Gladiators finalist: 'It's been fun to rep the flag of south London'

"I'm a speaker of many languages but I don't have the words or language to describe what it would mean to win Gladiators," says Emily Bell. The 23-year-old from south London has made it through to the 2026 final of the BBC hit show. As if Gladiator-slaying wasn't enough, Emily, a Cambridge graduate, has also just started a career in marketing, and she plays rugby for the London Broncos. It's perhaps the latter that has helped her get so far, she says, and how she managed to hold her own against Gladiator powerhouses such as Cyclone. "It's just been so fun to rep the flag of south London, of Croydon," she says. It's where family and friends will gather "for a big party" on Saturday to watch the final, she adds. For Emily, being from Croydon and having Croydon's support has been an important part of the journey. "Community is important, sometimes it does lack, especially in big cities, so it's been really nice now to bring community together." Emily says her mother has been fairly instrumental in making sure all of Croydon knows that she's on Gladiators. "My mum will tell a rando in the supermarket, and then they're invested, and they'll tell someone else, and they'll tell someone el