American Gladiators was a hit TV show, starting in the late 1980's and running for 8 seasons. It came out before reality was invented, and pretty much started the sports competition genre'. There were several spinoffs, the biggest being Gladiators, the U.K. version, I believe. Lori Fetrick was Ice for six seasons on the show. This is her brand new podcast, which is really funny and entertaining.
Most of you reading this blog know of me from the BMX industry days of the 1980's and early 1990's. A lot of you also know my BMX and skateboard video work led to me stumbling into the TV industry, first at Unreel Productions in the late 1980's, and then into more mainstream TV crew work in the 1990's. I worked as a spotter, on the stage crew of American Gladiators, for the last four seasons, taped in the summers of 1992-1995. The spotters were those guys on the sidelines of many of the games, with the white, shield-shaped karate pads, to keep people from flying out of bounds.
I worked right on the floor with the Gladiators and contenders, for the 7 or 8 days of practice, then a about 5 or 6 weeks of shooting all the episodes for that season. The show started on the Universal Studio lot, but we shot on the CBS-MTM lot the years I worked there. That studio in often called the Radford Studios by industry people, and is located in Studio City, "over the hill" from Hollywood. We used several of the empty stages to store all the sets used on Gladiators, including Stage 1, then the home of the Roseanne show, and the former stage where the Mary Tyler Moore Show was shot years earlier.
I knew Ice, Lori, on the set, but didn't talk to her all that much in the downtime. While us spotters actually practiced many of the games against both the Gladiators and the contenders, my biggest memory of Ice was just a weird little thing that happened on the way to lunch one day.
I lived in Orange County then, and would rent a cheap motel room near the studio, for the weeks I worked on the show. I didn't have a car then, so I would take a bike to ride back and forth to work each day. One year I had a beach cruiser, instead of my freestyle bike, I can't remember why. The crew was huge, about 100 people total, and a catered lunch was part of the deal working on the set. Since there were so many of us, and since we shot in summer, when most other shows were on hiatus (summer break), the caterers usually set up in a small stage for lunch.
So halfway through the day, we'd break for lunch, and everyone would walk halfway across the big studio lot to eat lunch. It was maybe 150-200 yard walk, winding between the big studio buildings, depending which stage they used that year. On this one day, I hopped on my beach cruiser, which was parked backstage, and started pedaling over to towards lunch, to beat the line. A few people, including Ice, walked out another door as I was rolling up. She said, "Hey, give me a ride." So I said, "OK, hop on," and in her Gladiator outfit, she hopped on my handlebars, and I rode her over to the lunch stage. We beat most of the crowd, so we didn't have to stand in line. It's really no big deal, but of all the things on the set, including getting my ass kicked by her on several of the games, that's my first memory that pops in my head, when thinking about Ice.
In the first Chillin' With Ice podcast episode above, her girlfriend interviews her about her childhood, teen years, and early bodybuilding career, leading up to trying out for American Gladiators. First of all, she's obviously still incredibly fit, and looks great. Lori is also really funny, very open, and goes into the good and bad of her early life, being rebellious, high school sports, partying, early jobs, slowly realizing her sexual preference, and one of the better babysitting stories I've heard. If you were a fan of American Gladiators, are into bodybuilding or fitness training, are LGBTQ, or just want to hear some funny stories, this is a really interesting and funny podcast. Check it out.
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