What the Gladiators stars really earned

Gladiators star Shadow has revealed that the cast were paid just £500-per-show during the first series.

The BBC show first hit screens back in 1992, and immediately became a smash hit, drawing up to 20 million viewers each week.

But despite turning its lineup of bodybuilding gladiators into overnight stars, Shadow, whose real name is Jefferson King, revealed that he missed out on any merchandise or royalties when he signed up for the show.

Noting that the US version offered its lineup long-term income from the show, instead he was paid a flat rate for each episode, and could earn far more with multiple public appearances across the country.

Speaking on the Anything Goes With James English podcast, Shadow revealed: 'There were thousands of people who applied for the job throughout the country,' noting that bosses eventually signed 'six boys and six girls' for the main lineup.

'I don't even think how big the show was gonna be, in the first year we were getting £500 per show, and the second year was when it blew up and they realised how big the show was gonna be.

'The Americans, they get repeat fees from every state that shows it, they get merchandise rights. 

'We get a flat fee per show. You could earn £2,000-£3,000 a month, opening shops, doing signings, that type of thing, but no we didn't get any merch rights, no repeat fees.'

Asked whether he ever complained about the salary, which amounts to £1,071 when adjusted for inflation, Shadow added: 'Not in the first year, so many people were trying out for the show, and if you didn't like the contract, then you didn't sign it. 

'There were a number of people that were waiting for the job. In the second year they moved it up to £750 a show, still at the end of the day, it was nothing compared to the American show. 

'And don't forget they did their thing in front of 1,000 people, in an arena that looked like a cardboard cut-out, ours was in the NEC, 10,000 people, twice a day, it was big numbers.'

He went onto reveal that he and rest of Gladiators cast would work 14-hour days, and spent two weeks training on the apparatus ahead of each series. 

Shadow was axed from the show two years in amid accusations that he took cocaine in a London nightclub.

According to the programme maker, however, he left because he tested positive for steroids.

King reportedly started taking cocaine from the age of 14 after moving to New York, and his addiction worsened after he split up with his wife - after being dropped by the ITV hit show. 

In order to fund the addiction, Jefferson asked for loans from his family and got involved in crime. 

In a 2015 interview he revealed he had managed to turn his life around, but six years later, aged 60, he admitted to taking part in a drug-fuelled blackmail plot.

He was sent down for six years and three months after demanding £1,000 from the family of a 40-year-old man who had been taken hostage.

At one stage, King was alleged to have ordered a co-defendant to 'fetch a hammer to break his legs' after the victim, Aaron Ali, tried to flee. 

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So-called ringleader Simon Batson, Donna Harman, and Otis Noel, were also sentenced for their role in the plot which saw Ali held for around six and a half hours.

It comes after it was revealed that Gladiators star Falcon left a huge sum in her will after dying at the age of 59 in March 2023.

The star - whose real name was Bernadette Hunt - passed away after battling cancer for 'a number of years'.

The star appeared on the iconic show from its second series in 1993 and remained an integral part of the programme until it ended.

She left nearly £300,000 to her family in her will, probate documents seen by The Sun have now revealed.

Bernadette left £444,000 in her estate which was reduced to £293,000 once debts and costs were removed.