Ulrika Jonsson (Gladiators) On Lorraine [12.01.2024]

[Music] Gladiators ready to Mark the return of the iconic series me Amir and Jo have Unleashed our alter egos we are joined by Comet Phantom and Nitro alongside Gladiators Legend alri Johnson night tomorrow night sees the return of a TV classic in a moment I'll be talking to gladiator's newest superhumans Comet Phantom and Nitro as well as the host of the original series Ora Johnson but first let's head back to the '90s Gladiator hello good evening and a very very warm welcome to Gladiators tender ready gladiators ready and there's lightning what a broadside bet that rattled her cage Now The Cannonball Run to the morar and he's picked him up the blood curdling cry it's a goodbye from all of us here and even these giggling behind us good night oh ra that just took me back to my weekends it was appointment of you television wasn't it it was massive it absolutely was and I think that was the great thing about it it was obviously the days before streaming and whatever else so you made a point of going and sitting in front of the Telly as collectively as a family uh preferably not dressed as a referee which I realize I've come as today you're channeling your in my inner John Anderson but um no it was a really I think the great thing was that it was such a an amazing family show it had fun it was sort of wholesome it was cheeky it was naughty it was rock and roll and yeah it was just it I think it sort of felt like it had everything and did you get a sense of that on the very first episode were you aware of just how big it was going to become we all had our that that hair was fantastic I was jealous of that hair when I used to watch you I knew I could never have it and but we all had our favorite we all knew every single name in the Gladiators I wanted to be jet you know we all had our favorites and did you get a sense of that in those early days no I think uh when we first started filming it we had to invite members of the public in to sit in the audience and of course nobody knew what Gladiators was so we probably only had like people and we had to move them around the arena to have them in the back of Shop to make it look as if the arena was packed but within no time word spread around Birmingham and suddenly you know people were queuing to come in and then we would be recording in front of you know 8,000 people and yeah there were some really big surprises there like lightning became a huge star because she was a gymnast and she you know she was absolutely amazing and um you know I had my own personal favorites too like sarson and we had four of them were called Mike in real life so was all really but of course I always knew them by their Gladiators name Gladiator name so this a see as way is just keeping keeping character um it was like I say such a huge show and I think the new series seems to be in keeping with what went before I mean the music's the same the looks quite similar there's a lot of the the the competitions are the same as well um there's one thing lacking this time which I know you're not happy about yeah no I I got um had the privilege of having a preview of the of the show on on Wednesday and absolutely I brought tears to my eyes because they've kept the music and and the general feel of it so really they've done a great job um but no cheerleaders and I just don't understand it I don't know if it's some kind of wokery but um you know the whole point the cheerleaders brought such they just brought another level and and some depth to it and they're gorgeous and talented girls like we we had such a lovely time together with with with them they were really like yeah don't they're fit superstars in the really they no they were they were so um they were so great and I it's just a shame that they that yeah decided I don't know what the reasons are but but like you say very nostalgic for you to to watch it again was a huge part of your life yeah for many years so I went through everything like my first pregnancy divorce infidelity all of it packed it all into into those years exactly it was like it's own entainment show but yeah no it was um it was a really and it was a you know a month uh the month of August every year was taken up by Gladiators I always had my birthday up there it was brilliant I just wonder if the Gladiators class of 2024 are ready for the spotlight that is about to be Stow them all we shall find out um let's go Al ra this is the class of 2024 our new Gladiators are three of them at least please welcome Comet Phantom and Nitro there they are oh magnificent oh my goodness I just can't wait for this take a seat I'm intrigued whether you're all going to fit on this sofa I think we need to get an extended yeah just maybe just squeee goway what a delight to have you here um a big weekend ahead of all of you I mean come you've been a Gladiators fan for well since you were a little girl really what's it like to actually be one it is honestly a dream come true I think like you don't realize like everything that you do in your previous childhood and like all the sports that you do lead you up to this moment without realizing and you just feel it's I I can't explain the feeling like I will never ever be able to explain how this feels like I'm just so excited and we're all just ready to put on a show because you're all hardcore athletes you Elite gymnast amongst many other things as well of course Bob SL team team GB winning 100 met the European championships Commonwealth Games I mean this is proper accolades here I do a b of cooking I just W do that um yes I I I'm actually feeling for anyone that wants to come up against you I mean the contenders have got a tough job haven't they yeah yeah I mean we as you said we we've all got accolades to to boast about um Harry probably is probably the most energetic guy I've ever come across that's energy factor and he's able to sort of focus that energy on on probably hitting a few contenders heads sometimes tell me about Phantom what's Phantom going to bring Phantom is this elusive character um he comes with a he's probably the trump card of the lot uh he's a hybrid athlete um I'm probably really I'm really fast I'm really strong really powerful I'm really Nimble for a big guy I'm sort of medium big we've got bigger guys than me as well got bionic and giant and we've got com over here just eludes Elegance in destruction is it true you've got the longest wingspan of all of theou group Hugs by that's remarkable parents just over 2 meters yeah that's that's I mean you can fly basically it's incredible and nit like to say full of energy you're clearly very fast guy yeah so Nitro by name is explosivity in nature um I can produce forces that allow me to get up to 26 M hour when I'm sprinting um obviously at the same time I'm energetic as I just said I'm a bit of a I'm I'm the social butterfly of the group I make sure that in a certain sense we're going out there to enjoy ourselves cuz like you said this is a this for us is sort of a pat on the back to everything we've done in the last x amount of years obviously summer Olympian winter Olympian Championship gymnast and you know we're out there to celebrate what we've done and to be a real test and then hi here we gooy a little bit oh love this can you do your jump for us like this is like this is Nitro this is a a superum jump Bas please don't injure yourself I don't know I'm going to jump out of shot I'm going to step forward here this is just to give you an idea of my explosivity obviously we're going to move now in fre two one and up I go you might want to slowmo that of chance folks that is only a little taster of what to come Gladiator starts tomorrow 10 to 6 on baby swan thank you everybody