The 1995 hit show Gladiators is coming back to Australian screens and applications are open for contestants keen to test their mettle. Gladiators was a battle of ingenious and ruggedly muscled champions in campy costumes often armed with padded pugil sticks and balancing on plinths above a cheering crowd. The show was short-lived in Australia - running for two years in 1995 and 1996 and again in 2008. But the love of Gladiators hit Australians like a power pad to the guts. Those excited to join the next generation of champions can apply through the Warner Bros portal by completing two brief forms and submitting a video. Information about contestants' social media presence, physique, health insurance status, personal motivations and sporting achievements was requested on the forms. And, if previous iterations are a guide, champions should come prepared to climb the monkey bars and cargo net, navigate the spinning logs and hot-foot it across the balancing beam. John Seru, aka the Vulcan, was a former wrestler who turned his stint on Gladiators into a cameos in film and television. He appeared as a henchman in the 1999 Bond film The World is Not Enough, Kiwi Steve in Underbelly and Lennox Blewis in Fat Pizza. Now he's running Club Vulcan Gym in Menai, south of Sydney. Beverly Carter aka Blade was a fan favourite in the 1995 series for her ability to out-grip contestants in games like Hang Tough and The Wall. She has continued in the physical health field and runs training and motivation session through her company It's Time to Shine in Sydney. IN OTHER NEWS: Lourene Bevaart joined the show as Glacier after winning the second season as a contestant and launched her career as a personal trainer to the stars. She travelled the world with Russell Crowe and prepared Shane Warne for his cricket comeback, now she runs a health and wellbeing business. Mark McGaw aka Blade was a well-known Rugby League star when he joined the show in 1995 after playing for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Penrith Panthers, South Sydney Rabbitohs and the New South Wales Blues. Mr McGaw is the founder of Mark McGaw Institute of Sports Science in Sydney and cheers on his body-building son. Charlene Symonds aka Storm won accolades at multiple karate competitions and was the first Australian to secure the World Karate Championship gold medal in 1992. She's now pursuing speech pathology academia in Newcastle, NSW.
