The Writer’s Guild of America strike has officially ended, but because it went on so long the industry lost over $1 billion. In addition to the massive financial loss, there has been another travesty. American Gladiators has been renewed for a second season.
In case you haven’t watched it, the show is based on pairing gigantic steroid-filled men and women against average folks in tests of speed, power and agility. It is hosted by Hulk Hogan…
…and Laila Ali (that would be Muhammad’s daughter).
American Gladiator challenges are named things like, “Gauntlet”, “Assault”, “Hit and Run”, and “The Eliminator”. Sometimes the competitors prevail, but most of the time…well, let’s just say they’re lucky to be wearing helmets.
Just imagine competing against people with names like Titan, Stealth, Militia, Fury and Mayhem. Here are a couple of their bios…
This is a lovely Swede named Hellga. She’s a delicate lady coming in a 6’1”, and weighing 205 lbs. In her spare time she likes to make meatballs from scratch and split wood with her bare hands.
This is Wolf. He thinks he’s, well…a wolf.
Really.
As if their massive size isn’t enough, the Gladiators attempt to intimidate the competitors by saying things like,
“Crush is gonna CRUSH you”, or,
“Venom has your lethal dose right here.”
The competitors often have snappy comebacks too.
Despite the tough talk, the producers try and throw the contestants off by dressing the men like women.
Thanks to the writer’s strike, and without new shows to air, NBC has declared American Gladiators a
surprise hit. Apparently, the network executives didn’t consider that we just didn’t have anything else to watch.
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