Monday night saw the first semifinal round episode on the modern re-imagining of
American Gladiators. Two women and two men battled it out for the chance to get through to the finals. Shanay Novell went up against Siene Silva, while Evan Pollard faced off with Anthony Abbatemarco in the special 90-minute installment.
In the women's competition, Shanay, the wellness trainer, came out on top after both women went through Hit and Run, Hang Tough, the Gauntlet, the Joust, the Wall and finally, the Eliminator. Both competitors were neck-and-neck until Shanay fared slightly better during The Gauntlet. She finished off her opponent by completing The Eliminator with a time of less than two minutes.
On the men's side, Anthony revealed after the Powerball challenge that he had twisted his knee during the preliminaries and had lost some of his lateral movement. Injury notwithstanding, he still managed stay toe-to-toe with Evan. Aside from Powerball, which was the first event for the men, they also had to out-score each other in Hang Tough, the Joust, the Wall and the Pyramid. In the end, Evan proved too strong for Anthony as he went through both the Wall and the Eliminator with record speed, completing the Eliminator in one minute and 23 seconds.
Throughout the show, the hosts mentioned that aside from the SUV and the $100,000 cash prize, tournament winners will also get “the chance to become an American Gladiator next season." Four more contenders are set to square off on the next semifinal installment of
American Gladiators.
In other news, NBC has been attempting to get cross-promotion going between
American Gladiators and the World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE. Unfortunately, due to its past experience with another similar tie-in, the WWE hasn't been too keen to take the plunge.
Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Starpulse, wrestling-edge.com
(Image Courtesy of NBC)