The fascination over American Gladiators isn’t over just yet: Three weeks after ESPN aired 30 for 30: The American Gladiators Documentary, Netflix is now shining a spotlight on the inimitable ’80s competition show that gave us Nitro, Gemini and thrilling jousts with what looked like giant, padded Q-tips.
Like ESPN’s penetrative two-parter from director Ben Berman (The Amazing Jonathan Documentary), the new Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators (dropping June 28 on Netflix) reminds us that TV’s first big reality show stars weren’t privileged women who throw wine in fits of rage. They were pumped-up athletes who donned patriotic colors while playing Goliath to some poor civilian’s David in a makeshift battledome.
But while ESPN’s documentary from Vice Media focuses more of its narrative on Johnny Ferraro, the infamous figurehead behind the memorable franchise, Muscles & Mayhem keeps the attention on the gladiators and how, even after all those painful hits in the ring and to their pocket books, they were still grateful for the experience.
“It’s not this VH-1, Behind the Music retrospective of how it broke us and how we’re sorry we did it,” explains Danny Lee “Nitro” Clark, who executive produced the five-parter for Netflix with Kyle McCutcheon, Tony Vainuku, Jared Hess, Ross M. Dinerstein, Peter Sussman and Chris Koras. “It was a glorious time. We were all a bunch of misfits. We were this group of people from different walks of life who somehow came together and changed the face of TV and became the first reality stars. All of us remember the times fondly. I don’t regret one second of American Gladiators.”
Here, Clark and McCutcheon tease what to expect from Muscles & Mayhem, and how they steered clear of the details surrounding AG‘s origins in Erie, PA. and who actually came up with the original idea. Granted, it made for great drama on the ESPN doc but it left Ferraro “deeply disappointed in the way I was portrayed,” he told Deadline. (In response, 30 for 30‘s Berman said, “I wish Johnny the best. I meant no harm. I only meant good making this project. And, Lordy Lord.”)
In other words, Muscles & Mayhem doesn’t include an interview with Ferraro, who is currently working with MGM/Amazon unscripted executives to launch a new American Gladiators series (filming on a UK version just wrapped) as well as a possible AG movie and animated AG show. Instead, the Netflix series includes interviews with former American Gladiators like Clark (who didn’t participate in 30 for 30), as well as Debbie “Storm” Clark, Erika “Diamond” Andersch Bunker, Jim “Laser” Kalafat, Lori “Ice” Fetrick, Michael “Gemini” Horton, Raye “Zap” Olson, Shari E “Blaze” Pendleton Mitchell, Shirley “Sky” Eson-Korito and Steve “Tower” Hennebery.
DEADLINE Is it coincidental that this is coming so soon after the ESPN documentary?
DANNY LEE CLARK: No, so we didn’t know what was going on. I had a book that I wrote called Gladiator, A True Story of ‘Roids, Rage and Redemption. They were gonna make a movie of it. And they told me Jason Mamoa was gonna play me! This had been around a long time, and of course I was very, very flattered, but we all know I’m better looking. I have more hair than Jason. Anyway, the book option finally ran out, and I didn’t want to go back with them because it was all of that Hollywood, ‘we’re gonna do that’ and they don’t do anything. So, I get this call from this young producer in Canada named Kyle.
KYLE MCCUTCHEON When I finally spoke to him, it was one of those meet your heroes moments.
CLARK He said ‘my partner is Peter Sussman.’ I do a quick Google search. We get on with Peter, and they both said, ‘we can get you a pitch meeting at Netflix next Thursday.’
MCCUTCHEON Our [docuseries] gets right into the heart of the series and the main gladiators themselves. Being from Canada, these guys were my heroes. This was my first impression of what America was.
CLARK Two weeks later, we get a call [from Netflix] saying Vice Media had just come and pitched their version of the gladiators. They said they liked our take better. It got ugly at certain points [with 30 for 30]. There were punches thrown back and forth. I think it’s just serendipitous that we had kind of been going at each other but both were released at the same time. At the end of the day, we’re happy that both versions have come out.
What were you hoping to accomplish with your docuseries?
CLARK Our goal as producers was we wanted something that spoke to every young athlete, male and female, who at that time thought they had what it took to continue their athletic dreams and go on TV to test their mettle, their athletic prowess against the gladiators. We wanted to fill that nostalgic hunger for a simpler time, a time when gas was 90 cents, when Clinton was in the White House, when the McRib just came out at McDonald’s. That’s the time when American Gladiators ruled the airwaves.
Why didn’t you participate in the ESPN docuseries?
CLARK I think the ESPN one is interesting. It’s interesting from a filmmaker’s perspective. He wanted to chase this narrative of who created this show. Did Johnny steal this from Dann Carr? I like Johnny. I’ve known Dann Carr for years. I still have a big place in my heart for both of them. It was just a different take by a different director who had a different vision. When Berman called, I listened to the questions. It wasn’t appealing to me. And also, I was already developing my own with Kyle.
Do you address how participating in the show abused your bodies?
CLARK Yes, but I think it’s in a different way. That’s the one main thing we hated about the ESPN one. I’ve had tons of people reach out to me on social and say, ‘oh God, I’m so sorry you went through that.’ And we all said, ‘no, Gladiators was one of the best times of our lives.’ All of us remember the times fondly. We knew what we signed up for. And look, I’ve had back surgery. I’ve had knee surgery. That’s the way we lived our lives. We lived hard.
Your faces were everywhere back in the day. How was your pay back then?
CLARK The studio was making all this profit. Our face was on all this merchandise, right? We said, ‘hey, look, those are our faces. It’s our blood and sweat on the gladiator floor. We’re not asking for a revolutionary new deal. We’re just saying give us what’s the industry standard and give us a cut of the profit.’ It’s like what is going on with the writers’ strike today. Be a good human being and do what’s right. Just give us the minimum. This was in year three. It was Sam Goldwyn Jr. who said, ‘look, my dad didn’t renegotiate, and neither do I. Come back to work, or you’re fired.’
Why do you call your docuseries unauthorized?
CLARK It was a MGM rights thing. MGM owns the rights. We got footage from MGM with the idea that they had approval of how we used the name in the title.
MCCUTCHEON Honestly, though, we’re so happy with it. We kind of fell backwards into a title that we love. The unauthorized side of it almost feel like makes it more salacious and intriguing, like, ‘what’s behind this door? Who’s telling this story?’ It’s the gladiators telling their story about their experience. Nobody speaks for anybody else. We have the top executives who were part of the show. Everyone tells the narrative from their own point of view of what they remember.
Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators is currently streaming on Netflix.