Gladiators’ Comet was not seen after the opening credits in Saturday’s debut as she shattered her leg in a horror fall during filming.
Comet, whose real name Ella-Mae Rayner, was climbing a 30-foot high wall when she fell – breaking her ankle and foot and rupturing three ligaments in her leg.
The cheerleader and gymnast, 28, was treated at the Sheffield’s Utilia Arena, where Gladiators was filmed, before she was sent to hospital and operated on.
Ella-Mae’s fall, which occurred in June 2023, will not be aired and it is not yet known if she will appear in future episodes this series.
The Gladiators is hosted by father-son duo Bradley and Barney Walsh.
Gladiators’ Comet, 28, was not seen after the opening credits in Saturday’s debut as she shattered her leg in a horror fall during filming
Comet, real name Ella-Mae Rayner, was climbing a 30-foot high wall when she fell – breaking her ankle and foot and rupturing three ligaments in her leg (pictured in 2023)
The cheerleader and gymnast was treated at the Sheffield’s Utilia Arena, where Gladiators was filmed, before she was sent to hospital and operated on (pictured on Sunday)
Speaking to The Sun, Ella-Mae said: ‘It just goes to show that we aren’t acting. This isn’t WWE, this is one of the toughest shows on TV.
‘The injury was really, really tough but I had the team around me and everyone was amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a better medical team.’
She continued: ‘I am nearly [recovered] but it is always going to be an injury I know about. But it is not going to stop me doing what I want to do. You are going face to face and it is contact, so injuries are part and parcel of it. Comet is here to stay.’
Not long after her accident, Ella-Mae, who wasn’t the only Gladiator to suffer an injury during filming, took to Instagram and wrote:
‘Life is not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving – right now, this quote couldn’t ring truer.
‘During the filming of one of the games I sustained a severe foot injury.
‘Multiple scans and X-rays later I found out that I had broken my ankle and foot in multiple places, including the talus and something known as a lisfranc injury, ruptured 3 ligaments and dislocated a bone.
‘I am now resting up following an operation to fix my foot and stabilise the broken bones. This is just a minor blip in the road and ignites the fire in me to come back better and stronger than ever before. ‘
Speaking to the Sun about her injury, Ella-Mae said: Speaking to The Sun , Ella-Mae said: ‘It just goes to show that we aren’t acting. This isn’t WWE, this is one of the toughest shows on TV’
Ella-Mae’s fall, which occurred in June 2023, will not be aired and it is not yet known if she will appear in future episodes this series
Not long after her accident, Ella-Mae, who wasn’t the only Gladiator to suffer an injury during filming , took to Instagram to tell fans what happened
Despite Comet’s absence, Gladiators racked in a whopping 6.4 million views at its peak, 24 years after the original series ended
Despite Comet’s absence, Gladiators racked in a whopping 6.4 million views at its peak, 24 years after the original series ended.
The other Gladiators are Fury, Apollo, Fire, Legend, Dynamite, Giant, Sabre, Steel, Electro, Phantom, Athena, Nitro, Diamond and Viper.
It will have 11 episodes in total, each lasting an hour and each featuring four contestants: two women and two men.
The Gladiators airs on Saturdays on BBC One at 5.50 pm. Past episodes are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
