Yahoo News Gladiators star Jet claims Wolf was the 'diva' of the show
Diane Youdale, aka Jet, recalled Wolf was reluctant to be the villain - until he realised the crowd loved it.
Gladiators star Diane Youdale, aka Jet, has claimed Wolf was the biggest diva on the 90s TV show.
Michael Van Wijk, 70, was the 'villain' of the gladiators on the Saturday night sports entertainment show which aired on ITV. But Youdale, 53, has revealed to ICE 36 that he had originally resented being cast as the baddie because he wanted people to love him.
She said: "I can remember walking into the arena for one of the first or second shows and Wolf was sat on the sides of one of the huge Atlasphere event bases. He was tucking into a massive bowl of rice and chicken and he started to complain about being cast as the baddie on the show and that he didn’t want to be called Wolf.
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"I can remember saying to him that the role of Wolf was going to be so much fun, and he looked perfect for it. It still makes me laugh to think about it, he said: 'I don’t want to be the baddie, I want to be the loved one!'
"Of course, in the end he loved the role, and he wasn’t a real baddie, he was like a pantomime baddie. He was one of the stars of the show."
Asked who the biggest diva on the show was, Youdale said: "Wolf! He was a really calm, centred guy, but as soon as series one had gone out and he realised that he was the big star of the show, he became a little bit of a diva.
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"I think there were a few debates among some of the gladiators also about wanting more money if you competed in more events or were more popular than another gladiator... There were a lot of debates about that between us. I’m not sure if Wolf was behind those because he became the star of the show. I’m pretty sure he probably was because he was a businessman."
The original Gladiators, filmed at the Birmingham NEC, was hosted by Ulrika Jonsson and footballer John Fashanu.
The show aired on ITV from 1992 to 2000 and featured members of the public taking on the Gladiators in a series of fitness challenges.
It was briefly resurrected between 2008 and 2009.
The BBC is now bringing back the sport show, due to air in late 2023 or early 2024.
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The reboot welcomes a whole new generation of Gladiators and Bradley Walsh will host the show with his son Barney.
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