Hosts: Laila Ali and Hulk Hogan
Executive Producers: David Hurwitz, Mark Koops, Howard Owens, and Claire O'Donohoe
Series Premiere: January 6, 2008 (prime time edition)
Network: NBC
Airs On: Monday nights at 8pm Eastern
Top Prize: $100,000 and the opportunity to become a gladiator next season
Overview:
American Gladiators is a competition-style game show that pits contestants against each other in a variety of physical and endurance-based challenges. 24 contestants battle it out in a tournament of strength and agility, eliminating their competition until only one man and one woman are left standing.
Complicating things for the contestants are the 12 American Gladiators – men and women of formidable size and strength, who appear during challenges as obstacles and/or competitors. The gladiators have nicknames like "Crush" and "Mayhem," and each one brings a different physical skill set to the competition.
How the Tournament Works:
In each one-hour episode, one pair of male contestants and one pair of female contestants battle against each other. The battles consist of a variety of challenges, followed by an "Eliminator" round made up of a strenuous obstacle course. The winners earn points based on their performances in the challenges, and at the end of each round the highest point-earners move on. At the end of three rounds, one male and one female contestant are declared the winners.
Each winner receives a cash prize of $100,000, and the opportunity to appear as a gladiator in the next series.
History:
American Gladiators first appeared as a series in syndication from September 1989 to May 1996. The show aired on CBS and ran for a total of 139 episodes. Mike Adamle acted as host, with a variety of co-hosts including Todd Christensen, Lisa Malosky, and "Nitro," who is perhaps the best-known Gladiator to appear on the series so far.
Mike "Titan" O'Hearn, who is one of the current American Gladiators, also appeared in the original series with the nickname "Thor."
Fast Facts:
- The current Gladiator Arena is a 31,152 square-foot stage on the Sony Pictures lot in California.
- In the original Gladiators series, the climbing wall was 32 feet high. The new wall is a state-of-the-art, 40-foot structure.
- The Pyramid, which is featured in a challenge of the same name as well as the Eliminator round, is 35 feet tall.
- The American Gladiators set contains over 1,200 lights, and over four miles worth of electrical cables.
