The news comes ahead of this weekend's grand final!
The hotly anticipated return of Gladiators, this time on BBC One, was incredibly well received with an average audience of six million tuning in to watch the first episode on launch night, making it the biggest launch for a new entertainment series since Let It Shine in 2017.
The launch episode after 28 days, has now been watched by 9.8 million viewers, with the series averaging 8.3 million viewers to date and almost 40% of those views coming from BBC iPlayer.
The first series, hosted by Bradley and Barney Walsh saw 16 new superhuman Gladiators: Sabre, Legend, Nitro, Diamond, Phantom, Athena, Bionic, Fire, Giant, Dynamite, Viper, Electro, Apollo, Comet, Steel and Fury quickly become household names as viewers cheered on their favourites as they competed against Contenders in iconic events such as Duel and Powerball, culminating in the iconic Eliminator.
Speaking about the success of the show, Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment at the BBC said "Gladiators has really kicked this year off with a bang, and we’re so delighted that the fans have come to the show in their masses. It has been wonderful to hear how much families have loved watching this together, as part of the BBC’s Saturday evening entertainment offering. We can’t wait for more action from the Gladiators.”
To which Dan Baldwin, Managing Director for Hungry Bear Media added "It’s no exaggeration to say that the response to Gladiators has been phenomenal. The episodes have been packed with nail-biting drama, thrilling action and huge emotion. Series 2 will see the show go from strength-to-strength. We have some amazing surprises in store for the fans. Are you ready?!?"
Made by Hungry Bear Media and MGM Alternative UK, Gladiators is executive produced by Dan Baldwin and Lou Brown for Hungry Bear Media and Dom Bird and Barry Poznick for MGM Alternative with Clodagh O’Donoghue as Commissioning Editor for the BBC.
The UK series was developed by Hungry Bear Media, whilst the original American Gladiators series was created by Johnny C. Ferraro and Dan Carr.
Further information on how to get tickets for the recording at the Sheffield Utilita Arena will be announced in due course.
Gladiators will return on BBC One