Female firefighter and Scottish soldier land places in Gladiators quarter-final

A female firefighter and Scottish soldier have secured places in the Gladiators quarter-final after a tense battle against the “superhuman” athletes.

The latest episode of the rebooted sports entertainment show on saw four contenders take on the new line-up of gladiators.

After a series of challenges, 23-year-old firefighter Bronte, from Sheffield, and Finlay, an infantry company commander in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, came out on top.

The first event, titled Duel, saw the contenders attempt to survive for 30 seconds on a raised podium while they fought a gladiator with a pugil stick.

First up was 29-year-old Alex, a civil servant for the Ministry of Defence, who said her father put her into karate lessons as she used to get bullied as a child.

When she took on gladiator Dynamite, nicknamed a “pocket rocket”, she was knocked out almost instantly.

Bronte, who hoped her ability to work “under pressure” due to her firefighter training would help her, fared better in the challenge against gladiator Diamond, lasting the whole 30 seconds to secure five points.

Among the male contenders this week was Finlay, who said he was “chasing a childhood dream” by competing on the show.

The 34-year-old from Edinburgh went up against Giant in the challenge, but was knocked down in a matter of seconds.

The fourth contestant Ash, a sales lead for a soft drinks club in London, was inspired to take on the show after losing 10 kilograms last year.

Tensions raised when gladiator Viper broke the rules when he went against the 28-year-old by starting to fight before the whistle had blown, causing the game to be restarted.

After Viper was issued a formal warning that he would be disqualified if he did it again, the match restarted and Viper was quickly knocked down by the contender.

Following the shock knockout, the gladiator stirred up the drama further by attacking the referee.

The next challenge, dubbed The Ring, saw the contenders try to get past their gladiators in order to press a button in the centre of the ring as many times as possible.

Bronte secured eight points while fighting against gladiator Fury, while Alex achieved four when faced with Sabre.

When the male contenders took on the challenge, Finlay and Ash secured four points each when taking on gladiators Apollo and Phantom respectively.

The third trial, The Edge, saw the contenders try to secure points by running from one side of a raised platform to the other without being thrown off by the gladiator.

Contenders Alex, Bronte and Ashley all secured nine points, while Finlay topped the chart with 12 points.

Meanwhile, the challenge of The Gauntlet saw both female contenders achieve maximum points as they both were able to push past the line-up of gladiators to make it to the finish line.

Finlay also reached the end point, but Ash was held back by the gladiators – finishing with six points.

The final challenge of The Eliminator saw the contestants timed while they took on a series of obstacles.

Bronte, who got a seven-second head start due to having more points, finished ahead of Alex to land her spot in the quarter-final.

While Finlay only got to start one second before Ash, making it was a close race between the two until Ash fell behind due to stumbling on the treacherous travelator, landing Finlay the quarter-final spot.

Hosting the 11-episode series revamp is Barney Walsh and his father, presenter of The Chase Bradley Walsh.

The original American Gladiators series was broadcast in the US in 1989 and became so popular a UK version was made starting in 1992, presented by Ulrika Jonsson and footballer John Fashanu.

Between 2008-2009, Gladiators was brought back for a short run on Sky.

Gladiators continues on BBC One.