Jet from Gladiators now - New career, secret wife and life-changing injury
Jet became a Gladiators fan favourite on and off the screen.
Diane Youdale was a star of the nineties after shooting to fame on the ITV game show under her nickname Jet. She hit the headlines thanks to her romance with co-star Hunter (James Crossley). They dated for two years but the pair ultimately struggled over their age gap. "I think he was 19 and I was like 21. I mean I'm a cougar at 21," she once said.
Hunter moved on with Gladiators host Ulrika Jonsson and admitted the former couple remained "good friends". Sadly for Jet, her time on the hit show came to an abrupt end when she cracked her neck back in 1996 in a near-fatal accident. During filming, Jet fell from a giant pyramid after grappling with one of the contenders, landing awkwardly and feeling her neck crack.
Diane shot to fame as Jet on Gladiators (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
She is now happily married and has a totally different job (@jetloves/Instagram)On landing she knew there was a problem with her neck as she had "heard that snap before". Jet landed "literally pencil-point down" and thought "have I broken my neck?" as she lay on the floor, with the audience stunned into silence. After that incident, the pyramid was banned from the show. She explained: "I made that choice, and that was to leave. I just thought ‘I’m out of there’. I’m sorry, but that was too close for comfort."
New career
Upon leaving Gladiators, Diane retrained as a psychotherapist. She previously spoke to The Mirror, where she admitted leaving the show after her accident was a "no brainer". Diane said: "I just thought in terms of an order of priority and because I'd always wanted to study psychotherapy and psychology, I just thought after four and a half years. To me, when a show comes out, the first three to four years to me are really powerful – and then it can go off."
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She added: "I just thought, 'it's time', I'd done the first four and a half years, I can save some pennies and go to university and do what I always wanted to do since I was a kid – it worked well for me."
Finding love
The former Gladiator had a secret wedding (@jetloves/Instagram)Diane wed Zoe in a secret ceremony last year in front of just six members of her friends and family, a year after they met in the supermarket. She told Closer magazine of her new relationship: "We're married! We kept it very, very quiet. Literally nine people on the planet knew. We wanted to keep it really tiny."
She didn't wear a dress on her big day, opting for a "boho top and trousers" while Zoe wore "brogues and chinos", looking "ever so smart". The couple found love in the most unlikeliest of places when they met in a Tesco car park after Diane had finished a pilates class.
Opening up about the moment, she shared: "Zoe came up to me and said 'You're the most beautiful woman I have ever seen' and at that point my knees nearly gave way." The new couple enjoyed a quick honeymoon away in Northumbria before spending some time with family and friends, including some of Jet's former Gladiator co-stars.
Diane has previously said she's always felt "relaxed" about her sexuality and didn't feel the need to "keep it a secret". She shared: "I don't have any prejudices against male or female but I'm definitely more comfortable in my life now with Zoe."
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