Gladiators the 1990s TV show + RIP Falcon

The news of the death of Bernadette Hunt (Gladiator Falcon) made me think about Gladiators which ran for most of the 90s when I was a teenager. I recall it being very popular Saturday evening viewing. It was a different time, most people in my area had 6 TV channels at most so were likely to watch it. It would get regularly discussed in school the following Monday. I recall VHS tapes of the show being passed around - incomplete recordings though as strangely the person doing the recording often only included parts of the show with Gladiator Jet.

Watching these extremely muscular men may have contributed to me developing something of an Adonis complex later on. With hindsight I realised that most/all of the male Gladiators had to have been taking copious amounts of steroids. Also, at least two, Warrior and Shadow ended up in a lot of trouble for criminality later in life. Shadow became a heroin and crack cocaine addict and is a "shadow" of his former self. Currently serving a prison sentence for blackmail and threatening to kneecap someone. It is strange how he is still alive and Falcon who seemed like one of the most pleasant and clean living of them (most of the female Gladiator seemed nice though) has now passed.

Falcon and Shadow on Gamesmaster