Gladiators (UK series 6)

The most notable change in the show's line-up was the departure of co-host John Fashanu. Fashanu had been accused in a football match fixing controversy the previous year, whilst the fifth series aired on ITV, and the producers chose not to renew his contract. He was replaced for this series by England rugby union player Jeremy Guscott.

In the Gladiator line-up, three long-standing female gladiators retired - Nightshade (Judy Simpson), Panther (Helen O'Reilly) and Zodiac (Kate Staples). Trojan (Mark Griffin) also did not return and Laser (Tina Andrew) also left the team after just a single series.

Five new gladiators were introduced - Fox (Tammy Baker), Gold (Lize Van Der Walt), Rocket (Pauline Richards), Siren (Alison Paton) and Khan (Radosav Nekic).

Two events dropped from the previous series returned - Pyramid and Pole-Axe - with amended rules, and one new event made its debut, which was Tightrope. Pursuit was dropped from the event roster for this series for unknown reasons.

The Eliminator course was also heavily modified, the unpopular 'Spaghetti Junction' element was replaced a second, smaller cargo net, which contenders had to bounce on a mini-trampoline to get onto, the roller beams were also dropped and replaced by a new double trapeze section for contenders to traverse across to make it to the large cargo net. Finally, the balance beam became two see-saw beams, and contenders were required to touch a yellow marker with at least one foot, otherwise they would be sent back to attempt it again.

Finally, a new element introduced within the show was known as a 'split' event - this was when the female contenders and gladiators played one event whilst the male counterparts played another. This allowed the numbers of events per show to increase back up to six, plus the Eliminator.

New events

One new event was introduced, which brought the roster of events for this series to 17.

Tightrope

Contender and gladiators are harnessed onto their own tightrope and compete in a head-to-head race travelling up their tightrope using their own pully. When they reach the changeover station, they must unclip themselves from the harness and fly down a zip wire to hit a target on the other size, which detracts their opponent's zip wire restraints and sends them crashing into the safety net below. 10 points are awarded if a contender wins the race.

Episodes

References