Tom misses out on Gladiator final

The dreams of a former Hednesford Town footballer to compete in the finals of Gladiators have been shattered.

Tom Ward, who beat thousands of applicants to be chosen as one of 16 male contenders on the revived classic game show on Sky One, lost on the final assault course Eliminator against his semi-final opponent when he slipped at the final hurdle, the Travelator, and lost his shot at the series' £50,000 jackpot prize.

The 27-year-old PE teacher, who played for the Pitmen for the first half of last season, was level-pegging with personal trainer Joel Grant Jones, from Bedford, but lost his footing and slid back down the machine.

Mr Ward said: "I was absolutely gutted and felt so wounded, and I still do now. I really didn't want to watch the programme because of what happened.

"I've run it back in my mind so many times. I came so close. In the previous two rounds, I had got up the Travelator at the first attempt without stopping to compose myself beforehand.

"I saw Joel had stopped to wipe his feet dry and rest for a second at the bottom of the Travelator, so I just went for it.

"Even though my quad muscles were getting tight and felt like they were burning, I was confident I would get to the top but I felt my feet slip about halfway up and there was no recovering it. We actually did the four events against the Gladiators the previous evening and there wasn't time to do the Eliminator that night, so we had to sleep on it and come back the next morning.

"That made it worse for me because by the next day the adrenaline had worn off and my legs felt heavy. When you are winning, you don't realise how physically tired you are, but when I slipped down the Travelator and saw Joel reaching the top, it really hit home."

Mr Ward, who now plays semi-professionally for Market Drayton Town FC and lives in Shrewsbury, said the whole experience of competing on Gladiators and reaching the last four had been fantastic.

He added: "Ian Wright was always up for a bit of banter."