I’ve been watching NBC’s revival of the old American Gladiators show recently. I have to say it’s both hugely entertaining and hugely nostalgic, and I do enjoy the cheesy sort-of-like-pro-wrestling schtick they give to the Gladiators. (Especially Wolf. That guy is awesome.)
But I’m writing about it here as I noticed something last night. Last night’s show, like all of the episodes, had two male and two female competitors going head-to-head. Last night there was an Asian guy (Vietnamese I think) and an Asian girl (probably Korean descent) on the show. Thinking back to the previous weeks, there’ve been a lot of Asians on the show already. I haven’t kept any count, but I would guess there have been more Asian competitors on the show than any other minority.
I don’t know if they went and auditioned in a particularly-Asian-heavy area of California or something, but it’s refreshing to see a reality show with so many Asians. This isn’t your Survivor or your Apprentice with the one token Asian on the show (or your American Idol which tends to have zero). Add to that the fact the winner of this season’s American Gladiators not only gets a cash prize but the chance to come back next year as one of the Gladiators, and there’s actually a chance that we could even have an Asian Gladiator. (The current Gladiators are all white or black + someone of partial Samoan descent who also happens to be The Rock’s cousin.)
Of course, if an Asian guy or gal wins, there’s always a possibility that to go on with the stage names like “Crush” and “Titan” they’d call them “Mt. Fuji” or something, but I’m going to give the show’s producers the benefit of the doubt. They’ve done a good job at being Asian-inclusive so far.
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