Gladiators Australian Series 1

Gladiators
Genre	Sports entertainment
Created by	Dan Carr John Ferraro
Developed by	MGM Television
Directed by	Timothy Kupsch
Presented by	Kimberley Joseph Aaron Pedersen
Narrated by	Tony Schibeci
Theme music composer	Cameron Tait Marty Irwin Noel MacDonald
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	15
Production
Executive producer(s)	Patrick Condon Des Monaghan
Producer(s)	Bill Edmonds Roger Kirk
Location(s)	Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Queensland
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	60 minutes (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	Seven Network
Picture format	576i (PAL)
Audio format	Stereo
First shown in	Australia
Original airing	29 April 1995
Chronology
Followed by	Gladiators Australian Series 2

The first series of Australian Gladiators began airing on Channel 7 on 29 April 1995 following successful versions of the Gladiators format in America, the UK 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. The Kix 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.

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.
³Replaced Gina Goode who having won her heat was unable to continue in the Quarter finals due to an ankle injury.

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.^[3]

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 chaallengers. There was no audience and Force, Rebel and Cheeta did not compete in any events.

Filming commenced on 24 March and wraps 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 Channel 7 on 29 April and immediately entered the top 10 most watch shows in Australia. A second series entered production in May.

References

External links

• Gladiators Zone