Pyramid

**Pyramid** was an event played in several incarnations of the television series *Gladiators*. In this event played on a giant sponge Pyramid, two contenders must climb to the top whilst two Gladiators attempt to halt their progress.

## Rules

On the first whistle, the contenders who start at the base of the Pyramid, begin their climb whilst the Gladiators, starting at the summit, head down to meet the contenders. The event lasts 60 seconds. Gladiators are allowed to wrestle, push and tumble the contenders down in order to stop them reaching the summit. In turn, contenders are also allowed to grapple and wrestle with the Gladiators in an attempt to remove them from the Pyramid. 10 points are awarded for the first contender to reach the summit and pressing the button, 5 points for the second. Should both participants fall to the mats at the base of the Pyramid, then they must release their opponent or face disqualification. Gladiators are only allowed to tackle their assigned contender and must not deliberately get in the way of the other contender.

## International differences

The Pyramid in the original American series was red and blue before being changed to red and black for the 2008 revival. In Britain, the Pyramid is black and white, whilst in Australia, it is red and white. In the 2008 American revival, a 'scoring zone' was introduced, four tiers from the summit, indicated by a white dotted line. If a contender got their feet above this line they received five points. Also, for the revival of the American series, the event ends immediately upon one contender reaching the top of the Pyramid. The Swedish name for this event was Pyramiden.

## Event History

### America

* Years active 1993-1996, 2008–2009

Pyramid was introuced in the fifth season of American Gladiators. In the original series of American Gladiators, the event lasted 45 seconds and the Pyramid was red and blue in color. For the 2008 revival, the event was increased to 60 seconds and the Pyramid formed part of the Eliminator course. The Pyramid was changed to a red and black color scheme and a "scoring zone", marked by a dotted line on the fourth tier from the top was added. If a contender gets both of their feet above the line, they get 5 points, regardless of whether they remain in the zone when time expires. Further, the event ends immediately if one contender reaches the top of the Pyramid.

### United Kingdom

* Years active: 1994-1997, 2008–2009

Pyramid was introduced in the third series of the original British run, becoming one of the show's core events. However, the event caused numerous injuries including career ending injuries to Jet and Amazon, and the event was axed following Jet's injury on the 1996 Wembley Live shows. The event returned in the sixth series in which a red 'safety step' was introduced six tiers down. Should a contender reach this step then the Gladiator was not allowed to tackle their contender thus leaving them free to climb to the top. Tackling a contender who had reached the safety step would result in Gladiator disqualification. The steps at the base of the Pyramid were also made thinner to reduce the risk of falling awkwardly. Despite the events revamp, Pyramid was axed for the second time and did not return for the seventh series. When introduced in 1994, the Pyramid was Template:Convert high and each step was two feet high. In the fourth series, a huge 'G' symbol was located above the Pyramid which would flash, along with a small pyrotechnics display, when a contender reached the summit. For special shows in which three contenders faced three Gladiators, 2 points were awarded for the third to reach the summit. Pyramid returned in its original form in the 2008 revival and contenders must climb it and zip line down as part of the Eliminator. In 2009 two zones were marked out. One near the top end of the Pyramid which when crossed by a contender, would give them 3 points. The other zone is the no tackle zone, the bottom two steps, where tackling by a Gladiator results in their disqualification.

### Australia

* Years active: 1995-1996, 2008

In some episodes of the first series, Pyramid lasted for 45 seconds before being extended to 60 seconds mid way through. In series three, a safety step was introduced, below which the Gladiators were not allowed to tackle the challengers. In 2008, Gladiators are not allowed to tackle their assigned challenger if the challenger is on the base or on the first step. This happened on the first episode since its revival. Gladiator Outlaw tackled a challenger while on the first step. As a result, Outlaw was disqualified and the challenger was awarded 10 points. There was some controversy as to whether the challenger should deserve the points since the other challenger reached the top of the pyramid first in under 40 seconds and the tackle done by Outlaw happened on the last 10 seconds. For the first time, both challengers earned 10 points each. This has been widely compared to the series 2 grand final in 1995, where one challenger reached the summit and earned 10 points. The other Gladiator was disqualified, but the Challenger only received five points as the 10 points were no longer on offer. Angel is the only female Gladiator not to take part in the Pyramid. Tank and Thunder are the only male Gladiators not to take part in the Pyramid.