Muscly men in shiny little shorts battling it out to hit the G. Strong women fighting each other in hot pants on national telly.
Gladiators is back. And oh, it is so back.
The hit 90s and 00s show returned last night (13 January) with a revival from the BBC, and it’s fair to say people were sceptical of how it was going to turn out.
Advert
But it turns out viewers were all saying the same thing after the gameshow made its comeback after so many years.
In case you’re not familiar with the format of Gladiators, it’s basically were a load of brave contenders take on these super strong, athletic adults in physically-demanding challenges.
The synopsis for this revival series reads: “16 phenomenal Gladiators will compete in a series of brand new challenges alongside classic games against a brave set of contenders in the ultimate test of strength and speed in the most iconic sports entertainment gameshow returning to BBC One and BBC iPlayer.”
Many games are returning from the original show like Duel, The Wall and the infamous Eliminator. And there’s also new Gladiators games including Collision, The Ring and The Edge.
Co-host Bradley Walsh said The Edge is like ‘British bulldog, but it’s suspended up in the air’.
And The Ring has two contestants attempting to hit the G logo in the centre of a ring.
Before the show aired last night, there was a lot of skepticism over how good it would really be and if it could live up to the original series.
And, well, it seems it did.
One user wrote on X: “Well done BBC. Keeping it true to the original is a very good recipe for success. We Enjoyed that. Good old fashioned Saturday night tv.”
Another echoed: “No new silly format points. No padding. No reality sob stories. Just a remake with everything that made it ludicrous and bananas, but great, the first time round.”
Many put: “HIGH CAMP, HOMOEROTIC, NO NOTES. SATURDAY NIGHT TELE IS SO BACK!”
Others wrote: “Can't deny that I'm enjoying the new Gladiators show. Very similar to the original 90s classic show. No one will be able to rival Jet though.”
Users said they’re so glad the reboot isn’t ‘a flop’ as they called the new show ‘epic’.
And one summed up: “Used to watch the original. Thought this would be the worst with how some media talked about it. Nah am watching and feeling like a kid again.”
You can watch Gladiators now on BBC iPlayer.
Topics: BBC, TV and Film, Twitter
Jess Battison