“Contender, ready! Gladiator, ready! 3 – 2 – 1” – whistle! For the past couple of months, several million viewers in Britain have enjoyed watching the reboot of Gladiators, preferably slumped on the sofa while eating junk food and judging other people’s fitness.
There is something both irritating and irresistible about this show. It’s formulaic, the same clips are repeated every week, the banter of presenters Bradley and Barney Walsh is cringeworthy, the variety of games is very limited, Gauntlet is not difficult enough and people’s shoes come off suspiciously often on the Wall. However, the theatricality of the show is appealing, it’s nice to see the crowd’s enthusiasm, the Gladiators are distinctive characters so you can choose your favourites (Sabre, Legend, Apollo and Fury, if you want to know), and there’s a friendly encouraging atmosphere which I don’t quite remember from the original incarnation of the show. As with all TV talent contests now, everyone’s a winner even if they didn’t actually win; moreover, the contestants have to be good personalities for the screen. I’m sure that many people applied for the show who were fit enough to take part, but may not have been interesting enough for primetime viewing.
The angle of Gladiators is very much a nostalgia one, with games referred to as ‘classics’ and contestants claiming that as kids they dreamed they’d one day be on the show. Despite occasional double entendres from the presenters, it’s a family show and there are many children in the audience holding up homemade posters. When it’s time for the Edge, the camera finds, without fail, someone gawping at how high the platform is. The funny thing about the foam fingers is that I’m sure they used to be bigger than that, so I watched an old episode to compare. The same with the Travelator, the fast-moving slope which contestants have to run up. I couldn’t see any difference. Everything seems larger when you’re a kid! I’m glad the show is over now, because the elimination round was much too exciting. I’m writing this after watching the final and my heart rate hasn’t slowed down yet. I’ll be looking forward to series 2, which is already open for applications.
