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American Idol for Fitness?
By Cindy Posey | January 19, 2008
With the Hollywood writers on strike and few shows continuing on from fall, we have turned to online viewing and testing new ones. My husband’s pick this week was American Gladiators. I was reluctant to sit down with him for what I was expecting to be a Professional Wrestling experience. I was surprised to find many of the women contestants were moms, 4 out of the first 8 contestants. As Ryan relived his days of childhood, I started rooting for the moms to show those Gladiators how tough they are!
Hosted by Hulk Hogan and Lila Ali (recently of Dancing with the Stars), the contestants are pitted against professional style body builders. Much of the banter was hokie and the Gladiators definitely need practice doing impromptu trash talking. The challenges were fun to watch how they combined mental and physical skills. The Eliminator race was especially exciting. Swimming and climbing with a good amount of endurance
required meant the women faced a huge challenge. From my days in the Navy, I can confirm that swimming underwater is tough and exhausting. Monica (mom to 8 year old twins) came out with the fastest time over men and women! Way to go Monica. She’s my current favorite. The stamina and strength required to compete is obvious. I was motivated to pull out the weights and start pumping!
Will American Gladiators become the American Idol for Fitness? Well, I don’t think so, but it is entertaining and the contestants are in very good shape.
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I was a HUGE fan of American Gladiators in the 80s. My uncle used to build the sets for the show. I was really happy that they were bringing it back. Hulk Hogan is pretty annoying, but it’s still fun to watch the contestants get into all the different contests with the gladiators.
I think that if it makes it to a season 2 that it is going to be a better show. The gladiators are pretty much just as new at all these games as the contenders and don’t seem to have the “edge” that they had on the original.
Although I was very, very young, I LOVED American Gladiators in the 80s as well. I’m so excited that it’s back!
I’ve seen the commercials for this show but couldn’t force myself to sit down and watch. I despised wrestling when I was a kid and this seems reminiscent of that, but maybe I’ll give it a shot. Thanks for the review!
I’m sure you’re right, Blaine, about the Gladiators. They’ll figure it out in a few episodes and improve their roles. I think the contestants right now do have an more equal footing with the Gladiators right now since they haven’t done the games over and over yet.
Hi, Michelle, My husband and I are the same age, but I don’t ever recall American Gladiators. I guess I was just in another world.
Tammy, funny. That’s exactly how I felt.