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At the height of its popularity, the hit ITV show Gladiators also inadvertently popularised the use of anabolic steroids amongst youngsters keen to look ‘ripped’ - to have the body beautiful on the dance floor or in the gym. There were thousands of young, ill-informed users. Back then steroids were easy to obtain and the appalling side effects were little Known. The Cook report showed them. The team found examples of so-called ‘roid rage’ which had led to death or disablement and even murder. A highly successful, but clandestine British importer/distributor was infiltrated so convincingly that the boss offered to sell his business to the Cook Report. Cook then challenged the Indian manufacturer r who claimed that he didn’t know that his products were being misused and said that he would immediately terminate his contract with the importer concerned.
But he was lying, as a subsequent programme was to reveal. He had provided false paperwork and even packaging which replicated genuine products. This time around, the manufacturer turned from cooperative to violent and threatened mayhem if the undercover film of him was ever used. It was, but the Indian authorities were disinterested, claiming that if any offence had been committed, as an export deal, it had not happened on Indian soil.
Back on the Gladiators set, it turned out that the best known of the gladiators, Wolf - real name Michael Van Wijk - having denied all knowledge of steroid abuse, was a prolific user himself. That set a pretty poor example for the show’s young fans. What’s more, he was also shown to be a dealer and supplier through his gymnasium. Challenging a man as powerfully built and famously short-tempered as Wolf was a challenge in itself, but luckily Cook emerged unscathed. Wolf subsequently decamped to New Zealand and ITV instituted a regime of drug testing for contestants. Following the Cook Report broadcast and partly due to its findings, anabolic steroids were reclassified as class C controlled substances - so that it is now illegal to export, import, or supply them without a prescription.