American Gladiators/Trivia

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• Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • Both hosts of the revival, as well as original host Mike Adamle (longtime NFL sportscaster; later of WWE "fame") and former NFL greats Joe Theismann, Todd Christensen, and Larry Csonka.
  • During the second half of Season 1, longtime NFL referee Bob McElwee served as the show's referee.
• Old Shame: Possibly Joe Theismann and/or Gladiators Malibu and Sunny, considering the DVD release begins with the episode immediately following their last — which, ironically, was dedicated to recapping the excluded first half of Season 1. Yes, the first half of Season 1 was incredibly ghetto compared to everything that came after it, as well as including various aspects that were dropped (such as the Gladiators being clear villains), but it seemed as if the omission of #1-13 was advertised as a feature.
  • To clarify, many shows have "bumps" during their first year as they figure out what works and what doesn't, which is why a full-season box set is fun to watch. As such, if you advertise that you'll release Season 1, don't end up putting out "Season 1: Episodes 14-27" — and especially not under such a misleading title of "The Battle Begins" (which itself implies a full-season set). A rare misstep for Shout Factory, who are generally better than this.
• The Other Darrin: Lace was changed from Marisa Pare to Natalie Lennox in the fourth season.
• The Pete Best: As mentioned above, Malibu and Sunny (who only appeared in the first 13 episodes) are generally not remembered as Gladiators. This might have happened to Zap as well, but she returned later in the run. Malibu would do tours on the live version as well.
• Recursive Import: Exported to the UK; many of the UK trappings, including some events not done in the American series, came to the NBC revival.
  • One of the bigger ones, moving the Travellator (or "reverse treadmill" as it was called here) from the start of the Eliminator to the end (which actually happened during the fifth season of the original AG). As it turned out, it was a lot easier to get up that Travellator at the beginning than at the end.