Gladiators 2025: Winners crowned after grand final
Warning: This article contains spoilers
The winners of Gladiators 2025 have been crowned after Saturday night’s final on BBC One.
Gym owner Amanda Wah and gymnastics coach Joe Fishburn were the victors – beating fellow contestants Aneila Afsar, a supply teacher from Manchester, and Mus Dumbuya, a youth worker from east London.
Wah, a gym owner from Warrington, beat her fellow North-West contender despite Afsar having a 1.5-second head start in the final challenge, the Eliminator.
Fishburn, a gymnastics coach from Scarborough, had a six-second head start on his fellow finalist and finished the course in a record-breaking 0.55 seconds, according to the programme.
The 24-year-old Team GB gymnast paid tribute to his grandmother, Christine, who brought him up after his mother died when he was two.
“I never had a father figure present and she’s done everything for me. I hope you’re proud,” he said.
Despite Afsar’s advantage, Wah managed to catch up, and she dedicated her victory minutes to her late mother.
Speaking to co-host Bradley Walsh, Wah said: “That one’s for you, Mum. This has been the best experience of my life – unbelievable.”
She said “everyone has been exceptional, especially Aneila who was a great contender”.
Wah added that it was mentally challenging for her rival “to come in as the fastest runner-up” following the withdrawal of Zavia Hill, a personal trainer from Manchester, who had to leave before the final due to an injury.
Afsar previously said she had broken barriers by being the first Muslim woman on the show.
Wah said that the 11 weeks of being tackled and pushed by the “superhuman” gladiators was like being on “work experience”.
She called them the “biggest, fiercest, strongest people but also extremely supportive”.
She added: “They are professionals and they don’t want to hurt anyone. They care and it’s amazing.”
Fishburn said he would put the trophy on his “grandmother Christine’s mantelpiece” and called the experience “definitely the best thing I’ve ever done”.
He added: “We were in an amazing final, and I felt like I already won coming into this process but obviously it’s always nice to complete the whole thing and take the win.
“Mus is an amazing opponent, contender, friend, everything he does is so amazing and it was an honour to be in the final with him.”
Cheering on Fishburn was Roddy Mackay, a contender from 1993, and his family, while Wah on was her girlfriend, two children, friends and family.
Gladiators was revived last year on the BBC, with Army officer Finlay Anderson and personal trainer Marie-Louise Nicholson crowned 2024 champions.
The show ran on ITV for eight years until 2000 before it was axed, and was then on Sky for a short run from 2008 to 2009.
This year, the Gladiators Live Tour will make its global debut across UK arenas.
Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
