Gladiators

Gladiators is an Australian television series which aired on Saturday nights on the Seven Network from 1995 until 1996 almost consecutively for eighteen months. It was based on the popular franchise which started with American Gladiators in 1989. However the Australian show was more heavily based on the UK version with events, format and even music being used from the British show. It was revived in 2008. The premise of the show involves permanent competitors called "Gladiators" being put up against one-time-only "Challengers" in several different events which tests both physical and mental capabilities. In a typical episode, two men and two women compete for points against the Gladiators across four different events, with separate events for males and females. After this, each pair then competes against each other in The Eliminator, an obstacle course, of which any points they have won previously go towards time for a head start on their opponent. The winner of this is dubbed the champion of the episode. The episode champions then compete in the finals series. All three series of the show was filmed at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in 1995, and was hosted by Kimberley Joseph and Aaron Pedersen, with Mike Hammond replacing Pedersen after the first series. The show was refereed by John Alexander in the first series, and Mike Whitney thereafter. John Forsythe served as assistant referee.