Bronte Jones: Yorkshire firefighter takes on the Gladiators in BBC One reboot

A Yorkshire has firefighter secured a place in the Gladiators quarter-final after a tense battle against "superhuman" athletes.

The latest episode of the rebooted sports entertainment show on saw four contenders take on the new line-up of gladiators.

After a series of challenges, 23-year-old firefighter Bronte, from Sheffield, and Finlay, an infantry company commander in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, came out on top.

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The first event, titled Duel, saw the contenders attempt to survive for 30 seconds on a raised podium while they fought a gladiator with a pugil stick.

Sheffield firefighter Bronte Jones, 23, who works for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, appeared on Gladiators on BBC One.Sheffield firefighter Bronte Jones, 23, who works for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, appeared on Gladiators on BBC One.
Sheffield firefighter Bronte Jones, 23, who works for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, appeared on Gladiators on BBC One.

First up was 29-year-old Alex, a civil servant, who said her father put her into karate lessons as she used to get bullied.

When she took on gladiator Dynamite she was knocked out almost instantly.

Bronte, who hoped her ability to work "under pressure" due to her firefighter training would help her, fared better in the challenge against gladiator Diamond, lasting the whole 30 seconds to secure five points.

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Among the male contenders this week was Finlay, who said he was "chasing a childhood dream" by competing.

The 34-year-old from Edinburgh went up against Giant in the challenge, but was knocked down in a matter of seconds.

The fourth contestant Ash, a sales lead, was inspired to take on the show after losing 10 kilograms last year.

Tensions raised when gladiator Viper broke the rules when he went against the 28-year-old by starting to fight before the whistle had blown.

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After Viper was issued a formal warning that he would be disqualified if he did it again, the match restarted and Viper was quickly knocked down by the contender.

Following the shock knockout, the gladiator stirred up the drama further by attacking the referee.

The next challenge, dubbed The Ring, saw the contenders try to get past their gladiators in order to press a button in the centre of the ring as many times as possible.

Bronte, who works for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, secured eight points while fighting against gladiator Fury, while Alex achieved four when faced with Sabre.

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When the male contenders took on the challenge, Finlay and Ash secured four points each when taking on gladiators Apollo and Phantom respectively.

The third trial, The Edge, saw the contenders try to secure points by running from one side of a raised platform to the other without being thrown off by the gladiator.

Contenders Alex, Bronte and Ashley all secured nine points, while Finlay topped the chart with 12 points.

Meanwhile, the challenge of The Gauntlet saw both female contenders achieve maximum points as they both were able to push past the line-up of gladiators to make it to the finish line.

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Finlay also reached the end point, but Ash was held back by the gladiators - finishing with six points.

The final challenge of The Eliminator saw the contestants timed while they took on a series of obstacles.

Bronte, who got a seven-second head start due to having more points, finished ahead of Alex to land her spot in the quarter-final.

While Finlay only got to start one second before Ash, making it was a close race between the two until Ash fell behind due to stumbling on the treacherous travelator, landing Finlay the quarter-final spot.

Gladiators continues on BBC One.

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