American Gladiators was challenging for the courageous candidates who battled bodybuilders and athletes in physical strength and endurance trials.
Two new docuseries suggest the 1990s syndicated success was hard on the gladiators.
First up is the two-part 30 for 30: The American Gladiators Documentary, in which the show’s cast and crew “look back on it all, with their memories complicated by regret over what it did to many of the gladiators’ lives,” according to ESPN.
The five-episode Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators “chronicles the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and gripping behind-the-scenes stories” of the show and “reveals untold stories of the iconic American Gladiators’ triumph, turmoil, and ultimate price of fame,” Netflix teases.
Updates on some of the longest-serving Gladiators are here as we wait for those dueling papers.
- Jim Starr (“Laser”)
- Raye Hollitt (“Zap”)
- Lee Reherman (“Hawk”)
- Galen Tomlinson (“Turbo”)
- Lori Fetrick (“Ice”)
- Dan Clark (“Nitro”)
- Michael Horton (“Gemini”)
- Sha-Ri Pendleton-Mitchell (“Blaze”)
- Lynn “Red” Williams (“Sabre”)
- William “Billy” Smith (“Thunder”)