In the muscle-bound, high-octane environment of hit TV show Gladiators, for two generations now the crowds have cheered on the plucky contestants and their super-human rivals as they pit their bodies against each other in a  series of gruelling challenges.

From 1992-2000 the original ITV show and its various international spin-offs was a rip-roaring success, pulling in massive Saturday evening audiences.  And now, after an eight year break, Gladiators is back on our screens, this time on Sky One, owing in no small part to the cult following and chat-room nostalgia that has continued in the wake of the original series, after it ceased production at the turn of the century.

Over the course of two generations of Gladiators, millions watched, thousand applied and hundreds competed, but one home in Scotland can lay claim to knowing more about what it takes to make the standard on Gladiators than most. 

Head of the household, Brian Whittle, a former Olympic 400m runner, appeared as a (winning) contestant on the ‘Springbok Challenge’ where British contestants tested themselves against South African gladiators.

However, hot on his tracks is his eldest daughter Carly who, at just 22-years old, was a contestant on the first episode of the new series currently running on Sky.  Just as the original series spawned a sequel, Brian, who obviously has a better insight then most, saw potential in his offspring from the very second he heard wind of a new production.

“I thought Carly was ideal,” says Brian, 44, and a former gold medal winner in the 4x400m at the European Championships. “She is the right height, has good speed, good agility, good strength and is quite aggressive. She has been sent off for hockey a couple of times and I thought she would be really good at it!  She is a very competitive person.  I knew that she was going to be fine taking and giving blows.”

Brian, being a good friend of Gladiators’ famous umpire and coach John Anderson, (he of ‘Gladiators, READY!’ fame) was asked to help with the training and selection of contestants for the new show, as he has the two way advantage of having trained as an elite athlete (like most of the Gladiators) and having previous experience of what it takes to be a contestant.  So he knew what would be expected of Carly.

“I was asked to come along and help at the trials in Glasgow. They asked me if I would enter it again and I said no straight away!

“Thinking back, the people that were really good at Gladiators were all 400m runners, because they are fast, fit, strong people.  The guys that were much heavier didn’t do well. If you are carrying a lot of weight around with you then you might be good at one or two games, but even if you are big and strong, you are still going against people that are bigger and stronger.  Speed and agility are the most important things.

So when it came to training up Carly, Brian was quite innovative in pinpointing the specific strengths she would need.

“Some of the stuff I was asking Carly to do was quite strange, but having a little bit of knowledge as to what was required was good.  I asked her to hang from a bar, just hanging there for ages.  That helps for many events, like The Wall and Hang Tough.  Gladiators requires a lot of strength on your fingers and your forearms. There are a lot of games that require that.

“It was my intention to go through to Ratho Climbing Centre to try proper specific training there on the wall but we weren’t able to do that because Carly was injured.  In fact I didn’t think she would even be fit to compete! 

“It was one thing after another,” recalls Carly.  “Three weeks before I had to go down to Gladiators I had torn my hamstring and was on crutches. Then when I was down doing it I went over on my ankle and ended up on crutches there as well.  I had also torn ligaments in my thumb on my way down to Gladiators. When I got the call to say I had made it through, I was on my way to casualty with my thumb, thinking I had broken it, but I hadn’t.”

It hasn’t been the easiest ride for PE teacher Carly.  She also recalls the embarrassment the training caused her in front of her pupils.

“Yeah, that went down well at school actually.  All these kids would come into the gym at lunch time and see me just hanging there!”

A multi-talented sportswoman, Carly has competed to a high level in hockey, netball and athletics.  But she still wasn’t prepared for the training that Dad had dreamed up for her.

“We did a lot of circuit work. Squats, bench pressing, working with dumb-bells.  Again, I was training for speed and dexterity, working through ranges of movement that you wouldn’t normally work through.

“I was waking up sometimes and there was a new muscle in my body that was sore that I didn’t even know existed. I was walking about in pain for the first couple of weeks and kept asking myself what I was doing this for. It obviously paid off and I got a lot fitter. I gained bigger muscles which was great. I seem to scare people a bit with my muscles!”

In this case though, every little helped.  Even though Carly finished as the second highest points scorer in the UK trials, where 20,000 people applied, she was still preparing to come up against some of the top athletes in Britain, pumped up and ready for action in their Gladiator regalia. 

Amongst her rivals were Lucy Boggis, (aka Tempest) a GB heptathlete, Helen O’Reilly, (Panther) a former Miss Universe bodybuilder, and Jenny Pacey, (Enigma) a UK track athlete and Olympic bobsleigh champion.  And of course everyone’s favourite ‘Battleaxe’ in Scotland, Shirley Webb, the Olympic hammer-thrower who lives in Edinburgh.

“Enigma wasn’t my favourite as she punched me in the face, but I did mention that on Gladiators so I don’t think she will do it again!

“Panther was the best athlete by far and she was the hardest gladiator.  If you had Panther as your opponent then you were worried because she is so big.  She is 12 ½ stone and was amazing at the Duel. 

“I don’t know how they would get on if they were doing our job, if it was the other way round.  They have the easiest job. For instance The Pyramid – they are coming down as we are going up, so it made their jobs a bit easier.  Overall the gladiators were good though.

Brian agrees with his daughters sentiments: “The Gladiators are only trained to do one event, whereas the contenders are trained to do four or five, plus The Eliminator. You have to be able to do that all in one day. Whereas they only have to do one event and they don’t have to do the Eliminator. It’s a completely different kettle of fish.”

However, compared to his experience in 1996, Brian feels that this generation of Gladiators are superior athletes, certainly in terms of how suited they are to their speciality events.

“In terms of athletic ability, I think the Gladiators are better this time around.  I think they have been selected particularly because they are very, very good athletes. There are no big beasts like there was the last time.  They are therefore harder to beat at a lot of the games.”

And now the ultimate Gladiator challenge:  Who is the best contender, Brian or Carly? 

Brian, modestly, talks up his daughter’s achievement.

“Carly had to qualify for it alongside 20,000 others.  I think it is fair to say that I got on due to my notoriety, as I was invited to compete!  John Anderson, who I had worked with before,  just phoned me out of the blue and said I would be perfect for it. In that’s respect I didn’t have to go through all the stuff.  I think that when I was down there I was in great shape and wasn’t injured and thought it was amazing what Carly did because I knew how injured she was.  It was good to watch and good to be there.”

Carly, showing equal humility, counters that Brian was the better contender.

“My Dad got through in the first round and I didn’t so on paper my dad would be better than me. He was always a better athlete than I ever was or ever will be.  He has obviously had the full package and had just retired and was in really good shape.  I would have to say my Dad is the better contender.”

If you want to see Brian and Carly square off against each other in a completely new Gladiators challenge, email us now on info@inthewinningzone.com and get the petition started!

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