American Gladiators (1989)

Action · Game-Show · Sport

American Gladiators is an American competition television program that aired weekly in syndication from September 1989 to May 1996. The series matched a cast of amateur athletes against each other, as well as against the show's own gladiators, in contests of strength and agility. The concept was created by Dan Carr and John C. Ferraro, who held the original competition at Erie Tech High School in Erie, Pennsylvania. They sold the show to The Samuel Goldwyn Company where the concept was enhanced and became American Gladiators. An effort in 2004 to launch a live American Gladiators show on the Las Vegas Strip became mired in a securities fraud prosecution. However, the television series was restarted in 2008. Episodes from the original series were played on ESPN Classic from 2007 to 2009. Several episodes are available for download on Apple's iTunes Service.

IMDb rating: 6.6 (3,513 votes)
Episode average: 7.1 ↑ +0.5 vs IMDb
Seasons: 6
Streaming (US): Amazon Prime Video
Language: EN
Type: TV series

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 6 seasons indexed

Cast

Mike Adamle Host

Seasons

Season 1 (1989)

7.11 avg 26 episodes 7.2 → 7.7

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	First Half Preliminary Round 1: Hund vs. Perry/Shumski vs. Williams	7.2	29
2	First Half Preliminary Round 2: Henry vs. Jorge/Moore vs. Wirth	7.2	23
3	First Half Preliminary Round 3: McCarthy vs. Needham/Hutson vs. Simmons	7.1	17
4	First Half Preliminary Round 4: Petitto vs. Ross/Carroll vs. Wyatt	7.6	17
5	First Half Preliminary Round 5: Phillips vs. Cotton/Rogers vs. Todd	7.7	16
6	First Half Quarterfinal Round 1: Cotton vs. Hund/Williams vs. Shumski	7.6	16
7	First Half Quarterfinal Round 2: Petitto vs. Ross/Wirth vs. Simmons	8.1	18
8	First Half Quarterfinal Round 3: Henry vs. Needham/Moore vs. Hutson	7.7	16
9	First Half Quarterfinal Round 4: McCarthy vs. Phillips/Carroll vs. Todd	7.9	16
10	First Half Semifinal Round 1: Needham vs. Petitto/Williams vs. Carroll/Shumski	7.9	16
11	First Half Semifinal Round 2: Cotton vs. Phillips/Hutson vs. Wirth	7.4	18
12	First Half Final Round: Petitto vs. Phillips/Williams vs. Hutson	6.4	19
13	First Half Highlight Show	5.9	18
14	Preliminary Round 1: Seymour vs. Jordan/Schwartze vs. Farwell	7.2	17
15	Preliminary Round 2: Podesta vs. Harrison/Allen vs. Herbst	5.9	18
16	Second Half Preliminary Round 3: Anderson vs. Brady/Venturi vs. Rampe	7.6	14
17	Second Half Preliminary Round 4: Sutton vs. Cueva/Lakatos vs. Silich	7.7	13
18	Second Half Preliminary Round 5: Stinson vs. Kidd/Brown vs. Koeberle	6.5	14
19	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 1: Seymour vs. Brady/Venturi vs. Harrison	6.5	14
20	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 2: Kidd vs. Herbst/Podesta vs. Koeberle	6.7	14
21	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 3: Sutton vs. Jordan/Lakatos vs. Silich	7.2	12
22	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 4: Anderson vs. Allen/Brown vs. Farwell	5.3	14
23	Second Half Semifinal Round 1: Jordan vs. Anderson/Venturi vs. Silich	7.4	12
24	Second Half Semifinal Round 2: Podesta vs. Brown/Kidd vs. Seymour/Herbst	6.9	15
25	Second Half Final Round: Kidd vs. Anderson/Venturi vs. Brown	6.5	14
26	Grand Championship Final: Anderson vs. Hutson/Venturi vs. Phillips	7.7	13

Season 2 (1991)

7.06 avg 16 episodes 7.4 → 6.8

Rollercoaster

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	First Half Preliminary Round 1: Costantino vs. Adams/Mercer vs. Tillotson	7.4	18
2	First Half Preliminary Round 2: Roundy vs. Vopatek/McCargo vs. Hirst	7.3	14
3	First Half Preliminary Round 3: Thompson vs. Bottiggi/Smith vs. Peacock	7.3	13
4	First Half Preliminary Round 4: Thomas/Foster vs. Simonds/Ratner vs. Nichting	6.5	14
5	First Half Preliminary Round 5: Reiff vs. Keck/Mentzer vs. Bryant	5.7	14
6	First Half Quarterfinal Round 1: Foster vs. Costantino/Mercer vs. Tillotson	8.0	13
7	First Half Quarterfinal Round 2: Vopatek vs. Keck/Hirst vs. Nichting	6.8	14
8	First Half Quarterfinal Round 3: Thompson/Bottiggi vs. Simonds/Mentzer vs. Ratner	6.6	13
9	First Half Quarterfinal Round 4: Peacock/Johnson vs. McCargo/Adams vs. Roundy	8.0	12
10	First Half Semifinal Round 1: McCargo vs. Tillotson/Costantino vs. Simonds	7.8	12
11	First Half Semifinal Round 2: Nichting vs. Mentzer/Vopatek vs. Adams	7.0	15
12	First Half Final Round: Tillotson vs. Nichting/Costantino vs. Adams	7.0	14
13	Second Half Preliminary Round 1: McClesky/Kieser vs. Branham/Look-Jaeger vs. Wilcox/Dorsa	7.6	12
14	Second Half Preliminary Round 2: Johnson vs. Kiernan/Akai vs. Henger	6.7	14
15	Second Half Preliminary Round 3: Duke vs. Hill-Hudgins/Duke vs. Suzuki	6.5	14
16	Second Half Preliminary Round 4: Nasca vs. Dieter/Cumberbatch vs. Jarchow	6.8	14

Season 3 (1991)

7.52 avg 9 episodes 6.8 → 8.4

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
18	Second Half Preliminary Round 5: Montgomery vs. Altschuler/Telley vs. Stickleman	6.8	14
19	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 1: Montgomery vs. Duke/Akai vs. Duke	8.0	12
20	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 2: Johnson vs. Dieter/Look-Jaeger vs. Dorsa	6.7	14
21	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 3: Kiernan vs. Nasca/Cumberbatch vs. Jarchow	8.0	12
22	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 4: Branham vs. Altschuler/Telley vs. Stickleman	6.6	13
23	Second Half Semifinal Round 1: Branham vs. Montgomery/Telley vs. Akai	7.8	12
24	Second Half Semifinal Round 2: Kiernan vs. Dieter/Cumberbatch vs. Dorsa	8.2	12
25	Second Half Final Round: Branham vs. Dieter/Telley vs. Cumberbatch	7.2	13
26	Grand Championship Final: Costantino vs. Branham/Nichting vs. Cumberbatch	8.4	13

Season 4 (1991)

7.93 avg 3 episodes 8.2 → 9.0 44 min avg

U-shaped

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
13	First Half Final Round: Goldrick vs. Ortega/Kropp vs. Lentz	8.2	11
24	Second Half Semifinal Round 2: Mauro vs. Curella/Mollica vs. Perling	6.6	11
26	Grand Championship Final: Ortega vs. Mauro/Lentz vs. Mollica	9.0	14

Season 5 (1993)

6.70 avg 6 episodes 6.6 → 6.6 44 min avg

Mid-peak

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
2	First Half Preliminary Round 2: Grey vs. Bettendorf/Langston vs. Jernegan	6.6	11
3	First Half Preliminary Round 3: Rosenberg vs. Peace and Hargrow/Valdiviez vs. Walz	6.5	12
4	First Half Preliminary Round 4: Street vs. Cooley/Montalvo vs. Pepe	6.2	12
5	First Half Preliminary Round 5: LePage vs. Hughes/Williams vs. Marshall	7.7	12
7	First Half Quarterfinal Round 1: Bettendorf vs. Cooley/Langston vs. Williams	6.6	11
8	First Half Quarterfinal Round 2: LePage vs. Kettle/Marshall vs. McBride	6.6	11

Season 6 (1993)

6.83 avg 21 episodes 7.3 → 6.8 44 min avg

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	First Half Preliminary Round 1: Schwepker vs. Berry/Wheat vs. Marino	7.3	12
2	First Half Preliminary Round 2: Ross vs. Fanshier/Lockey vs. Tyler	7.0	12
3	First Half Preliminary Round 3: Muse vs. Hill/Morris vs. Albright	6.4	11
4	First Half Preliminary Round 4: Goodwin vs. Kamp/Tatum vs. Scarvers	6.4	11
5	First Half Quarterfinal Round 1: Tyler vs. Lockey/Berry vs. Hill	6.8	11
6	First Half Quarterfinal Round 2: Ross vs. Goodwin/Albright vs. Marino	6.8	11
7	First Half Quarterfinal Round 3: Franshier vs. Kamp/Morris vs. Scarvers	6.0	11
8	First Half Quarterfinal Round 4: Schwepker vs. Muse/Wheat vs. Tantum	6.6	11
9	First Half Semifinal Round 1: Muse vs. Berry/Wheat vs. Tyler	7.2	11
10	First Half Semifinal Round 2: Franshier vs. Goodwin/Marino vs. Scarvers	7.0	11
11	First Half Final Round: Berry vs. Goodwin/Tyler vs. Marino	8.0	11
12	Second Half Preliminary Round 1: Clark vs. Jackson/Odita vs. Ferguson	6.8	11
15	Second Half Preliminary Round 4: Edwards vs. Diederick/Clay vs. Grizoffi	6.8	11
16	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 1: Diederick vs. Cruz/Bond vs. Odita	6.5	12
17	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 2: Clark vs. Kibort/Toyebo vs. Clay	6.7	12
18	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 3: Jackson vs. Shriner/Ferguson vs. Shares	6.2	12
19	Second Half Quarterfinal Round 4: Edwards vs. Collins/Wooster vs. Grizoffi	7.0	11
20	Second Half Semifinal Round 1: Diederich vs. Edwards/Odita vs. Wooster	7.0	11
21	Second Half Semifinal Round 2: Jackson vs. Kibort/Shares vs. Toyebo	7.0	11
22	Second Half Final Round: Edwards vs. Jackson/Odita vs. Toyebo	7.2	11
23	Grand Champion Final: Jackson vs. Berry/Odita vs. Tyler	6.8	13

American Gladiators (1989)

Cast

Seasons

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