Gladiator Dynamite is youngest star who doesn't even remember original show
Hit telly contest Gladiators has returned to our screens in its new home on BBC One. Contenders will battle 16 super humans in new and old events, culminating in the classic challenge The Eliminator.
At just 20, Emily Steel is making history as the youngest-ever Gladiator. Standing at 5ft 5ins tall, she can lift an impressive 160kg and her alter ego Dynamite promises to be explosive and dangerous so contenders had better watch their backs.
"I'm too young to remember the original Gladiators but my parents loved it and suggested I try out," said Emily. “As a young athlete, I felt like it was an opportunity to inspire young girls and make them think: 'Oh, I can go to the gym, I can train and be just as strong’.
Emily is the youngest of the new crop of Gladiators (BBC / Guy Levy)"I think everyone feels some form of pressure because we want people to love us as much as they did the original Gladiators. As the youngest, I think I put most of the pressure on myself. I set such high expectations and always want to do well."
While Dynamite is young she is by no means inexperienced when it comes to competition. "I’ve done sport all my life so I felt like Gladiators was allowing me to showcase my sporting talents and hopefully inspire others too," she said.
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The Manchester-born athlete's first sport was swimming, competing at a national level until she was 15. She then turned to weightlifting, becoming an under 23s British record holder last year and holding the under 20s 64kg snatch record at the British age group weightlifting championships.
The former swimmer is a weight lifting British record holder (emillysteel / Instagram)
The sportswoman can lift 160kg (emillysteel / Instagram)Nowadays, Emily is a full-time elite CrossFit athlete, combining her fitness career with sport and exercise science studies at Loughborough University. While she's already achieved a lot in her short career, Gladiators is right up there.
"I’ve trained and worked hard all my life and out of every sport I’ve tried, every opportunity I’ve had, or every medal I’ve won, this by far is one of the greatest things," she said. "Sometimes the unplanned, spontaneous things in life are the most exciting."
"As natural sports people we want to show all those younger kids that you can be competitive and it is okay to want to win but we also want to show that if you lose, that’s also okay," she added. "There’s no point putting contenders down and making them feel bad.”
Watch Gladiators on Saturdays at 5.50pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
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