Birmingham Gladiator contestant Naomi is bookies new favourite to take the series crown
A business consultant from Birmingham is now the favourite to finish top of the podium for the popular BBC Gladiators series.
After powering her way through the field the first female semi-finalist in this year's show contender Naomi Church, aged 40, from Birmingham, is now 11/10 favourite to win the women's category in the popular superhuman TV competition according to website Gambling.com'. She is followed by heat four winner Ella Donnelly who previously completed the eliminator round in just over 1min:30secs.
The sports entertainment game show Gladiators returned last Saturday night for the first quarter-final of the 2026 series - and there were two surprise victories. Tyler Spence had been installed as 5/4 favourite on betting sites to win after he finished the eliminator in 73 seconds - the fastest time in the heats.
However, he was dumped out of the competition by a combination of results by competitors Mark Billings, a PE teacher, and Josh McDonald, a personal trainer.
Naomi is known on the series for her speed and strength. After the episode aired on Saturday she posted to fans on Facebook: "Thank you for all the support and positivity".
Meanwhile, Mark was devastated after tearing his hamstring during the crash course round which resulted in sales manager Josh taking over his points. Afterwards, Josh embraced Mark, who is now the 6/5 favourite on betting apps to win this year's series.
Heat one winner Finn is the 13/8 second favourite to win this year's series, followed by 15/8 chance Shaun Stephen, who was the fastest runner-up in the heats. The show is presented by father and son Bradley and Barney Walsh who say the next series will be "bigger, bolder" with new events.
The programme was originally shown on ITV in the 1990s with presenter Ulrika Jonsson. Based upon the American television programme of a similar name, the show sees four contestants, split into pairs by gender, compete in a series of physically challenging events against the show's resident 'Gladiators', before competing against their respective contestant in one final event. Each series functions like a tournament, with the winner of that year's competition being crowned champion for their respective gender.
Gladiators will next be aired on BBC One on Saturday at 5.45pm or watch it on iPlayer.
