Sheli initially felt Gladiator call was hoax

Gladiators star Sheli McCoy has revealed how she ignored an initial invitation to join the show thinking it was a hoax.

The Dundee gym owner appeared as Sabre during the programme’s reboot earlier this year.

Gladiators bosses have since confirmed Sheli will be back, along with her fellow competitors, for a second series.

But speaking on Celebrity Skin Talk with actor and influencer Scott McGlynn, Sheli revealed how she nearly did not end up on the show at all – because she thought she was being wound up.

She said: “Wildly, they called me. I hadn’t applied or anything – they got me on Instagram.

“What they actually did was Googled ‘Scotland’s best athletes’ and my name came up, alongside this list of names.

“They looked at each athlete, finding out about them and their history, and then reached out to the ones they thought were potential for the show. Then they came to me and emailed me a few times and DM’d me a few times.

“I ignored it because I thought: ‘That’s a hoax, that’s not real.’

“Eventually, Andrew the production manager called me and said: ‘Do not hang up, this is not a hoax.’

“I flew to London the next day for an audition – you still had to go through the audition process, which included fitness tests and things like that.

“They came straight to me and gave me the opportunity.”

Sheli says she will return to filming for the second series this summer.

She said: “Season two’s go, I’m there.

“I leave to go down south mid-summer.”

Discussing her time on the show so far, Sheli said: “Apart from the fact it was a huge privilege, it is great fun.

“All of the other guys, there’s 16 of us, we just hung out all day and drank coffee.

“We’d put on a show for 3,500 people in the audience.

“It was class. I loved it and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

“The opportunity to be a part of a group of people who inspire a whole generation of children, I don’t know if there’s something better I could have done with my life.”

Sheli, who runs Sweatbox gym in Dundee, added: “I had no idea that millions of people had expectations of the show, previous heartthrobs, people that they idolise.

“Even now, people will talk about the first time they met Wolf or Jet or Lightning and what that person said to them. I’m like: ‘How do you remember this?’ Now that I’ve met some kids, I understand that it’s a real moment in some people’s lives.

“I’ve just been to a supermarket and someone came up to me and was like: ‘You’re not the one on Gladiators, are you?’ and I was like: ‘Yeah, it’s me.’

“I’m still just a girl from Dundee.”

THE REAL McCOY: But Sheli nearly missed the Sabre role, assuming it was a prank.