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Posted by: Mack. 25th August 2022, 01:24 PM

What do you make of this iconic Saturday night show returning to our screens?

Posted by: J00prstar 25th August 2022, 02:27 PM

Honestly excited! Now it just has to not half-ass it like the Sky reboot did.

What it needs is:
A likeable host who doesn't take the piss
Serious athletes
Actually hard challenges

I can see it doing really well if it gets it right. The og show is still something I rewatch.

Posted by: JulianT 25th August 2022, 02:38 PM

Haha intrigued! I was absolutely obsessed with this as a child.

Posted by: WhoOdyssey 25th August 2022, 03:09 PM

Ah this news leaked a while ago, apparently they’re returning to arenas to film it! The Sky one was just in a studio, which didn’t have quite the same impact.

Posted by: Juranamo 25th August 2022, 05:31 PM

Utilita Arena, Sheffield!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2022/gladiators

Posted by: Silas 25th August 2022, 05:47 PM

This was such an iconic show from my childhood. I hope they get it right as it will be such a hit if they do

Posted by: SimpsonFan 25th August 2022, 06:34 PM

I remember watching the Sky 1 reboot

‘Gladiators ready!’

Posted by: Jessie Where 26th August 2022, 09:42 AM

I watched this religiously as a kid! Used to collect sticker books and everything.

I'll keep an open mind if it retains any of the original magic, although the Sky reboot from a few years ago failed for a reason.

Posted by: Herbs 26th August 2022, 09:56 AM

Would love to see this done well

In its day it was peak Saturday night viewing

Posted by: Heywood Jablowme 26th August 2022, 11:09 AM

What a pile of old SHITE!

Posted by: Herbs 26th August 2022, 02:38 PM

What a pile of attention-seeky-itis

Posted by: spiceboy 26th August 2022, 03:15 PM

Oh I LOVED this show can't wait!

Posted by: Heywood Jablowme 26th August 2022, 04:29 PM

Oh ho no you better DON'T!!!

This show is absolute crap and always has been, and it is for attention-seekers only, but now they have crossfit, sooo...

Posted by: Jessie Where 26th August 2022, 05:00 PM

Bye

Posted by: Herbs 26th August 2022, 05:52 PM

Oh ho yes but I better did!

Posted by: Heywood Jablowme 26th August 2022, 08:49 PM

Bitch step off ma toes lest I biff you off a tower into water on a cheap Satueday night programme!! Even X Factor is better!

Posted by: Run_For_Cover 27th August 2022, 12:55 AM

The Australian version was absolutely massive in the 90's, the reboot in 2008 not so much.

I'd be keen to check this out though.

Posted by: Mack. 2nd September 2022, 02:31 PM

I wonder will they bring John Sachs back to do commentary? If not then maybe Clive Tyldesley or Jonathan Pearce.

Posted by: Herbs 2nd September 2022, 09:47 PM

Waiting to be biffed off a tower!

Both X Factor and Gladiators were great in their day, in my opinion

Posted by: Roba! 7th September 2022, 02:29 AM

Used to be on when I was younger. Not sure if it'll be as good now but nice to see they are willing to give it another go nonetheless.

Posted by: Leatherface 5th October 2022, 02:07 PM

BBC are apparently lining up Bradley & Barney Walsh as the hosts for this..

Posted by: Scary Spiceboy 6th October 2022, 08:31 AM

I can see them working actually, I thought they might get someone like Marvin and Rochelle to do it.

I am curious to see who the gladiators themselves will be.

Posted by: Run_For_Cover 6th October 2022, 08:39 AM

Bradley & Barney Walsh would be great hosts.

Posted by: Leatherface 6th October 2022, 11:38 AM

Ex-Olympians. regarding who the Gladiators will be??

Posted by: Scary Spiceboy 8th October 2022, 07:27 PM

Ex Olympians? Is that what they were before it was bodybuilders and the like wasn’t it?

Posted by: Smithy501 22nd December 2023, 02:57 PM

BUMP

Confirmed to premiere next month, I suspect the 6th January on BBC One.

Posted by: One_For_Sorrow 22nd December 2023, 06:52 PM

Also coming back to Australia which was a bit of a surprise.

Posted by: spiceboy 22nd December 2023, 07:02 PM

Genuinely really looking forwards to this!

Posted by: CoolHand501 13th January 2024, 05:39 PM

Looking forward to seeing what it's like. I was only 6 when the original ended.

Posted by: CoolHand501 13th January 2024, 05:55 PM

This is a total '90s throwback - especially those tracksuits.

Posted by: spiceboy 13th January 2024, 11:44 PM

Can’t wait to watch it when I get home tomorrow!

Posted by: Juranamo 13th January 2024, 11:46 PM

Loved this! EXACTLY what Saturday prime time TV needs!

Posted by: Rooney 14th January 2024, 10:39 PM

Big numbers with the ratings - be interesting to see if it holds up, but barely a couple of weeks in to 2024 and some huge wins for linear TV..

Posted by: Calum 15th January 2024, 12:20 AM

Caught up on this tonight and it was great! Really enjoying the return of all these classic gameshows to Saturday night TV recently. This, Wheel of Fortune, etc. I just hope they're not one-series-wonders and there's faith in them being new staples.

Posted by: Anita Hanjaab 15th January 2024, 12:31 AM

Awful!! And where are the Sky1 Gladiators?? Sky1 did it better, not that it was ever that good!!

Bring back the better, 21stC version, Wipeout!

Posted by: One_For_Sorrow 15th January 2024, 01:01 AM

Australian version starts tonight. I’ll need to wait until tomorrow to watch it though.

Posted by: spiceboy 18th January 2024, 06:55 AM

I loved it so much nostalgia in the show and such fun. Will be watching the rest!

Posted by: One_For_Sorrow 18th January 2024, 07:41 AM

The Australian reboot is rightly getting panned. It’s pretty bad.

Only four events too.

On the plus side it does have me binge watching the 90’s episodes. They were great, still are. Especially The Ashes ones.

Posted by: CoolHand501 18th January 2024, 02:16 PM

It was brilliant, really enjoyed the revival of Gladiators.

Posted by: One_For_Sorrow 22nd January 2024, 05:16 AM

Just caught up on episode 2 and it’s been great so far.

So much better than that limp pathetic Australian version that we have.

Posted by: Juranamo 22nd January 2024, 11:37 AM

Assume I'm ok to post in here without spoilers?

Should Gauntlet just be renamed "Free 10 Points"? They've pretty much all breezed through it in both episodes, the only one not doing so being the one that sprained his leg (and that could have happened on any game...). I'm sure this one used to seem much harder, have they widened the gauntlet maybe?

Other than that, loving everything else about this!

Posted by: CoolHand501 27th January 2024, 06:05 PM

That was an entertaining duel between Diamond and Bronte

Posted by: CoolHand501 27th January 2024, 06:09 PM

Handbags between Viper and the referee.

Let's send in our correspondent Barney Walsh.

Posted by: spiceboy 27th January 2024, 08:09 PM

It's such good fun I find myself cheering them on lol

Posted by: One_For_Sorrow 27th January 2024, 08:25 PM

Really enjoying this. The Edge is such a fantastic addition to the events.

Posted by: J00prstar 21st February 2024, 03:13 AM

Really enjoying this but the young host is just really bad!

Posted by: JulianT 21st February 2024, 11:50 AM

Ashley from Episode 3 is in my running club!

Was obsessed with this back in the day and I’m really enjoying this revival. Glad they’ve kept it as similar as possible to the old format and really played on the nostalgia factor.

They’ve obviously asked Legend and Viper to adopt obnoxious personas for the purposes of the show, which is a bit silly but I guess they wanted to have some pantomime villains like Wolf back in the day.

Posted by: spiceboy 2nd March 2024, 09:19 PM

I loved Ash, he was on again tonight as fastest runner up was cheering him on!

Also legend is my favourite he is so funny with the obnoxious personality makes me laugh. Viper is a bit meh as he doesn’t say anything.

Posted by: Mack. 3rd April 2024, 04:53 PM

Brad & Barney will be back for series 2

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1884138/bbc-bradley-walsh-son-barney-gladiators/amp

Posted by: Mack. 3rd April 2024, 04:54 PM

A celebrity special of The Gladiators has been confirmed on Radio 4’s Media Show this afternoon.

Posted by: J00prstar 3rd April 2024, 06:33 PM

Ugh I was hoping they'd replace Barney. Bradley is good but Barney is just there off nepo and is really cringe. They could do with a woman cohost, Ulrika was so good back in the day.

Season was great though! Although bullshit that all they win is a trophy, they used to get money & a car & people could really do with support these days!

Posted by: One_For_Sorrow 6th April 2024, 06:44 AM

In the Australian series earlier this year the two winners will become gladiators in the new series. That is if they do a new series.

Posted by: One_For_Sorrow 6th April 2024, 06:44 AM

In the Australian series earlier this year the two winners will become gladiators in the new series. That is if they do a new series.

Posted by: Calum 6th April 2024, 08:29 AM

Are people just accustomed and numb to Bradley’s hosting on almost everything now? all series I found him to be very cringe and insufferable, whereas Barney was actually a pretty decent host and could probably take it on himself next series if it didn’t require them having to speak to two contenders/a contender and a gladiator at a time before and after events.

All in all this was an excellent first series though, and was rooting for both winners by the end so was thrilled for them!

Posted by: Slick 6th April 2024, 09:00 AM

I loved this season. It brought back so much nostalgia from the 90s.

Barney was DREADFUL though. There are literally hundreds of better options to present the show.

Posted by: -Jay- 6th April 2024, 09:56 AM

I enjoyed this comeback series! It brought me right back to my childhood.

Who is everyone's favourite Gladiator? I'd say Diamond or Fury out of the female Gladiators, and it really has to be Legend for the males who really stole the show with his persona. However for other reasons, I'd say Steel.

What about events? I feel like a couple of them didn't work as well as they could do... Gauntlet always seems a bit too easy for the contestants to complete due to the Gladiators having to RELEASE! after like two seconds. Although I think that event brought the most drama (though manipulated in some cases, I'm sure) which could be entertaining. I think The Wall perhaps gave the contestants a little bit too much of a headstart? I like The Edge and Collision, and of course Duel is a classic. *.*

Presenters - well, the show is supremely light entertainment, and to that end I didn't actually mind Bradley and Barney as a duo. I totally understand why people would find Barney to be wooden... but I think he worked as being "the sensible one" as a kind of foil to Bradley's silly jokes/puns.

Posted by: spiceboy 6th April 2024, 11:57 AM

I thought there could be better hosts but they were fine, its light entertainment nothing serious.

Favourite gladiator Legend he is just hilarious, Phantom for other reasons though hehe!

Best challenge is duel by far I love it, the wall was kinda good but maybe too much of a head start?

Posted by: Juranamo 6th April 2024, 12:19 PM

Bionic was my fave for (what I'm assuming are the) other reasons. 🙊

Posted by: Maz! 6th April 2024, 12:29 PM

Never seen the original show but absolutely loved it . It’s just an fun hour of tv and the eye candy was a plus.

Posted by: Maz! 6th April 2024, 12:39 PM

Bionic and Apollo are my faves for reasons x

Posted by: Calum 6th April 2024, 07:35 PM

I think next time they need to better plan how to utilise all of the gladiators throughout the series (particularly some of the female ones who seemed to only show up once in a blue moon... looking at you, Comet, where on earth were you all series? ). I understand they'll all have events that they're more suited to or stronger at than others, but it felt like you'd only ever see certain gladiators appear in x event, or they certainly favoured some over others. I'd much rather they gave Viper a personality transplant for the next series too if he returns because the whole act got tiring after one episode, and even the show itself seemed to just let it fizzle out and ignore it by the end. Just let him be a normal gladiator that maybe does go in a bit aggressively at times but still has a human side when the events are over.

That said, my favourite female gladiators were definitely Fire, Fury and Sabre, and for the male gladiators I'll divide into two categories. In terms of actual personality and as gladiators throughout the series Nitro and Legend really dominated, but as for the 'other reasons' Bionic and Phantom were my favourites.

Agree with you Jay about Gauntlet always seeming like much too easy an event. I don't think there was a single person the whole series that didn't manage to make it through all four zones? I think that would benefit from - and be a lot more tense an event - if the gladiators were given longer to hold them in a lock before having to release. Duel, while a classic, was always underwhelming for me because not a single gladiator was knocked off all series either (I don't think?). The Edge and The Wall ended up being my favourite events overall.

Edit: I've just read that Comet sustained pretty serious injuries during Hang Tough so had to go on hiatus for the rest of the series, so that explains that.

Posted by: spiceboy 6th April 2024, 08:45 PM

Oh he was another fave of mine for the same reason

Posted by: spiceboy 6th April 2024, 08:49 PM

One of the female contestants knocked off a gladiator thinking it might have been sabre. Also two of the male contestants didnt complete gauntlet, one had an injury during it and one couldn't get past Bionic.

Posted by: JulianT 10th April 2024, 12:49 PM

Favourite gladiators: Dynamite and Fury, Legend and Nitro.

Favourite events: Dual and The Wall. It would be nice to see some of the others return like Atlaspheres and Swingshot. 8 in total feels a little too few with 5 featured each episode. And I’m pretty sure Gauntlet always was fairly easy but they used to only get 5 points if they finished in the second fastest time which made it a bit more interesting. It was odd how they wouldn’t even let the gladiators hold the contestants when that seemed to be the only effective counter and surely is the most effective use of those pads!

All in all a really good return for this!

Posted by: Juranamo 10th April 2024, 01:58 PM

Yeah, this was the case for the whole series. And it featured in most episodes too!

I'm pretty sure it's there to prevent the humiliation of ending with next to no points 😂