The fifth series of Gladiators (subtitled Gladiators: The Challenge) aired in the UK from 28 September 1996 to 11 January 1997. The prizes in this series included a holiday at Sun City in South Africa for the runners-up with £1,000 for each of them to spend there, while the winners each received £1,000 for themselves along with a luxury four-wheel drive off-the-road family vehicle, which this season was the FordMaverick SUV.
For this series, the usual knockout competition was divided into two regions - North and South. Each regional area competition consisted of four heats, two semi-finals and a final. The regional champions then contested the Grand Final to determine the outright series champions.
Celia SOUTHERN RUNNER UP - SOUTHERN CHAMPION Andreya / Mark SOUTHERN CHAMPION - SOUTHERN RUNNER UP Freddie
15
"North vs. South (Series Grand Final) Southern Champion: Andreya Wharry vs. Northern Champion: Sarah Damm / Southern Champion: Mark Mottram vs. Northern Champion: Buster Reeves"
^1 Adrean injured his hamstring on the balance beam and didn't finish the eliminator, Ultimately he had to retire.
^2 Patrick picked up a neck injury on Hit & Run and could not run the eliminator, forcing him to retire from the competition. Emmil won by default but had to run the eliminator against the clock to advance to the next round.
^3 These events had the female Gladiators against the male contenders.
^4 Warrior incidentally carrying an injury voulunteered to play with the female gladiators.
^5 In these special episodes, there were 6 contenders with 2 being eliminated after event 3 and another 2 being eliminated after event 5.