Gladiators romances – from 90s pin-up who nearly married Katie Price to star hitched to Mr Universe and love child row
THEY say love blossoms in unusual places – and that was certainly the case for former Gladiator Jet.
This week the 53-year-old – whose real name is Diane Youdale – secretly married her partner Zoe Gilbert, who she met in the aisles of Tesco.
Diane told Closer magazine: “We kept it very, very quiet. Literally, nine people on the planet knew. We wanted to keep it really tiny.”
Prior to getting hitched to a woman, Diane dated co-star James Crossley, aka Hunter when she was 21, and he was 19.
They broke it off in 1999, amid claims he thought she was a workaholic, while she said she felt like a “cougar” due to their age gap – but they remained friends.
Diane then fell for TV producer George Mayhew, who proposed after four months in 1996, and it’s believed they married one year later. They divorced after seven years together.
Last year Diane met “gorgeous” Zoe at her local supermarket and admitted she nearly “fell on the floor” after being asked out.
She told The Sun: “She came up to me and said, ‘I think you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,’ and I was like, ‘Wow, thank you,’ and she said, ‘Are you single?’”
Within four months they were engaged and they recently married in a “casual” ceremony where the ex-Gladiator wore a boho-style top, trousers and sandals.
Here we take a look at other Gladiators romances.
Katie Price engagement
Gladiator Warren Furman, aka Ace, nearly married glamour model Katie Price – who has since been engaged seven more times and married thrice.
Four months into their relationship in 1997, Warren proposed with a £3,500 engagement ring.
In 2020 he told Closer: “We were very similar people, we grew up with similar backgrounds, we both took our clothes off for a living.”
After 18 months their romance fizzled out in 1999, with Warren telling The Sun “the pressure of fame” cursed them and they “were both equally to blame”.
Despite the relationship’s rocky ending, they remain on good terms.
Katie – then known as Jordan – has since praised him as one of the few partners she’s had who didn’t cheat on her.
Married contestant
Suzanne Cox, aka Vogue, had her head turned by Gladiators quarter-finalist Mark Roberts in 1997.
She spotted him in a Birmingham nightclub before filming the series finale and recalled thinking he “looked really nice”.
After revealing her crush to her co-star Rebel, real name Jennifer Stoute, she immediately regretted it, telling The GladPod podcast: “It was like being back at school with people telling Mark I fancied him.
“Even the security guards got involved and brought Mark to my dressing room door – I was so embarrassed I wanted to die!”
Despite both of them being “totally embarrassed” they realised they “got on really well and it was meant to be”.
In 2002 the couple tied the knot at London Zoo and celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary this year with their kids Amber and Flynn.
Kelly Brook fling
David McIntosh, known as Tornado, had a 12-week whirlwind romance with glamour model Kelly Brook in December 2012, which saw them get engaged.
Kelly admitted to having “never, ever wanted to get married” before meeting David and gushed about her love to HELLO! magazine.
“Although it seems soon to be planning our wedding, there’s nothing to wait for in my mind because at the moment everything’s fantastic,” she said.
But a week after he popped the question they split – and it soon turned very bitter.
David took a swipe at Kelly on Twitter, accusing her of “insulting the women” he was dating, writing: “People need to see u for how u are a nasty bitter woman [sic].’”
He later told New! magazine that he “didn’t think she was the sexiest woman in the world”, adding: “She was hot but I wasn’t physically super attracted to her… Sex wasn’t a big issue in the relationship. I just loved her as a person.”
Married Mr Universe
Kim Betts, aka Lightning, has remained as ripped as she was on Gladiators, which came to an end 23 years ago.
It’s down to her and husband Francis, who she married in 1997, participating in bodybuilding competitions.
Between them they’ve won multiple awards including the 2020 IBFA Mr and Miss Universe title.
Kim, who also won Miss Universe Over 40s, now works as a “serial entrepreneur” and lives on a farm with Francis and their two children.
Romanced three co-stars
Shortly after dating Jet, Gladiators star Hunter – real name James Crossley – moved on to the show’s presenter Ulrika Jonsson in 1996.
They kept their 18-month romance secret and the TV host, who was six years older than him, denied all claims they were in a relationship.
Ulrika spilled the beans in her 2003 autobiography and later described James as “amazing and the sweetest, sweetest man”.
She told The Secret To podcast: “He was only 22 I think when I got together with him. Poor boy.”
In 2018 James revealed he had been secretly dating a third Gladiators star, Zoe Williams – known as Amazon in the show’s 2008 remake – for several years.
By then she was better known as This Morning’s Dr Zoe. They have since split up and two years ago, Zoe had a son with new partner Stuart McKay.
Love child drama
Kate Staples starred as Zodiac in Gladiators until her TV career was cut short in 1996.
She suffered a severe spine injury while practising for a Pole Axe event, but thankfully she made a full recovery.
In June 1997 she revealed she’d fallen pregnant by co-star Mark Griffin, aka Trojan, who she’d been dating for two years.
At the time she told The People she was devastated when Trojan reportedly asked her to abort their love child because he didn’t want to be a dad. Their relationship had turned sour after he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a Hollywood film career.
She said: “Never again will I fall for a man just because he looks good. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s the person he is inside that counts.”
She gave birth to daughter Gabriella in October that year.
Kate went on to date England Rugby Union star Chris Sheasby, who legally adopted her daughter, and the pair married and had two children.
They separated in 2011 and divorced five years later in a hearing that lasted 60 seconds.
Kate kept their family home in Esher, Surrey, as part of the split.