Gladiators Zone - Interview: Fire, Magdalena Wysoczanska

Fire: "I am doing very well in the sense that I always have been an independent person and relied on no outside influences. From having my own interior design business to Gladiators – quite a change, but now a fashion consultant with own range and imported range, where I do brand-media and marketing for big companies 'Beautifully Dangerous' is the name of my business and I also do brand marketing for M-Magazine (fitness and lifestyle). Still very involved in the fitness industry, where I design fitness and nutrition programs and afford people make over opportunities to their bodies."

Fire: "I had no idea what was ahead of me, I got involved by chance as it was last minute audition after everyone else was chosen already, with no fitness background like the others, from only being an outdoor girl, doing no sports at school. It was all very new for me and hence I proved to myself that anything is possible if you put your mind, body or soul into it.

I only ever watch the UK Gladiators before I was sent to an audition and made nothing of it as I was more interested in doing the odd modelling as I had till then, no physical interests at all till that time, and in fact I never believed that a woman should train in order to develop any muscle definition – but only do aerobics. I eventually developed a passion for the human body and what it was capable of doing… now I am an addicted expert on body, health, fitness and what causes aging.

The launch of the show was pretty exciting at the time, it was a new thing in this country so everyone was looking forward to it and the hype around it was very big. Looking back I think if I knew then the consequences that every move would have on the future, I might have used my character a lot more to its full potential especially during the launch. I was a total novice at ever thing and that worked against me a little."

Fire: "The pressure was the least of my stress, because all I had to be was who I have always been. A humble, honest and kind person who became an inspiration to some and as long as I stayed true to who I was all I needed to do was protect myself from the bad energy which came only from the competition within the team. The pressure was only to those who tried to be who they never really could be with the team, by that I mean that with becoming famous and recognisable you had to upkeep the image at all times. At any given time if you were called for an appearance you had to look the way everyone out there knew you. For me perfection in that came from my upbringing, always groomed and tidy as well as lived the life I preached. There was a lot of jealousy within the team of girls, and the challenge was to not let it get to you in a way that would break you down. Some of the girls from the fitness industry made it apparent that they thought it was a joke to have me in the show with no fitness experience, to them I was just a model.

I proved them wrong after many years, and after becoming unbeatable on most of the games I did. The recognition was part and parcel of becoming a personality, you had to cope with it and to a point to was great, and at time you had to hide to keep your life a private one. There is always advantages to everything in life… it’s the way one looks at them and uses them to their own good. I have never been a quitter so no never wanted to quit, but sometimes wished that people could see thing through my eyes and how much harder I had to work on making it work for me, coming from a non fitness background."

Fire: "I was an all rounder yes, the big difference was that I was light for my height and strong for my weight. That made me faster at most of the speed games and where you relied a lot on body weight ration to strength like Hang Tough – I could handle my weight and the Contenders no problem. That definitely helped with avoiding some of the more serious injuries. Because I did a lot of mountain and rock climbing as part of my outdoor exercises and the passion for it at the time, it was a natural reaction to do The Mountain. My first win, oh yes, it was an insane indescribable feeling!"

Fire: "I learned a lot from that experience, nobody does anything for anyone unless it benefits them at the end of the show! At first the advice was somehow provided with a “oh shame” attitude, she is new and she has no athletic or even team partaking experience, lets help her a little. Guys were more open to giving advice, especially Spider and Wilderbeast (they did have a lot of experience from having gone overseas and were always willing to teach newcomers). Myself and Gold connected from day one, I meat Cherrie at the 'specially organised trials' in a park behind the production house (because we just missed the main trials). The friendship stemmed from spending a lot of time together at photoshoots and the appearances we did together. We even shared the passion for alternative living and holistic approach to medicine. Me a vegetarian/bordering on vegan and Cherrie being a lacto-vegetarian we always compared notes and carried our own food around where ever we went. We drifted when Gold left, and Sahara and I eventually got to know each other better by working closer together and because I had a interior design business, I helped her to decorate and design her new place. I think I forgot to mention that at the time of becoming a Gladiator member, I was running my own interior design business, but instead of closing or selling my 'baby' which was just beginning to grow, I hired extra people and set my self a challenge to succeeded in both.

I always tried to be helpful to the newcomers, until such time I realised that it was all taken for granted (and I am not generalising but the fact of the matter was that you could not make true friends in that circle). Jealousy and envy got the better of everyone.

A big part of my Gladiator sprit died with Christy (Sahara), especially after experiencing some fun times outside of work. When Gold left I thought I was at a loss for a simple reason that she always made everyone laugh, even when she was having a bad day. I am not a resentful person and I don’t hold grudges, so I can tell it as it was. It's not a secret that from the very first day, Force did not see me as a Gladiator material. You can understand she was a reigning Miss Fitness (could be Miss Figure) and I was just a model (who in fact never made it as a model because I was always told studies came first) and till then I never did any competitive sports. Obviously I developed no feelings towards Joann, who never had anything nice to say to me (we hardly spoke in any case). As she was slowly being given less and less Events and I didn’t have to endure her bitterness, I felt very little sadness to see us part. I never rejoiced any one of the Gladiators leaving the team, were we still a team after all."

Fire: "I have mixed feelings regarding the last show, in one way it was a chance for me to grow up and play on the sensuality of the character 'Fire'. I had the opportunity to come out a little more aggressive, and therefore much stronger as a person. On the other hand the whole show lost the flame. The whole look of the show came across weaker (it lost the heroic feel), and at the point at which the selected team became a strong powerful brand and gained a specific respect by the public the new dynamic of the show kind of deflected from the powerful image it once was.

The element of a Goddess was fresh but could have been thought through better. Adding martial arts into the show proved to be a great idea and made Scorpion one in a million. However, looking at the big picture and what truly worked, I honestly feel that Fox was the only Gladiator to have added real value to the show at that point in time, reason being she was already hot property overseas and again when she came out. She was one of the top of the crop. Tammy’s dedication added value for who she was and her competitiveness added extra strength to the team. Well as for the 'two for the price of one' (Gemini) neeeee, did not work for me. Tusk was an all rounder, you can not replace that. Wilderbeest for being so agile and amazing at all the games."