Contenders ready? Gladiators cranks up Big Villain Energy but still showcases sport's best virtues

It's time to look north: this weekend, the ultimate obstacle race is back. An estimated six million of us will tune in to watch those finely tuned bodies powering themselves around the famously hellish course, with its exhausting series of hurdles. By the final straight, only the strongest will be left. We've already got our favourites. We're already making predictions. And by tomorrow evening we'll know exactly who is going to be in the Gladiators final.

- Emma John

Apologies to any racing lovers offended by that joke. I intend no slight on the Grand National, the traditional high point of this sporting weekend, but the enforced hiatus between the semi-finals of one of my favourite shows has me revved up. I missed them all last week - Phantom, Fury, Cyclone, Steel - and it's still hard to believe such massive, almost planetary, entities could get bumped off the schedule for an FA Cup quarter-final. Legend must have thrown a cosmic tantrum.

And what a missed opportunity for a crossover episode it was. We should have had Mark Clattenburg overseeing proceedings at the Amex Stadium, standing on the halfway line at kick-off yelling: "Nottingham Forest, ready? Brighton and Hove Albion, readddddyyyy?" It was a game that could have been improved by defenders patrolling the box in Atlaspheres. And if Bart Verbruggen had a pugil stick maybe Forest wouldn't have won the shootout.

For many, hardcore nostalgia is a big part of the Gladiators appeal - it certainly motivated several of the older contestants to take part in this reboot. My own enthusiasm, however, is not inspired by love for the original. If I want to lose myself in the 90s I'll make a second outing to Clueless: The Musical (and to those who call it a shameless way to part women in their 40s from their money I say: whatever.)