WWW- If you haven’t found yourself watching NBC’s newly revised American Gladiators, then it may be time to tune in.
Hosted by former wrestler turned reality star Hulk Hogan, the newly reformatted show has a little surprise for gay porn fans. Alex Castro, formerly known as COLT model Elian Cortez has now segued to the small screen as Militia—one of the mainstay gladiators on the show.
Gladiators, which has been absent from the television lexicon for over a decade, is just one of many revisited early reality based programs that are returning to the airwaves as a desperate attempt to forgo the writer’s strike negotiations.
Originally conceived in 1989, Gladiators is a tournament style strength competition, which pits everyday athletic members of society against giant warrior like athletes to compete for the ultimate grand prize of $100,000 and the opportunity to return in the following season as a new gladiator.
The Gladiators, who are mostly pro or amateur bodybuilders and former football players, try to stop contestants from earning their way into the final elimination round through roman style combat challenges such as the joust, tug-o-war, and powerball.
The 24 contestants made up of 12 women and 12 men face off one by one against the gladiators, and the winners who earn the most points face each other in the final challenge called the Eliminator, a grueling obstacle course that is designed to push them to their absolute limits.
The women are big and the men are bigger and the outcome of the reworked show seemed like it was going to be just a mindless rehash of it’s predecessor geared toward a audience of adolescent males, who have made wrestling so popular on television.
It hardly seems like the place that you would find an ex gay porn star, but when the show aired, over 12 million people tuned in to watch the two hour premiere and were greeted by the huge stud of the porn world, Alex Castro.
Appearing as Militia on the show, Castro weighs in at an impressively beefy 6’1, 230 pounds with 19-inch arms and 28-inch quads according to Fleshbot.com, which profiled the muscle god last year.
He reportedly is also packing 11 inches somewhere else on his body, but for those statistics you may have to check out the COLT Studio Groups library for confirmation.
Castro has also appeared on the pages of Playgirl and reportedly is an ex marine according to the Gladiators website, although his military status has not been confirmed. What has been confirmed, and verified by COLT Studio Group, is that Castro was a star for the studio featured in a few muscle worship videos, jack off videos, and posed for legendary COLT photographer Jim French back in 2001. You can even find him on naked muscle playing cards, which I’m sure give a new meaning to strip poker.
Following his stint in porn, Castro made an appearance as a dancer in Cirque du Soleil, Zumanity.
Even though Castro’s latest gig seems to be rather high profile for an ex porn performer, NBC exes seem to be handling spin control very quickly and have told several resources, including the New York Post, that there are no plans to edit him out of the season.
The producers told the Post they were not aware of his porn background and that it is an internal matter that is being taken care of. “We were aware that the guy had a good physique and did some modeling and stuff like that. We were certainly unaware to the extent that he apparently exposed his body,” a show representative explained.
But really what difference does it make? Castro, like Rodrigo De Carli, who caused quite a controversy on the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency when it was discovered that he had done extensive work as a porn star under the name Claudio Martin, is being hired for his body, his appearance, his athletic prowess and his agility. He is not being hired as a role model or a political activist which may be positions that would be challenged from a moralistic standpoint, and as blogger Christian Mann points out, “who cares if he has given gay men pleasure in the past?”
For now, Castro can be seen as part of NBC’s Monday night line up in the show hosted by championship boxer Laila Ali and Hulk Hogan. Though NBC seems to have no intentions of editing the well-built stunner from the show, it will be interesting to see if Alex is asked back for the already almost guaranteed second season.
For more on American Gladiators, visit www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators.