Netflix orders ‘American Gladiators’ docuseries

Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story Of American Gladiators

Netflix has commissioned Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story Of American Gladiators, a docuseries about the 1980s-1990s TV competition show.

The 5 x 45-minute series chronicles the rise, fall, and behind-the-scenes stories of one of the biggest spectacles on television during the 1990s.

Featuring accounts from the stars who lived through it, including Dan “Nitro” Clark, Erika “Diamond” Andersch Bunker and Jim “Laser” Kalafat, the series reveals untold stories of the American Gladiators’ triumph, turmoil, and ultimate price of fame.

Airing in the US from 1989 to 1996, American Gladiators pitted amateur athletes against one another, alongside the show’s own titular gladiators, in challenges of strength and agility. The format, which proved successful, was remade in other countries, including in the UK as Gladiators.

Campfire Studios and Game Seven Media produced the series, which is directed by Tony Vainuku and Jared Hess and executive produced by the duo alongside Ross M. Dinerstein, Kyle McCutcheon, Danny Lee Clark, Peter Sussman and Chris Koras.