10 Jul 2025
One of the stars of TV’s Gladiators series was a special guest at a St Albans primary school this week, when he explained how he succeeded in fulfilling his childhood dream of joining the show.
Good guy Steel hosted Monday morning assembly at Oakwood Primary School after the PTA funded his visit thanks to funding from previous community events.
He led a workshop focusing on his transformation, including tips on healthy eating, hydration, exercise, confidence and mindset, before taking part in classroom Q&As and signing autographs for pupils.
Steel, aka Zack George, is a UK CrossFit star who won the title of the UK’s Fittest Man in 2020. He has made it his mission to help young people with their fitness after undertaking his own personal journey as a teenager.
He has previously admitted to being overweight as a child, eating a takeaway six times a week and big bags of Haribo every day after school.
But he was motivated to start exercising by a desire to become a Gladiator after watching the original run of the show, little expecting it would return to TV screens again.
“I didn’t exercise, didn’t eat healthy, didn’t have any confidence, but I had a dream and a goal, and that was to become a Gladiator, so I needed to start eating healthier, exercising, start believing in myself, and start drinking more water.
“I had lots of obstacles and hurdles along the way, including having over 10 allergies and also being asthmatic, but I still became the UK’s Fittest Man and I still became a Gladiator.
“So what does that tell you? Never give up, and no matter what setbacks you have, as long as you work hard, stay dedicated and believe in yourself, you can truly achieve anything you want to.”
Oakwood PTA chair Clare Seldon said: “It was a great honour to accompany Zack to all the classrooms and see how excited the children were to meet him. Questions ranged from the simple – What’s your favourite colour? – to the more intense – How do you feel before you meet a contestant head-to-head? We will be sharing some of the answers on our Instagram feed for our whole community to enjoy.”
