Dogfight (Gladiators)
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Dogfight was an event played during the initial UK series of Gladiators. In this event, contender and Gladiator battled in the air, suspended from zeppelin airships.
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[edit] Rules
One contender and one Gladiator are strapped into giant zeppelin's and are raised into the sky, moving forward to meet over the middle of a raised safety net. Shortly before battle, the referee instructs the participants to 'arm the cistons' in reference to the weapon attached to the zeppelin which is shorter than a pugil stick but longer than a combat club.
Both participants have a pressure pad held over their chest. On the whistle, both particpants use their weapons to attack their opponent's pressure pad for the 30 second event. A direct hit to the pressure pad results in a shower of sparks. Should a participant receive two direct hits to their pressure pad, their safety harness releases and they drop onto the net below.
5 points are awarded to a contender for hitting the Gladiators pressure pad once, 10 points should they hit it twice. A contender will still receive 5 points should they hit the Gladiators pressure pad yet have their pad hit twice.
Participants may not grab their opponents weapon and a loss of a weapon results in disqualification.
[edit] Event History
[edit] UK
Years active: 1998
Dogfight was introduced in the final full series of the initial UK Gladiators run. A song called 'Going up' was played when participants were lifted into the air.
A contender loss in this event was marked by the music 'Another one bites the dust' by Queen.
The theme music for Dogfight was changed for unexplained reasons for the events third outing in which an edited version of the Pyramid theme was played. By this point in the series, Pyramid had been axed from the events roster.
Dogfight will not be returning for the first series of the 2008 revival.
