The Grand Finale of American Gladiators began with lots of fluff. Seriously, I think the first thirty minutes was filler. I did enjoy the montage of big hits, but other than that...

I expected a great competition between all four finalists. My picks to win were Evan, the sales manager and rock climbing instructor, and Monica, the soccer mom and ex-Trailblazer dancer. I wouldn't have been upset with any result, though. I still have a soft spot for Alex, the history teacher, and Shanay has been inspiring.

The females kept it close throughout. Neither woman was dominating last night. In fact, the female Gladiators shut Monica out in three of the five events, and Shanay in two of five. Siren routed both women in Hang Tough, and Crush was dominating in the Joust, as usual. She should have had a shutout. Shanay went down to her knees almost immediately, into a defensive position, and didn't get up the entire time, earning her five points. The Gladiators must stay on their feet; too bad the contenders didn't have to. Shanay found a loophole in the rules in the semis and took advantage of it again last night. The Gladiators totally dominated the ladies in The Pyramid, too, with neither earning any points.

Monica got ten points in two events, The Assault and The Wall. She was able to send Hellga flying backwards into the water at the slingshot station and got up The Wall before Shanay. Shanay was able to earn three points in The Assault and five points on The Wall, in addition to the tainted five points from The Joust.

On the men's side, Evan was able to max out on points in three events. He made Wolf look stupid again in both Hang Tough and The Wall, and sent Justice flying in The Assault. Titan was able to stop him in two seconds in the Joust, and Toa threw him around in The Pyramid. Poor Alex had a rough night: he was manhandled in the strength events and watched Evan's back in the others. The only event that he was able to gain a little bit of ground in was The Pyramid, when he was able to at least reach the scoring level once before being flung all the way back down by Mayhem.

The men's Eliminator was a pretty good race, although I had a feeling that I knew how it would come out. Alex had the course record and also had a 9.5 second head start on Alex. He was already at the cargo net before Alex could even start! He ran the course in 1:19, a new record.

The ladies were next and I expected a much closer race. Monica had a 3.5 second head start, but Shanay's best time was about 3 seconds faster than Monica's. It didn't disappoint. Shanay caught up at the cargo net, but both women fell off the hand bikes and Monica took the lead for good at the balance beam. It looked like Shanay ran out of gas at the pyramid, and Monica won easily in 1:50.

So there we have it: Monica and Evan are our American Gladiators Grand Champions! Hulk already told Evan that he was going to drag him to the gym to bulk him up for next season. Congrats Monica, Evan, and NBC for a fun show.

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