American Gladiators is an iconic competition format that premiered in the US in 1989. It pits a cast of amateur athletes against each other and the show's own 'gladiators' in contests of strength and agility. It was an immediate success, being sold in more than 15 countries (not including the countless plagiarisms), and numerous spin-offs have been produced, including International Gladiators, Gladiators 2000, and the children's version, Train 2 Win.
The reboot of the British version premiered in January 2024 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer after a 15-year hiatus, and it was an immediate hit, with the first episode being watched by more than 6 million viewers and achieving a 38% share, making it the BBC's most-watched show of the year. The second series was aired a year later and also performed well.
Each episode sees contestants going against each other and the 'gladiators' – usually bodybuilders and strength athletes – in an array of challenges, testing speed and strength (with names as ‘Hang Tough’ and ‘Gauntlet’), culminating in the classic head-to-head race, ‘The Eliminator’.
There are two final points worth highlighting. The first is the absolute importance of reboots of ultra-classic formats in the new global scenario, so much so that it can be defined as the most important trend of the last five years.
The second is a very recent trend: partnerships between major streaming platforms and traditional broadcasters. For example, last summer, Prime Video teamed up with Spanish RTVE to broadcast the new season of El Gran Prix, with each episode in Spain being uploaded to Amazon's platform immediately after its broadcast on La 1, and a more strategic partnership exists between Netflix and French broadcaster TF1, through which the streamer’s subscribers in France will be able to access TF1’s content on the platform; on the other hand, the entire catalogue of FOX One is now available on Prime Video.
We can be sure that there will be many more new developments soon.
Axel Fiacco
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