Pursuit was an event played in several incarnations of the television series Gladiators. In this event, the contenders race against each other over an obstacle course whilst being pursued by Gladiators.

Rules

On the first whistle, both contenders start their race. Three seconds later the whistle blows again and the Gladiators begin. The Gladiators must tag and remove the flag being worn by a contender.

The course consists of a snake beam, wire ladder, hand ladder, two web traps, a low wall, a high wall and a sprint finish. The layout of the course varies across territories. 10 points are awarded for the first untagged contender to cross the finish line and 5 points for the second. There is no time limit for this event.

No participant is allowed to miss out any apparatus or cut corners. This includes markers placed at the edges of the course. The Gladiators are only allowed to pursue their allocated contender and participants must not deliberately slow down the participants racing on the other side.

Where fluorescent markers are placed over the course (usually at the start and end of a piece of apparatus and on the corners of the snake beam), then the contender and Gladiator must make sure they touch these markers. Failure to do so by a contender will result in 1 point being taken off the final score they receive for the event (if the score is 0 no deductions are made on the contender's current points total) and failure to do so by a Gladiator will result in them having to redo that part of the course. If a yellow corner is missed on the balance beam then 2 points are deducted.

If a participant falls off the hand ladder then they must remount where they left off (they do not have to restart the entire hand ladder). Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Also, both the challenger and Gladiator must start and end at the end rungs of the hand ladder, else someone will tell them to do so.

International differences

The UK course changed during the events run and due to contender's dominance on the event, fluorescent markers were added along the course to ensure contenders did not cut corners, giving the Gladiators a better chance at victory. In addition, penalty points could be deducted.

In Australia, the course remained the same during the events run with a 5 second headstart being given to challengers. Upon a successful Gladiator catch, a high pitch buzzer would go off. A clock was added on to the screen to show the time, the only time this had been done in an event with no time limit other than the Eliminator. Australia never introduced the concept of penalty points.

UK

Years active: 1994–1996, 2009–

Pursuit first appeared in the third series (1994). Upon its launch, Gladiators praised the event saying this was the closest they came to actually running Gladiators' final event, The Eliminator, the only event in which the Gladiators do not participate. The layout of the course comprised:

Stretch 1: (starting on the opposite corner to the men's wall)
Snake beam
Stretch 2:
Wire bridge
Hand ladder (contenders must touch the last rung or face disqualification)
Stretch 3:
Web trap (participants had to go over this)
Low wall
Web trap (participants had to go over this)
High wall (with rope)
Stretch 4: (finishing by the men's wall)
Sprint finish

For the fourth series (1995), the course and rules were changed due to contender dominance, particularly in the men's events and also due to the contenders often cutting corners on the snake beam.

From 1995, fluorescent markers were added to each corner of the snake beam as well as the start and end of each piece of apparatus. All participants have to touch these markers. G-Force, the cheerleaders for the UK Gladiators series, watched over contenders and would raise a fluorescent flag for each foul committed by a contender. This was the only time G-Force had an active role in one of the events.

The course was also altered to the following layout:

Stretch 1 (right hand side of the arena starting in front of the men's wall):
Snake beam (1 point would be deducted off a winning score for every time a contender put their foot down whilst negotiating this apparatus).
Hand ladder
Contenders then had to run across the arena to
Stretch 2 (left hand side of the arena)
Wire bridge
Low wall
Web trap (participants had to go under this)
High wall (with rope)
Stretch 3 (centre of the arena):
Web trap (participants had to go over this)
Sprint finish (finishing in the centre of the arena on the side nearest the crowd.

The event's appearances declined following its 1995 revamp and the event was dropped before the 1997 series, the only time an event had been axed in UK Gladiators for reasons other than safety. It is still unknown as to why the event was axed, although some fans felt that it was due to it being a watered down Eliminator.

The event theme for Pursuit was later reused for Vertigo

Vertigo (Gladiators)

Vertigo is an event played in several incarnations of the television series Gladiators. In this event, a contender and Gladiator race across separate courses of tall swaying poles spread across the arena floor. The winner is the first to complete the course....

 in 1998 replacing the events original theme from its third outing.

Despite being mysteriously axed during the original series run, Pursuit returned for the second (2009) series of the UK revival. The course was updated with new elements and the wire bridge and webtraps were withdrawn.

The course follows a much different layout compared to the original series due to the smaller scale of the studio. The course now comprises: High and low hurdles (two of each), Hand ladder, Balance beam, Short sprint, Two low walls, High wall up to pool side, Rope swing into pool, Swim across the pool to end buzzer.

The balance beams are much shorter than those from the original series but unlike the original, are raised in places. Should a contender touch the beam with their hand they are disqualified. Any participant who falls off the hand ladder or balance beam must restart the apparatus from the beginning. Participants do not have to use the rope to swing into the pool but must touch it before enterting the water.

The event has also changed in that it is no longer a race between the contenders, with 10 points being awarded to any contender who completes the course by pressing the buzzer at the end. A time limit of 90 seconds has been imposed along with other scoring opportunities for contenders who are either tagged or run out of time. 2 points are awarded for finishing the hand ladder and an extra 2 given for completing the first wall. Female contenders get a 4 second head start

Head start (positioning)

In positioning, a head start is a start in advance of the starting position of others in competition, or simply toward the finish line or desired outcome...

 and male contenders a 3 second headstart.

Australia

Years active: 1995(ii)-1996

The layout for the Pursuit course consisted of:

Stretch 1:
Snake beam
Stretch 2:
Hand ladder
Wire bridge
Stretch 3:
Web trap (participants had to go over this)
Low wall
Web trap (participants had to go over this)
High wall (with rope)
Stretch 4:
Sprint finish

Although Pursuit never brought in the regular concept of penalty points, and specific sections that challengers must touch, challengers did have 2 points deducted off their winning scores for not completing the wire bridge or cutting inside cones.

For Series 3 (1996) the hand ladder and wire bridge were swapped around and the first web trap was raised and challengers had to go under it. Also challengers were given cords for the Gladiators to pull instead of tagging them.

Pursuit did not return for the first series of the 2008 revival

Gladiators (2008 Australian TV series)

Gladiators was an Australian television series which aired on the Seven Network in 2008. It was a revival of the earlier series of the same name, and was based on the American version of the show, which was also revived in 2008....

.