r/gladiatorsuk

So, before we get into it. Allow me to set the scene with an abhorently large list:

Series 1 (2024):

1x01 'Heat 1':
Aired January 13th, 2024
8.37 Million Viewers (+7 Day Figure)
7-Day Rank: 1st Place In week of broadcast.

9.86 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 1st Place

1x02 'Heat 2':
Aired January 20th, 2024
7.32 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 1st Place

8.24 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 4th Place

1x03 'Heat 3':
Aired January 27th, 2024
6.63 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 5th Place

7.60 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 6th Place

1x04 'Heat 4':
Aired February 3rd, 2024
6.82 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 3rd Place

7.35 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 5th Place

1x05 'Heat 5':
Aired February 10th, 2024
5.94 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 9th Place

6.59 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 8th Place

1x06 'Quarter-Final 1':
Aired February 17th, 2024
6.05 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 7th Place

6.50 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 7th Place

1x07 'Quarter-Final 2':
Aired February 24th, 2024
5.65 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 6th Place

6.34 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 6th Place

1x08 'Quarter-Final 3':
Aired March 2nd, 2024
5.41 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 5th Place

5.88 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 5th Place

1x09 'Semi-Final 1':
Aired March 9th, 2024
4.67 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 6th Place

5.38 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 8th Place

1x10 'Semi-Final 2':
Aired March 23rd, 2024
5.41 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 4th Place

5.66 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 4th Place

1x11 'The Grand Final':
Aired March 30th, 2024
5.54 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 4th Place

6.00 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 5th Place

2025 'New Years Day' Special:
Aired January 1st, 2025
6.04 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 9th Place

6.48 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 13th Place

Series 2 (2025):

2x01 'Heat 1':
Aired January 18th, 2025
5.38 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 8th Place

6.29 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 8th Place

2x02 'Heat 2':
Aired January 25th, 2025
4.94 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 10th Place

5.71 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 8th Place

2x03 'Heat 3':
Aired February 1st, 2025
5.11 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 7th Place

5.75 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 7th Place

2x04 'Heat 4':
Aired February 15th, 2025
4.96 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 7th Place

5.50 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 7th Place

2x05 'Heat 5':
Aired February 22nd, 2025
4.90 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 11th Place

5.42 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 9th Place

2x06 'Quarter-Final 1':
Aired March 1st, 2025
4.62 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 7th Place

5.10 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 8th Place

2x07 'Quarter-Final 2':
Aired March 8th, 2025
4.21 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 11th Place

4.69 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 8th Place

2x08 'Quarter-Final 3':
Aired March 15th, 2025
4.97 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 9th Place

5.40 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 10th Place

2x09 'Semi-Final 1':
Aired March 22nd, 2025
4.34 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 12th Place

4.89 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 15th Place

2x10 'Semi-Final 2':
Aired April 5th, 2025
3.86 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 12th Place

4.19 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 13th Place

2x11 'The Grand Final':
Aired April 12th, 2025
4.71 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 6th Place

5.11 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 6th Place

2025 'Christmas' Special:
Aired December 25th, 2025
4.29 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 17th Place

5.48 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 13th Place

Series 3 (2026):

3x01 'Heat 1':
Aired January 17th, 2026
5.14 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 6th Place

5.74 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 7th Place

3x02 'Heat 2':
Aired January 24th, 2026
4.74 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 9th Place

5.23 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 9th Place

3x03 'Heat 3':
Aired January 31st, 2026
4.75 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 6th Place

5.35 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 6th Place

3x04 'Heat 4':
Aired February 7th, 2026
4.74 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 6th Place

5.13 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 7th Place

3x05 'Heat 5':
Aired February 14th, 2026
3.56 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 15th Place

4.07 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 9th Place

3x06 'Quarter-Final 1':
Aired February 21st, 2026
3.16 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 34th Place

3.67 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 20th Place

3x07 'Quarter-Final 2':
Aired February 28th, 2026
4.14 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 9th Place

4.49 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 13th Place

3x08 'Quarter-Final 3':
Aired March 7th, 2026
3.54 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 17th Place

3.90 Million (+28 days)
28-Day Rank: 18th Place

3x09 'Semi-Final 1':
Aired March 14th, 2026
3.87 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 11th Place
(28-Day figures not yet released)

3x10 'Semi-Final 2':
Aired March 21st, 2026
3.61 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 18th Place
(28-Day figures not yet released)

3x11 'The Grand Final':
Aired March 28th, 2026
4.18 Million (+7 days)
7-Day Rank: 9th Place
(28-Day figures not yet released)

So, what does this ridiculously long list of numbers tell us? That the show, on the whole, is doing just fine!

Series 3, for it's part, started extremely strong. Outranking Series 2 for it's first 4 weeks. Unfortunately, timeslot disuptions caused by the Rugby Six Nations Tournament turned the Series' fortunes against it quickly. With 3x06 suffering a genuinely poor total figure. Thankfully, the series was able to rebound well and maintained decent numbers and a strong finale.

Interestingly, when looking at the total number of episodes to fall out of the Top 10, Series 3 is only 1 behind Series 2 (That is, 4 Episodes in S2 didn't make Top 10, while 5 in S3 didn't) So while the numbers of those episodes are lower, the series actually had a similar level of variation in that regard.

And with that, over half of Series 3's episodes did chart in the covoted Top 10. Which is what we want to be seeing.

Series 3, in terms of 7-day numbers, has the lowest raw average of the series so far:

Series 1 (2024): 6.17 Million
Series 2 (2025): 4.73 Million
Series 3 (2026): 4.13 Million

Although, given the challenges Series 3 faced, the fact that it was able to remain above 4 Million averaged is impressive. Those first 4 episodes really do carry a large deal of weight. And the decline between Series 2 & 3 is significantly less than there was from 1 & 2. Which, given the rapid decline terrestrial TV is currently in, is a very reassuring thing.

Format fatigue is a real and heartless cow, and a shows 3rd year, I've found, can be it's truest test as any sense of 'Shiny new thing' wares off, and only the committed viewers remain. And if 'Gladiators' has a dedicated audience of at least 3.5 Million, with several spikes there above, the BBC won't be complaining.

Unfortunately, we cannot calculate the average 28-day Numbers, as Series 3 has not yet had all it's numbers revealed, but we can calculate what it is as of now:

Series 1 (2024): 6.85 Million
Series 2 (2025): 5.27 Million
Series 3 (2026) [So far]: 4.70 Million

Obviously, that S3 number will be different once the last few episodes are in. But as we can see, there is even less of a decline, Series to Series, in the 28-day numbers than in the 7-day numbers.

So, while Series 3 had a very rocky few weeks, it was ultimately a ratings success that continuesly proved to be one of the highest rated Entertainment shows in the country. And a consistent draw for BBC1.

This success, combined with the shows succesful tours, live events, and CBBC Spin-off (which draws in that precious younger demographic). Alongside the debut of things like American Gladiators on Prime, means the franchise's health is in a very comfortable place right now.

The BBC, it would seem agrees. With Series 4 having been commissioned after only 1 Episode of Series 3 aired, and a 3rd celebrity special confirmed for this year's festive season. The future of the BBC Gladiators reboot appears bright for the foreseeable.

The issue with starting as big as 'Gladiators' did, is that the only way is down. And anything below what it once achieved can seem, by contrast, dissapointing. Perspective is a very funny thing in that way. It can be hard to seperate what is objectively succesful with the type of success the show once drew.

Is the series as big as it was? No. Do I think it'll ever return to that? Severely unlikely. But that doesn't mean what we have now isn't a success, and isn't still raking in profit for the BBC. Because make no mistake, yes it is.

I would bet Series 5 is basically a given, considering how fast Series 4 was commissioned. Which means, In my proffessional opinion, we'll have the series until at least 2028.

Of course, a lot could change between now and then. Good and bad.

But for now, we can let the Gladiators rest after a year well fought.

Thank you for reading, and you'll be hearing from me again when the 28-day figures are complete.

Feel free to ask any clarifying questions, especially if you cannot be bothered reading the wall of text above, I don't blame you lol.

A good deal of people don’t care about the US version of the show. I want the UK show posts, I don’t care about the US show and don’t want to be spammed by the influx of US show posts.

This sub is named GladiatorsUK, so in my opinion posts here should be focussed on Gladiators in the UK.

We need somewhere else that posts wholly focussed on the US series can live, and to remove them from here.

So to start I'll say it is VERY American, which is kinda stating the obvious. But it is brash and loud and the overall feel is much more aggressive than the UK version.

• The male presenter can only shout, there is a female presenter to help balance how annoying he is. He's an ex wrestler so not really a surprise
• 45 min eps and it took 7 mins until the first event started
• Only 3 events per ep before the Eliminator
• 24 contestants start, but can't quite work out how it's whittled down
• $100k prize
• In vision commentator super annoying, typical US sports commentator
• No contestant interviews, contestants get a VT intro, usually with a sob story
• The Gladiators don't seem to much of an individual identity - yet
• Fang = Viper
• Steel US does the same 'pose' as Steel UK
• Non-UK event started the ep - Whiplash - dislocated shoulders and elbows incoming!
• Too many slo-mos and replays, even during the event! Especially Powerball.
• Quick cut editing makes it impossible to keep track
• Men's Powerball was more like Deathball, crazy aggressive, someone will die
• Female Glad outfits are great if you're an ass fan
• Duel = Joust, podiums not as high as UK and the mats are about 5mm thick, was certain someone would break a leg on dismount
• Eliminator, no music! I am right in saying there's music during the UK Eliminator?? Seemed weird
• Huge airbags under the zipline, UK contestants just have to drop to a spinal injury
• Interesting note, it was explained that the travelator runs at 10mph for men and 8mph for women
• Lots of travelator faceplants for the women, hilarious!
• Trying to create too much drama and jeopardy with slo-mos during the Elim
• US too cheap to print on both sides of the paper for the burst banner

Maybe more thoughts next week! Enjoy!

I've only watched episode 1 so far but it's already way too cringe, I'm struggling to watch it. Americans are just way too much. I liked the original series back in the day on late night ITV, it seemed exotic to me back then, obviously not as much as our OG series. I preferred the 2008 american reboot compared to sky's reboot though but this reboot just isn't doing it for me.

The US glads don't seem a patch on the UK glads either. They're mostly entertainment wrestlers whereas ours are predominantly actual athletes. The male presenter is embarrassing too. It says a lot when you prefer the walshes over the shouting American bloke 😂

Is anyone in the UK actually able to watch the new American Gladiators series on Prime? All I am getting is the trailer. I keep checking online and it says it was supposed to be released yesterday worldwide. I am dying to watch it.

I’ve noticed other people globally have been able to watch it and some in the UK using a VPN. But I don’t know if anyone can actually watch it without a VPN.

Hope we're not all too distracted by American Gladiators this week. I'm still waiting for my account to say it's available so I'm annoyed with that. Anyway, back to the British guys, this week it's two muscular powerhouses: Cyclone and Giant!

Cyclone continues to prove herself as a great addition to the cast, and being the main female powerhouse with the absence of Diamond made her stand out even more. While some of her Duels feel uncoordinated, she has really proven herself with the new events. While I'm not too interested in Everest, you must admit beating everyone before a single tilt is incredibly impressive and she's won both her Destructions, even if she did cut it a bit fine in her second. Sure her Unleashes have yet to give her anything but when she dominates the physical events, having a weakness in the more speedier ones isn't as big of a deal as it could be. I'm also still enjoying her rougher and tougher personality although that is something that I expect to vary from person to person.

Giant, however, has not performed as well as I would have expected. I would have thought the new events would have been perfect for him but he's not dominating them as much as I would have expected, even being the only Gladiator who came in last on Destruction iirc. I'm willing to chalk this down to still recovering from his injury last series but he's not left the same impact on me as he has done in the past. I will end on a positive note though, The way he reacted to his loss on Duel and the interview for the win against the same person afterwards about rediscovering his competitive spark was good and is a great message to the kids about learning from defeat.

What do you all think of Cyclone and Giant?

I wanna ask you Guys who do you among The American Gladiators are the Counterparts of the British Gladiators?

Here is My choices

&gt;!Steel (Jessie Godderz) & Legend (Matt Morsia) - Both Have Larger Than Life Persona's!<

&gt;!Neon (Ayinde Warren) & Nitro (Harry Aryeetey) - Both are Energetic!<

&gt;!Mayhem (Fessy Shafaat) & Viper (Quang Luong) - Both have a bad temper persona but I could be wrong.!<

&gt;!Lightning (Joseph Hall) & Steel (Zack George) - I just love their good vibes!<

To remind everyone here are the list of Gladiators and their real names

Female American Gladiators

Blaze (Abigail Lay)

Voltage (Dani Means)

Crush (Dani Speegle)

Striker (Emily Nelson)

Supernova(Jessica Roden)

Hurricane (Kailey Latimer)

Empire (Lu Faustin)

Huntress (Sydney Hunter)

Male American Gladiators

Neon (Ayinde Warren)

Ace (Drew Aggouras)

The Bull (Eric Bugenhagen)

Mayhem (Fessy Shafaat)

Eagle (Jason "Jay" Peele)

Steel (Jessie Godderz)

Lightning (Joseph Hall)

Fang (Michael Wardlow)

Female UK Gladiators

Athena (Karenjeet Kaur Bains)

Comet (Ella-Mae Rayner)

Cyclone (Lystus Ebosele)

Diamond (Livy Sheldon)

Dynamite (Emily Steel)

Electro (Jade Packer)

Fire (Montell Douglas)

Fury (Jodie Ounsley)

Sabre (Sheli J. McCoy)

Male UK Gladiators

Apollo (Alex Gray)

Bionic (Matty Campbell)

Giant (Jamie Bigg)

Hammer (Tom Wilson)

Legend (Matt Morsia)

Nitro (Harry Aryeetey)

Phantom (Toby Olubi)

Steel (Zack George)

Viper (Quang Luong)

The Gladiators cast seem to genuinely like each other in real life. Judging by their social media posts, they have developed some awesome friendships.

If you had to pick a favourite Gladiator friendship duo, who is your #1?