Gladiators fans spotted one contender’s “tactic” in the latest instalment of the BBC game show.
Four contenders returned for the quarter-finals of the competition on Saturday night (February 24), taking on superhumans in a number of gruelling challenges. Marie-Louise and Nia were the two female contestants who stepped into the arena for a second time, hoping to make it through to the semi-finals.
The first event of the evening was Powerball, a game which first aired during the show’s original run in 1993. Marie-Louise and Nia had their work cut out as they faced Fury, Fire and Electro.
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The game took a turn around 20 seconds in when rugby player Fury, real name Jodie Ounsley, tackled Nia to the floor. Nia attempted to continue, however, referee Mark Clattenburg decided to halt things when he could see her clutching her thigh.
(Image: BBC)
There was concern on the faces of Nia’s family as she was surrounding by the medical team. They eventually cleared Nia to carry on as the contestant insisted: “I don’t like fuss.”
The game continued with 32 seconds remaining and Nia immediately landed one of her blue balls in the basket. She managed to overtake her competitor Marie-Louise, scoring another two points before the final whistle was blown.
(Image: BBC)
Fans immediately took to social media, speculating whether Nia’s injury was a “strategy” to make the gladiators go easy on her. On X, formerly Twitter, one penned: “They definitely started going easy on Nia.”
A second wrote: “Nice strategy from Nia Gladiators terrified of injuring her.” Another shared: “Nia pulled a Djokovic with her medical time out (I am joking!)”
Afterwards, Nia spoke to presenter Barney Walsh about her injury. “Good old fashioned rugby tackle,” she responded when asked what happened.
(Image: BBC)
The contender added: “I don’t do contact sports do I?” Fury confessed that she did go a little easier on Nia after slamming her to the ground.
“Fury is all about smashing people and doing damage but I never intend to hurt people so the soft side came out when I did that tackle,” she told Bradley Walsh. “I apologised straight away but sometimes Fury gets a bit excited and goes a bit too hard.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
