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Louisa Mellor Dec 7, 2017

UK kids wouldn’t have survived the 90s without The Crystal Maze, Knightmare, Gladiators and more…

Remember boredom? Boredom was to a nineties childhood what stress is to modern adulthood – a constant and inescapable presence, relieved only by television.

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The difference is, even television could be boring in the nineties. Grown-ups exclusively watched One Man And His Dog, The Budget and Ballykissangel, the sort of programmes that gave you Sunday-night-dread any day of the week. Try as you might to escape border collies, Kenneth Clarke and priests having harvest festival scrapes in picturesque Irish villages, it simply wasn’t possible. There were no streaming services to come to your rescue. Video rental was a birthdays-only treat. What else were you supposed to do? Read?

Every so often, a bright light would shine through, illuminating the murk of Ground Force and Oh,...

Jenny Morrill Alex Carter May 23, 2017

Which original Gladiators event was better - Hang Tough or Powerball? We had the debate so you don't have to...

Like many people, we enjoy watching people beating the crap out of each other and then doing grapevines while wearing a bra. Because of this, Gladiators is the only exercise-themed show we ever watch.

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We spend our weekends watching Gladiators reruns while saying things like “I could do that, it's just running up an escalator,” while secretly being depressed because we know we're lying to ourselves. Sometimes, as a treat, we'll call Jet/Hunter names while eating several wagon wheels.

There's been an ongoing debate in our house over which are the best Gladiators events. Some we can agree are rubbish, and when these events are...

Three original Gladiators stars have reunited to discuss the iconic nineties ITV gameshow.

Hunter, Panther and Saracen appeared on Good Morning Britain today (August 17) and revealed which challenge they feared the most during filming.

Here are Gladiators' 12 best games, from Hang Tough to The Wall

Hunter (real name James Crossley) said: "The Pole-Axe was a bit of a dreader, wasn't it? The American Gladiators refused to do it."

Saracen (Mike Lewis) explained: "We had individual poles, and the first one to the top hit a button and the contender falls off. But it was a 40ft free fall."

Crossley described the challenge as a "lose-lose scenario" as even if they won the competition they would still have to fall.

Do you feel the power of the Gladiators? 10 stars of the hit 90s show then and now

The stars of the hit TV show recently reunited for ITV's The Saturday Night Story,...

The Boys Are Back In Town! (And so are the girls.) We got very excited indeed yesterday when a photograph and video of some of the original Gladiators stars reuniting popped up courtesy of ITV show The Saturday Night Story.

Obviously, this got us here at Digital Spy going on a little trip down memory lane - and it wasn't long before we were bashing each other with oversized sticks as we had a massive squabble about which of the games was best.

There were actually 24 events in total, so narrowed down to just 12. Sorry Catapult, Dogfight, Hit & Run, Joust, Pole-Axe, Pursuit, Sumo Ball, Suspension Bridge, Tightrope, Tilt, Vertigo and Whiplash, but you just didn't make the final cut.

Read on to find which games did make it into our ranking, and which one's the best - then let us know what you think by leaving your comments below.

12. Powerball...

Gladiators, ready! The stars of the hit TV show have reunited and we're freaking out a bit.

Do you feel the power of the Gladiators? 10 stars of the hit 90s show then and now

Host Ulrika Jonsson and legendary referee John Anderson met up with Gladiators Wolf, Lightning, Jet, Ace, Hunter and Saracen for ITV's new programme The Saturday Night Story.

Of course, they met at the arena in Birmingham which used to be filled with legions of fans shouting along to 'Another One Bites The Dust'.

And to tease us even more, ITV released then and now photographs of the Gladiator stars taking part in the programme. Some of them have barely aged - the wonders of the travelator.

"For me this is really, really nostalgic because the Gladiators was a huge part of my life," Jonsson said.

"I haven't been back here [to the arena] since, I guess it must have...

"Do you feel the power of the Gladiators? Can you face the challenge of the champions? Do you have the courage of the heroes?

"Do you have the will or the skill? Do you have the strength, the speed the heart to be a winner? Deep down in your Soul?"

These were the fundamental questions posed by ITV's original Gladiators, to both the audience and brave contenders who dared to take part. While this particular writer longed to be Lightning (her backflips were to die for), all the seemingly superhuman powerhouses were forces to reckon with - only occasionally tamed by strict referee John Anderson.

Originally hosted by John Fashanu and Ulrika Jonsson, Gladiators was what Saturday nights in the '90s were made of.

So as Saracen (aka Mike Lewis) returns to our small screens to tackle the Ninja Warrior UK obstacle course, we pick out some of the...

Long before Simon Cowell, The X Factor, Ant & Dec and Strictly Come Dancing, Saturday night TV entertainment used to be a very different beast. Back in the '90s when the likes of Big Break, Brucie's Generation Game and anything featuring Matthew Kelly was a hit, TV commissioners presumed that the key word was 'light' when it came to light entertainment. However, one show rallied against type, providing ruthless, rebellious thrills that would have your granny switching over to Noel Edmonds' f**king House Party. Part sports show, part gameshow and part no-holds-barred nonsense, Gladiators was the best programme of the '90s if you were aged between 7 and 12. Central to the fun and games was the Gladiators ringmaster John Anderson. Officially he was just (more)...