|
I joined the TV show 'Gladiators' back in 1995 and became known as 'Rio' virtually overnight. It took some getting used to I can tell you. We had 18 million viewers and there were10,000 people watching our every move live in the NIA arena in Birmingham for each show. Remember those lycra pants? Ah, I’m so glad to have swapped them for leather garb now!
Taekwondo expert Tony Slaney coached me throughout my five year Gladiator career. I owe a lot to him and his family, their support over the years has been invaluable. The techniques Tony encouraged me to use help me retain the title of ‘Undefeated champion of the Duel’ throughout my time in the team. Cheers Buddy!
The show ended rather abruptly and much to everyone’s surprise in 1999. I was away that year filming the movie Gladiator and had to fly back and forth from Malta to Birmingham to complete the very last in the TV series. It was a real choker, we’d all become so close.
So in 2000, James Crossley, aka Hunter arranged for a selected group of British Gladiators to travel to South Africa to compete in an international showdown. UK Verses SA was a huge success and more importantly, great, great fun. We won (of course!)
After filming had ended, I stayed on in South Africa with James and Warren Furman aka 'Ace' and had an amazing two month tour of one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever visited. It wasn’t all rosy though, Wally and I had to run for our lives outside a MacDonalds in Cape Town. Nope, it wasn’t a supersized Big mac, but a bomb! The bomb squad arrived pretty pronto, as did the TV crews, and were finally able to both escape back to the safety of our hotel. James was none too impressed when we confessed, heads hanging, that we’d been to the Golden Arches instead of the gym!
The whole trip was littered with adventures which started out life as potential disasters. On a flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg, the three of us were caught in a particularly violent thunderstorm but I reckon getting trapped underwater in a whirlpool whilst white water rafting in the Zambezi River was without a doubt, the most terrifying moment of my life so far.
Still, I’ve lived to tell the tale and it all adds character they say! Regardless of the dangers, the SA trip was a perfect way of marking the end of Gladiators. White shark diving, elephant safari, bungee jumping and hot air ballooning along with more sedate pastimes such as climbing Table Mountain at Gladiator full pelt. With not a stitch of lycra in sight. Ah, those were the days eh?
|
