Gladiators (franchise)

Gladiators is a sports entertainment television show that was first broadcast in the United States and was an international success during the 1990s and early 2000s.

The concept of the show is that athletic members of the public battle against the show's own Gladiators (often semi-professional or ex-athletes) to claim points in several events that require speed, strength and skill. In the final event of the show, "The Eliminator" the contenders race against each other (with starting times based on previous events), with the first to finish winning the episode and moving onto the next round.

Versions of the show were filmed for local broadcasters in the United Kingdom, Finland, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Nigeria, and Denmark. Selected athletes from Russia, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea and The Bahamas would also compete in international shows during the series' original run, despite the fact that they did not have their own domestic series.

After a lengthy break, Gladiators was revived in 2008 in the UK, the US and Australia; in 2009 Lebanon created their own series featuring competitors from all over the Arab region and in 2012 Sweden brought back their version which proved most successful of all revivals, with another revival airing in Finland during 2017 and 2019. A further British revival began airing in 2024 and was followed by a short-lived Australian revival; later that year a French version was launched for the first time, however both of the latter versions were poorly received and attracted low ratings. In March 2025 the Russian Gladiators’ debut series went into production with a proposed broadcast starting date of May 2025.

A children's derivative of the concept was also made in the US, called Gladiators 2000 (a.k.a. G2) (1994–1996). A UK variant of this was aired starting in 1995, called Gladiators: Train 2 Win. A one-off, celebrity derivative primetime special in the US, called Superstar American Gladiators aired on ABC on May 4, 1995.