Blitz have a Gladiator

Posted in: London Blitz, BAFL Premier    By Nick Manning Apr 14, 2008 - 9:59:25 AM

Sky One have revealed the new line up of the 90's hit TV show Gladiators - and the London Blitz' own wide receiver Rod Bradley has been cast as the warrior character Spartan. Rod, a member of the 2007 Britbowl winning Blitz side, is joined in the Gladiators line up by a bodybuilder, wrestlers, a Royal Marines Commando, an Olympic medal-winning runner, former Great Britain discus thrower and a former hammer thrower who has also competed in the Olympics.

Blitz spokesman Nick Manning said, "Rod is one of the best, if not THE best athlete we have with the Blitz and we are delighted that he has been selected to represent British American Football in this massive national television series. We wish him all the best, and he knows he will go into battle with all of the Blitz family right behind him."

Rod was forced to keep his selection for the show a secret. Blitz teammates were told that his disappearance from training and the recent pre-season scrimmage at Sussex Thunder was down to a foot injury, but he has been in a secret Gladiators training camp for the last two weeks. It's not believed that Bradley's antics in the Gladiators arena will have an impact on the Blitz 2008 campaign. The show will be filmed over the next month, and Rod will be back in the Blitz fold in time for the Blitz season opener against Gateshead Senators.
 

Producers have whittled down 20,000 hopefuls to 32 contenders set to take on Rod and the other Gladiators in events like Duel, Powerball, Hang Tough and The Eliminator for the £50,000 prize. The 12 new Lycra-clad, bicep-bulging Gladiators appearing in the revamped TV series were unveiled today at a press conference in East London, just a few miles from the Blitz home ground at Finsbury Park. The likes of Battleaxe, Destroyer, Inferno, and Predator make their show debut next month. At its peak, Gladiators, broadcast from 1992 to 2000, drew audiences of 14 million to its Saturday evening ITV slot.

Richard Woolfe, the director of programming for Sky One, Two and Three, says: "The games are bigger, the contenders are stronger and the Gladiators are even more unbelievable... we've found extraordinary characters. It's a colossus of a programme and it's going to blow people's socks off."

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