FOR millions of viewers he was an ace on TV’s Gladiators, but now Warren Furman is back in training – to become a pastor.
This summer, the former bodybuilder, who battled contestants every Saturday on the hit show in the 1990s, will be ordained a priest in the Church of England.
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Ace from Gladiators is now set to become a vicar of the Church of England Credit: Rex Features
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And his wife Dionne will stand by his side at St Paul’s CathedralCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
And by his side at St Paul’s Cathedral in London will be his wife Dionne — who is swapping her life as a Virgin Airways hostess to also become a vicar.
Warren, who was engaged to Katie Price for two years, says: “Now I’m fighting the good fight and I’ve become a gladiator for God.”
He sat down with The Sun at St Francis Community Church in Ladbroke Grove, west London, and revealed why he swapped his Gladiator pugil stick for the pulpit.
Warren, still an imposing figure even though he no longer goes to the gym or exercises, adds: “As a gladiator I lived extravagantly, but my heart was quite hardened.
“I’m not saying that celebrity is a bad thing in itself if you’re celebrated for doing something big, but I was just some guy who got pumped up for a TV show and the TV show ended.
“Something important was missing in my life, but now I found it in the Church.”
Gladiators returns to TV next Saturday, and Warren can’t wait.
He says: “That’s great news. As a nation we need a wholesome family show again.
“Everyone spends so much time on their phones and computers in different rooms, so I’m all for bringing back a series where families can come together.
“I’ll be rooting for the new Gladiators.”
Cotton buds
The show first appeared on Saturday night television in 1992, hosted by our own Ulrika Jonsson and former soccer player John Fashanu.
More than 16 million viewers watched the series, which turned its Gladiators, including Michael Van Wijk, James Crossley and Kim Betts, into household names such as Wolf, Hunter and Lightning.
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Ace, fourth from left, appeared on Saturday’s favorite TV show – hosted by our very own Ulrika Jonsson, far right Credit: LWT
Viewers loved seeing his lycra-clad stars face the audience in challenges of strength and agility in the arena.
Gladiators fought contestants with batons – weapons that looked like giant cotton buds – as well as trying to make them fall from hanging rings in the Hang Tough round and blocking their path as they rolled inside giant hamster ball-shaped “pods” in Atlaspheres .
ITV planned for the series to run for just three years, but it was such a success that by 1996 the channel was looking for new cast members, and Warren, then a 24-year-old homeless and unemployed roofer, signed up.
Once a skinny teenager, he took up bodybuilding to look like his movie heroes and says, “In the eighties, muscles ruled the world.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger was the highest paid movie star in history and as far as I could see it wasn’t because of his acting ability.
“I thought Gladiators would be a stepping stone to Hollywood.”
After Warren was accepted as Gladiator, TV bosses sent a stretch limousine to the homeless hostel in Harlow, Essex, where he was living, and flew him first class to a training camp in Mauritius with the rest of the show’s muscular stars.
He says: “The producer said to me: ‘Here are some Gladiator names, but when you choose, choose wisely because you will become a commercially important person’.
“When they suggested Ace, I thought, ‘That’s stupid. Gladiator needs a scary name, like Warrior or Rhino. Who will fear facing Ace?’
“A few weeks later they said McVitie’s was bringing out a new biscuit which came with thousands of pounds worth of advertising and it was going to be called the Ace Biscuit. I said, ‘I like that name!’
“I was completely sold out, but I paid for it straight away because they didn’t tell me the strap was ‘Ace, an incredibly dense chocolate biscuit’.
“On National Dunk Day, dressed in my lycra trousers, I got to go into a giant teacup filled with foam in Leicester Square with Kathy Lloyd, the girl from The Sun.”
Being a gladiator meant Warren was out most nights partying with his adoring fans.
He says: “I’ve lived my life like the Schwarzenegger ethic – you only get one life, live it rich, live it fast.
“But no one taught me that the more you get of something, the less it satisfies you.
“I didn’t realize that I was acquiring a destructive habit, drinking too much, fornicating, having an excess of everything I wanted.
“Morally, I made some bad decisions. When everyone calls you Ace, you start to believe it. I started to get cocky.”
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Warren got engaged to Katie Price in 1997, while she was still going by the model name JordanCredit: Big Pictures
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They finally broke up after he accused her of sleeping with then Formula 1 driver Ralf SchumacherCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
In 1997, he got engaged to Katie Price, then called Model Jordan, and during their torrid relationship that lasted almost two years, they both sold stories about their sex lives.
They finally broke up after he accused her of sleeping with then-Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher, Michael’s brother.
Warren later said he was in “the club of people who were lucky enough to escape by not marrying Katie” and is now a mother of five.
Now he deeply regrets his actions and says: “It was selfish, that’s not the way I think now. I admire her a lot. I know how hard it is to be a parent.
“If I see her picture in newspapers and magazines, I pray that she will come to know God as I do and realize that her identity does not have to be about body modification or surgeries. God loves who she is.”
He adds: “At that time we played games and sold stories about each other.
“I texted her parents recently to say, ‘I just want you to know that I’m sorry for my part in this. I hope you will forgive me’.
“Her parents came back and said, ‘We really enjoyed being with you.’ It was very nice.”
The first version of Gladiator ran for 13 series before ending in 2000 after 133 episodes – but no one told its stars it was being cancelled.
Warren says: “I read it on the front page of The Sun. I was at a petrol station and The Sun had a picture of me and a falling thumb.
“Instead of the show’s catchphrase, ‘Gladiators, are you ready?’ the headline read: ‘Gladiators, you are dead’. I picked up the newspaper and learned that the show had been cancelled.
“My next call was to my bank manager, because he took away my pugil stick and lycra, and I didn’t have the skills to pay the bills.
“I started going with my brother to work on roofs, and people up on the scaffolding would swear – ‘Ooh, Ace, did you sleep with Ulrika?’ It was humiliating.”
In 2000, he met Dionne, a Virgin Airways cabin crew manager and also a Christian.
They now have two children – Bailey, 20, and Anna, 18. While Dionne flew around the world, Warren worked as a construction site manager.
He felt that something was missing in his life and in 2015 he found what he was looking for on a Church of England course.
This led him to start a charity, Ace Active, which visits schools to spread the word.
On school visits, he wears a costume made for Russell Crowe in Gladiator — bought for £60 on Gumtree — to explain how the Romans helped create the Christian church.
Warren says: “Russell Crowe sold his suit for £60,000 so I got a bargain because it’s identical.”
The lockdown meant Warren couldn’t visit schools and Dee’s flights were grounded, so they both decided to train to be priests.
On July 6, they will be ordained and then sent to different churches to work.
Next Saturday, Warren will sit down with his family to watch the new Gladiators and marvel at how the original series changed his life.
He says: “I’ve seen the clips and they look fantastic. I will shout at the television cheering for the new Gladiators.
“I might even go back to the gym. Dee told me, ‘You’ve got to get back in shape’, but I said, ‘Round is shape, my dear’.
“I used to run an eliminator in the Battle Of The Giants series. I can’t take a bath these days. If I bend down, I can’t come back.”
- Gladiators starts at 5.50pm on January 13 on BBC One. Learn more about Warren’s charitable work at aceactive.org.
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Warren met Dionne while she was working as a cabin crew manager for Virgin Airways Credits: Submitted
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Warren found what he was looking for in a Church of England course in 2015Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
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