In its heyday Gladiators was a groundbreaking production with more than 14million viewers.
But now the new BBC reboot has gone woke after axing both cheerleaders and certain ‘skimpy’ outfits.
The much-loved Saturday night staple will be back with an eleven-episode series this Saturday – 30 years on from when it first aired.
The show saw members of the public battle it out against a cast of superhuman-like athletes known as gladiators.
Father and son Bradley and Barney Walsh will host the new Saturday night show
Originally hosted by Ukrika Jonsson and John Fashanu, the contestants were trialled for speed, skill, stamina and strength.
BBC bosses have made big changes to the reboot causing concern for fans in thinking the show will have gone ‘too woke’.
Today the Mail can reveal one of the biggest changes is that the show will no longer include cheerleaders, which were a prominent part of the original.
G-force was a group of eight women who would perform an array of dance routines alongside the contestants and gladiators.
The axing of the cheerleaders comes as a shock after Donna Derby, hosts Bradley Walsh’s wife and Barney Walsh’s mum, was head choreographer in 1992 series for all eight series.
Talking about the launch of the reboot Bradley said: ‘Barney’s mum, my wife, used to choreograph all the cheerleaders and then subsequently became an associate producer on the show for all the boys that ran the show originally.
‘I used to go down, I’d watch five weeks filming. It was great being there. And then Barney came along, and I used to walk Barney around in the pram around the arena floor, meet all the gladiators.
‘He must have been about one. And so it’s a whole family affair.’
Earlier this week the BBC were also accused of nepotism after casting father and son Bradley and Barney Walsh to present the reboot.
Fans of the show are furious that the BBC has cast Barney, 26, alongside Bradley, 63, without auditioning any other stars for the role.
Bosses were said to be ‘concerned’ at the signing of the pair, particularly because of the corporations’ strong policies about going through due process before hiring staff.
In another attempt to make the show more woke BBC bosses have decided to give ‘skimpy’ lycra outfits the boot too.
Cheerleaders, pictured in the 1995 version of Gladiators, have been dropped from the new series
The 1992 show was almost as famous for the tiny spandex tops and pants worn by the contestants as it was for the drama and epic clashes.
The female costumes were so tiny that Suzanne Cox, also known as Vogue in the series, later admitted that she had to use bum glue to stop her outfit from shifting out of place.
Speaking to the GladPod, a podcast that interviews the ex-stars, Cox said: ‘There was a thing we all used to use – I’d never used it before, but apparently, it’s a bodybuilding thing, called bum sticks.
‘It’s a bit like a roll-on deodorant, but it contains skin glue. I don’t think the guys used it, but we girls used to use it constantly, so when we were rolling around, our bums didn’t hang out.’
Left to right: Gladiators Fire, Comet, Athena, Dynamite, Diamond, Sabre, Electro and Fury
Now the ladies who will take on the challengers will be wearing aerodynamic outfits favoured by Team GB athletes.
Eager fans of the show have already shared their concerns about the reboot going ‘too woke’.
One person said: ‘I just hope the BBC don’t ruin Gladiators by making it too woke. The British public need a fun Saturday night show!’
Another said: ‘BBC are rebooting Gladiators. I wonder what woke inclusion twist they’ll do.’
One person commented: I’m being sincere when I say this but please #bbc don’t ruin the show by making it too woke. The British public need a fun Saturday night show!’
The original series was watched by more than 14million viewers but was axed in 1999 after the show lost more than half its viewers in the later series, dropping to six million.
And BBC bosses are said to have ‘known they would leave themselves open to a lot of criticism and did not think it was appropriate in 2024’.
Other changes to this series include more vigorous drug testing for the contestants.
Siren (Ali Paton) in the 1997 series of the show
After the previous series was mired in steroid and cocaine scandals, the stars will have to undergo regular tests.
BBC bosses overseeing the reboot are said to be hell-bent on keeping the series ‘clean as a whistle’ – with the motto being ‘keep it wholesome’.
In the 90’s ITV show stars such as Ace, Hawk and Shadow were exposed as steroid abusers.
Shadow — Michael Jefferson King, now 62 — spiralled into addiction.
He was jailed last year for threatening to kneecap a drug-user over a £1,000 debt.
There have also been concerns about the number of injuries the talent have sustained.
Already while filming Gladiators Comet and Sabre have revealed they suffered severe injuries leaving them unable to compete.
Comet, real name Ella-Mae Rayner, took to her Instagram to share snaps of her recovery as she revealed she had broken her ankle and foot.
The former elite gymnast, 28, had to undergo surgery as doctors attempted to rebuild her badly injured extremity.
Left to right: Jet (Diane Youdale), Flame (Kimbra Standish) and Phoenix (Sandy Young) with Wolf (Michael Van Wijk) in the 1992 series of Gladiators
Meanwhile Sabre, real name Sheli McCoy, tore her hamstring and has been forced to use crutches.
In her social media post, she wrote: ‘Sometimes you are the hammer… sometimes you are the nail.
‘While filming for Gladiators I incurred a little battle injury – a hamstring tear.’
The show which begins this Saturday includes 16 new gladiators.
GB athlete Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, fitness influencer Matt Morsia and Sheli McCoy, who has competed in five British weightlifting and CrossFit championships worldwide, will all appear throughout the series.
The BBC declined to comment.