“Contenders, you will go on my first whistle, Gladiators, you will go on my second whistle…”
Starting in 1992, Gladiators was a sensation during its heyday: each episode saw four nervous contestants pit their talents against that of the show’s resident ‘Gladiators’, super-fit athletes who apparently thought nothing of whacking people around the head with gigantic cotton buds on Duel or leg-wrestling them into submission on Hang Tough.
Now the show has been rebooted, what happened to the original stars – many of whom were household names during their tenure? We explore.
Jet
Name: Diane Youdale
Jet was a firm fan favourite during her time on Gladiators and has stayed in the public eye since leaving. She started out as a gymnast before joining the show and rose to fame after, but sustained a serious neck injury in 1996, after falling from the Pyramid during a live show. Following that, she quit.
“I was beginning to see more spinal injuries. You can damage your ankle or your knee and it will recover, but breaking your neck – that’s a different story,” she said later. “After my accident, I decided to quit while I could. I decided it wasn’t worth it anymore. I wanted to leave while I could still walk out of the studio.”
After leaving, she found work acting and presenting on shows like BBC Tees and Look North. She became a PE teaching assistant, before eventually retaining as a psychotherapist. These days, she also appears on Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, analysing the housemates.
Falcon
Name: Bernadette Hunter
The mulletted Falcon appeared on Gladiators from its second season in 1993 onwards, and remained on the show until it ended. Before being a bodybuilder, she had originally dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer – she was accepted into the London Contemporary Ballet School at the age of 18 until a back injury forced her to leave.
Afterwards, she worked as a personal trainer, telling the Basingstoke Gazette that “I'm very happy with the work I do now and am always busy. My time is spent as a personal trainer and with my children Adam, 23, and Angel, 4.” In March 2023 it was announced that she had died, after a long battle with cancer, at the age of 59.
Hunter
Name: James Crossley
In addition to several on-set romances (with host Ulrika Jonsson and fellow Gladiator Jet), Hunter was most famous for his long blonde hair. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said that “when I did Gladiators I was a machine. I was training twice a day."
These days, he works as a Strength and Conditioning Coach, and practices yoga. After trying unsuccessfully to break into the acting industry after Gladiators, he recently appeared on Channel 4’s reality TV show The Circle. He runs his own coaching website.
Warrior
Name: Mike Ahearne
During the height of his career, Ahearne was one of the most recognisable faces on Gladiators, earning more than £100,000 a year. Since then, his past has been rather more chequered: in and out of trouble with the law, in 2018 he was sentenced to fifteen months for possessing anabolic steroids, a Class C drug.
Shadow
Name: Jefferson King
Shadow has a troubled history with the show. In 1995, he was thrown off Gladiators after being caught taking steroids. King, who was a crack cocaine addict before turning to bodybuilding, went to rehab in 2009; he said said in 2011 that he had gone clean, and was now working at a rehab clinic himself.
In 2021, he ended up back in court after being accused of being involved in a blackmail plot. As part of a criminal gang, he was among members who were charged with the kidnapping, beating and false imprisonment of Aaron Ali. He then attempted to blackmail his family for £1,000 to ensure his safe return. He was ultimately sentenced to six years and three months in jail for kidnapping.
Cobra
Name: Michael Willson
Cobra was another fan favourite with audiences and was a champion of Hang Tough and Duel.
In an interview with the Guardian, he confessed he was often drunk on the show. “I remember looking at The Wall and thinking, 'I've got to chase this guy up it and I'm bleeding drunk,” he said. “We never had to drive anywhere, we had hospitality twice a day so there would be wine and booze and stuff flowing. Ironically, I never used to drink a drop before I joined Gladiators.”
Since leaving the show, he's taken up painting watercolours and travels the country visiting schools, to promote fitness. He lives in Kent, and has battled a succession of severe health problems that stem from “destroying” his body with exercise and partying.
Wolf
Name: Michael Van Wijk
Wolf was one of the show’s ‘heels’, or bad guys. Already established when he joined the show (he ran a chain of gyms), he quickly became one of its most recognisable faces, staying on it for seven whole years.
Following the show, he competed on the Kiwi Cage Fighting scene in New Zealand. Now, he owns a gym in Auckland (called Wolf’s Gym), where he lives. He’s clearly lost none of his fighting spirit: speaking to the Independent, he said he could “100 per cent” defeat the new stars of the show, at the age of 71.
Ace
Name: Warren Furman
The youthful Ace joined Gladiators in 1996 and stayed until the end of the show in 2000. In the Nineties, he dated – and was indeed engaged to – model Katie Price before they broke up.
These days, he lives in York with his wife and children, and runs a gospel choir. “I used to worship myself, I thought I was fantastic,” he told This Morning. “I have now turned to God's grace. I am a Gladiator of the gospel… you'll never know God until you change your direction and so I realised this. It was great, we had loads of money and women, but I realised I had to change.”
Rhino
Name: Mark Smith
Rhino was the joker of the Gladiators group, who’d often have the audiences in stitches with his dancing during the shows. After the show ended in 2000, he actually went onto appear in TV shows like EastEnders and Robin Hood, before turning to Hollywood. He’s appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean, Argo and Nicholas Cage. Today, he lives in Acton.
Lightning
Name: Kim Betts
One of the longest-running stars of the show, Betts served on Gladiators for eight years and was called the Queen of the ‘Hang Tough’ challenge (she even did it three weeks after giving birth, in 1999).
Since leaving, she’s found work as a gymnast, bodybuilder and TV presenter; she often shares her gym workouts on social media. She lives with her husband Frank, who is also a bodybuilder.
Blaze
Name: Eunice Huthart
Huthart was working as a manager at McDonalds when she joined Gladiators as a member of the public – but then went onto become an actual Gladiator, making her the first to do so.
After leaving, she forged a career as a stunt double, working for stars like Angelina Jolie and Uma Thurman, as well as appearing in films like Golden Eye and Avengers. These days, she works as the stunt choreographer for Hollywood blockbusters, and is close friends with Jolie – to the extent that she is godmother to her daughter Shiloh.
Panther
Name: Helen O’Reilly
During her heyday, O’Reilly was one of the UK’s most celebrated bodybuilders, winning Miss Central Britain, Miss Europe, Miss Great Britain and Miss Universe during her career. In 1995, she suffered a horrific accident on the set of Gladiators, injuring her neck and back before leaving the show. These days, she runs Panthers Gym in Uxbridge. "I think I've changed quite a lot," she told the Fans of Gladiators blog. "Most people don't recognise me… age, hair, colour change and of course I don't wear the trademark Panther Lycra anymore.”
Nightshade
Name: Judy Simpson MBE
Nightshade was one of the toughest Gladiators on the show. Born in Jamaica, she was part of the Windrush generation, moving to the UK in 1960. Originally trained in Tae Kwon Do, she went onto represent the UK at the Olympics in the heptathlon and pentathlon, and has won medals in the Commonwealth Games and European Championships.
After leaving the show, she ended up working for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, and is an Honorary President of the Women's Sports Federation. She has also spoken out about the lack of recognition that people of Caribbean heritage get outside areas like sport.
“There are lots of other areas that don't get the TV attention that sport does. I know black lawyers, black pilots, lots of different areas,” she told ITV. “But because they don't get on the telly, you don't see them, but they're there and they're providing encouragement to young people today in Britain."
Rebel
Name: Jennifer Stoute
Former sprinter Rebel competed in the Commonwealth Games before a hamstring injury stalled her career; she joined the show in 1996 before quitting in 1999.
“It was the highlight of my life,” she told Athletics Weekly. “After being a sprinter, there was something in me that was unfulfilled and Gladiators gave me that buzz I needed and was kind of like a transition between elite sport and living a normal life.”
After leaving, she appeared in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, and set up Stellar Athletics Management with her partner, John Regis.
Vogue
Name: Suzanne Cox
The athletic Vogue was best known for backflipping as she entered the ring, to the sounds of Vogue by Madonna. She stayed with the show until after it finished in 2000, and afterwards, she found work modelling, and presented TV show The Fix. She married 1997 quarter-finalist Mark Roberts and now works as an aerobics instructor; speaking on the GladPod, she recounted how the cast and crew set them up after she was too shy to ask him out.
"It was like being back at school with people telling Mark I fancied him,” she said. “Even the security guards got involved and brought Mark to my dressing room door - I was so embarrassed I wanted to die.”
Amazon
Name: Sharron Davies MBE
Olympic swimmer Davies started young: she was setting records for the British national team by the age of 11, and by 13 was representing the UK at the 1976 Olympics. By the age of 18, she’d retired from swimming to build a career in modelling, joining Gladiators in 1995 and leaving a year later in 1996. These days, she works as a BBC pundit and is a patron of Disabled Sport England and SportsAid.
