Gladiators is a sports entertainment television show that was first broadcast in the United States and was an international success during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Versions of the show were filmed for local broadcasters in the United Kingdom, Finland, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Nigeria, and Denmark.
A one-off, celebrity derivative primetime special in the US, called Superstar American Gladiators aired on ABC on May 4, 1995.
The initial concept for the show by Dan Carr and John C. Ferraro was held in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the USA before being sold to Samuel Goldwyn Productions/MGM where the format was adapted and televised as American Gladiators with the first series airing over 1989–90.
Following the success of American Gladiators, other countries began to produce their own versions of the show with the UK and Finland starting production in 1992.
American Gladiators had already picked up a cult following in the UK after being shown on late night TV.
In early 1995, the first full scale international competition was launched in which selected Gladiators from the American, Finnish and British series competed against contender champions from those three countries.
A fourth country, Russia was added but as they did not have their own domestic series, the Gladiators and contenders were hand-picked by Russian TV producers.
In 1998, there were plans for the show to have a massive overhaul,[1] but this was cancelled after it was announced that the UK series was to be axed due to falling ratings.
Sweden continued to produce Gladiators, creating an event unique to the series, Spidercage, before being axed in 2004.
In August 2007, NBC confirmed that a revival of American Gladiators would be produced by Reveille Productions and MGM Television to air mid season during early 2008.
In July 2014, Arthur A. Smith company announced plans to bring American Gladiators back again for the third time and were shopping the idea to networks to give it a home, this version would have incorporated elements that were inspired by films such as The Hunger Games along with mixed martial arts.
In August 2018, actor Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg announced plans to bring American Gladiators back again for the fourth time and are shopping the idea to distributors who are interested in the revival.
[11] In May 2024, Amazon Prime announced that they had ordered a reboot of American Gladiators and a casting call was sent out in June 2024.
Later that month, it was confirmed that the format had been sold to French broadcaster TF1 and would be produced by ITV Studios France.
The French version was filmed in Aren'Ice, a multi-purpose arena that is primarily used as an ice rink, located in Cergy.
Towards the end of the initial UK and American series, the male and female contenders did not necessarily play the same events.
Shows are usually presented by a male and female host (with the exception of all but two seasons of the original American Gladiators, which were presented by two male hosts), as well as a main referee (often wearing a striped black and white shirt, in the style of an American football referee) presiding over events, handing out disqualifications or red and yellow cards to contenders or Gladiators if needed.
All events were created by either the American or UK series with the exception of "Soccer Shootout" (South Africa) and "Spidercage" (Sweden).
The names Panther, Ice, Scorpio/Scorpion, Tornado, Lightning, Blade, Cyclone, Fierce/Féroce/Hurja, Flash, Force, Shadow, Ninja, Thunder, Viper, Nitro, Tiger/Tiikeri, Terminator, Cobra, Rebel, Hurricane, Laser, Phoenix, Destroyer, Rocket, Dynamite, Sabre, Bullit/Bullet, Delta and Steel have been used for both male and female Gladiators.
Laser (Tina Andrew), a UK Gladiator went on to compete as Sheena, a member of a South African team for the Springbok Challenge 1.
Zodiac TV, who worked alongside TV4 and MTV Produktion to produce Gladiatorerna and Gladiatorerne, also started to create series in Russia, Germany, and Benelux (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg), but they never materialised.
On June 28, 2023; a limited five-part documentary series called Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators was released on the streaming service Netflix.