The first series of Gladiators began airing on Seven Network on 29 April 1995 following successful versions of the Gladiators format in United States, United Kingdom and Finland. The series closely resembled the UK series albeit with just four events and the Eliminator.

Fifteen episodes were filmed in a progressive competition at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre between 24 March and 2 April. Kimberley Joseph and Aaron Pedersen presented the show whilst play by play commentary was by Tony Schibeci. John Alexander acted as referee and John Forsyth as assistant referee. Cheerleaders performed in the background of the events.

Winners of the heats received a Sony music system and a selection of CD's valued to $2,000. The runners up received a set of gym apparatus. The winners of the final won a car ( Hyundai Sonata).

Gladiators

Male

• Condor - Alistair Gibb
• Cougar - Ashley Buck
• Force - John Gergelifi
• Hammer - Mark McGaw
• Taipan - Michael Melksham
• Tower - Ron Reeve
• Vulcan - John Seru

Force suffered an injury in Atlasphere in the third quarter final and had to retire from the show.

Female

• Blade - Bev Carter
• Cheeta - Nicky Davico
• Delta - Karen Alley
• Flame - Lynda Byrnes
• Fury - Julie Saunders
• Rebel - Barbara Kendell
• Storm - Charlene Machin

Events

Atlasphere, Duel, Gauntlet, Hang Tough, Hit & Run, Powerball, Pyramid, Suspension Bridge, Tilt and Wall were played over Series 1.

The Eliminator featured as the final event in every show.

Shows

Fifteen shows along with an unaired pilot ^[1] were filmed with the televised shows taking the form of a progressive competition. Each show featured four events along with the Eliminator. The winner of the Eliminator would progress to the next round.

Winning challengers are in bold. ^[2]

¹ The challengers in this episode were actually members of the production crew and changed throughout the episode. The names given were just for filming purposes. The headstarts given in the Eliminator were not based on points scored in the events.
²Replaced Donna after she fell on her pugil stick and injured her leg.
³This would be the last ever appearance by Force after falling over in his Atlasphere and injuring his leg.
⁴Replaced Gina Goode who having won her heat was unable to continue in the Quarter finals due to an ankle injury sustained in Powerball in her heat.

Episode summary

Heat 1

Original airdate: 29 April 1995
Challengers: Heather Marychurch v Gina Good, Clinton Barter v Howard Arbuthnot

Eliminator

• Female: 5.5 second head start for Gina
• Male: 5 second head start for Clinton
• Winners: Gina Good & Howard Arbuthnot

Heat 2

Original airdate: 6 May 1995
Challengers: Bernadette Withers v Tracey Nicholson, Andrew Halliday v Adam Cooney

Eliminator

• Female: 1.5 second head start for Bernadette
• Male: 7 second head start for Andrew
• Winners: Bernadette Withers & Andrew Halliday

Heat 3

Original airdate: 13 May 1995
Challengers: Sabrina Hooyman v Carol-Anne Horvath, David Wallis v Paul Vella

Eliminator

• Female: 3 second head start for Sabrina
• Male: 6.5 second head start for David
• Winners: Sabrina Hooyman & David Wallis

Heat 4

Original airdate: 20 May 1995
Challengers: Karen Swansborough v Hillary Ord, Corey Parker v Tony Langdon

Eliminator

• Female: 12.5 second head start for Karen
• Male: 5 second head start for Tony
• Winners: Karen Swansborough & Tony Langdon

Heat 5

Original airdate: 27 May 1995
Challengers: Nellie Baker v Fernanda Lacey, Ashley Martin v Alex Sanz

Eliminator

• Female: 2.5 second head start for Fernanda
• Male: 8.5 second head start for Ashley
• Winners: Nellie Baker & Ashley Martin

Heat 6

Original airdate: 3 June 1995
Challengers: Teresa Brett v Alison Jackson, Rod McQueen v John Powell

Eliminator

• Female: 7.5 second head start for Alison
• Male: 2 second head start for John
• Winners: Teresa Brett & Rod McQueen

Heat 7

Original airdate: 10 June 1995
Challengers: Annie Alderson v Kerry Warman, Mark Brine v Ian Jacobs

Eliminator

• Female: 2.5 second head start for Kerry
• Male: 2 second head start for Ian
• Winners: Kerry Warman & Ian Jacobs

Heat 8

Original airdate: 17 June 1995
Challengers: Tania Logan v Donna Sutor/Kathy Katzourakis, Rhett Foreman v Andrew Strickland

Eliminator

• Female: 1.5 second head start for Tania
• Male: 5 second head start for Andrew
• Winners: Tania Logan & Rhett Foreman

1 Donna injured herself after landing on her pugil stick in Duel, therefore Kathy replaced her in Powerball.

Quarter-Final 1

Original airdate: 24 June 1995
Challengers: Nellie Baker v Sabrina Hooyman, Ashley Martin v David Wallis

Eliminator

• Female: 6.5 second head start for Nellie
• Male: 2.5 second head start for Ashley
• Winners: Nellie Baker & David Wallis

Quarter-Final 2

Original airdate: 1 July 1995
Challengers: Kerry Warman v Bernadette Withers, Ian Jacobs v Andrew Halliday

Eliminator

• Female: 3 second head start for Kerry
• Male: 10 second head start for Andrew
• Winners: Bernadette Withers & Andrew Halliday

Quarter-Final 3

Original airdate: 8 July 1995
Challengers: Karen Swansborough v Teresa Brett, Tony Langdon v Rod McQueen

Eliminator

• Female: 3 second head start for Karen
• Male: 2 second head start for Rod
• Winners: Teresa Brett & Rod McQueen

Quarter-Final 4

Original airdate: 15 July 1995
Challengers: Tania Logan v Fernanda Lacey, Howard Arbuthnot v Rhett Foreman

Eliminator

• Female: 3 second head start for Fernanda
• Male: 1.5 second head start for Howard
• Winners: Fernanda Lacey & Rhett Foreman

Semi-final 1

Original airdate: 22 July 1995
Challengers: Teresa Brett v Nellie Baker, David Wallis v Rod McQueen

Eliminator

• Female: Teresa walkover in to Grand Final due to Nellie's injury.
• Male: 1 second head start for David
• Winners: Teresa Brett & David Wallis

Semi-final 2

Original airdate: 29 July 1995
Challengers: Bernadette Withers v Fernanda Lacey, Andrew Halliday v Rhett Foreman

Eliminator

• Female: 1 second head start for Fernanda
• Male: 10 second head start for Andrew
• Winners: Bernadette Withers & Andrew Halliday

Grand Final

Original airdate: 5 August 1995
Challengers: Teresa Brett v Bernadette Withers, David Wallis v Andrew Halliday

Eliminator

• Female: 2.5 second start for Bernadette
• Male: 7.5 second start for Andrew
• Winners: Bernadette Withers & Andrew Halliday

Cheerleaders

Choreographer: Davidia Lind

Cheerleaders: Cintra Bedford, Jane Crichton, Jessica Emblen, Sarah Harlow, Tamra Lind, Tamara Raup, Emma Sieber, Leigh-Anne Vizer, Francene Vedelago, Kyle Watson ^[3]

Production

Production began in January 1995 when the producers began their search for Gladiators and challengers. The long list was cut to 100 people who attended tryouts in Brisbane (where it was decided the show would be filmed), Melbourne and Sydney. Fourteen Gladiators and a number of challengers were selected. ^[4]

The apparatus was delivered to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in March requiring 35 trucks and 100 riggers whilst the Gladiators filmed the opening credits at Dee Why. Challengers arrived at the BEC on 16 March to begin training.

An unaired pilot episode was filmed using the Gladiators and production crew as challengers. There was no audience and Force, Rebel and Cheeta did not compete in any events.

Filming commenced on 24 March and wrapped on 2 April. Initially audiences numbered 2,000 but grew to 5,000 as filming progressed. St John's Ambulance personnel were on site during filming.

The first episode aired on Seven Network on 29 April and immediately entered the top 10 most watch shows in Australia. A second series entered production in May.

References