Pendulum (Gladiators)
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Pendulum is an event played in several incarnations of the televsion series Gladiators. In this event, a contender and Gladiator engage in a cat and mouse game on a giant hanging ball, covered in a cargo net which swings across the arena floor. The contender must evade capture from the Gladiator.
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[edit] Rules
One Gladiator faces one contender, and on the whistle engage in a 60 second cat and mouse game. The Gladiator must locate the contender, removing the flag from their back in order to win and end the event. If the contender manages to successfully evade the Gladiator for 60 seconds then they receive 10 points. Below the pendulum is a safety net to catch falling participants.
On the whistle, both participants may move, although contenders have been allowed to pause momentarily in order to assess which direction the Gladiator is coming from. Particpants are allowed to move around any part of the pendulum with the exception of the very northern hemisphere due to safety reasons as this is where the machinery which allows the pendulum to swing are housed. Contenders are allowed to remain in one position towards the end of the event to allow successful evasion of the Gladiator.
Contenders and Gladiators may not engage in physical combat. Contenders have been disqualified for fending off a Gladiator with their hands whilst a Gladiator has been disqualified for ensnaring a contender hanging from the base of the pendulum between his legs.
Climbing down to the base of the pendulum has proved to be one of the more successful strategies, but requeies additional stregth as it is at this point in which the G-Force created by the pendulums swing is at it's highest.
If a participant falls off the pendulu, then they forfeit the competition.
[edit] International differences
The UK and Australia both had different scring structures. In the UK, 5 points were awarded for successfully evading the Gladiator for 40 seconds. If a contender fell off the pendulum after the 40 second mark, they still received 5 points.
The UK pendulum is swung from a hydraulic stub and must be 'set' prior to the game. In Australia, the pendulum is swung via ropes in the ceiling and begins swinging.
In South Africa, the event was called 'Rat race' and instead of swinging across the arena, the ball rotated.
[edit] Event History
[edit] UK
Years active: 1995-1998
Pendulum was due to first appear in the 1995 Gladiators Live shows in Sheffield Arena. However, the safety net placed under the pendulum was too big to fit in the arena so Joust was played. In 'Gladiators ready: The Gladiators story' shown on Sky One in 2008, Gladiators producer at the time, Ken Warwick revealed that the event had cost £80,000.
A remix of 'O Furtuna' was played as the Pendulum was set.
In 1998, the scoring structure for Pendulum was changed and four buttons were placed around the pendulum. The aim for the contender became two fold: to evade the Gladiator but to also hit as many of the buttons as they can within the 60 seconds. 2 points were awarded for each of the three buttons hit that were located around the equator. 4 points were awarded for hitting the button located on the base of the pendulum. Points were no longer awarded for evading the Gladiator for a time period. Contenders were only allowed to claim the points from the buttons once and should they hit all four, the event would finish.
The event was modified for the junior Gladiators series Train 2 Win.
Pendulum will not be returning for the first series of the first series of the 2008 revival.
[edit] Australia
Years active: 2008-
Pendulum had been planned to be introduced during the fourth series of Gladiators (what would have been the 1998 season), however the series was axed before a fourth series was filmed.
Pendulum finally made it's Australian debut in the next series to be filmed- the Australian revival of 2008.
