Gladiator Giant has revealed the secret behind his 6ft5 20st body, which includes eating 70,000 calories per week.
Jamie Johal, 38, told MailOnline that taking on the role as ‘Giant’ in BBC One’s reboot of Gladiators was fitting because of his tall and muscular physique that requires him to consume the equivalent of seven roast dinners a day and wear XXXL clothes.
The ex-police officer, from Derby, has swapped his uniform for a skimpy skintight singlet but says the revealing outfit is not a patch on his former bodybuilder getup.
After making history as the world’s tallest bodybuilder, Giant, who also served as a firefighter, landed a spot in the new Gladiators cast, a surreal full circle moment after he watched the original series as a young boy.
But he hasn’t always been as gigantic as he is today, admitting that as a ‘gangly teenager’ he was nicknamed The Lamppost and it’s taken two decades of commitment to training and eating 10,000 calories a day to build his current stature.
Gladiator Giant has revealed the secret behind his 6ft5 20st body, which includes eating 70,000 calories per week
Jamie Johal told MailOnline that taking on the role as ‘Giant’ in BBC One’s reboot of Gladiators was fitting because of his tall and muscular physique
After making history as the world’s tallest bodybuilder, Giant landed a spot in the new Gladiators cast, a surreal full circle moment after he watched the original series as a young boy
He said: ‘I am living out a childhood dream. When I heard the series was coming back, I thought being a bodybuilder, I would love to be part of this.
‘Being this tall when I was 14 years old and weighed 13stone, it’s a very different look. I was a tall, skinny, gangly teenager. I even had the nickname Lamppost at school.
‘Now I’m 6ft5 and 20stone 5lbs… To maintain my physique currently, I am eating around 4,500 calories per day but when I was trying to get as big as possible, I was eating up to 10,000 calories a day… 70,000 calories a week is not a cheap food bill.
‘I would eat up to seven meals a day and they would be, if you imagined the biggest Sunday dinner you could have at your parents’ house, that would be every meal.
‘Each meal would be a 1000-1500 calorie meal… it is a lot of food and digestion plus some sleeping as well because eating all of that makes you sleepy. I would eat oats, chicken, steak, all good foods.’
The father-of-two says alongside his vigorous diet, he completes 10 hours of weight training every week, targeting a different muscle group each session.
He admits the combination of his height and muscularity makes finding clothes that fit a nearly impossible task, but he’s managed to find one high street retailer that stocks an extra, extra, extra-large.
Giant said: ‘I train every body part once a week, perhaps doing 20 sets on that muscle part. People think that you train for 50 hours a week but in actual fact I do two hours of weights five times a week so that’s only 10 hours of weight training a week… a lot of it is spent eating.
The father-of-two, pictured alongside his son, says alongside his vigorous diet, he completes 10 hours of weight training every week, targeting a different muscle group each session
Giant is married to wife Katie who fully supports his casting in the Gladiators lineup alongside fellow stars Fire, Legend, Nitro, and Steel
He says Katie has enjoyed telling her work colleagues that her husband is a Gladiator and that she supported him alongside their children from the audience during filming
‘I have had a lot of trouble finding clothes to fit in the past if I’m honest. It has been a real struggle, but I do manage to fit into some XXXL clothes from Next right now and look quite smart.
‘I am different to the average person, which can be hard to take in the flesh. But I am a super friendly when people get to know Giant as well, I am friendly but at the same time I have a competitive streak and I don’t take the games lightly.’
Having worked stints as a police officer and firefighter, Giant says his next career aspiration was either to work in the ambulance service or become a Gladiator and he achieved the latter.
Admitting that he loves his line of work to involve a uniform, he says it’s not just Giant’s costume that enables him to get into character, shaving his thigh hair and whitening his teeth was also part of the preparation.
He said: ‘I was actually a police officer and a firefighter, so the two options were ambulance service or Gladiator, and I chose Gladiator. I just like a uniform!
‘My Gladiator outfit is a singlet… it was quite surreal because I watched the show growing up and usually that’s something you only get to do for a fancy dress party, but we do it for a living and in front of thousands of people.
‘On my part because I’m from a body building background that was actually more clothing than I used to wear so I was quite comfortable. I also made sure that my thighs were shaved, teeth whitened, and my makeup looked good. I’m a quarter Italian so I’m going to confess to any fake tanning.’
And what does his wife Katie think of her husband competing as a Gladiator after the original cast became infamous for their off-camera romances?
When he isn’t eating or training, Giant runs his own fitness business targeted at fathers who want to get in shape in a bid to banish the ‘dad bod’
He says his kids see him as ‘real-life superhero’ and loves that he can inspire the younger generation
He believes age is just a number, insisting being in his late 30s doesn’t have an impact on his ability to win as he takes on hopeful contenders in the Gladiator arena
‘My wife loves it, it’s got to be a good thing to say in a work meeting, ‘my husband is on TV tonight, he’s a Gladiator’, he said.
‘I have a son and a daughter. They came to the recordings and were at the final, they saw me in my outfit performing and they loved it. Any child that can have a real-life superhero at home is not going to be upset.’
When he isn’t eating or training, Giant runs his own fitness business targeted at fathers who want to get in shape in a bid to banish the ‘dad bod.’
He added: ‘I have targeted dads because I am a dad myself and I know the pressures, the time constraints, so it’s good to know I am helping a specific target audience. No dad bods here!’
And he believes age is just a number, insisting being in his late 30s doesn’t have an impact on his ability to win as he takes on hopeful contenders in the Gladiator arena.
He said: ‘I am a super agile 38-year-old.
‘I feel as I have gotten older, I have only got wiser and gained more experience and so it has given me an edge in the mental aspect and if anything, I have got one over on people for being older, not under.
‘Having a new challenge at this age has been a revelation not just for me but for my family. I can’t wait for the opportunity to do more.’
