Fury: Meet the Dewsbury-born Gladiators star inspired by her former contender dad

Gladiators returns to our screens on Saturday, January 13 with Dewsbury-born Jodie’s Fury one of 16 new generation superhuman Gladiators competing against a brave set of contenders in the ultimate test of speed and strength.

And it has been written in the stars for Jodie, who is the first ever deaf Gladiator, to take part in the rebooted series after her dad starred as a contender in the show in 2008.

She said: “The biggest reason is because my dad was a contender in a previous series, so Gladiators has been a big part of our family since I was little.

“I loved watching how physical the Gladiators were but then I also loved watching my dad go through the process as well, so he’s clearly been a massive influence and it’s pretty cool that I can do it too.

“I think it's cool because they've kept it very much like the original but then they've also added a really nice, modern twist on it. It’s savage. Exciting. Fresh.

“I think people will like that it’s not completely changed or that we’ve tried to make it something that it isn't. We have just tried to expand on something that was already great.”

An inspiration off the field as well as on it, Jodie, 22, became the first deaf woman to play for a senior England rugby side.

She was also named Young Deaf Sports Personality of the Year in 2018.

Was she nervous competing in front of the live audience in Sheffield where the show was filmed? Of course not.

She said: “I am used to playing rugby in front of crowds, so I don’t feel nervous. In Sheffield the crowd and the atmosphere was just amazing, and I just took it all in and really appreciated how amazing everyone was.

“It was wild; the atmosphere, the noise, the foam fingers. Everyone was just buying into it. For one of the new games, The Edge, everyone got their phone torches out as it’s going up. It was unreal. Everyone seemed excited to be there and the energy in the stadium helped all of us Gladiators, we just fed off that and it made us feel good, and then we wanted to try and make everyone else feel good and have a good time.

“I was especially touched because some deaf kids came to watch the show and they’d made banners, saying they were deaf too and wanted to be a Gladiator now because of Fury, and that made me feel really proud to represent the deaf community on such a cool show.”

Gladiators, hosted by father and son duo Bradley and Barney Walsh, starts this Saturday on BBC One at 5.50pm.