Vulcan from Gladiators: On spandex, injuries and starring in a Bond movie

WE’VE tracked down the most famous Gladiator to tell us about his spandex outfit, injuring a contestant and how he landed a role in a Bond movie.

“GLADIATORS ... are you reeeaddddyyyyy?”

Takes you back doesn’t it? In the mid-1990s TV viewers were treated to three seasons of Gladiators - a show that took weedy everyday Aussies and threw them into a giant arena to take on a select group of buff men and women in a series of physical challenges.

The stars of the show were not the brave contestants, but rather the Gladiators themselves.

They all had glorious names, including Commando, Flame, Hammer and Storm, but the standout was definitely Vulcan.

News.com.au caught up with the mountain of a man (whose real name is John Seru) to find out what life was like on the show, how he ended up in a Bond movie and if he keeps in touch with his old Gladiator buddies.

An intimidating bunch: Hammer, Tower and Vulcan.

Who chose the name Vulcan?

“The producers chose it,” said Seru.

“I wanted to be called Blade because I thought that was a really cool name but they asked around and one of the girls chose Blade before me.

“I didn’t care what they called me. It’s not about the name, it’s about the character.”

Did he ever injure a contestant?

“I did once in the UK,” said Seru who appeared in two seasons of the British version in the late 1990s.

“I was challenging this guy on duel who was a surfer and he had really good balance. I hit him in the head with one shot and it was the first time I’ve felt sorry for someone.

“He had a delayed reaction. He just stood there for a few seconds and then he just fell back and hurt his neck.

“You could hear how hard I hit him. It was a big smack.”

Vulcan and Condor prepare for the gauntlet.

Did he ever get injured on the show?

“If I did, I’d never show it.”

Does he still have his Gladiators outfit?

“I do actually, yeah,” said Seru.

“I actually have it framed up in my house and when I look at it I can’t believe how fu**ing small it is.”

Does he still talk to any of the other Gladiators?

“Tower and I are good mates so I call him every now and then,” said Seru, “but that’s about it”.

“I wouldn’t mind having a reunion actually. It would be cool to get the crew back together for the 20th anniversary next year.”

In the 1990s Vulcan got to mingle with some big stars, including Dee Smart and Russell Crowe.

How did he end up getting a role in the Bond film The World Is Not Enough in 1999?

“They saw me doing the UK version and they tracked me down,” said Seru.

“They called me and I thought it was a wind up so I kept brushing them off. It took them two weeks to nail me down.

“Even when they flew me to London I still had doubts in my mind. I didn’t believe anything until I went to the studio and I saw Dame Judi Dench and I was like, ‘What the fu**, this is real!’ And then I saw Pierce Brosnan and again I was like, ‘What the fu**!’ And then I saw Denise Richards, who I’d just seen in Wild Things and there she was standing right in front of me.”

Seru in The World Is Not Enough alongside Sophie Marceau.

What was Pierce Brosnan like?

“He was the nicest guy ever,” said Seru.

“He’s very suave. He’s like a man’s man and a ladies man too. He called me John Seru like it’s one word so I said, ‘Bro, it’s two names not one’.”

You’re now 50 years old, what are you up to these days?

“I run Club Vulcan Gym in Menai, NSW,” said Seru.

“We do weight training and power training and we train a lot of rugby guys. We also do amateur boxing and wrestling ... pretty much everything.”

You can even get Club Vulcan merch!