Who is Steel? Gladiators 2025 star and CrossFit athlete
Steel has been described as "Mr Nice Guy" – until he's in the arena.
Gladiators, ready? The hit game show is back for another season, with the team of all-star athletes ready to do some truly iconic challenges that many people know from the show's original run.
Getting ready to take on brave members of the public is Steel, a CrossFit athlete who has wanted to become a Gladiator ever since he was a child.
Describing his alter ego, Zack George said Steel is "Mr Nice Guy" – but he comes with a catch.
"He's always smiling and very friendly," he told the BBC ahead of his debut on the show."But when the game starts, he's an absolute machine.
"If he loses then he’ll lose graciously and say 'well done' to the contenders, but he's not going to lose very easily."
Read on for everything you need to know about Steel.
Steel – Age, Instagram and stats
Real name: Zack George
Age: 34
Height: 6ft
Bicep: 67cm
Instagram: @zackgeorge / @steelthegladiator
Who is Steel?
Steel is a CrossFit athlete who has graced the cover of Men's Health magazine and was one named fittest in the UK in 2020. He can lift 220kg, which is the equivalent of 3.5 washing machines!
According to CrossFit Games 2024, Steel is "one of the world's top CrossFit athletes", ranking 26 out of 126,461 competitors.
Speaking about why he wanted to become a Gladiator, Zack explained that he had watched the original series and as a child he remembered thinking the original line-up looked like "superheroes".
"To even one day potentially look like them let alone actually become a Gladiator is like a dream come true," he said ahead of his appearance on the show.
"To have the opportunity to repay what the original series did for me to the kids and the people watching this new one is great."
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Gladiators returns on Saturday 18th January at 5:50pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Katelyn Mensah is the Entertainment and Factual Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.
Tilly Pearce is a freelance TV journalist whose coverage ranges from reality shows like Love Is Blind to sci-fi shows like Fallout. She is an NCTJ Gold Standard accredited journalist, who has previously worked as Deputy TV Editor (maternity cover) at Digital Spy, and Deputy TV & Showbiz Editor at Daily Express US.
