Celebrity Fights are back in the ring
By Laura Hearn, Monday 27th May 2003.
Best of Enemies - Just like old times as arch rivals Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn square up in their Gladiator Battle in Rome
Photograph by Cruise Pictures Ltd
It seems as though Terrestrial Television is going punch drunk mad for fights between Celebrities. Fights have already been screened on BBC2, and now Channel 5 have a special Gladiator version on the way, which will be screened on August 31st 2003. The star-studded fight is between retired British boxing legends Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank.
The BBC was forced to put its celebrity boxing matches on hold when the British Boxing Board of Control threatened to punish any trainers or promoters that were involved in the show. Since then, however, BBC senior executives have been in meetings with boxing's governing body, and are now ready to give "The Fight" its official blessing meaning that more celebrity knockouts are expected by the end of the year.
The BBC now say boxers will have to be under 40 years old and undergo a longer training process with licensed trainers.
The next contestants set to show their strength on BBC2 have not been revealed. Speculation has suggested that the next celebrity bout will be between BBC political correspondent John Pienaar and former Spandau Ballet singer and "Reborn In The USA" winner Tony Hadley, although as yet it has not been officially announced who it will be.
Previous BBC bashes have witnessed comic Bob Mortimer beating quiz show host Les Dennis, and ‘The Office’ star Ricky Gervais‘ triumph over Grant Bovey, husband of TV presenter Anthea Turner.
The Channel 5 Gladiator showdown between Boxing icon Nigel Benn and his old ring rival Chris Eubank is sure to leave pulses racing. Eubank beat Benn for the world middleweight crown in their classic 1990 encounter in Birmingham, they then had a rematch in 1993 and many were sceptical of the outcome believing that Benn won. Celebrity Gladiator is a documentary following the fighters as they train in the art of a gladiatorial combat.
Boxer's Benn and Eubank were trained for the fight by top British stuntmen Dave Garrick, Ray Nicholas and Guy List with assistance from historical and battle re-enactment society Britannia in Ostia, 20 miles from Rome.
Dan Shadrake of Britannia, (www.durolitum.co.uk) who won the 1998 ‘Battle re-enactment Group of the Year‘, told Celebrities Worldwide: "we were chosen by the production company ZigZag as historical prop consultants and suppliers as well as providing 6 personnel who took part in background action and some minor fight scenes".
Dan, who played The Lanista, a character with a speaking part added: " we assisted the stuntmen in minor background action scenes, water carrying, first aid and helped in the devising and setting up of challenges that the boxers had to face. We loved working with the crew and two boxers; they were very professional and dedicated in the most scorching heat of an Italian summer. I‘ve been involved in a few documentaries and normally I'm cynical about how things are staged… but I can tell you that everything that happened on Celebrity Gladiators was genuine, those guys and their trainers worked very hard in searing temperatures and under incredible pressure. The exhaustion, injuries and ferocity of the fighting is ALL genuine".
The two boxing legends spent a week living the life of a real gladiator, but in the end who conquered who in this final quest? To find out tune into Channel 5, Sunday August 31st at 9pm, where the battle will commence.
Shadrake says Celebrity Gladiators was only made possible with the knowledge and expertise of all those involved:
Stuntmen:
Ray Nicholas- Procerus: Main Trainer
Dave Garrick- Brutus
Guy List- Spartacus
The trio of stuntmen worked on films such as Gladiator, Titanic, Judge Dredd and Reign of Fire.
Dan Shadrake - Lanista: Designer at History Today magazine
The rest of Britannia:
Steve Wade- Audax (The Cook) IT Manager
Bryan Lightbody- Severus ( Weapons Custodian) Policeman (trainer at Hendon)
Dave Sewell- Rodus (medic) Paramedic
Susanna Shadrake - Amazonia (Water bearer) Writer
Kerry Ellis- Victrix (Water Bearer) Writer
And guest ‘star’ Al Mariotti (from Centro Storico Romano modern day Gladiator school in Rome).
With gladiatorial fighting looking strong for the foreseeable future ITV are reported to also have their own version of a celebrity boxing show in the pipeline although comment from ITV themselves says nothing has been set in stone as yet.
Celebrity boxing it seems is another series of spectacles that is set to secure top scoring viewing figures and with celebrity participation in the genre it is proving even more compelling to watch. Reality TV looks set to stay.
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
