James Crossley – also known as Gladiators Hunter – has recalled a seriously strange fan encounter, where a superfan got a job at the hotel they were staying in.
The muscle man spoke exclusively to the Daily Star on showbiz reporter Carly Hacon’s Facebook chat show, Carly in Convo where he revealed more behind the scenes drama.
When asked if he ever had any strange fan encounters, James laughed and confessed that there was one that stood out in his mind.
James said: “I remember one fan who was a super fan he had my name shaved in his head and he actually got a job, we did the filming in a hotel in Birmingham and he got a job as a room service waiter.
“I remember ordering my own club sandwich the ‘Hunter club sandwich’, which by the way was a hit.
“And I remember him coming upstairs and I just had a shower and I was pretty battered and it was probably 1.30 in the morning and it was this guy at the door with my Hunter sandwich.”
When looking back at his Gladiators days, he revealed that this was the weirdest time was definitely that.
He added: “That was probably the craziest thing, I mean good for him, talking about using his nonce to meet the gladiators.
“He did make some of the gladiators uncomfortable because he was a fan of all of the show but I think he went one step too far there.”
Later in the interview, he started to well up as he recalled the day he became The Ultimate Gladiator back in 2000.
The 48-year-old, became overwhelmed when chatting about his dislocated shoulder that he did in the first round of the event.
Despite the painful setbacks, James was crowned the winner of the intense showdown against the other UK giants.
On day one of the heats, James was instructed by the ITV chiefs to go to hospital but he refused treatment, telling them: “I will lose my arm and win this show”.
Reflecting back to that moment in his life, James struggled to get his words out as he became “quite emotional”.
He said: “Yeah I mean, I dislocated it six times. Well, I actually dislocated it in that show as well in the first event.
“So in the first event of the Ultimate Gladiator I dislocated my shoulder and this is when we talk about competitive, they wanted to pull me and take me to hospital and I said ‘I will lose my arm and win this show’
“And I would have done at that time. It meant so much, I’m actually getting quite emotional about it. But that’s the mentality that I was in. It was hard with the injuries.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk