UK Gladiators - Series 8 1999 - Battle of the Giants

UK Gladiators - Series 8 1999 - Special 7 - Episode 3 - Battle of the Giants - 25th December 1999
Here are the gladiators!
Ace (Warren Furman) (Actor and television presenter from Doncaster, South Yorkshire)
Cobra (Michael Willson) (Professional sportsman from Dartford, Kent)
Hunter (James Crossley) (Bodybuilder and television personality from York, North Yorkshire)
Rhino (Mark Smith) (Actor and bodybuilder from Acton, West London)
Saracen (Mike Lewis) (Firefighter from London)
Wolf (Michael Van Wijk) (Bodybuilder, sportsman, actor, and TV presenter from London)
Notes: This is the first gladiator special.
6 gladiators will take on each other and battle it out for the title of ultimate gladiator.
They will take on each other in 4 events: Atlaspheres, The Wall, Hang-Tough, and Duel.
After three events: Atlaspheres, The Wall, and Hang-Tough, only 4 gladiators with the fastest time will go through to the next three events: Whiplash, Powerball, and Swingshot.
After the seventh and final event: Duel, only 2 gladiators with the highest score will go through to the Eliminator with a chance of winning the prize money of £10,000 which is only for the winner. And for the runner-up. They will not receive the prize money, but they will receive a runner-up medal.
Guest stars: Diesel (Darren Crawford) (Sportsman, stuntman, and actor from Liverpool, Merseyside) and Vulcan (John Seru) (Professional wrestler and actor from Australia but originally from Fiji). They both appear in the gladiator special, 'Battle of the Giants' to play two events only: Powerball and Swingshot by stopping the gladiators from scoring points.
Final event appearances: Atlaspheres and Whiplash.

[@user-sb2tb9oe7d]

Very impressive for Ace to put on 5 stone in less than a year.

[@Costas22]

God, I missed Fash in seasons 6-7.

[@user-sb2tb9oe7d]

Get the feeling that Hunter would have won anyway but I feel like him and Wolf were the only 2 giving 100%. Rhyno has said he didn't like facing his friends and his performance against Ace on Duel seemed to show that.

[@CameronInglis1999]

What a fantastic episode! Congratulations to all that took part.

[@Costas22]

This episode was a treat. I wish they would have done it once at the end of each season. Just to see who was the best each year. Hunter winning proved that he was the best Gladiator in the show's history (and on any Gladiator show, really). And the wear and tear on Hunter was obvious by that point. Season 7 was an average one for him and here he was lighter and with the shoulder still bothering him. Seasons 4-6 Hunter would have won this more easily.

[@coordinator3039]

All but Saracen and Rhino came as legends by choice. Shadow was not cleared to become a legend at all despite the scandal being true.

[@christianlangdale2043]

Rip Falcon

[@michaelharrison5564]

My dad had rhino over to belfast to open a shoe store for his company start rite who did shoes called rhino shoes. I spent the day with him and we did an arm wrestle in the airport lol.

[@richardbrown-gt3dq]

Lol. That duel event with Hunter trying to hild laughter back, and Saracen (my personal favorite) winking at Wolf fairly confident he'll win.😊

[@MultiVince95]

Brilliant

[@kerrygligorovic9758]

How come the 6 male gladiators get to compete in Battle Of the Giants special while the female gladiators don't get any special compete in the special series too🤔?

[@user-sb2tb9oe7d]

Lightning couldn't do contact events due to recently giving birth I guess and they decided that it wasn't needed to do it without her. Also I think they only got 4 shows commissioned for this series.

[@Costas22]

Because the show wasn't woke back then and fans were only interested in the competition between the male Glads.

[@richardbrown-gt3dq]

​@@Costas22Believe me, I'm tired too of the woke crap, but... it would have been nice to see the women. Having said that, if you're looking for viewership, males win. Obviously paid more.

[@MultiVince95]

Saturday 25th December 1999

[@Thedownliner2015]

How come Male Gladiators get to use the Hand Ladder in the Eliminator rather than the Hand Bike?

[@graham2sexy955]

Their weights of over 100kg means it's impossible for the more muscular athletes.

[@user-sb2tb9oe7d]

Because Hunter's shoulder would have fallen off.

[@coordinator3039]

Both. Rhino may have broken both the monkey bars and hand bike and in series 9 Hunter talked about areas that he was protecting.

[@coordinator3039]

That was when he beat Spartan

[@coordinator3039]

12:05 Youngest vs Oldest gladiator from Series 1-8

[@johnwilson3811]

Love to date lightning song Roland avoid wolf

[@Metaliant01]

We do know who the best male Gladiator that but who was the best female Gladiator I wonder?

[@user-ur9es1wl2u]

Jet by far

[@tourous4life]

Lightning, jets the favourite but lightning has unreal stamina. Jet also wasn’t in this season. Based on these events. Rio and vogue would also of been close runner ups. Power ball, Whip lash and duel were Rio’s game

[@kylebicker7649]

Reasons Hunter is the best gladiator:

[@georgesmith4476]

They should have done one with the women as well....if Jet was still active she would have won hands down (and tough).

[@davidfearis7335]

No contest for me, LIGHTNING is The Queen Of The Gladiators & HUNTER is The King Of The Gladiators

[@user-sb2tb9oe7d]

If they did it with the current Gladiators it would have been interesting as Lightnings the best Gladiator but she'd have had issues with Atlaspheres, Duel and Whiplash here. Also don't know how high she'd score in Powerball because of her size. Seeing her as a contender on Slingshot would have been interesting.

[@scotty87able]

Jet vs lightning on the hang tough there and back would have been interesting

[@SuperJohnnyuk]

both hunter and ace are hot af

[@MrOrcshaman]

So was Saracen and Rhino. James Crossley/Hunter still is hot af, works as a trainer with his own gym.

[@SuperJohnnyuk]

No I pushy say either Saracen or Rhino are anywhere near as hot as hunter. Interesting hunter is still hot af 20+ yrs later

[@MrOrcshaman]

@@SuperJohnnyuk oh not arguing there hunter/James was and still is very hot ^^, had the biggest crush on him and Rhino back then.

[@coordinator3039]

Only Tempest, Cyclone, and Siren II never lost in Hang Tough also.

[@Freddie1980]

15:31 - Is it me or does Lighting look like she's put on ton of weight?

[@nicoladale1668]

She had a baby three weeks before the series was filmed.

[@wntedpunk9835]

I met him today *btw I’m On about ace

[@coordinator3039]

The one who called Tornado Lobster

[@Andy28548]

Rhino and cobra wont do swing shot then few seconds later cobra was on swingshot

[@ryanwinter1562]

It is funny, but he was there to prevent the other 2 scoring

[@davidfearis7335]

I did wonder why they didn't have VULCAN doing SWINGSHOT with DIESEL here

[@ryanwinter1562]

@@davidfearis7335 I can only assume he didn't like the event. Plus, Cobra would have extra incentive not to let them score, so I don't know the exact reason but there are at least a couple of ideas

[@user-sb2tb9oe7d]

@@davidfearis7335 Vulcan may have been too big for the event. He never did it any series.

[@coordinator3039]

@@user-sb2tb9oe7d Only Taipan and Commando did swingshot

[@coordinator3039]

I hate to say it, but Thunder from Series 4 of Australian Gladiators was way worse than Vulcan.

[@abcccdddeeeff9182]

36:44

[@StFidjnr]

13:33 women glads are spectators and for good reason