Inside the sordid world of orgies and drugs that saw original American Gladiators destroy their TV careers

ON screen, the original Gladiators were all-American heroes.

But when the cameras turned off, the stars of the Syndication show were taking drugs and having orgies with groupies and fans.

American Gladiators inspired the British show that hit UK screens in 1992 – which is due to return this year for an all-new series.

But despite its huge success, within just a matter of years, the sordid world behind the screens saw the American Gladiators crumble.

In new documentary Muscles and Mayhem – the truth of the athlete’s drug-fuelled and injury-prone behind-the-scenes has been revealed.

“We were drinking every night, the stuff that we did was just crazy,” Laser star Jim Starr reveals in the Netflix show.

“We were like little kids, living together on this tour bus. We had parties on that bus, strip tease competitions on that bus, groupies following us, girls flashing their chests…

“But we competed every night – we were on that bus, trying to sleep and injury after injury, we were getting so beat up.”

‘The first 13 shows were pathetic’

American Gladiators kickstarted in 1989 – with a pilot filmed in an old horse stables using games designed on paper by show founders John Ferraro and Dann Carr.

The enthusiastic producers were keen to see the programme hit the big time, and scoured for “good looking” ex-athletes and bodybuilders to wow crowds.

But despite the impressive line-up, which originally consisted of six Gladiators – it all appeared doomed from the start.

Popularity was key to its success, but for the first series of the show – American Gladiators lacked exactly that.

“We would have to take people off the Universal Studios tour under the guise that they would be seeing a live show being filmed,” Nitro star Danny Lee Clark says of the first series.

“Halfway through filming, the crowd would be empty… That’s how pathetic the first 13 shows were,” he adds.

‘Producers had no idea what they were dealing with’

Plugging the gaps with cardboard cut-out audience members quickly solved that problem – at least, from what the cameras could see.

But as producers pushed to wow and thrill viewers, health and safety of the athletes was soon thrown out the window.

Just one series into the show – two of its stars, Malibu and Sunny, were forced to drop out due to injuries.

“Producers had no idea what happened when you have physical athletics events, so you only could’ve imagined what happened,” Gemini star Michael Horton reveals.

“They didn’t understand the injuries that were going to happen. They didn’t understand the physicality of what they were asking us to do.”

Malibu’s Deron McBee adds: “I had two broken ribs, a broken thumb, plastic surgery to my face, I tore my bicep muscle… concussion.”

Zap star Raye Holt agrees: “We’re getting knocked down to the ground, no pads, on the concrete, no helmets.

“It was insane, it was scary as well. When people go, ‘Oh that show was staged’. No it was not, it was real, and ludicrous.

“Gladiator Sunny, to this day she’s messed up [from injuries] and they didn’t take care of it. We signed a waiver, ‘You get hurt and see ya’.”

Following a wave of injuries from uncontrolled, brutal aggression in the rings, Gladiators dubbed the series The Dark Ages.

“We just wanted a job, but when we saw our fellow soldiers go down that’s when we asked, can it be a little safer?” Nitro says.

‘That’s called roid rage, right?’

Health and safety was ramped up in time for the show’s second season in 1990, and subsequent seasons under Universal Studios.

But this didn’t iron out the cracks among the team.

One problem turned into another as, with the show’s popularity and contestants numbers (both size and strength) growing, Gladiators turned to steroids to keep up with demands.

The Gladiators remember “roid rage” taking over, causing them, one by one, to find themselves in trouble.

Producers found “needles and syringes lying around in the dressing room” – and the finger was pointed at David Nelson, known as Titan.

First was David Nelson, known as Titan was fired when he charged at referee Bob McElwee during the second half season.

“He stars charging at the ref, he was a little guy – Titan charged up not the stands, it took about three of us to hold him back,” Nitro says.

Despite David’s ongoing denial over taking steroids, his co-star Shari Pendleton, aka Blaze, jokes: “That’s called roid rage, right?”

But there was no argument that some other Gladiators were involved in taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Among them, Danny ‘Nitro’ – who admits he was arrested at the border with Mexico after driving across to pick up prescription-free steroids.

The star, who was carrying a loaded hand gun, was let go with a ticket from police and his steroids confiscated thanks to his son.

The group were given a six-week warning for a set of drug tests to get clean – or risked the sack from the programme.

“Not only was I taking roids, I was a young guy in Hollywood. I was partying, I was doing other things,” Nitro jokes.

His co-star Raye agrees: “The other substances was a problem, good thing they didn’t test for that.”

‘It just got bigger and bigger’

With the athletes as clean as they could be, and Universal Studios pumping in cash to boost the show – it all looked to be going well for American Gladiators.

In 1991, for the third series – viewing ratings were higher than the NFL, with the Gladiators on billboards and in adverts.

“The show was a massive hit, we had our posters on walls and on the cover of magazines, we are meeting presidents. Everything was going amazing,” Nitro says.

“We had groupies, we had sex, we had drugs, we had rock and roll, and we were coming to a town to kick the s**t out of you.”

But with the fame came a new set of problems.

Aside from the “orgies, groupies” and “affairs” happening behind the scenes – the Gladiators were totally exhausted.

New recruits were drafted in to take off the pressure from the original stars, but not fast enough to keep up with injuries.

“People got so beat up and so tired they didn’t even want to [do appearances for the show,” Gemini explains.

“Going from city to city, we were up against people who were fresh. I’d go up to joust six times in a row… I was exhausted,” Zap adds.

The team were forced to nurse their own injuries before getting back out the next day – “burying themselves in ice buckets” to avoid bruises.

‘We never got a raise’

For many of the Gladiators, the bad soon outweighed the good – with their pay never rising despite their increasing workload, and injuries causing some of them to quit sport for good.

Ice star Lori Fetrick concludes: “I paid my bills that year, and that was about it. I needed more money, I was busting my a** out there.”

“We were treated like we were expendable,” Zap star Raye says, explaining their contracts were never updated.

“We never got a raise. Those contracts are illegal today and we’re probably the reason why,” Nitro adds.

For some stars, it meant that they could only afford to “pay their bills” – forcing them to move on to bigger and better things.

For Nitro, that came in the form of a sketch show with Ellen DeGeneres, while Malibu’s Deron acted in Mortal Kombat.

Lori was then cast in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman – while Raye had cameo appearances in Baywatch and Blossom.

Key stars leaving saw ratings of the show drop off so immensely in its fifth and sixth season that the American show was dropped.

It made a brief revival in 2008 on NBC, with a version closer to the British show that ran from 1992 to 2000.

The new UK series of Gladiators is set to air on the BBC later this year.

The hit 90s show originally aired from 1992 to 2000 on ITV – with the OG cast including the famous Jett, Wolf and Cobra.

Muscles and Mayhem is available to stream now on Netflix