Debbie tells of gruelling day with 1,500 rivals

An East Yorkshire fitness instructor who reached the final auditions for a place on the gruelling TV show Gladiators today spoke about her disappointment at missing out - and about how "disheartening" the whole process was.

Debbie Taplin, 26, a beauty therapist who teaches aerobics at Pocklington, was one of thousands of fitness fanatics who applied to battle-it-out against the likes of Rio, Hunter, Wolf, Falcon and Ace.

She reached the final 1,500 and on Saturday was called for an audition at Newcastle, where, among a long list, she had to run 800 metres in three minutes, do five chin-ups with 15 seconds inbetween, and climb a ladder and rope.She said: "I used to watch it on TV and think 'I'd be able to do that, no problem'.

"But is so difficult - I don't think people realise just how difficult it is."

When Debbie sent the application form in, she was told that if she hadn't heard before March 31 she had not been successful - but she was told three weeks later she had, and was given only three weeks to train.

"I trained every night, and before I went to the audition I could reach all the goals the show would set at the audition.

"But when I got there it was completely different; you only got one chance to do everything, and if you fail, that's it. I failed because I couldn't do everything; you just have to stop.

"There were men with huge muscles who were also failing to do the events, and at the end of the day only a few girls got through.

"There was a really unfriendly atmosphere - everyone was really focused - but you could also tell that most people were really disheartened. It would have been nice to talk to all the other applicants about what they thought about it."But to be honest I was quite relieved when it was over."

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