Gladiators star Wolf has revealed he is still carrying an injury more than two decades after the show ended.
Wolf – real name Michael Van Wijk – shot to fame in 1992 when he landed a role on ITV’s Gladiators, hosted by Ulrika Jonsson and John Fashanu. The hit game show ran for eight years until 2000 and saw super-humans take on members of the public in gruelling events.
In 1994, a new event named Pyramid was introduced. Two contenders would race up a 7.5 metre high pyramid with the objective of reaching the summit.
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But standing in their way were two, sometimes three, gladiators, who would attempt to prevent them from reaching the top. With contenders and gladiators plummeting to the floor from a great height, it’s no surprise that this event caused several injuries.
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
In an exclusive chat with Daily Star, Mike recalled injuring his back during the game. The star, now 70, said: “I’m still carrying an injury from pyramid.
“I landed awkwardly because my legs went one way and my body went the other. I had a contender in my arms and he was moving in mid-air and I was trying to land on the mats with him.”
He added: “It still plays me up today. Every now and then it goes out and I have to go and see a chiropractor to put it back in.” Touching upon other injuries, Mike said: “Jet hurt her neck. Amazon hurt herself badly on that too, she needed nine operations.”
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
In 1996, the event was axed after Jet was seriously injured. The fan-favourite, real name Diane Youdale, snapped her neck after landing awkwardly at the foot of the pyramid.
The dangerous injury led to her retirement from the show. Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, better known as Amazon, was left needing nine operations and a knee reconstruction after falling from the pyramid.
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The 61-year-old joined the show in 1995 but was forced to pull out the following year because of the gruesome injury. Mike explained: “It was very easy to hurt yourself on most of the games.”
Another game prone to injuring stars was Pole-Axe. He said: “In the beginning we didn’t have a safety harness on Pole Axe and then Zodiac got seriously hurt. They introduced the harness after the injuries.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
