Big Losers are Big Winners on American Gladiators

Tonight on American Gladiators, all four contestants were big losers. They'd all lost lots of weight, ranging from 50 to 100 pounds. We have James versus Sean on the men's side, and Jessica versus Patti on the women's side.

Sean versus James was like David versus Goliath ... lots of Goliaths. James lost 65 lbs, but he was still huge compared to little Sean. James was about the size of many of the Gladiators, so I expected him to match up well against them. And he did.

James trash talked Wolf all night, and backed up his words. He knocked Wolf on his butt in PowerBall, and caused him to make a reckless move on Hang Tough. That move allowed him to earn ten points because Wolf went down in the water. James also handed Toa his head in a couple of events. He knocked Toa off the platform in the Joust and got him off balance in Snapback gaining another ten points and launching Toa into the air.

In fact, the only Gladiator to get the best of James was Titan in Earthquake. James so dominated that he went into the Eliminator with a 18 second head start over poor, outmatched Sean.

On the women's side, it was a little closer. Jessica scored in four events, surprising me by hanging with Crush in Joust. She didn't knock her off, but she didn't get knocked off either. She was a little thing, but a spitfire. Both her and Patti were shut out by Steel in Tilt, and also in SkyTrack. The newest Gladiator, Panther, held Patti to only one point in RocketBall, and showed that she's gonna be tough. I can't wait to see more of her. By the end of the events, Jessica had a ten point lead over Patti, which meant she went into the Eliminator with a five second head start.

Speaking of the Eliminator, it was a mixed bag tonight. James had such a lead over Sean that he was basically racing for time. That could have been a disadvantage. Sean was never in this thing. James was about halfway up the cargo net before Sean even got to start. James did run an impressive time for such a big guy. He finished in 2:07, a great time, good for 4th place on the Leaderboard, knocking Gerry, with his 3:03 time off the Leaderboard and home along with Sean.

For the women, it was a close race. Jessica had a five second head start, but Patty caught up under the water. Then it was neck and neck until Jessica took the lead at the rope swing, but she was unable to hang on at the hand bike and Patti took the lead again. Neck and neck again and dead even after the teeter totter. The Travelator decided this one and Patti was able to pull it off. She finished in 4:32, good enough to win tonight, but not good enough to crack the Leaderboard so she will not be continuing on.

I don't know about y'all. But I'm not liking the cut down to 60 minutes. Every week now, we don't get to see two events on both the mens and womens side and they show us a chintzy recap. Of course, we're told, that we can see the events in their entirety on the NBC website. Bah.

Anyway, next week on American Gladiators should be interesting. There will be a 52 year old grandma competing, and the previews point to her as a feisty thing. We'll see.