About this season
American Gladiators is an American competition television program that aired weekly in syndication from September 1989 to May 1996. The series matched a cast of amateur athletes against each other, as well as against the show's own gladiators, in contests of strength and agility. The concept was created by Dan Carr and John C. Ferraro, who held the original competition at Erie Tech High School in Erie, Pennsylvania. They sold the show to The Samuel Goldwyn Company where the concept was enhanced and became American Gladiators. An effort in 2004 to launch a live American Gladiators show on the Las Vegas Strip became mired in a securities fraud prosecution. However, the television series was restarted in 2008. Episodes from the original series were played on ESPN Classic from 2007 to 2009. Several episodes are available for download on Apple's iTunes Service.
Episodes (26)
1. Round 1: Preliminaries
Aired 1 September 1990 • 60 min
Females: Sheila Mercer vs Trish Tillotson Males: Rico Costantino vs John Adams
2. Round 1: Preliminaries
Aired 8 September 1990 • 60 min
Females: Margaret McCargo vs Susan Hirst Males: Chris Vopatek vs Purple Roundy
3. Round 1: Preliminaries
Aired 15 September 1990 • 60 min
Females: Marla Smith vs Kelley Peacock Males: Dale Thompson vs Rob Bottiggi
4. Round 1: Preliminaries
Aired 22 September 1990 • 60 min
Females: Maria Nichting vs Esther Ratner Males: Dwayne Thomas vs Lincoln Simonds ※Note: During Assault, Dwayne Thomas sustained an eye injury and was replaced with Nate Foster.
5. Round 1: Preliminaries
Aired 29 September 1990 • 60 min
Females: Samantha Bryant vs Cinda Mentzer Males: Wesley Keck vs Scott Reiff
6. Round One Quarterfinals
Aired 6 October 1990 • 60 min
Round one quarterfinals with contenders: Constantino vs. Foster and Mercer vs. Tillotson.
7. Round One Quarterfinals
Aired 13 October 1990 • 60 min
Round one quarterfinals with contenders: Vopatek vs. Keck and Nichting vs. Hirst.
8. Round One Quarterfinals
Aired 20 October 1990 • 60 min
Round one quarterfinals with contenders: Thompson vs. Simonds and Ratner vs. Mentzer.
9. Round One Quarterfinals
Aired 27 October 1990 • 60 min
Round one quarterfinals with contenders: Roundy vs. Adams and McCargo vs. Peacock.
10. Round One Semi-finals
Aired 3 November 1990 • 60 min
Round one semi-finals with contenders: Costantino vs. Simonds and McCargo vs. Tillotson.
11. Round One Semi-finals
Aired 10 November 1990 • 60 min
Round one semi-finals with contenders: Vopatek vs. Adams and Nichting vs. Mentzer.
12. Round One Finals
Aired 17 November 1990 • 60 min
Round one finals with contenders: Costantino vs. Adams and Nichting vs. Tillotson.
13. Round Two Preliminaries
Aired 24 November 1990 • 60 min
Round two preliminaries with contenders: Branham vs. McKleskey (alt. Kieser) and Look-Jaeger vs. Wilcox (alt. Dorsa)
14. Round Two Preliminaries
Aired 1 December 1990 • 60 min
Round two preliminaries with contenders: Kiernan vs. Johnson and Henger vs. Akai.
15. Round Two Preliminaries
Aired 8 December 1990 • 60 min
Round two preliminaries with contenders: Duke vs. Suzuki and Duke vs. Hill-Hudgins.
16. Round Two Preliminaries
Aired 15 December 1990 • 60 min
Round two preliminaries with contenders: Nasca vs. Dieter and Cumberbatch vs. Jarchow
17. Round Two Preliminaries
Aired 22 December 1990 • 60 min
Round two preliminaries with contenders: Montgomery vs. Altshuler and Telley vs. Stickelman.
18. Round Two Quarterfinals
Aired 29 December 1990 • 60 min
Round two quarterfinals with contenders: Montgomery vs. Duke and Duke vs. Akai.
19. Round Two Quarterfinals
Aired 5 January 1991 • 60 min
Round two quarterfinals with contenders: Johnson vs. Dieter and Look-Jaeger vs. Dorsa.
20. Round Two Quarterfinals
Aired 12 January 1991 • 60 min
Round two quarterfinals with contenders: Nasca vs. Kiernan and Cumberbatch vs. Jarchow.
21. Round Two Quarterfinals
Aired 19 January 1991 • 60 min
Round two quarterfinals with contenders: Altshuler vs. Branham and Telley vs. Stickelman.
22. Round Two Semi-finals
Aired 26 January 1991 • 60 min
Round two semi-finals with contenders: Branham vs. Montgomery and Telley vs. Akai.
23. Round Two Semi-finals
Aired 2 February 1991 • 60 min
Round two semi-finals with contenders: Kiernan vs. Dieter and Cumberbatch vs. Dorsa.
24. Round Two Finals
Aired 9 February 1991 • 60 min
Round two finals with contenders: Branham vs. Dieter and Cumberbatch vs. Telley.
25. Grand Championship
Aired 16 February 1991 • 60 min
Grand championship with contenders: Costantino vs. Branham and Nichting vs. Cumberbatch.
26. Alumni Show
Aired 23 February 1991 • 60 min
Alumni show with contenders: Cheryl Ann Silich, Aimee Ross, Lucian Anderson and Terry Moore.