Yahoo News Who is in the Gladiators quarter-finals?
We're five weeks into the BBC revival and the favourites to win the 2024 series have begun to emerge
After five weeks of hard graft for this year's Gladiators challengers, the quarter-final stages of the BBC competition are swinging into sight.
Divided into guys and girls equally, 20 players thought they could make it past the beastly resident Gladiators across five physically demanding events, including 'Duel', 'Gauntlet', 'The Edge', 'The Wall' and 'Powerball', but half of them were soon proven wrong.
Having waved goodbye to Myles Harris, Tasha Lawrence, John Darwen, Zoe McIntosh, Alex McKnight, Ashley Harwood, Matt Jones, Sharan Riyat, Paul Campbell and Tuathlaith Murtagh, let's remind ourselves of who's still in with a shout of Gladiators glory as the series hurtles towards its last few episodes.
Read more: Gladiators 2024 line-up in full
Who are the quarter-finalists on Gladiators 2024?
Heat 1 men's winner: Finley Burkitt, 22
Doncaster-born Finley Burkitt, who plies his trade as a railway trackman, met IT engineer Myles in the opening heat's Eliminator, having bested the likes of Legend, Steel, Giant and Viper in the lead-up to their face-off.
Entering the Eliminator, the score was poised at 18–23, meaning Myles had a 2.5-second head-start. When it came to the crunch, though, the disadvantaged player outperformed his rival.
Heat 1 women's winner: Kerry Wilson, 34
34-year-old professional dog walker Kerry Wilson competed against both Sabre and Dynamite throughout her run to the Eliminator.
To make it through to the quarters, she then brushed personal trainer Tasha aside thanks to a 1.5-second head-start.
Heat 2 men's winner: Jake Spence, 23
The men's winner of Heat 2 of the revival gameshow was 23-year-old steelworker Jake Spence, who only lives around the corner from where it's all filmed: Utilita Arena Sheffield.
After battling Nitro and Giant in previous events, he then defeated occupational therapy student John Darwen in the Eliminator.
Heat 2 women's winner: Marie-Louise Nicholson, 28
In the female camp this week was 28-year-old Dubliner Marie-Louise Nicholson, whose experience as a fitness coach helped her edge past paramedic Zoe McIntosh in the Eliminator.
She made the most of a 2.5-second head-start over McIntosh.
Heat 3 men's winner: Finlay Anderson, 34
Edinburgh local Finlay Anderson was probably a shoe-in for Gladiators quarter-finalist this year, having worked his way up to becoming an officer in the army.
He beat 28-year-old salesman Ashley Harwood in their Eliminator after a 1-second head-start.
Heat 3 women's winner: Bronte Jones, 23
Up next in the women's heats were firefighter Bronte Jones and civil servant Alex McKnight, who were separated by a monstrous 14 points in their Eliminator.
Barring a miracle, Alex didn't stand much of a chance against her fellow challenger, with Bronte utilising her 7-second head-start to reach the quarters.
Heat 4 men's winner: Chung Leung, 33
33-year-old software engineer from London, Chung Leung cruised into the Eliminator after encountering the likes of Apollo, Phantom, Legend and Nitro in previous tasks.
Again, the head-starts proved invaluable for the Gladiators players as Chung took 41-year-old Matt Jones to the cleaners, who'd racked up just 13 points across the five heats.
Heat 4 women's winner: Nia Rutter - 37
Blackpool's Nia Rutter, a stay-at-home-mum, kept her Gladiators dream alive by seeing off Buckinghamshire's Sharan Riyat.
The duo had faced Electro, Diamond and Comet in their previous challenges, with Sharan taking a decent 2.5-second head-start into the Eliminator. Going against the grain, Nia showed her champion potential by not being affected by this.
Heat 5 men's winner: Dev Pankhania, 30
In the final week of Eliminators, 30-year-old HGV mechanic Dev Pankhania and Paul Campbell went to war with each other despite 27 years between them in age.
A tight-run eliminator saw the former reached the finish line before his opponent and gifted himself a place in the Gladiators quarter-final as a result.
Heat 5 women's winner: Betti Worth, 31
The greatest underdog story of the series so far was Bolton-based gym owner Betti Worth. Up against Belfast footballer Tuathlaith Murtagh in the Eliminator round, the 31-year-old had sustained an injury before being given the go-ahead to continue.
Murtagh had afforded herself 13.5 seconds extra time, but in a stunning twist, Worth overtook the 29-year-old to secure the final place of the quarters. "It's unbelievable! Tuathlaith you were on fire, I can't believe it," she told presenters Bradley and Barney Walsh.
Alongside the ten heat winners, the two second-place contestants (one male, one female) who completed the Eliminator fastest will also compete in the quarter-finals. Who they are is yet to be announced.
How will the Gladiators 2024 quarter-finals work?
Confusingly, there will be three quarter-finals, so the ten winners (five men, five women) of the heats will be joined in the quarter-finals by the fastest runner up (male and female) to complete the Eliminator over the five previous heats as the eleventh and twelfth quarter-finalists.
It's not clear which of the contestants will face each other yet in this round.
Quarter-final 1: Saturday, 17 February
Quarter-final 2: Saturday, 24 February
Quarter-final 3: Saturday, 2 March
The six winners of the quarter-finals (three men, three women) will progress to the semi-finals, with the fastest runner up (male and female) to complete the Eliminator in the quarter-finals joining them to make the final eight.
Semi-final 1: Saturday, 9 March
Semi-final 2: Saturday, 16 March
Then, the winners of semi-final 1 will face the winner of semi-final 2 in the grand final.
Grand final: Saturday, 23 March.
So, the pre-recorded final of Gladiators 2024 will take air on Saturday, 23 March where the champion of the BBC's reboot series will be crowned.
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