American Gladiators - No Stick Figures Here

I so rarely see my body type on TV (muscular, kinda tubular, not the hourglass type), so when I do it really surprises me.

We were just shutting the TV down after watching The Amazing Race and for some reason I flipped over to NBC and caught a glimpse of the premier of the new version of American Gladiators and was immediately entranced. I was looking at myself, albeit younger, and leaner, and in even better shape (a scary concept given how much I'm usually at the gym). The contestant I was watching was Jessie Foster. And unfortunately, she got hurt during the first competition so I didn't get to see much of her, but it was strangely encouraging to see, and a good inspiration to keep working on losing the 10 pounds I want to drop (even if it will make me colder in the snow).

I (and a whole lot of other people) am also really intrigued by the Gladiator named Crush (whose real name is Gina Carano). Carano got her name from doing well in the seriously butch Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) AKA Cage Fighting which is such a non-appealing sport to me, but granted I haven't seen Carano doing it. What I like about Carano is that she's beautiful and also doesn't have the typical hourglass figure. She's not in a swimsuit, but more of a body suit with a corset instead. I must admit that I wonder if the corset wasn't there if she would have a waist at all. :)

And all of the female gladiators (well besides the completely intimidating looking Fury) do have a little body fat which makes them look more human. In the past, they all would have been mandated to look like Fury, who while being astonishingly athletic, could also do a stint as a model on Deal or No Deal, which for years is the only female body type I ever saw on TV (beside comedic roles). Over the past decade this has been changing - finally.

And what American Gladiator post on female body images would be complete without talking about Hellga, more correctly: HELLLLL-GAAA!! (You can't help, but say it that way - whoever invented that character is brilliant and has my congratulations.) Hellga in real life is Robin Coleman originally from Texas. She's 6'2" and 205 pounds and can life up one side of a car. In Texas she said that dating was difficult, but no longer now that she's out where the show is broadcase (Los Angeles I think). People love her. In the audience I saw a guy with a sign that said: Hellga Marry Me. She said in an interview that even before she went on the stage for the first time that someone told her that the audience was chanting "Hell-ga, Hell-ga." Not bad girlfriend. Not bad at all.

• Her MySpace page is here
• Here Wikipedia page is here
  
• Her own site is here
  

I'm sure Gladiators is really bad TV, but it's a campy hoot and I'll watch it for as long as it lasts and no where near as appalling as fake wrestling. Who'd have thought it would be so validating and a good source of positive female body images.