GLADIATORS has become embroiled in a fix row on social media, after some viewers claimed Frank Bruno’s daughter shouldn’t have advanced to the quarter-final.
Rachel Bruno-Hardy, a personal trainer from Essex, progressed to the next stage of the BBC show as the fastest female runner-up, after she lost out to supply teacher Aneila Afsar in heat five on February 22nd’s fifth episode of the series.
Gladiators has become embroiled in a fix row on social media, after some viewers claimed Frank Bruno’s daughter shouldn’t have advanced to the quarter-final[/caption]
Rachel Bruno-Hardy progressed to the next stage of the BBC show after she lost out to supply teacher Aneila Afsar[/caption]
Some eagle-eyed viewers believe heat four’s Stacey Brown has been “cheated” out of a quarter-final spot[/caption]
However, some eagle-eyed viewers believe heat four’s Stacey Brown, a dinner lady from South Lanarkshire, has been “cheated” out of a quarter-final spot.
There is no timer on screen during the Eliminator stage, but Stacey appeared to complete the Eliminator in just over two minutes in episode four, which was broadcast on February 15th.
In Rachel’s episode, viewers who timed her from the broadcast clocked her completing the Eliminator in around two minutes and 19 seconds.
But host Bradley Walsh told Rachel she had advanced to the quarter-finals with a time of one minute and 38 seconds.
Afterwards, one furious viewer wrote on X: “Either they’ve lied and cheated a contest (Stacey in episode 4) or they are badly editing the eliminator to not show how crap and slow the women are as Stacey had a better time shown on recording and the slowest time made no sense as nobody had the time.”
Another posted: “I want to see official confirmation of all the contenders eliminators times as I refuse to believe Rachel who took 3-5 business days on that net, was a fastest loser.”
And another viewer claimed Rachel’s Eliminator “seemed awfully slow”, and they have called for an on-screen timer during future Eliminators.
They wrote: “There should be an on screen timer during the eliminator & a fastest runner up leader board so the audience can see the time to beat – Rachel’s eliminator seemed awfully slow compared to others we’ve seen.”
A spokesperson for the show said: “All the scores on Gladiators are recorded live in the arena. In episode 6, Bradley announced that The Eliminator took contender Rachel Bruno 138 seconds to complete the event, which it did.
“In the broadcast of the episode as seen on the BBC, it appears that Rachel’s Eliminator takes fractionally longer to complete.
“This is because to show fair coverage of both contenders’ experience on The Eliminator, production need to cut back to show the slower contender participating in the event.
“Therefore, this sometimes adds marginal time when viewing at home. Viewers can be rest assured that Rachel was faster and was therefore the winning contestant.”
During episode four, commentator Guy Mowbray said about Stacey during the Eliminator: “She might be one of the fastest runners up with this display.”
In the next episode, Rachel struggled while climbing the cargo net during the heat five Eliminator.
The 2025 Gladiators
Gladiators 2025 is a BBC reboot of the iconic sports entertainment show that ran between 1992 and 2000. Here’s a look at the stars…
- Giant – Jamie Christian Johal
- Legend – Matt Morsia
- Fire – Montell Douglas
- Nitro – Harry Aikines-Aryeetey
- Diamond – Livi Sheldon
- Fury – Jodie Ounsley
- Steel – Zack George
- Comet – Ella-Mae Rayner
- Bionic – Matty Campbell
- Electro – Jade Packer
- Phantom – Toby Olubi
- Viper – Quang Luong
- Athena – Karenjeet Kaur Bains
- Cyclone – Lystus Ebosele
- Hammer – Tom Wilson
Guy told the audience: “Rachel is caught in the net like a fish out of water.
“She’s found it a real struggle to get up there.”
Just before Rachel took on the Travelator – the final part of the show’s gruelling Eliminator – Guy told the audience Rachel could still qualify for the quarter-finals as one of the fastest runners up, but admitted she needed to “get a bit of a wriggle on now”.
Like Stacey in heat four, Rachel only needed one go to make it up the energy-zapping Eliminator.
Presenter Bradley then waited for the timings to come through via his earpiece, before confirming Rachel’s place in the quarters.
He said: “We’re just waiting for confirmation of timings for you, Rachel. There is a space in the quarter-finals for the fastest runner up.
“OK, 1.67 was the previous fastest … Rachel does it in 1.38. It’s a place in the quarter-finals!”
Rachel replied: “Wow, I’ve got to recover.”
The Gladiators reboot has been a bit hit with fans[/caption]
