Gladiators' Fury 'apologises' after injury to contestant in 'rugby tackle'
Gladiators star Fury said that she apologised to one of the contestants who had reached the quarter finals following a "rugby tackle" during a game in the arena on the BBC show.
Saturday night's episode saw the return of four contestants who had won their respective heat earlier in the series. They included Nia Rutter and Marie-Louise, who went up against the Gladiators in 'Powerball' when they returned.
The game requires contestants to move balls in their allocated colour from a basket at the edge of the playing area to scoring pods closer to the centre. A few Gladiators are however tasked with preventing them from doing so.
Nia and Marie-Louise faced a trio of Fury (Jodie Ounsley), Fire (Montell Douglas) and Electro (Jade Packer) in the challenge. Nia sustained an apparent injury during the game though and there was a "medical break" at one point.
Moments into the game, Fury tackled the contestant to the floor, with commentator Guy Mowbray saying: "It's a heavy hit that Nia's taken." She was brought to the floor again shortly afterwards and appeared to be in discomfort.
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Gladiators star Fury (left) tackled contestant Nia (right) on two occasions during 'Powerball' on the latest episode of the BBC show (BBC)Referee Mark Clattenburg paused the game while Nia was assessed. "Take your time. We have time. Don't worry. We can restart the game," he told her. Nia subsequently said: "I'm fine, I'm fine. I don't like fuss. Let's go!" It was later suggested that the medical team "cleared her to carry on".
The game resumed and Nia ended up scoring more points than Marie-Louise. Afterwards, co-host Barney Walsh said: "Now, we saw Nia, you took quite a hitting there from Fury at the start. I mean, first off she's a rugby player so ..."
Nia replied to him: "If I'm gonna be taken out by anyone it was gonna be her, wasn't it? I did think I had a bit more cushioning, but clearly not." And when asked what happened, she commented on the BBC show: "Good old fashioned rugby tackle. I don't do contact sports."
During the game, there was a 'medical break' after Nia had been 'rugby tackled' by the Gladiator (BBC)Barney's co-host Bradley Walsh went on to ask Fury about the game later on, saying: "It looked like man-marking Nia. Was that a tactic?" The Gladiator responded to the question: "No, like, look - Fury is all about smashing people and doing damage, but I never intend to hurt people."
Fury continued by saying that she had apologised, telling Bradley: "So the soft side came straight out when I did that tackle and I apologised straight away. But y'know sometimes Fury gets a bit too excited and goes a bit too hard."
Nia continued on the show following the game but was beaten by rival Marie-Louise in the final round, with the latter securing herself a place in the semi-finals. Ahead of the games, Nia had shared excitement though and said that her "confidence has definitely grown since the heats".
Gladiators continues next Saturday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 5.50pm. Previous episodes of the reboot are available through the streaming platform.
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