Strictly and Gladiators star Montell Douglas made sports history
Douglas - AKA Fire on Gladiators - has signed up for Strictly 2024
Montell Douglas is likely to rock the Quickstep when she hits the Strictly dancefloor, given that she was once the fastest woman in Britain.
The 38-year-old may be best known to TV viewers as Fire from the Gladiators reboot, but before that she was an Olympian and Commonwealth star. And she brings with her an impressive sporting pedigree that's quite different to duelling on a podium or running the Gauntlet.
With a stint on Strictly Come Dancing confirmed, will Douglas’ sporting skills give her an edge on the BBC ballroom show?
Montell Douglas set sprint record
Douglas' first sport was sprinting, with her lightning speed taking her all the way to Team GB. In 2008 she clocked up a 100 metres personal best of 11.05 seconds, setting a British women’s record that she hung onto until it was broken by Dina Asher-Smith in 2019.
She also competed in the 100 metres and the 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Douglas missed out on a medal but two years later got her hands on a different gold when her team won the relay at the Commonwealth Games.
Star juggled Summer AND Winter Olympics
The athlete has also managed an impressive feat – mastering two different sports to Olympic level. After focusing on sprinting early in her career the London-Born star later felt drawn towards an entirely different discipline, bobsledding.
She took it up in 2016 and by 2017 was already good enough to participate in the Bobsleigh World Cup, where she finished in the top 10.
In 2022 she was picked for the Winter OIympics in Beijing as part of the two woman event, becoming the first female Brit to compete at both the Summer and Winter Olympics.
“It’s been a journey for me and because we’ve had a number of men but no women do it,” Athletics Weekly quoted her as saying at the time. “It’s been great to represent women and that was something that I really wanted to achieve.
"So I’m blown away.”
Gladiators reboot
In 2023 it was announced that Douglas was one of the new Gladiators in a reboot of the 90s mega hit. The show was resurrected for a new series with Bradley Walsh and his son Barney at the helm. It introduced viewers to a new generation of Gladiators, with the likes of Fire, Nitro, Diamond, Viper and Legend taking over from the old guard of Wolf, Jet and co.
Douglas told of her excitement as she joined the line-up, writing on Instagram: "Not me being a whole GLADIATOR!!! @gladiatorstv was THAT show! 6-year-old me remembers seeing the iconic Glads in the arena squaring up to the contenders brave enough to take them on and putting on the biggest fight I'd ever seen on TV.
"Never would I have imagined I'd be one of them! Throughout my career as an Olympic Sprinter turned Bobsledder... I can now add GLADIATOR."
What has Montell Douglas said about Strictly 2024?
Douglas is now set to add dance to her list of skills. She has promised some excitement, teasing that she is set to "light up" the dancefloor when her Strictly journey gets under way.
Speaking as the news was announced from where Gladiators was being filmed at the Sheffield Utilita Arena, she said: "Strictly ARE YOU READY, Fire is here to light up the ballroom.
"Wow I am so honoured to have been asked to do the show. It is such an amazing thing to be a part of and I can’t wait to get started. Hopefully a few of my Gladiator moves will come in handy with the Tango or Paso Doble!”
She will be taking part in Strictly alongside Jamie Borthwick, Tom Dean, Shayne Ward, Sarah Hadland, Pete Wicks, Tasha Ghouri, Dr Punam Krishan, Toyah Willcox, JB Gill, Wynne Evans and Chris McCausland, with more celebs due to be confirmed.
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One this autumn.
