Dundee Gladiators star Sheli McCoy has revealed her plans for filming the second series of the hit BBC show.
The gym owner appeared as Sabre during the programme’s reboot earlier this year.
Gladiators bosses have since confirmed Sheli will be back, along with her fellow competitors, for a second series.
Speaking on Celebrity Skin Talk with actor and influencer Scott McGlynn, Sheli said she will return for filming this summer before the series is expected to air early next year.
She said: “Season two’s a go, I’m there.
“I leave to go down south mid-summer.
“All I know from what’s been put out in the media is that season two’s a go, I’ll be there, and it’s in Sheffield again.”
Speaking about the moment she was signed up for the show, Sheli said:Â “Wildly, they called me. I hadn’t applied or anything, they got me on Instagram.
Sheli McCoy ignored Gladiators invite ‘thinking it was a hoax’
“What they actually did was Googled ‘Scotland’s best athletes’ and my name came up, alongside this list of names.
“They looked at each athlete, finding out about them and their history, and then reached out to the ones they thought were potential for the show.
“Then they came to me and emailed me a few times and DMed me a few times. I ignored it because I thought, ‘That’s a hoax, that’s not real’.
“Eventually, Andrew the production manager called me and said, ‘Do not hang up, this is not a hoax’.
“I flew to London the next day for an audition, you still had to go through the audition process, which included fitness tests and things like that.
“They came straight to me and gave me the opportunity.”
Sheli says being on Gladiators is both a “huge privilege” and “great fun”.
She said:Â “All of the other guys, there’s 16 of us, we just hung out all day and drank coffee.
“We’d then go out and put on a show for 3,500 people in the audience.
“It was class. I loved it and I’m looking forward to doing it again.
“The opportunity to be a part of a group of people who inspire a whole generation of children, I don’t know if there’s something better I could have done with my life.”
Sheli, who runs Sweatbox gym in Dundee, added:Â “I had no idea that millions of people had expectations of the show, previous heartthrobs, people that they idolise.
“Even now, people will talk about the first time they met Wolf or Jet or Lightning and what that person said to them. I’m like, ‘How do you remember this?’
“Now that I’ve met some kids, I understand that it’s a real moment in some people’s lives.
“I’ve just been to a supermarket and someone came up to me and was like, ‘You’re not the one on Gladiators, are you?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s me’.
“I’m still just a girl from Dundee.”
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