“Gladiators” is the new TF1 game, based on explosive sporting and physical challenges. Between circus games and… Intercity! Discover the principle and the first images.
There are many new concepts on television every year, but those that hit the mark are rare. TF1 has scheduled the launch of a brand new event program this week to achieve this. With Gladiatorslaunched this Friday, December 27 at 9:10 p.m., the channel hopes to make a lasting impression, at least as much as at the launch of Mask Singerthe last real surprise to come out of the boxes in 2019. This time, the first channel is launching into a game as epic as it is spectacular, which aims to acquire the status of new circus games, or‘Intercity version 2025.
In Gladiatorsmen and women from all over France, aged 21 to 47 and from all professions (police officers, doctors, nurses, TF1 announces), will challenge sixteen “Gladiators”. These are eight women and eight men who turn out to be formidable athletes, “the embodiment of strength and endurance”, promises the first channel. Their stage names for the show weren’t chosen with much nuance. They are called Goliath, Apollo, Flame, Tank, Viper, Diamond, Fury, Electra or even Comet…
These Gladiators are elite athletes, professional athletes, CrossFit champions or combat sport champions. They are endowed with colossal strength, but also limitless confidence. TF1 has revealed the very first images of the game and it promises!
The rules of Gladiators are quite simple. The goal for the four participants who will appear each week (at the rate of two men and two women) will therefore be to fight these highly trained “gladiators” in extraordinary events. The settings will feature stick duels on podiums, chases on obstacle courses, or even climbing on immense walls.
The candidates will earn points in each event and the two best will compete in a spectacular final race, the “Eliminator”. Agility, strength, strategy and mentality will be necessary to hope to triumph and win the competition. For viewers, the promise is clear: a great spectacle, extraordinary physical performances and ordinary men and women (but even more sporty) who surpass themselves to beat modern-day gladiators.
Gladiators, un cult game from the 1990s in the United States
If TF1 wants to maximize the surprise effect, the channel, as is often the case, recycles a concept that has already proven itself in other countries. Because Gladiators is inspired byAmerican Gladiatorsa cult game from the 1990s in the United States which has just been given a new lease of life in the United Kingdom, with a modernized version on the BBC. This adaptation, which remained faithful to the original spirit, attracted up to 6 million viewers, proof of the continued popularity of this entertainment.
To get an idea of the concept, numerous videos of the ancestral American Galdiators are always available on YouTubeillustrating how kitsch and overly heroic the game could be, with protagonists bordering on caricature. The BBC showalthough more recent, gives an overview that is undoubtedly more modern, but just as disconcerting.
And it’s also an explosive trio that was chosen to present the new French version: if Denis Brogniart will not surprise anyone in this kind of program after Koh Lanta Or Ninja Warriorhe will be supported by the venerable Jean-Pierre Foucaultwho was believed to be in early retirement, confined to Misses and Loto draws, but also Hélène Mannarino, revealed in the show It’s Canteloup… An unprecedented big gap at the microphone for a show which will certainly arouse curiosity.