Gladiators (UK series 5)

There were a number of changes to the Gladiator line up this season. Raider (Carlton Headley) was dropped after one season. Whilst no explanation was given for his axing, he was the first Gladiator to have received a red card (and resulting one episode suspension and fine). Jet (Diane Youdale) retired following an injury on Pyramid during live shows played at Wembley during Easter 1996. Three new Gladiators were recruited for the 1996 series with all of them appearing in the Wembley live shows prior to the televised series; Ace (Warren Furman), Rio (Jane Omorogbe) and Rebel (Olympian Jennifer Stoute).

Amazon (Sharron Davies) had intended to compete and was included in promotional photographs for the series but left prior to rehearsals due to issues surrounding a knee injury she had picked up in Pyramid the prior year. Zodiac (Kate Staples) suffered a serious neck injury in training for Pole-Axe and would only appear in the non combative event Danger Zone. Nightshade (Judy Simpson) was suffering from a respiratory virus she had picked up during the first Ashes series in 1995 and only appeared in a few shows before having to retire. Due to Zodiac and Nightshade being unavailable, a fourth new Gladiator Laser (Tina Andrew) was quickly recruited.

There were numerous changes to the event line up too. Having proved unpopular with the Gladiators and only appearing once in the previous series, Tilt and Joust were axed immediately after the 1995 series. Pyramid was axed following the injury to Jet during the Wembley Live shows (and injuries to Rhino and Amazon the previous year).

One new event, Sumo Ball had been added to the event line up following roadtesting at the Wembley shows bringing the event pool to 16. Tightrope has intended to be a new event but would ultimately not appear until the following series. However in addition to Zodiac's injury contender Nikki Claxton was seriously injured after a fall on Pole-Axe in training thus leading to that events axing, bringing down the event roster to 15. The reduced event pool saw some long standing events such as Swingshot and Skytrak have a significant increase in appearances.

A slight amend to the rules of Suspension Bridge saw pushing and shoving being disallowed again. The contenders head start on The Wall was increased to 10 seconds again. The Whiplash ring was also changed with the carpet (which had caused Gladiators to trip up and lose) replaced by a more sturdier flooring in different colouring.

The music used to introduce the male Gladiators on Powerball was changed to the Gladiators cast recording of "The Boys Are Back in Town" which was released as a single later that year. An additional obstacle was added to The Eliminator replacing the second low hurdle entitled Spaghetti Junction, a web of elasticated wires that contenders had to pull themselves through which was ultimately dropped after one season.

A notable change in the series was the introduction of a 'North vs. South' challenge which took place during the series with contenders being divided into an even number from the North and South of the UK. 1994 and International Gladiators 1 champion Eunice Huthart was the Northern coach and 1993 champion Phil Norman was the Southern coach.

Additionally a new competition was introduced for the fastest time on the Eliminator which was won by series female runner up Sarah Damm (time of 1 minute 10.2 seconds) and male series champion Mark Mottram (time of 59.2 seconds). Both winners won £1,000.

A series of 'Time Out' segments filmed at the Gladiators winter training camp in Cocoa Beach, Florida were shown between events. Finally contender and Gladiators stats were now displayed in metric measurements rather than imperial.

New events

Only one new event was introduced in this series bringing the event roster to 15.

Sumo Ball

This was an original event. Contender and Gladiator stand on a large circular platform, over which a large red "Sumo Ball" hangs from the ceiling. The participants have 30 seconds to push their opponent off the platform using the 75 kg Sumo Ball. Contenders score 10 points for knocking the Gladiator off and 5 for staying on for the full thirty seconds.

Episodes