The current cast of the American Gladiators television show agreed to be tested for anabolic steroids at any time by the shows producers at NBC. According to the Broadcast & Cable website, they were required to sign a statement that they did not use steroids as part of their employment contract. The anti-steroid clause was included in contracts for all 12 new American Gladiators: Justice (Jesse Smith), Mayhem (William Romeo), Militia (Alex Castro), Titan (Mike O’Hearn), Wolf (Don Yates), Toa (Tanoai Reed), Crush (Gina Carano), Fury (Jaime Kovac), Hellga (Robin Coleman), Siren (Valerie Waugaman), Stealth (Tanji Johnson), and Venom (Beth Horn).
Details of the steroid-testing program have not been revealed. Will results be publicly reported? Will American Gladiators who fail the steroid test be kicked off the show?
The original cast of American Gladiators was also tested for steroids. According to Dan ‘Nitro’ Clark:
They tested us for steroids one year, I think just to say that they’d done it. But nobody ever told us what those results were.
According to Raye Hollitt aka Zap, the steroid testing did nothing to prevent widespread drug use among cast members (particularly painkillers):
There was a lot of drugs. It was a free-for-all: Vicodin, Percocet. Half the Gladiators were on something for pain. You had to perform, especially on tour. And then you end up sleeping around. I had to go to rehab to get off the Vicodin.
Most likely the intent of the steroid-testing clause included in the contracts of the current cast members is public relations purposes. NBC is desperately in need of a huge hit in face of the loss of Sunday Night Football and the Writer’s Guild of America strike. And in spite of harshly negative reviews from insiders, American Gladiators had huge debut exceeding all internal projections for audience viewership and has already been renewed for a second season!
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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