The Gladiator Contenders - Sarasota's De Day

Gladiator contestant De Day

Sarasota's De Day calls her night on "American Gladiators" the "experience of a lifetime," but she believes she could have done better.

With a nickname inspired by a Seinfeld episode (the one where Jerry called his girlfriend Mulva) and an unshakably sunny spirit, Siesta Key fitness trainer De Day was the last person who ever expected to pull on the spandex tights and knee pads to compete on NBC’s revived version of American Gladiators.

But a trip taken to help a client through an Orlando audition landed her a spot on the Hulk Hogan-hosted competition, instead.  De calls her night on "American Gladiators" the "experience of a lifetime," but she believes she could have done better.

The 29-year old fitness trainer and full-time mom was leading over challenger Tiffaney Florentine of Royal Oak, Mich., going into the Eliminator round Monday night on the NBC reality series. She also held her own several times against far bigger "gladiators."

The battle went down to the wire, with Florentine coming out on top.

"Honestly, I am disappointed," Day said Tuesday, "but I'm still proud of myself for putting myself out there. I felt like I made a couple of errors that cost me the game."

She praises her husband, Bruce, for coaching her through the grueling challenges.

"He was my therapist, my mental coach," she said. "He carried my bag; he gave me water. He was in every step of the game with me.

"I think he feels the same way as I do, though. He knows I had the potential to make it to the end, but he agrees I made a few errors. But not for one second was he not proud of me. He was just disappointed for me."

As for the future, Day can only laugh.

"I'm going to hide out for a while at my fitness center," she said. She and Bruce own the Siesta Key Fitness Center. "Where I go from here, it just depends. I do some modeling on a side. If something happens, great. If not, great."

Here are a few interview questions from just before her episode aired.

You were ten years old when the first American Gladiators series debuted. Why did you try out this time?

Day: “I literally would eat my cereal at home and watch the show (years ago). It was something I remembered very well... I don’t like to be the center of attention, ever. I don’t like to be in pictures. So this was an opportunity not only to do some new challenges and test my body –it was a way to make myself grow as a person; put myself out there. And, I’m not going to lie, there’s $100,000 at stake.”

If you actually win the show, have you figured out what your Gladiator name would be?

“Oh yeah! It would be De-Struction. That came from a friend of ours who called and said ‘She’s going to be famous.’ It just stuck.”

What was the toughest part of competing?

“I weigh, on a good day, 113 pounds. These girls you go up against are 50, 60 pounds heavier than me. You are looking in the eyes of somebody who gets paid – some of these women are (martial arts) fighters – they get paid to take women out. I’m just a dumb personal trainer. The hardest part is looking in these girls eyes and knowing they have the upper hand because they’re trained to kill.”

Tough as the competition is, was it tougher for someone who doesn’t like attention to be on national TV?

“I still don’t know if I’m even going to watch it (laughing). When you’re in the middle and they’re filming it, you’re not thinking, this is going to be on national television. You’re thinking about getting knocked off a platform in 50 degree water.  I’m a procrastinator by nature, so I’m still debating whether I’m going to hide and shut off my phone (today).

Sources:  Sarasota Herald Tribune, TampaBay.com, FigureRX Magazine