Ally Davidson is Female Champion of Gladiators Season Two

Ally Davidson

Dallas newlywed Ally Davidson powered her way to the win in season 2 of American Gladiators.

August 5, 2008

Ally Davidson, the sleek athletic blonde who went to the American Gladiator auditions in her wedding dress, has been crowned the champion of season two.  Ally auditioned for the stunt-loaded competition show on her wedding day, in her wedding veil, and told her new husband and their families about it later.

NBC aired the last semi-final and final championship back to back tonight in order to clear the NBC calendar for the Olympic games.

Not only will Ally be featured as a Gladiator on the show next year, but she also founded "Camp Gladiator" in Texas with her husband, who was also a season two competitor.  Camp Gladiator is not just another boot camp, and it seems to be geared around making improvements on an obstacle course as a tool to increasing overall health and fitness.   The web site advertises that attendees: "Begin your 4 week class with “The Eliminator”, an obstacle course designed to push you to your limits and quantify your ability. For the next 4 weeks, under the coaching of star Gladiator contender Ally Davidson (make that "champion" now!), you will realize your potential. Three mornings each week you will work harder than you ever have in your life to improve your strength, cardio, and most importantly, functional ability. Camp Gladiator will culminate with one more opportunity to run “The Eliminator” and see just how much you’ve improved."

One of the challenges facing producers for season three, if there is one, will be to turn Ally's sweet, clean-cut Texas personality into a gladiator character.  Last year's winner, Monica Carlson, was able to move seamlessly from athletic mom and fitness model to physique excellence in a very short time.  "Jet" reported for season two filming with a considerable increase in muscle mass and her now trademark rock hard abdominals.  Ally will need to make a similar transition.

NPC figure competitor and Colorado police officer Abbe Dorn fell short in the semi-finals (winning the semi-final but falling short as far as qualifying times on the eliminator) but will now return to the physique competition stage.  Her next show will be the NPC Carla Sanchez which, according to NPCschedule.com, will be held on October 4th in Denver.

Season two of the show had its ups and downs, and sub-par ratings led the network to cut the show from 90 minutes to 60 minutes halfway through the season.  Ratings improved somewhat as the season progressed however, as some of the more gimicky contestants (such as a male competitor without legs and a hearing impaired athlete) were eliminated and the shows became more competitive.

The new Gladiator lineup for season two was also a mixed bag.  Central casting hit a home run by pairing Jennifer Widerstrom ("Phoenix") with popular gladiators like Crush and Venom.  Phoenix was almost invinceable and brought a total package of beauty, muscle and skills (the "Fury" combo) to the show.  On the flip side, MMA star Erin Toughill ("Steel") never seemed to fit in and lost frequently to contestants, while her "silent" persona left her almost completely devoid of character development.  Among the new events, Rocketball was the most popular while most were glad to see Danger Zone utilized far less frequently.

Large numbers of households missed seeing the entire second half of the American Gladiators finale because of major thunderstorms and tornado warnings in the midwest and in Texas.

Source:  FigureRX Magazine