen is a former professional American football player and a current sports broadcaster for the MountainWest Sports Network.-Early life:...

 (1990), Larry Csonka
Larry Csonka
Larry Richard Csonka is a former collegiate and professional American football fullback.-Childhood:One of six children, Csonka was born in Stow, Ohio where he was raised on a farm by his Hungarian family...

 (1990–1993), Lisa Malosky
Lisa Malosky
Lisa Malosky is a sports reporter based in Houston, Texas. Over her career, she has covered the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association , Houston Comets of the Women's National Basketball Association , and the University of Houston Cougars men's basketball contests. She came to...

 (1993–1995) and Dan "Nitro" Clark
Danny Lee Clark
Danny Lee "Nitro" Clark is an American athlete, television personality, actor, and producer. He is best known for his role as gladiator Nitro on the TV show American Gladiators....

 (1995–1996).

Adamle also hosted both seasons of International Gladiators and was joined by John Fashanu
John Fashanu
John "Fash" Fashanu is a British television presenter and ex-footballer of Nigerian and Guyanese descent. In his former career, he was a centre-forward, who scored 134 league goals in a career lasting 17 years...

 in season one and Ulrika Jonsson
Ulrika Jonsson
Eva Ulrika Jonsson is a Swedish television presenter in the UK, who became famous as a TV-am weather presenter and moved on to present Gladiators and became a team captain of the show Shooting Stars.-Early life:...

 and Kimberley Joseph
Kimberley Joseph
Kimberley Joseph is a Canadian-Australian actress who is based in the United States. Joseph was born in Canada, raised on the Gold Coast in Australia, and educated in Switzerland. After returning to Australia, she began a degree at Bond University but dropped out at the age of 19 when she was cast...

 in season two.

A referee wearing an executioner costume
Executioner
A judicial executioner is a person who carries out a death sentence ordered by the state or other legal authority, which was known in feudal terminology as high justice.-Scope and job:...

 appeared during the first season (portrayed by former football player Jeff Benson). Bob McElwee
Bob McElwee
Robert T. "Bob" McElwee is a former American football official, who served for 41 years, with 27 of those years in the National Football League from 1976 to 2003...

 (a former NFL referee) took over the referee position in 1990 and was later replaced by Larry Thompson (a former Pacific-10 Football referee) that year, who continued with the program until 1996. The referees were assisted by several game judges, including Bob Wucetich, Fred Gallagher and Jim Marcione.

Theismann also was the announcer of the first season and was replaced by John Harlan
John Harlan (announcer)
John Harlan is an American television announcer who has worked on numerous television projects for over 40 years, particularly game and variety shows....

 in 1990, who remained with the show through the 1992–1993 season.

Special shows

Like some other game shows, American Gladiators had themed shows. Some shows featured celebrities competing against each other (like castmembers from Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...

 and Superman
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was a live-action American television series based on the Superman comic books...

 portrayer Dean Cain
Dean Cain
Dean Cain is an American actor. He is most widely known for his role as Clark Kent/Superman in the popular American television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.-Early life:...

, as well as host Mike Adamle & character actors such as a pre-Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...

 John C. McGinley
John C. McGinley
John Christopher McGinley is an American actor, most notable for his roles as Perry Cox in Scrubs, Bob Slydell in Office Space, Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's Platoon and Marv in Stone's Wall Street. He has also written and produced for television and film...

).

Alumni shows

There were three alumni shows conducted during the course of American Gladiator. The first occurred in the second season, and featured competitors from the show's first season. Contenders Lucian Anderson and Cheryl Ann Silich emerged victorious, beating out Terry Moore and Aimee Ross, respectively.

Another alumni show aired in season six. This alumni show featured the six grand champions that were crowned in the previous three American Gladiators seasons competing against each other in an elimination-style format, with two contenders left to run the Eliminator. Season five champions Wesley Berry and Peggy Odita won the competition.

Season seven's alumni show, dubbed the "Battle of the Best", pitted season five grand champions Wesley "Two Scoops" Berry and Peggy Odita against season six grand champions Kyler Storm and Adrienne Sullivan, respectively, with the season five champions prevailing yet again. This show in particular saw two notable incidents, both involving Kyler Storm and Turbo. The first incident occurred during Breakthrough & Conquer, in which Kyler did a front flip over Turbo in the Breakthrough portion to score. However the aftermath was positive with Turbo, Laser and Hawk all giving him praise for doing so, and Turbo received a positive reaction from the announcers and fans. The other, more ugly, incident was in the Swingshot event: Kyler faked twice during the event (which is against the rules in Swingshot, but according to Kyler he wasn't informed of it) to get a total of 12 points from those two swings. It prompted Turbo to punch Kyler in the face when they met during a later swing. Following the incident Turbo apologized and explained to Kyler "they had rules here and you broke them." In the following interview Turbo admitted his fault as did Kyler thus the two made up. The punch at the time was described as "completely uncalled for." Twelve points were deducted from Kyler for the faking, but he regained 6 points because Turbo was disqualified for the punch.

In another show, former Gladiators Zap and Dallas, who left the show the previous year, faced off against each other, with Dallas beating Zap. This was part of another special episode where the male contenders were Twin Martial Artists.

Pro Football Challenge of Champions

In seasons three and four, American Gladiator included a show in which current and former NFL players competed against each other in an elimination-style format. The first competition featured NFL players from the 1970s and early 1980s, while the second had a mix of players that were active or had recently retired. The NFL players competed head-to-head with the male Gladiators, while the female Gladiators faced them in non-contact events like Assault and the Eliminator (where they served in the penalty pit).

Six former players competed in six events, with two eliminated after the first two and two in the event preceding the Eliminator. The winner of both competitions was former NFL running back Charles White
Charles White (American football)
Charles White is a former professional American football running back. He had a distinguished college career and later played in the National Football League for the Cleveland Browns and the Los Angeles Rams.-College football:...

, who was also the only person to compete in both episodes. He erased a deficit in the Eliminator both times to win.
hi my name is bob hahahahhahahhahahahhahha. i like american gladiator.

Gold Medal Challenge of Champions

In Seasons 5 and 6, "Gold Medal Challenge" shows were produced, featuring former Olympic Gold Medalists.

In the 1993 Gold Medal show, the males featured were 1984 gold downhill skiing medalist Bill Johnson
Bill Johnson
Bill Johnson may refer to:Arts and Entertainment*Bill Johnson , American actor known for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2...

, 1988 bronze basketball medalist Danny Manning
Danny Manning
Daniel Ricardo "Danny" Manning is a retired American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association. He is an assistant basketball coach at his alma mater, the University of Kansas Jayhawks. Manning won the National Championship with the Jayhawks in 1988 as a player, and...

, and 1984 gold boxing medalist Tyrell Biggs
Tyrell Biggs
Tyrell Biggs , is an American heavyweight boxer. He won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, CA in boxing at the Superheavyweight division, after gaining bronze the previous year at the 1983 Pan American Games....

. The females featured were 1976 silver basketball medalist Nancy Lieberman
Nancy Lieberman
Nancy Elizabeth Lieberman , nicknamed "Lady Magic", is a former professional basketball player who played and coached in the WNBA.Lieberman is regarded as one of the greatest figures in women's basketball....

, 1984 silver and gold and 1988 gold track and field medalist Alice Brown
Alice Brown (athlete)
Alice Regina Brown is a retired American sprinter. She was a silver medalist in the 1984 Olympic 100m final in a time of 11.13 seconds...

, and 1992 gold and silver speed skating medalist Cathy Turner
Cathy Turner
Cathy Ann Turner is an American short track speed skater, who won gold medals at the 1992 Winter Olympics and 1994 Winter Olympics....

. Alice Brown and Bill Johnson won the competition and $10,000.

For the 1994 show, the men were 1988 gold and 1992 bronze volleyball player Bob Cvrtlik and 1988 gold gymnast Mitch Gaylord
Mitch Gaylord
Mitchell Jay Gaylord , is an American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist.Gaylord was born in Van Nuys, California, son of Fred and Linda Gaylord. While attending UCLA, he won the All-Around in the 1983 and 1984 U.S...

. The women were 1994 silver and 1998 bold downhill skiier Picabo Street
Picabo Street
Picabo Street is a retired American alpine ski racer. She won gold medals in super G at the 1998 Winter Olympics and in downhill at 1996 World Championships, along with three other Olympic and World Championship medals. She also won World Cup downhill season titles in 1995 and 1996, the first...

 and 1988 bronze figure skater Debi Thomas
Debi Thomas
Debra Janine "Debi" Thomas M.D. is an American figure skater and physician. She is the 1986 World champion and 1988 Olympic bronze medalist, having taken part in the Battle of the Carmens at those games.-Personal life:...

. Street and Gaylord were victorious.

International Challenge of Champions

A precursor to International Gladiators
International Gladiators 1
International Gladiators 1 was the first full scale international competition using the Gladiators format. Champions and other contenders from Gladiators series in the United States , United Kingdom , and Finland competed against an international team of Gladiators...

, this tournament aired in seasons four and five and featured contestants from all over the world. Among the contenders was in season four was eventual season five champion Peggy Odita, who was representing Nigeria and who won the women's competition.

International Gladiators

More information: International Gladiators 1
International Gladiators 1
International Gladiators 1 was the first full scale international competition using the Gladiators format. Champions and other contenders from Gladiators series in the United States , United Kingdom , and Finland competed against an international team of Gladiators...

, International Gladiators 2
International Gladiators 2
International Gladiators 2 was filmed in the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham during 1995 and was broadcast on ITV in 1996, the second series of Gladiators using the International moniker...



International Gladiators was a special championship series consisting of previous champions from various versions of the show from around the world. The initial series included contenders and gladiators from the USA, UK, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. The second series
International Gladiators 2
International Gladiators 2 was filmed in the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham during 1995 and was broadcast on ITV in 1996, the second series of Gladiators using the International moniker...

 had contenders and Gladiators from the USA, UK, Russia, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Both series were filmed at National Indoor Arena
National Indoor Arena
The National Indoor Arena is a large indoor arena and is owned by the NEC Group. It is situated in central Birmingham, England and was opened in 1991, as the largest indoor arena at the time in the UK...

 in Birmingham, UK, which was where the British Gladiators series was taped.

In the first series American Gladiators was represented by Season 5 men's champion Wesley Berry, Season 5 women's runner up Kim Tyler, Season 6 men's champion Kyler Storm, and Season 6 women's champion Adrienne Sullivan. Berry and Tyler advanced to the finals of the series, and Berry was the overall men's champion. Sullivan and Storm were eliminated in the series' semifinals; Sullivan fell to Eunice Huthart
Eunice Huthart
Eunice Huthart is best known for winning Gladiators and then being invited to return to the show as a Gladiator herself, "Blaze". She remains the only UK contender to ever become a Gladiator....

, who beat Tyler in the finals, and Storm was beaten by Paul Field
Paul Field (bobsleigh)
Paul Field is an English bobsledder who competed in the early 1990s. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he earned his best finish of seventh in the four-man event at Albertville in 1992...

.

In the second series, which served as the final episodes of the American Gladiators series, Season 7 men's champion Pat Csizmazia and Season 5 women's champion Peggy Odita were the representatives for American Gladiators; Season 7 women's champion Tiziana Sorge was absent for reasons that were never made clear as she would have qualified by her Grand Championship victory. Csizmazia and Odita both won by defeating Australian contenders in their respective finals.

Armed Forces Challenge of Champions

In seasons five and six, contenders from each of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines (men and women in season five, men only in season six) faced off against each other, with the two highest scoring branches facing off in the Eliminator. The Marines won both competitions. Captain Myles Bly Mire, an American Gladiators alumnus, was later involved with the capture of Saddam Hussein's nephew.

NYPD vs. LAPD

In season six, a competition was held between officers of the New York Police Department and the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...

. One of the female officers, the LAPD's Angela Shepard, was a season three contender who participated in the preliminary round during the second half of the season and was injured during her Eliminator run.

USC vs. Notre Dame

In season six, this contest pitted two USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

 alumni - former football players Anthony Davis and Charles White - against two Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...

 alumni. USC prevailed in this competition, marking the third time White won on American Gladiators (the first two wins came in the Pro Football Challenge of Champions events).

Ties to professional wrestling

Like professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

, American Gladiators is considered a form of sports entertainment
Sports entertainment
Sports entertainment is a type of spectacle which presents an ostensibly competitive event using a high level of theatrical flourish and extravagant presentation, with the purpose of entertaining an audience...

, with the primary difference in that American Gladiators, unlike wrestling, is not pre-scripted. There have been several crossovers between the show and wrestling itself. The most obvious ties to wrestling is the 2008 revival
American Gladiators (2008 TV series)
American Gladiators is an American competition TV show that aired on NBC and Citytv in Canada. Hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali, the show matches amateur athletes against each other and the show's own "gladiators" in contests of strength, agility, and endurance...

 which is co-hosted by professional wrestler Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....

.

The season 2 men's runner-up, first half champion Rico Constantino
Rico Constantino
Americo Sebastiano Costantino is a retired American professional wrestler and wrestling manager of Italian origin. He is best known by his ring names Rico Costantino and Rico in World Wrestling Entertainment from 2001 to 2004...

, went on to become well known as a wrestler in WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

, under the name
Ring name
A ring name is a stage name used by a professional wrestler, martial artist, or boxer. While some ring names may have a fictitious first name and surname, others may simply be a nickname, such as The Undertaker.-Wrestling:...

 of "Rico." Rico retired from the wrestling business after being released by the WWE in 2004 and is currently a Las Vegas police officer, which was also his job during his American Gladiators stint.

Tony Halme
Tony Halme
Tony Christian Halme was a member of the Finnish Parliament, representing the True Finns party. He was also known by the pseudonym Viikinki he used while appearing in the Finnish version of the TV game show Gladiators in the 1990s...

, known in the then WWF as Ludvig Borga, was a Gladiator on the Finnish version. Matt Morgan, who wrestled for a time in the WWE and is currently in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is a privately held professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. The company broadcasts its events on television and the Internet fifty two weeks a year with over a million weekly viewers on its primary television program, Impact...

 (wrestling in both under his given name), debuted during season 2 of the 2008 revival as a Gladiator under the name Beast.

In 2008, longtime American Gladiators co-host Mike Adamle
Mike Adamle
Michael David "Mike" Adamle is a sports personality and former National Football League player. He is best known as the co-host of American Gladiators series for seven years....

 himself joined WWE as a backstage interviewer for the Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...

 brand
WWE Brand Extension
WWE, formerly the World Wrestling Federation and World Wrestling Entertainment , currently promotes its core business of professional wrestling through two "brands" named after their two major television shows Raw and SmackDown...

 before changing careers to perform play-by-play for ECW on Sci Fi three months later. He then returned to Raw as the General Manager but he later resigned. Prior to that, after the original series ended and while working with NBC Sports
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, MLS, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others...

, Adamle indirectly worked with the WWE doing commentary for the XFL
XFL
The XFL was a professional American football league that played for one season in 2001. The league was founded by Vince McMahon, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of WWE...

.

International versions

The American Gladiators format gained popularity all over the world. Several other countries created spin-offs based on the American Gladiators concept, including Finland, the UK, Australia, South Africa, Lebanon and more.

American Gladiators was also translated and rebroadcast in Latin America under the name Gladiadores Americanos. It was also shown in Japan as Gekitotsu Americane Kin-niku Battle. Japan also had a show called BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!, which had some American Gladiators elements in the show.

Reruns

Reruns of the series have been syndicated since 1992, and were still being replayed in 2009 on ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic is a sports channel that features reruns of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such programs includes biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added commentary on the event...

.

The USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...

 was the first network to rebroadcast episodes of American Gladiators, obtaining the rights to the first three seasons in 1992. USA aired the reruns daily for over three years, and added the fourth season to their package when it was completed in 1993. USA stopped airing American Gladiators in 1995, and did not add any episodes from the subsequently completed fifth and sixth seasons.

TNN, during its last days as The National Network (before its change to Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...

), bought broadcast rights to American Gladiators in 2002. Reruns aired middays during the week and late nights on Saturday at first, then were reduced to one late Saturday showing. Shortly after TNN became known as Spike, the network dropped American Gladiators from its lineup. TNN/Spike's package included all of the episodes from seasons two, three, and four, the entire seventh season, both International Gladiators series, and all special episodes from seasons five and six.

In 2007 ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 acquired rights to American Gladiators, resulting in reruns for the first time since 2003. The network acquired rights to all seven seasons. The first season episodes were rerun for the first time since the early 1990s, and the regular episodes from seasons five and six were rebroadcast for the first time since their original airings.

Animated series

According to a press release from MGM, an animated television series based on the American Gladiators franchise is in development.

DVD release

On July 14, 2009 Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...

 released The Battle Begins, featuring commentary from the Laser, Zap, and Nitro, and an interview with Billy Wirth. This DVD only has the last 14 episodes of season one (the mid-season recap, and the second half of season one).

Soundtrack

In 1993, American Gladiators: The Music was released by DCC Compact Classics/Sandstone Music, featuring songs used on the show, Dan Milner's music for the games and the opening and closing themes by Bill Conti
Bill Conti
William "Bill" Conti is an American film music composer who is frequently the conductor at the Academy Awards ceremony.-Early life and career:...

.

Dinner show

The American Gladiators performed in a dinner show in Orlando, Florida. This dinner show featured Ice, Sky, Hawk, Gemini, and others. The events included The Wall, Breakthrough and Conquer, Assault, Whiplash, the Eliminator and others.

Champions

Grand Championship Results
Season Men's
Championship
Women's
Championship
1 Winner Brian Hutson Bridget Venturi
Runner-Up Lucian Anderson Tracy Phillips
2 Winner Craig Brahnam Dorann Cumberbatch
Runner-Up Rico Constantino
Rico Constantino
Americo Sebastiano Costantino is a retired American professional wrestler and wrestling manager of Italian origin. He is best known by his ring names Rico Costantino and Rico in World Wrestling Entertainment from 2001 to 2004...

Maria Nichting
3 Winner Mark Ortega Kathy Mollica
Runner-Up Joe Mauro Kimberly Lentz
4 Winner Clifton Miller Cheryl Wilson
Runner-Up Marty DePaoli Betsy Erickson
5 Winner Wesley Berry Peggy Odita
Runner-Up Troy Jackson Kim Tyler
6 Winner Kyler Storm Adrienne Sullivan
Runner-Up Dan Cunningham Liz Ragland
7 Winner Pat Csizmazia Tiziana Sorge
Runner-Up Richard McCormick Carla Zeitlyn


List of gladiators

Gladiator Name Debut season Years active Notes
Malibu 1 1989
Lace 1 1989–1992
Zap 1 1989–1990, 1991–1995
Gemini 1 1989–1992
Nitro 1 1989–1992, 1994–1995 Color commentator during show's final season (1995–1996) and coordinating producer of the 2008 revival
Sunny 1 1989 Injured during semifinal round
Blaze 1 1990–1992
Bronco 1 1989 Appeared as a replacement on one episode following an injury to Malibu
Gold 1 1990–1992
Laser 1 1990–1996
Jade 1 1990 Appeared as a replacement on one episode following an injury to Sunny
Titan 1 1990
Diamond 2 1990–1993
Ice 2 1990–1992, 1993–1996
Thunder 2 1990–1992
Turbo 2 1990–1996
Storm 3 1991–1993 Appeared as a replacement following an injury to Gold, continued to appear as a regular gladiator until 1993
Tower 3 1991–1994 Appeared as a replacement following an injury to Turbo, continued to appear as a regular gladiator until 1994
Viper 3 1992–1993
Atlas 4 1992–1993
Cyclone 4 1992–1993 Injured during preliminary rounds of Season 4 and did not return
Elektra 4 1992–1994 Appeared sparingly following an injury during the 1992–1993 grand championship
Lace 4 1992–1993 Appeared on only two episodes
Havoc 4 1992–1994 Appeared sparingly
Sabre 4 1992–1996
Siren 4 1992–1996 Only hearing-impaired gladiator
Sky 4 1992–1996
Dallas 5 1993–1995
Hawk 5 1993–1996
Jazz 5 1993–1996
Rebel 5 1993–1994
Tank 5 1993–1996 Appeared as a replacement following an injury to Laser, appearing on three episodes

See also

  • Gladiators (television franchise)
  • American Gladiators (2008 TV series)
    American Gladiators (2008 TV series)
    American Gladiators is an American competition TV show that aired on NBC and Citytv in Canada. Hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali, the show matches amateur athletes against each other and the show's own "gladiators" in contests of strength, agility, and endurance...

    , the 2008 revival
  • American Gladiators
    American Gladiators (video game)
    American Gladiators is a video game made in 1991 by for the Amiga, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Super NES and Nintendo Entertainment System. It is based on the popular TV game show, American Gladiators.-Gameplay:...

     for the Nintendo Entertainment System
    Nintendo Entertainment System
    The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...

  • Gladiators 2000
    Gladiators 2000
    Gladiators 2000 was a spin-off television show of American Gladiators. It was hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Maria Sansone . Season 5 American Gladiators grand champion Peggy Odita served as head referee. It premiered on September 17, 1994 and ran until May 11, 1996...

    , a spinoff of AG for children
  • Nickelodeon GUTS
    Nickelodeon GUTS
    Nickelodeon GUTS is an American television reality "action sports" competition series hosted by actor/comedian Mike O'Malley and officiated by British actress Moira "Mo" Quirk. The series was broadcast by the cable television network Nickelodeon from 1992 to 1995...

    , a children's athletic competition program
  • My Family's Got GUTS
    My Family's Got GUTS
    My Family's Got GUTS is a family game show that aired on Nickelodeon. It was a revival of Nickelodeon GUTS, and debuted on September 15, 2008. The show was taped in Sound Stages 23 and 24 at Universal Studios Florida, housing the Extreme Arena and the Aggro Crag, respectively...

    , the 2008 revival of GUTS
  • Jeux Sans Frontières
    Jeux Sans Frontieres
    Jeux Sans Frontières was a Europe-wide television game show.In its original conception, it was broadcast from 1965 to 1999 under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union and featured teams from different European countries in outlandish costumes competing to complete bizarre tasks in funny...


External links

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