American Gladiators has gotten some traction in the sports media, so we’ll dive in there for a moment with the appearance tonight of their first openly gay male contestant: Sean Hetherington, a stand-up comedian who lost 100 pounds in 2003 and who has become a personal trainer (and waiter). On his online profile for AG, he declares his marital status as ‘boyfriend.’ Very refreshing that AG would actually acknowledge that.
Four contenders with over 300 pounds of weight lost between them storm into Gladiator Arena. Hetherington, from West Hollywood, will take on high school English teacher James Ruggiero from Yucca Valley, Calif., who recently shed 65 pounds.
There’s a much longer story with before-weight-loss photos at AfterElton. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Hat tip to Ted Rybka from GLAAD.
on Jul 1st, 2008 at 8:40 AM
Well they know their audience. Laser, Nitro and Turbo from the original series helped me through puberty!
on Jul 1st, 2008 at 8:49 PM
I couldn’t believe it when i saw this article come up on my blog! If this dude can make the Gladiators, I definitely feel much better about my chances of really showing these guys who the Real American is!!!
on Jul 5th, 2008 at 5:36 PM
Did anybody see the episode? The poor guy got crushed! I think his opponent had like a 30 second head start or something.