“American Gladiators” is back and bigger than ever for its second season. NBC hammered this idea home with the new intro, which featured huge versions of the Gladiators taking on faceless challengers as they towered over metropolises. The events were bigger, the new gladiators were better – NBC is ready to kick the series into a higher gear.
Monday night’s premiere was two episodes wrapped into one, just like last year’s premiere. They teased some of the new events and Gladiators after the opening (Atlasphere is back! However, it was nowhere to be seen in full form last night). Randy; a hyperactive contender with 13 siblings, took on Jay; a SWAT team leader. Their first event was Rocketball, one of the additions this year. Basically, contenders must grab a ball and then push a button that will launch them into the air. In the middle of the arena are two baskets and the challengers will try to get the ball in the baskets – one point for the lower basket and 2 for the upper. Meanwhile, two Gladiators will be launching up with them in an attempt to keep them from scoring. The men did alright, each netting two points.
They moved onto Hang Tough, where Wolf dominated Jay (who made a lame “Lord of the Rings” reference) but couldn’t pull Randy down before time expired. Gauntlet was next, and Jay made use of his larger frame to bust through the course, which has changed since last year - there is no longer a “gate” at the end. Randy got knocked around and was only able to get through three sections. In the Pyramid, big boys Titan and Justice kept the men from scoring.
The new Eliminator has changed for the better. The beginning wall climb is gone, replaced with a longer swim under fire. After the rope net climb, there is a rope swing that looks very difficult before the hand bike. The hand bike section now has a deep ball pit beneath it, so it is no longer a shorter route to just drop. After a new spinning-barrel run, it’s up the pyramid and down the zip line before attempting to keep your balance on a large teeter-totter. Then it’s the menacing travelator before swinging on another rope through a banner and into the water. Randy tackled the Eliminator head on and beat Jay easily with an impressive time of 2 minutes, six seconds.

starpulse.com


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