Gladiators was TV’s most dangerous show with DOUBLE neck break, exploded knee cap & banned game that ended star’s career
THE high-adrenaline challenges featured on Gladiators were considered to be the ultimate test of speed, stamina and strength.
Millions would tune in to watch the muscle-clad athletes battle it out with sporty members of the public every Saturday night.
But for some of the original stars of Gladiators, which ran from 1992 until 2000, the intensity of events took its toll on their bodies.
According to star Kim Betts, who was Lightning, there were “quite a few people [who] had operations or ended up in hospital”.
Last year she told This Morning: “There was so much going on backstage, [more] than what you would see in the arena.
“People were being pushed around in wheelchairs, people had their legs in casts, arms in casts…”
Ahead of the new series of Gladiators, which airs Saturday, we look at some of the most gruesome and shocking injuries suffered by the cast.
‘Lucky to be alive’
During a live untelevised version of the show in 1996, Diane Youdale suffered a horror fall that nearly cost her her life.
She “rugby tackled” a contestant off a giant black and white pyramid but when they both hit the crash mat below, her neck was in an “awkward” position.
Diane, known as Jet, told The Sun she knew something was wrong instantly as she had “heard that [same] snap before” when she had “broken ligaments and bones”.
After being rushed to hospital, medics revealed she had compressed her spinal cord – fortunately, she was still able to walk and admitted she was “lucky to be alive”.
Diane, who quit after the accident following four seasons on the show, told us: “The fact that I’m flexible meant I didn’t break my neck.”
If she wasn’t so bendy, she would have suffered a fatal “hangman break” – the type of fracture that killed prisoners who were executed by hanging.
“It terrified me so much that I could have sat in a chair for the rest of my life and possibly worse,” Diane told us.
“I had a choice, and I made that choice, and that was to leave. I just thought ‘I’m out of there’. I’m sorry, but that was too close for comfort.”
‘I thought I was going to die’
Helen O’Reilly, who was Panther, described how her neck “almost snapped” during a “pretty horrendous” fall during the Tilt event back in 1994.
In the change, competitors had a tug of war and tried to pull each other off a raised platform that tipped forward and backward.
When Panther fell she landed head-first onto the crashmat with such force that her legs went over the top of her skull.
She told The Sun in 1996: “It was the most terrifying experience of my life. I thought I was going to die.”
She had to be taken away on a stretcher and in hospital, Helen was found to have severe back and neck injuries. While she recovered she decided to retire in 1996.
The incident was so traumatic that Helen that she said she had “no memory at all”. It took around five months for her to recover.
Wheeled off on stretcher
Unfortunately, there was one more traumatic injury before the Tilt event was retired for good.
Judy ‘Nightshade’ Simpson, who was considered to be one of the show’s toughest Gladiators, had to be taken away on a stretcher after a bad fall in 1995.
She fell backward off the platform after her opponent’s rope went slack. For several seconds after hitting the matt, she lay writhing on the ground with her hands clutched to her head.
Before Judy was wheeled away, commentator Guy Mowbray said: “She looks to be in a bad way… This does not look good for Nightshade.”
Fortunately, she recovered to make a brief return to the show before being forced to retire in 1996 after contracting a virus while filming Gladiators: The Ashes, in Australia.
Knee ‘ripped out’
Gladiators and contestants rolled around inside huge steel balls for the Atlaspheres event, which saw the pros try to stop amateur foes from reaching point-scoring zones.
During one of the clashes, Michael Ahearne – who was Warrior – had to be taken to hospital after dislocating his knee while pivoting.
The star, who needed surgery, told the show: “I was in tremendous pain when the accident occurred… I turned around and my knee stayed behind me.
“I thought I broke my leg at first when I heard the noise and I realised it was my knee that had dislocated. I have had an accident like this before… it makes people realise what a tough game it is.”
Physio Mike Garmston said the accident was caused by the “tremendous force” he exerted through the kneecap and said it “actually ripped out the poly-mechanism of the knee”.
He added: “It’s a little bit like a train sitting on the track and the knee cap has been pulled off its track with tremendous and there was considerable damage in the inside part of the knee.”
‘Broke neck’
Many Gladiators suffered minor injuries from the Pole-Axe event – where competitors had to race up a 40ft revolving pole.
But in 1996, Kate Staples – who was Zodiac – fell with such momentum during a training session that it ended her career as an athlete.
“I broke my neck in two places. I knew my life as an athlete was over. Surgery took nine hours but my rehabilitation took two years,” former British pole-vaulter Kate told the Daily Express in 2012.
The seriousness of her injury led to the event being temporarily retired in 1997 before being reintroduced with safety harnesses a year later.
Despite a gruelling recovery, which coincided with her becoming pregnant, Kate insisted: “The accident was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
She explained that it forced her to “go back to the drawing board” and made her “grateful” for what she had in life – rather than being “terribly self-absorbed and selfish”.
‘Hole in shoulder’
Michael Wilson, known as Cobra, has revealed several gory details about his injuries and “constant” health battles since leaving the show in 2000.
He detailed a litany of ailments including “shoulders that need replacing” and ruptured biceps, as well as saying his back was “crumbling away”.
Michael, who believed most of his problems stemmed from the show, told the Daily Star in 2012: “It’s from wear and tear and doing too much.
“I was 29 when I started on Gladiators so I was a bit old to start a professional athletics career and I wore myself out too early.”
The former Gladiator legend said he “nearly kicked the bucket” during double hip replacement surgery and had taken so many painkillers after that it “destroyed his stomach”.
He also explained that he had a “huge hole in [his] shoulder bone” and that the muscle was deteriorating from tears. Once that’s gone he said he would “have no arms”.
During his eight seasons on the show, Michael revealed he regularly worked through injuries – including a fractured hip and multiple spinal injuries.
Michael described himself as “half a Gladiator now” and said he felt like “every day” was “a bonus” due to his ill-health.
In 2019, the star was put on oxygen tanks after a deadly battle with pneumonia, which he put down to trying to maintain a perfect physique for so many years.
‘Ligament snapped’
Sharron Davies, who was Amazon, aggravated an existing knee injury so badly on the show that she was forced to leave after just one series.
In an interview with Quince Orchard Medical Centre, the star explained she had damaged her ligaments after getting her foot trapped in a pothole when she was 11 years old.
The injury healed enough for her to become a professional swimmer but in 1995 while appearing on the show that all came to an end.
She recalled: “One of the contenders fell really awkwardly on my leg and whatever was left of my ligament then snapped.
“I’ve since had nine operations on my knee because the cartilage was so badly damaged and has had so much trauma.”
In 2012, Sharron was told she needed a hip replacement but managed to avoid the op for five years by using a knee brace instead.