Gladiators (1992 UK TV series) Series Five

The fifth series of Gladiators started on September 28, 1996 and ended on January 4, 1997. The series aired on ITV. Ulrika Jonsson and John Fashanu presented (with this being John Fashanu's final season) along with referee John Anderson and commentator John Sachs. The series was followed by a celebrity special. In an attempt to refresh the series a 'North Vs South' competition took place with onscreen titles referring to this series as Gladiators: The Challenge. Former champions Eunice Huthart and Phil Norman took part as team captains.

Changes from the last series

There were a number of changes to the Gladiator line up this season. Raider (Carlton Headley) was dropped after one season. Whilst no explanation was given for his axing, he was the first Gladiator to have received a red card (and resulting one episode suspension and fine). Jet (Diane Youdale) retired following an injury on Pyramid during live shows played at Wembley during Easter 1996. Three new Gladiators were recruited for the 1996 series with all of them appearing in the Wembley live shows prior to the televised series; Ace (Warren Furman), Rio (Jane Omorogbe) and Rebel (Olympian Jennifer Stoute).

Amazon (Sharron Davies) had intended to compete and was included in promotional photographs for the series but left prior to rehearsals due to issues surrounding a knee injury she had picked up in Pyramid the prior year. Zodiac (Kate Staples) suffered a serious neck injury in training for Pole-Axe and would only appear in the non combative event Danger Zone. Nightshade (Judy Simpson) was suffering from a respiratory virus she had picked up during the first Ashes series in 1995 and only appeared in a few shows before having to retire. Due to Zodiac and Nightshade being unavailable, a fourth new Gladiator Laser (Tina Andrew) was quickly recruited.

There were numerous changes to the event line up too. Having proved unpopular with the Gladiators and only appearing once in the previous series, Tilt and Joust were axed immediately after the 1995 series. Pyramid was axed following the injury to Jet during the Wembley Live shows (and injuries to Rhino and Amazon the previous year).

One new event, Sumo Ball had been added to the event line up following roadtesting at the Wembley shows bringing the event pool to 16. Tightrope has intended to be a new event but would ultimately not appear until the following series. However in addition to Zodiac's injury contender Nikki Claxton was seriously injured after a fall on Pole-Axe in training thus leading to that events axing, bringing down the event roster to 15. The reduced event pool saw some long standing events such as Swingshot and Skytrak have a significant increase in appearances.

A slight amend to the rules of Suspension Bridge saw pushing and shoving being disallowed again. The contenders head start on The Wall was increased to 10 seconds again. The Whiplash ring was also changed with the carpet (which had caused Gladiators to trip up and lose) replaced by a more sturdier flooring in different colouring.

The music used to introduce the male Gladiators on Powerball was changed to the Gladiators cast recording of "The Boys Are Back in Town" which was released as a single later that year. An additional obstacle was added to The Eliminator replacing the second low hurdle entitled Spaghetti Junction, a web of elasticated wires that contenders had to pull themselves through which was ultimately dropped after one season.

A notable change in the series was the introduction of a 'North Vs South' challenge which took place during the series with contenders being divided into an even number from the North of the UK and the South. 1994 and International Gladiators 1 champion Eunice Huthart was the Northern coach and 1993 champion Phil Norman as the Southern coach.

Additionally a new competition was introduced for the fastest time on the Eliminator which was won by series female runner up Sarah Damm (time of 1 minute 10.2 seconds) and male series champion Mark Mottram (time of 59.2 seconds). Both winners won £1,000.

A series of 'Time Out' segments filmed at the Gladiators winter training camp in Cocoa Beach, Florida were shown between events. Finally contender and Gladiators stats were now displayed in metric measurements rather than imperial.

New events

Only one new event was introduced in this series bringing the event roster to 15.

Sumo Ball

First appearance: Northern Heat 2. This was an original event. Contender and Gladiator stand on a large circular platform, over which a large red "Sumo Ball" hangs from the ceiling. The participants have 30 seconds to push their opponent off the platform using the 75 kg Sumo Ball. Contenders score 10 points for knocking the Gladiator off and 5 for staying on for the full thirty seconds.

Episodes

Unlike previous years, this series saw two seven episode rounds of eight single-elimination tournaments (one featuring the 'Northern' contenders and one with the 'Southern' contenders) which whilst filmed concurrently for the various stages, aired separately. The fifteenth episode saw the winners of the Northern Final face the winners of the Southern final. A celebrity special was filmed and broadcast afterwards.

• ¹ Adrean Parrock injured himself during the Eliminator and was unable to finish
• ² Michelle Kimberly whilst leading in the Eliminator used the central non moving part of the travelator to reach the top and thus the Eliminator was restarted from the balance beams
• ³ This was the first televised appearance of Laser after she was drafted in last minute due to Zodiac and Nightshade's absence. Her first filmed appearance however was Southern Heat 3
• ⁴ Patrick Dale injured his back during Hit & Run and was unable to compete in the Eliminator and thus Emmil Watson automatically went through to the next round though had to run the Eliminator solo as part of the fastest Eliminator contest
• ⁵ Nick Gillingham and Graham Bell were eliminated after scoring the least points after three events and Neil Black and Ray Stevens were eliminated after scoring the least points five events
• ⁶ In this episode the female Gladiators played Atlaspheres and The Wall

Events

In this series, the most played events were Duel, Hang Tough, Powerball and Pendulum. Despite only being introduced the previous year, Pendulum became the joint second most played event of the series. This series saw the first time that any previously introduced events did not return, with both Tilt and Joust having been permanently axed from the event roster. Pyramid and Pole-Axe were also removed, but both returned the following year with modifications to the format. Swingshot and Skytrak also made a significantly higher number of appearances this series. Hit & Run made only one appearance in this series, and was subsequently sidelined for the remainder of the series following a serious injury to contestant Patrick Dale. Pursuit also featured less prominently in this series, only appearing twice.

Injuries

Zodiac (Kate Staples) suffered a severe neck injury after a fall on Pole-Axe during training and was only able to compete in Danger Zone in this series. Nightshade (Judy Simpson) withdrew from competition following difficulties with a respirotary virus she had picked up the previous year. She had to be helped off Skytrak in Northern Heat 4 and made her final onscreen appearance in Southern Heat 2 after being defeated in her signature event Duel.

Contender Nikki Claxton also suffered a severe injury after a fall on Pole-Axe in training and was unable to compete during the series.

Two male contenders suffered injuries resulting in them unable to complete their competition. Adrean Parrock injured himself after jumping off the balance beam the Eliminator in Northern Heat 1 and was unable to complete the course and Patrick Dale injured his back during Hit & Run in Southern Heat 3 and was unable to compete in the Eliminator. Due to Hit & Run being the last event before the Eliminator, Dale was not replaced.