After Hulk Hogan polished his plate and moved on to another table, next up were Phoenix and Toa, two mesomorphs that had me ruing my inability to stick to daily abdominal work.
They aren’t like you and me, these Gladiator athletes. The men's pectoral muscles actually created shadows from their pronounced profile.
Toa- photo by April MacIntyre ©M&C
They have visible layers of muscle that I did not know existed on the human frame, and are all the same shade of deep tropical tan. Feeling very white and out of shape next to them, I shamefully hid my almond croissant under a napkin so I didn’t get the stink eye from the two dedicated fitness warriors.
Jet was previously Monica, the winning female contestant from last season. She was over the moon about her new career, and had nothing but praise and deep affection for Toa, her partner in the day’s press blitz.
Toa loves Samoa- photo by April MacIntyre ©M&C
“We have kids the same age, we hang out together by the pool, and we have a great time. Even on our days off we got to eat anything we wanted, which is a lot of fun with Toa,” explained Jet.
Let me tell you, dear reader, Toa loves his one day a week to eat anything he wants.
Toa loves his calf Tatt- photo by April MacIntyre ©M&C
“If you’re going to do it, you gotta go all out; I had four pizzas, a box full of donuts,” shared an enthusiastic Toa.
Donuts were mentioned a lot; Toa described inhaling a dozen of them and then moving on to copious amounts of other forbidden fatty junk foods for his day off of training consumption.
I asked the very proud Samoan if he was able to give up SPAM, a delicacy where he is from. “Yeah that was hard but I did give it up; SPAM is like filet mignon to a Samoan so it wasn’t easy."
The two stars of NBC’s “American Gladiator” show did reveal that the other six days it’s all about the “clean protein”, and eating schedule that has them consuming small meals at two hour intervals.
“We eat really clean the rest of the week, boiled chicken breasts, steamed veggies, no sauces and stuff,” explained Toa.
“It’s all about discipline and being serious about your health, this is our job and we have to take it seriously,” added Jet. “None of us go out and party or do unhealthy things, we work out, eat right and get a lot of sleep, you need it to build and maintain a level of muscle mass.”
Jet talked about her leg up advantage for being a fitness model prior to the contender try out for “Gladiator.”
“I have always been athletic, my whole life. I always did sports and continued even after marriage and kids, I just am naturally athletic,” she explained. “But now I am living my dream, I couldn’t be more thrilled than to be working with Toa, Wolf and everyone connected to this show.”
Jet continued, “The new season has us in an amazing new location, the Sports arena and there is so much more room, we can really fill up the set now with al the new challenges. We have seven or eight new games, and there is a new one called Vertigo where these poles sway and we have to go from pole to pole, very hard.”
“I think now I have the biggest advantage over everyone because I was a contender and I can anticipate more what the new ones are trying to do,” she added.
Wolf (R) and Phoenix- photo by April MacIntyre ©M&C
For the curious, Toa ate a plate of eggs, bacon, sausage and fruit, and Jet had a big plate of cottage cheese on baby greens and a side plate of seasonal fruit. No almond croissants.
Wolf and Phoenix - photo by April MacIntyre ©M&C
Wolf and Phoenix joined us next, and pretty much reiterated what Toa and Jet had to say about training.
Wolf did joke he planned on the possibility of threatening to eat the contestants again, and he also mentioned he had been injured and broke his nose the other night taping. Just like Hulk Hogan, his fingers on each hand looked as if they had been run over and broken several times.
No almond croissants here- photo by April MacIntyre ©M&C
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