Gladiators 2000 facts for kids

Gladiators 2000 is a children's game show and spin-off of American Gladiators. It was hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Maria Sansone (replaced by Valarie Rae Miller in Season 2). Season 5 American Gladiators grand champion Peggy Odita served as head referee. It premiered on September 17, 1994 and ran until May 11, 1996. It was often partnered with its parent show in syndication, although some markets ran it independently. Like AG, the series was produced by Four Point Entertainment, and distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Television. In response to NBC's 2008 revival of American Gladiators, the show was brought back in syndicated reruns for the 2008–2009 television season.

In Gladiators 2000 two teams of two child competitors would team up with two Gladiators (one in Season 2) as coaches and compete by running through a series of events, and answering questions on various subjects along the way. While some props and sets were retained, the rules for each event were drastically altered.

A British version of this show was developed, known as Gladiators: Train 2 Win.

This show was co-produced by One World Entertainment then a division of MTV Networks.

Food Pyramid (Pyramid)

The contenders faced a pyramid made of crash mats, containing oversized foods representing each of the five steps in the food pyramid. Each team grabbed one item from each level (two from the grains group, since humans need more portions of it than the others) within 90 seconds, earning points for placing each food in a bin. Teams earned a bonus if they hit a sensor at the top of the pyramid after the food items were cleared from their half of the pyramid.

Bones (Snapback, only used in Season 1)

The contenders are attached to bungee cords, with each contender having an outline of a human body. A bunch of bones fell to the floor, and each contender had to grab a bone and place it on their outline, scoring 5 points for a successful placement. The Gladiators could help the kids up if the bone was too high for placement, but they couldn't tell them where it went.

Assault

The Gladiators had 90 seconds to make it through a course that spanned the entire arena floor length, firing off weapons to hit a target located near the Contender, while avoiding high-speed tennis balls fired at them from a cannon. The Gladiator had some protection from the contender's tennis balls, but could still be hit while in a safe zone if the shot was accurate enough.

The kids shot the cannon, and after 45 seconds or 15 (out of 30) shots, the teammates switched positions. In between each safe zone, the Gladiator had to climb a rope ladder to a marked rung, walk a balance beam, and jump from circle to circle. The team got 10 points for each hit on the gladiator, The Gladiator earned 5 points for each target hit with the weapons, but if the Gladiator cheated on the obstacles between safe zones (not touching the mark on the rope ladder, not jumping to each circle, etc.), they won no points.

Swingshot

This event had two formats, but in both the object for the contender was to jump from a platform using a bungee cord, use their momentum to propel themselves from the floor to a cylinder with red, yellow, and blue colored scoring balls, grab one, then spring back to their platform and deposit them in a bin.

Season 1: Balls were of mixed colors on 5 tiers. The contenders earned 5 points for blue (carbs), 3 points for red (proteins), 1 point for yellow (fat). All 4 contenders went at once, and they had 60 seconds to compete.

Season 2: The game switched to traditional swingshot, using the lower of 2 velcro strips, and no Gladiators. Red balls were 5, Blue 3, Yellow 1, and only 2 kids went at a time. 60 seconds was still the time limit.

Wall

A 32-foot rock-climbing wall stood in front of the contenders in this event. The object was to make it to the top. Again, two formats were used.

Season 1: Each kid had 90 seconds to climb the wall, 2 at a time. The wall was divided into five colored zones. Each zone that the kid got their entire body into (beyond the first green zone) was worth 5 points. As in American Gladiators, 10 points were awarded to the contender who could get to the top first (30 total), the second player up got five (25 total). If a contender fell from the wall, they lost all points earned, but could begin climbing again if time remained.

Season 2: Similar to season 1, but only 2 climbed the wall instead of all 4, the zones were numbered, and a 5-point bonus could be earned for correctly matching some sort of trivia-of-the-day after achieving each new zone.

Bonus Questions

After each event, each team was asked a question about a lesson that was taught for that day (and was the basis for the events). A correct answer earned 25 points.

A special bonus was used in Season 2, played after Swingshot only, and based on Powerball. The kids used their balls grabbed in Swingshot to answer questions on what was taught for the day. A list of was given, and the kid had to put the ball in the appropriate powerball cylinder (which were labelled with continents, for example) for each item in 30 seconds, tagging off after each item. 5 points were awarded for each correct answer.

Eliminator

This was the final event of the day, an obstacle course in which both teams took turns relay-style. The Eliminator utilized the same obstacles that the parent series did, with some exceptions. For instance, the race started with a ladder climb instead of the Versaclimber machine tower that was being used on American Gladiators. Once at the top of the ladder, the first runner used the same slide to get to a platform where, instead of the handbike the adult players used, they swung across a pit using rings.

Once the pit was crossed, the first runner faced the team's first of a series of trivia questions worth 25 points. In order to choose an answer, the runner had to choose a path to take. In season one, this was a choice of either of the two spinning cylinders that were still in use on the regular series. This changed to choosing a section of a ballpit to traverse,.coinciding with the adoption of that obstacle for the parent series' final season.

Instead of the normal next obstacle (scaling a cargo net then ziplining back to the floor), the runner simply jumped off the platform they crossed to and ran to a set of doors, where their partner was waiting and the second question was displayed. One of the two doors was locked, representing the wrong choice. If the first runner picked it, the team did not receive the points but the runner still got to pass through the open door to tag their partner.

The third question and second-to-last obstacle awaited the partner, with the question choice represented by hanging ropes from the regular series' plexiglass wall. The partner only needed to choose the right rope to score the 25 points, and was allowed to pass by the wall if they could not scale it after three attempts.

Once over the wall, the final obstacle pair of a reverse treadmill and rope swing was next. The partner received two bonafide attempts to scale the treadmill, and was allowed to scale the side if unsuccessful. Once atop the platform, the final question was asked and the partner had to choose the answer by picking one of the paper barriers to swing through on the rope.

Once the first team's run was complete, the opponents got a chance to run the Eliminator. Whichever team got a faster time was awarded 50 points on top of whatever points they earned from the questions along the course, for a maximum of 150 total. The team in the lead following the Eliminator won the match and a prize package, with the opponents receiving a prize package of their own.

British version

A British version called Gladiators: Train 2 Win was broadcast on the CITV block of ITV between September 2, 1995 to March 13, 1998. The first series was presented by Sharron Davies and Daley Thompson, with the second series presented by various Gladiators on rotation, while the third series was presented by Margherita Taylor and Kyran Bracken, and the fourth and final series was presented by Lee Sharpe.