What it took to become Ice from American Gladiators

[00:00:00] Intro: Welcome to Chilling With Ice with me, Lori Fedrick, or most of you know me as Ice from the American Gladiators. Thank you for joining me on this podcast where we're gonna dive in and go behind the scenes on the number one hit iconic show of the nineties. It's time to get up close and personal on what drove us to be gladiators, what challenges we faced, and how we overcame to reach all of our.

[00:00:28] Intro: I know in this first season, inquiring minds wanna know, was their drama fight hookups? Are we All still friends? What did we do in our personal lives? And how are we staying in such good shape years later? Well, stay right. here and let's get into chilling with ice.

[00:00:47] there we go. .

[00:00:47] Before we dive into our incredible episode today, I wanna let you know that this is a self-funded podcast and I would love your support for the cost of a cup of coffee a month, you can donate to my Patreon page and that would make all the difference in the world. For the small donation, you will get back so much in rewards.

[00:01:05] Like you can watch all of my podcasts on video. I will have exclusive content like behind the scenes footage, a private Facebook group where you can interact with me directly and other V.I.P fans, a monthly Q & A, direct shout outs and follows from me to you on your social media, and so much more. Find me on Patreon at Chillin' with ICE

[00:01:29] , or click the link in the show notes now.

[00:01:31] Okay, let's dive in.

[00:01:33] Lori: All right. All right. Here we are today, and we're back. And thank you very much April for joining me again. We're gonna talk about gladiators today. Yeah. So we kind of went before we went before Gladiators. Now let's go during, let's go have some fun with this kind of stuff. You know? Yeah. And, yeah, I'm excited.

[00:01:50] Lori: Let's, let's get into it. I mean, we left off, where'd we, we left off at,

[00:01:55] April: how did you get to tryout for the Gladiators? what was it like during tryouts and, basically what happened after that?

[00:02:04] American Gladiators tryouts

[00:02:04] Lori: Well, I mean, tryouts were, that's, it's kind of like one of those stories to where I've told it a lot.

[00:02:08] Lori: You know what I mean? It's like what, what were tryouts, like tryouts were, it was interesting. Tryouts were kind of grueling a little bit for me. I mean, basically it's like I found out that, you know, Ray Hallett was pregnant and there was gonna be tryouts. And I just started flipping through the phone book.

[00:02:25] Lori: She didn't gimme any information whatsoever. And so, you know, that's the story everybody has already heard. When I went into the tryouts, I mean, there were some big ass bodybuilder chicks. I bet. I mean, they were like, I, I was big at the time, you know, because I was, you know, I was, yeah, I was going into nationals as a matter of fact, I was getting ready to actually try out, not try out, but go compete in national body building for my, for the heavy races.

[00:02:51] April: Yeah. We're seeing pictures of that time, so yeah. You were pretty ripped.

[00:02:54] Lori: Oh my god. I was huge and I was ripped.

[00:02:56] April: Were there girls bigger than you though?

[00:02:58] Lori: Yes. Wow. Yes. I was probably weighing, I'm gonna guess, probably, I don't know, one 50, maybe 1 55, something like that. Yeah. Some of these girls were like 180 5, 9, 180.

[00:03:11] April: Oh my gosh.

[00:03:12] Lori: Yeah. And, and for some reason it's like with the gladiator tryouts, they had like, the very first thing was, They wanted to know how many pull-ups you could do. And I guess that they, they figured that was like the sign of strength or something. You know? How many pull-ups can you do?

[00:03:25] April: How many could you do?

[00:03:29] Lori: Honestly, I think I could probably do like 15, 20 at the time. And I think they only required the women to do like eight or 10 But you gotta remember I was, I was, you know, doing body building. I was competing. And so, I mean, and we already talked about, you know, the little enhancements and shit like that.

[00:03:46] Lori: When I was training, and this is crazy, but I wasn't doing pull-ups like this. My hands were like this. I would put a belt around my waist with a chain that hung down and I would attach a 45 pound plate to that chain. And I would do pull-ups.

[00:04:04] April: Are you serious? Yes. Yes. What I was, that's in You're a beast,

[00:04:10] Lori: a monster. Yes. I was a beast back then.

[00:04:13] April: That's crazy. I know. And that's after the juice though, just because of the juice.

[00:04:18] Lori: Well, come on. I mean, geez. Yeah. Okay. I was, I was like, yeah. Strong as bull.

[00:04:27] Lori: It's like my TikTok video. Oh my God. They need to show that. I know. What was that?

[00:04:30] April: Can you show that?

[00:04:31] Lori: What was the, what was the, uh,

[00:04:33] April: strong like bear in the forest or something like that?

[00:04:35] Lori: Yeah, exactly. The TikTok video. oh. I don't want to be, what was that? I don't wanna be like a, I don't wanna be strong, like, man, I want to be able to kill Baron for us. So me like that. It's stupid.

[00:04:45] April: It was like your first one too.

[00:04:46] Lori: It's my very first TikTok.

[00:04:47] April: Yeah. It was funny though. I know. You gotta show that

[00:04:50] Lori: by the way. You look pretty, you look hot today. Really? Yeah. Thanks. Love the hat. We tried. I love the hat.

[00:04:57] April: Yeah. Love the chilling with ice. Absolutely. You look pretty good too.

[00:05:00] April: Actually Clean up. Nice.

[00:05:03] Lori: Yeah, we do, don't we? Yeah. You know, it that hat by the way. Huh? I'm gonna tell 'em where they can get it. You can actually, I have chilling with ice hats. I have I have a website and it's called Ice T-Shirts. And you can go get a hat like that. I have all kinds of, all kinds of fun things.

[00:05:21] Lori: That's like my passion project. That was my, my t-shirt line.

[00:05:24] April: It's like your hobby.

[00:05:25] Lori: My hobby,

[00:05:26] April: creating t-shirts.

[00:05:27] Lori: I'm totally into the surf culture. We're going off gladiators for a second. I'm totally into the surf culture. Yeah. I mean, I wish, I mean, living in California, I wish that I actually learned how to surf.

[00:05:38] Lori: Surf, but because I couldn't see like underneath me in the ocean and it was so fucking cold, I just didn't, I didn't feel comfortable. Yeah. But anyway, I love everything about the surf culture. So anyway. Yeah, that's gladiators. I just wanted to say like, you look awesome today. Thank you. You looks

[00:05:56] Lori: beautiful.

[00:05:56] April: I try, you know, try sometimes

[00:05:58] Lori: back to gladi year's. Oh, okay. So anyway, tryouts were, tryouts were gl it was intense. You know, I had to do pullups, I had to do, they did like a simulation as far as like Powerball. what they have us do, they had us, run like a 40 yard dash, how fast we were.

[00:06:13] Lori: what else? Tug of war. Oh my God. They had us play tug of war and I was like, Playing tug of war with some chick that was like, you know, 180 5, 9. I was just like pulling him, you know, just going as hard as I could.

[00:06:24] April: Didn't you guys do that on the show though too? Like some sort of pulling like, oh, out of the circle.

[00:06:29] April: What was that? What game was that? Okay.

[00:06:30] Lori: Well there was, there was dog, I call it dog bone. Why? Just the way, like the whole handle, the way they, they, they actually called it dog bone, like backstage.

[00:06:41] April: You were good at that cuz you were, you got real low. I remember seeing you like get real low and you were able to just like, pull people out.

[00:06:48] Lori: I say it was like whiplash or something.

[00:06:50] April: Probably. It sounds like,

[00:06:51] Lori: I think that's what it was called. Yeah. Yeah. And then they actually did do a tug of war to wear the, pedestals, like, you know, kind of like, pivoted. So you were Yes, that's what I'm thinking of. Or it was backwards up on the, Yeah.

[00:07:02] Lori: Up on like the Jos pedestals. Yeah. But they made the platforms. Yes, exactly. So we did play tug of war and it wasn't my favorite. It's kind of boring. It wasn't super exciting to watch, you know?

[00:07:12] April: I thought it was because it was, you know, the fall, like, who's gonna fall?

[00:07:15] Lori: Oh, everybody wants to see the pe you know, the crash.

[00:07:17] April: Yeah, of course. That was the whole point. Mm-hmm.

[00:07:20] Lori: But so, and then what they would do Is after we went through all these different, you know, strength, agility, can you move? Are you strong? Then they put us on camera and they started asking us questions like, can you speak? Can you have a conversation?

[00:07:34] Lori: And it's funny because I go back and I've went back to watch the shows. You know, getting ready for this podcast, and I mean, every once in a while I'd go watch the show. It's been like forever. And I go back and I'm like, oh my God. The things that, you know, they would go, so Mike, Adam Lewis was awesome.

[00:07:51] Lori: So ice, how'd you feel about that? I was like, er, I was like, the stupidest shit.

[00:07:58] Lori: That's what shit that came outta my mouth. It was like, yeah, the harder they are, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, you know, shit like that. It was just like, it was hysterical. I was like, maybe a little training on what we're supposed to say would've been nice.

[00:08:12] April: Was it scripted? Was it, did you, were you guys able to do what you kind of wanted to do with, as far as like, was it planned who was gonna win? Kind of like, you know,

[00:08:21] Real or Scripted?

[00:08:21] Lori: you know, I started thinking about that the other day and, and, and no, I mean, everything was real. Everything was live. Yeah. But then I started thinking about it the other other day, going, wait a minute.

[00:08:31] Lori: They, they would put certain gladiators when they, we'd walk in, we'd see the schedule and Yeah. Certain gladiators were better at, at, you know, events than others. Yeah. And so they knew the contenders were. They were either fast, they were strong. So I have a feeling they were like, okay, well, Lori's really good at, let's say the joust and this contender.

[00:08:56] Lori: Hmm. Maybe they're not the greatest. So maybe we won't put Lori up against her. Maybe we'll take a weaker con, a weaker gladiator that isn't so good at the joust, so that the con tender has a chance. So I wonder if that was a strategy of theirs. Of course, they're not gonna tell us. But yeah, think about that.

[00:09:15] Lori: I mean, a lot of the games, you know, I, I look on the, the chat boards, you know, as far as gladiators are like, oh, the games were totally for the gladiators and nothing was for the contenders. No. This was a weekend warrior type of show. It was like, are you fast enough? Are you strong enough? To go against the gladiators.

[00:09:33] Lori: So, of course, I mean, come on, that's what the show was about.

[00:09:36] Lori: Right? So the games weren't necessarily geared towards the gladiators or geared towards the contenders.

[00:09:44] Lori: But, what was the question?

[00:09:47] April: What, what, what was it like,

[00:09:51] April: what is it like now to go back and, and see yourself like 30, what is it, 30 years later,

[00:09:55] Lori: God.

[00:09:56] Lori: Yeah. 30 years later. of course I look at my body and go, fuck yeah. Damn. I was, I was,

[00:10:03] April: you still got it.

[00:10:04] Lori: Thank you. But it's, it's interesting. I look up my legs. My legs were huge and my abs were just like ripped. Yeah. I,

[00:10:13] April: and it was so much easier to keep it and to gain it,

[00:10:17] Lori: to get it that way. I

[00:10:18] Lori: mean, obviously the one thing that I would've changed is the hair, the hairstyle.

[00:10:23] Lori: Mm-hmm. I mean the perm. But that was, that was, that was back in the eighties and nineties. Yeah. You know, that was huge. I was big.

[00:10:30] April: My favorite was the, what was the one you had the, the Joe Dirt. What's that one called?

[00:10:37] Lori: You know,

[00:10:39] April: mullet, mullet, the mullet one way. That was my favorite.

[00:10:43] Lori: I, yeah, I went through that phase. I did go through that phase to where I, I shaved both sides of my, not shaved Okay. Just trimmed both sides of my,

[00:10:52] April: not Bic, but they were definitely, yeah.

[00:10:55] Lori: Yeah. that was when I first started body building.

[00:10:57] Lori: That wasn't when I was on the actual gladiator show. My hair was longer, but I had a perm, so I would go back and I would never get a perm again if I could do it all over again. I don't know. I mean, I tried to be girly, which was really interesting. I was, you know, this big bodybuilder and yet I had like, you know, I had the fingernails.

[00:11:17] Lori: Yeah. And. And I had one girl tell me one time we're at a bar and she goes, those fingernails just don't match. They don't match you. And I was like,

[00:11:25] April: well, you had 'em long. I remember you had 'em kind of long and you'd get 'em red.

[00:11:28] Lori: I know, right? I trying to be all girly and everything. And I look back and when I look back on the show, I laugh my ass off and go, oh my God.

[00:11:36] Lori: You know, it's

[00:11:36] April: some random person just said that to you in a bar. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:11:39] Lori: That's hilarious. Yeah. So I mean, you know,

[00:11:42] Lori: going back and looking at myself, I mean, yeah, the, the events were amazing. They were fun, loved every minute of it. I think that I would've liked some coaching as far as like, what to say when they interviewed us.

[00:11:56] Lori: There was just a free for wrong. We just sounded like idiots. Mm-hmm. You know? well, well there was one show I was watching. And I think I told you this the other day, and oh, by the way, God rest her soul and this is gold. She just passed away. But, she was, she was doing Powerball and I guess Mike, Adam Lee afterwards, he goes, so gold.

[00:12:14] Lori: You were out there and man you were feeling it. And he goes, right, right in the middle. You just raise your arm up like that. And it was just like, you were, you were so into it. She goes, Mike, I was feeling good and I wanted everybody else to know I was feeling good.

[00:12:31] Lori: I mean, that's the kinda stuff you's awesome. That's the

[00:12:33] April: kind of shit we would like. You know what though? It amped up the audience. Cuz imagine all the kids at home watching people at home watching. They love that. They love that shit. I know. That's what they were watching it for. Like, you know, it's like the wrestling and stuff, it's like, ah,

[00:12:45] Lori: you know?

[00:12:46] Lori: Yeah. The wrestling, that's fun. Really got people amped up. Yeah.

[00:12:49] April: You know? So you guys were pretty competitive with each other as well,

[00:12:53] Lori: I take it. We were, we were super competitive with each other. I mean, well, especially, let's go with. We were super competitive when it came to personal appearances. All of us.

[00:13:02] Lori: Mm-hmm. Meaning guys and girls, we are super competitive because it's like, you know, that's where we made a lot of our money in the off season, but the girls, oh absolutely. Let's be real. I think we are all Aries, you know, a type A personalities. Yeah. Put 'em all together and then it's just like little cat bites here and there and drama and a little arguing and, you know, me, me, me, me, me.

[00:13:28] Lori: No, it's, you know, it's kind of like one of those kind of things backstage. so I mean, yeah, we were super, I'm, I'm gonna say yeah, we were very competitive with each other, you know. So,

[00:13:39] April: sorry, I have a ton of questions though. I've, so I have questions that I thought that the fans would wanna know.

[00:13:45] April: Okay. So I have, you know, a bunch of ask away. I got a bunch, so I had to write 'em down, ask away. So what did you love about the TV show or hate? What did you love or hate about the tour or the, or Orlando Live show? Like what did you love or hate about? I

[00:14:02] What did Lori loved and hate about the TV show?

[00:14:02] Lori: mean, all of those. Okay. So the television show, obviously I loved it.

[00:14:05] Lori: I mean, I did, I I love being,

[00:14:07] Lori: obviously that was the height of it. Yeah.

[00:14:08] Lori: I love being on television. I love the whole thing about that. Yeah. what did I hate about it? I don't, I can't really say I hated anything about it. I didn't care for like, when we would leave you. Okay. So when we're done with an event, we'd go off stage and we had to wait because what would happen is, okay, so they would film two shows a day.

[00:14:29] Lori: This is how the filming went. We would sh film two shows a day. So let's say they, put up the joust, well, they're not gonna put up the joust just for one show. They're gonna put up the joust for two shows. So you would go, you know, like the two contenders on, on my particular show. we would do them, we would film them.

[00:14:46] Lori: And if you were in one of the shows, great. You were joed. And then they'd have a second set of girls, which was show number two, go ahead and do the joust as well. And then the guys would go, and then the second set of guys would go. So there was a lot of hurry up, sit around and wait. Is what would happen.

[00:15:04] Lori: And that kind of like, um, Honestly your momentum, you know, and you know, you, you were just amped up, would go, you'd amp yourself up, do the event, and all of a sudden and go,

[00:15:15] Lori: yeah, 100%. Yeah.

[00:15:18] Lori: And you'd have to sit around and you'd have to wait for maybe an hour, hour and a half Yeah. For the next event. And you'd have to get yourself amped back up again.

[00:15:26] Lori: Hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait.

[00:15:27] Lori: Yep, yep. And go out. And maybe you weren't even in the next event. So you might be sitting around waiting for two, two and a half hours before you do an actual event. So that was hard to get, you know, amped back up for the second event. Momentum going again.

[00:15:40] Lori: Yeah. Because of the fact that they wanted you to have that energy.

[00:15:43] April: Just instant energy. And

[00:15:45] Lori: it's hard.

[00:15:45] Lori: 100%.

[00:15:46] Lori: And it is hard if you're sitting around waiting for two hours before you actually go in to do that 32nd event. Yep. So that's the one thing about the television show that was kind of hard. the tour, that was, that was interesting.

[00:16:00] American Gladiators Tour

[00:16:00] Lori: We hit 106 cities. And I think like six months. So we would just go back to back to back to back. And when they said they were putting us on a tour bus and we were gonna be like a rock and roll band, you know, in the very, let's put it this way, the first 30 days, everybody was like, Woohoo. At the end of the six months, everybody was like, oh my God.

[00:16:18] April: Oh, I can't even imagine that. You know? Yeah. It was, but did you get, you had to stay in hotels. You didn't, you weren't just on a bus the whole time. Right.

[00:16:27] Lori: What we would do is we would travel to a city. We started out in, like, let's say, I think it was Maine. Mm-hmm. We started in Maine. So we traveled to Maine, flew there, did the show, got on the bus.

[00:16:40] Lori: Okay. Let's say the show started at like seven o'clock and we would hit the stadium at like six o'clock. We'd eat dinner there. The show started at seven. We were done by nine. So nine o'clock we'd leave the stadium, we'd get on the bus and we would travel to the next city. Hopefully the city was somewhat close, but many times the city was not close and so we would travel overnight.

[00:17:03] Lori: So you were on the bus overnight? or maybe it got into the hotel, the next city, like say two in the morning.

[00:17:10] Lori: So here you are dragging your ass off the fucking bus at two in the morning after doing the show. After doing the show, you were exhausted. Get into the hotel room, settle in sleep, get up the next day like around 11, 12.

[00:17:24] Lori: Do your workout, because we still had to keep working out while we were on tour. I think that's when I got fat on tour.

[00:17:33] Lori: I look at my photos when I was on tour and. Holy crap. I was kind of chunky, you know?

[00:17:38] April: Well, you guys were kind of partying and doing

[00:17:39] Lori: all kinds of stuff.

[00:17:40] Lori: Oh my

[00:17:40] Lori: God. We were partying our asses off on that bus.

[00:17:43] Lori: Yeah. So that was fun though. It was a lot of fun, fun, fun. And, and in the beginning, in the ve you're absolutely right. In the very beginning. Yeah. You know, and the bus was a lot of fun. And the very beginning, because like some of the partiers would be in the front of the bus, they'd all be drinking beers and you could hear 'em up there hooping and hollering.

[00:17:59] Lori: And I, I don't know. The funny thing about the gladiators is, okay, so pretty much everybody had rocking bodies. And even on the bus, when they started drinking, Everybody wanted to show their rock and body. So some of the girls were like, Woohoo. They'd be flashing people. And the guys would like, I mean, I'm not saying they'd pull their pants down, but they'd pull their shirts and sometimes, you know, show their ass.

[00:18:24] Lori: And it was just like a, it was like a, a, a weird free for all kind of bus experience. Yeah. Because you just had to entertain yourself. And then there was others that were in the back of the bus, cuz there was a huge TV back there. Oh. And some would just be chilling watching a movie or something like that.

[00:18:39] Lori: Or we'd put on music and, you know, we'd be singing in the background storm. And myself, Debbie, we, I gotta say we had a blast on the tour together. We really did. the girls got an amazing voice and we were just constantly singing in the back and, you know, we'd bring it up to the front and Yeah.

[00:18:55] Lori: People were drinking beers, doing shots on the bus. So sometimes you'd get in at two in the morning and you'd be like completely wasted and you'd just stumble to your room. So yeah. You're gonna put some weight on. Yeah.

[00:19:06] April: Anybody hooking up on the bus awkwardly.

[00:19:08] Lori: Oh my God. I'm gonna, I'm gonna leave the names out, but yes, there were a few hookups and no, I didn't hook up with anybody on the bus.

[00:19:16] Lori: there were a few hookups and that's, I'm just gonna leave it at that because of course I don't want to bring in the names of course. But yeah. Certain gladiators hooked up with certain gladiators. Yeah. You know, there's, there's no, I mean, it is kind of a secret. Yeah. But nobody talks

[00:19:29] April: about it. Yeah.

[00:19:30] April: Well, people have families

[00:19:31] Lori: and I know, let's go.

[00:19:33] Lori: And so you asked the question about also Orlando Live. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Orlando Live was a blast. It, it was hard not, it wasn't hard. it was just, it was, it was time consuming. We would, okay. So what was weird about the Orlando show is having people sit down eating Turkey legs while they were like medieval

[00:19:52] April: times.

[00:19:53] April: Yes. I went to that and that was awkward. I can't, like, that's just, it was weird. Yeah.

[00:19:58] Lori: It was a weird experience.

[00:19:58] Lori: Yeah. I'm not quite sure who thought of this concept of, you know, Hey, let's grab a Turkey leg and chow down on it while you're watching some American gladiators with amazing bodies out there. I mean, I don't want to eat, when I see things like that, I'm like, oh, maybe not.

[00:20:12] Lori: makes me wanna work out more.

[00:20:14] Lori: But, and here was the worst part about it. They wanted us to go out in intermission. And saw in autographs. So they were eating, people were eating with their crazy, crazy fingers. Yes. And they were all like, you know, their mouth would be full and they'd be handing us photos, you know, can you sign this?

[00:20:29] Lori: And they're, it was just, it was gross and nobody wanted to do it.

[00:20:32] April: Somebody's kids spilled their entire, their parents' beer. All over me at when I went to medieval times. Oh my God. I wasn't a fan of those shows, but yeah,

[00:20:40] Lori: it's just not, it's not fun. No, we had fun though. I would say the locker room was interesting.

[00:20:46] Lori: they shoved everybody into one locker room, the girls locker room, the guy's locker room. But the actual show, it was kind of boring, you know, because we we're doing at night, after night, after night, after night. And then, but what was fun is the after parties. What was fun is before doing the event, I mean, we, I feel like we had the life in a way.

[00:21:07] Lori: And that was, we would either go to the beach, we'd lay in the sun. I mean, it was in Florida. You know, so we got great weather.

[00:21:12] April: There was a lot to do.

[00:21:14] Lori: There was a lot to do. And then we just had to be at the stadium by six o'clock, eat dinner, do the show, and then we were done. Nice. You know, two, two and a half hour hours later.

[00:21:22] Lori: But again, it kind of became kind of, you know, repetitive. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Yeah. But it was, it was a great job. It was fun. I mean, that was like, You know, I think that was pretty much after, yeah. The live show was after everything was kind of said and done. As far as the television show, we had heard that, again, they didn't tell us shit.

[00:21:42] Lori: but we had heard that it, it was ending that we had filmed our last season. It would've been nice for them to tell us. and then, we did the Orlando Live. I mean, so we, we weren't really sure how long that was gonna go.

[00:21:54] American Gladiators in the UK

[00:21:54] April: So what about the, the uk Because you went over to the uk?

[00:21:58] Lori: Yeah, we went over and did the international show two years in a row.

[00:22:01] Lori: Mm-hmm. That was pretty, that's pretty fucking awesome. That was cool. Yeah, I bet.

[00:22:05] April: Like all the places. Did you get to go to a lot of places while you were there?

[00:22:08] Lori: I had a, one of the gladiators show me around, you know, after, after the show. Mm-hmm.

[00:22:17] Lori: Mm-hmm. She showed you a lot. Probably a lot of stuff, huh? I know. Come on. What?

[00:22:23] April: Say? we'll get into that. That's another episode, but

[00:22:25] Lori: that's another episode. yeah.

[00:22:27] Lori: So, yeah, it was cool. We got to go like, you know, all around England and see the castles and

[00:22:32] April: Oh, I'm jealous that I wanna see the castle so bad.

[00:22:36] Lori: That was cool. International show was, it was a lot of fun as well. They do their show completely different than ours. They actually film their show in a big, huge arena. So imagine taking, let's say, I don't know, the forum here in LA Or any stadium in the cities. Filling it with people.

[00:22:56] Lori: And so you're kind of doing a live show at the same time you're taping the television show. Hmm. So that's how they tape their television shows. And if you think about it, it's like England. The amount of people that are in England, I heard are the same amount of people in California, basically. I mean, as far size comparison in a way.

[00:23:17] Lori: Yeah. So they were Gods over there. I mean we, when we went over there, they were on the side of buses. I mean, we saw billboards for the gladiators. We saw all these things. We were like, whoa, wait a minute.

[00:23:29] April: Oh, you didn't get that?

[00:23:30] Lori: No,

[00:23:31] April: that's messed up.

[00:23:32] Lori: We didn't have billboards. We didn't, we weren't on the side of a book sheep.

[00:23:35] Lori: We were lucky if we got commercials. Wow. Yeah. They really didn't think that our show was gonna go, you know, the television show. So they just didn't really put any money into it.

[00:23:45] April: It went on for like eight or nine years. I mean, what get on the, you know?

[00:23:48] Lori: Yeah. But then they just started sucking it dry as far as like, well, well we haven't put any marketing into it really.

[00:23:53] Lori: So why do we need to do it now? It's kind of on its own. Right. it was cool though, when we were on the live tour, we saw posters and everything because seven-eleven was sponsoring us. So we saw big posters and I was on a couple of the big posters for our live tour. That was pretty awesome. Yeah.

[00:24:08] Lori: But yeah, the whole, the whole experience was, it was pretty awesome. I bet. As far as that's concerned.

[00:24:15] April: So you guys, you filmed, what, 10 weeks a year, right? So what did you guys do the rest of the year when you weren't actually filming the show?

[00:24:26] Hustlin' to make money

[00:24:26] Lori: So, yeah. The way the television show worked is we filmed for 10, about 10 weeks, sometimes a week or two l give or take a, a week or two.

[00:24:35] Lori: We were done. So we would, we, we'd have to fucking hustle our asses off is what we had to do because of the fact that we weren't, we didn't make a, a lot of money. I'm gladiators, this is a huge misconception in the entertainment industry that if you're on television, you're rich. Yeah. You're it. No, no, not at all.

[00:24:57] Lori: Yeah. As a matter of fact, when I was on, when I was on the gladiators, I remember one, a producer came up to me and said, Hey, we've got you and Ray. And you got, you two are gonna do Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. And we kind of looked at each other and we laughed and we went Lifestyles of the somewhat famous middle class you mean?

[00:25:16] April: That's hilarious.

[00:25:18] Lori: Yeah. And so, and then, we 10 weeks outta the year and we were hustling our asses off. We were doing, and this is where the competitiveness came into play. So there wasn't an

[00:25:27] April: episode you're saying of

[00:25:28] Lori: Live Snow? There was an episode. Oh, there was, oh yeah, I did it, it Ray and I did it. I don't remember that.

[00:25:33] Lori: Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Ray and I went and did it. It was, oh, I have to see this. Yeah, it was awesome. You can, I mean, I th I'm sure it's on YouTube. I'm sure it's somewhere on the internet. And, it showed the house, you know, with the horses. My Harley, actually, I don't even think it was my Harley Davidson that I rode on.

[00:25:49] Lori: I think I borrowed the Harley I before I had. But, it was pre, it was a fun episode. But anyway, so the rest of the year we're hustling our asses off, doing personal appearances just to make a living. Yeah. Because we were, that was when, there's a union called SAG, screen Actors Guild, and we weren't part of Screen Actors Guild yet.

[00:26:06] Lori: There was another one called aftra. Well after was less pay than sag. Yeah. So we are the most underpaid television show on the air. We, this is, so, I think I got like my first season, like maybe $550 an episode maybe. Wow.

[00:26:22] April: 50,000. Like how greedy,

[00:26:24] Lori: like that's so much. It was insane.

[00:26:26] Lori: So you can't, we can, you weren't able to make a living off of just doing the television show.

[00:26:31] Lori: You would get residuals off of it. The residuals are okay. Yeah. I would say if I could, if I can remember, I'm gonna say maybe. 35, 40 a year just off the television show with residuals. So we're, you know, we are all in, you know, fight or flight mode For the personal appearances, we would do car shows.

[00:26:54] Lori: We would do, like Comic-Con, we would do anything where they would hire us to sign autographs.

[00:26:59] April: That's just crazy. Like how pathetic of them to have treated you guys that way though. Seriously.

[00:27:04] Lori: Yeah. You know, it was, it was pretty hardcore when it came to that. so I learned to hustle. I learned to, I learned to hustle my ass off, basically to make a living, you know, on this show.

[00:27:16] April: What did you accomplish then? Other, like, you know, You did, you were doing the show, you were hustling. Did you, I know you wrote a book. You, you did like a bunch of stuff, right? You had a clothing line as well at one point?

[00:27:28] Lori: Well, it wasn't necessarily my clothing line, but yes. And let's, let's, I mean, so basically we were hustling, doing personal appearances, and we were looking for any and every opportunity that we could.

[00:27:41] Lori: You know, to do something. Yeah. It was interesting because they, a lot of people didn't know where to put us in the category. Were we actors, were we athletes? What, what were we, so we didn't have a lot of opportunities, to do television and stuff like that. We had to make that happen. yeah, I did, I did a, fitness video.

[00:28:03] Lori: I wrote a book, it's called Pure Fitness, and I wrote it with a psychologist body meets mine. I met him on an airplane, which was really cool. Robert Epstein. the clothing line wasn't necessarily my clothing line. I got, I got asked to endorse the clothing line. No, it's called Go Figure, which was, that was pretty cool.

[00:28:20] April: Yeah, that's a cool name.

[00:28:20] Lori: Yeah. geez, what else did I do? But all these things that I was doing, I was like, okay, this one's gonna hit, okay. This is gonna be it. This is gonna set me up. Yeah. Nah, it was just like, wa w nothing stuck wa at the time. Yeah, no, nothing was really sticking. And then, So, I mean, the accomplishments are great.

[00:28:38] Lori: I have those out there. television shows, you know, I started getting more into acting and learning how to act and, you know, going to all the acting classes that I possibly could.

[00:28:48] April: You're on some pretty cool shows. Actually,

[00:28:50] Lori: my first show ever was, who's the Boss? I think so. I think I was on it with Nitro show.

[00:28:55] Lori: I think I was on it with Nitro as a matter of fact. And, they hired us and it, they went through the gladiators and they said, okay, we need two gladiators to be on. Who's the boss? And it was for a birthday party. You know, I think, Tony Dan's little kid or something like that. Or the, the lady, whoever that was.

[00:29:09] Lori: but yeah, it was fun. It was a lot of fun and I was like, okay, you know, I kind of got the bug a little bit.

[00:29:15] April: Yeah. You did like Superman or Lois and Clark, is that right?

[00:29:19] Lori: It was Lois and. So the television shows were a lot of fun. I did. God, of course you're gonna ask me this, but I don't, here, let me grab my resume.

[00:29:27] April: well, okay. I can remember some. I think

[00:29:29] Lori: there's, who's the boss? I did Danger Theater.

[00:29:32] April: Oh, you were on the original Ellen Show?

[00:29:35] Lori: Yes. With Nitro. And I did the Ellen show.

[00:29:38] April: The show. The show before.

[00:29:41] Lori: Before she actually got a talk show. Talk show.

[00:29:43] April: The her actual sitcom.

[00:29:44] Lori: Yes. That was a fun episode too. Yeah. And the episode was, she actually went and she was like supporting her friend, the guy that was on the show.

[00:29:52] Lori: He was gonna try out for the gladiators. He didn't make it and she did. And so that was a lot of fun and Nitro and I did it. And it, the episode was, she had a love interest in Nitro and apparently Nitro and I had a love interest and she caught us and Oh, that was the first time I had to kiss Nitro the first time.

[00:30:09] Lori: Yeah, well, first and only time. Oh, okay. but it was interesting because, I mean, I knew she was gay at the time and nitros like I'm sure that you would really rather be making out with her. Right. I know. And I kind of did at that point in time. Had a little crush on her.

[00:30:23] April: Well, yeah, it was Ellen, like she was famous then too.

[00:30:26] Lori: I know. I actually did. I had like a small crush on her at that point in time. Yeah. that was a lot of fun. And then I did a couple, movies, Kathleen Ken Mott and, her husband, Lorenzo Laas. And that was cia. We did a couple of those. so yeah, it was, we did, I needed another one.

[00:30:40] Lori: It was like a smaller budget, one called Bullhead, but it was like, I was like a guest star here and there, and here and there. So yeah, Superman was probably the one that I loved the most. Dean Kane was, yeah. So much fun to work with.

[00:30:53] April: Your character was really cool, actually. It was like perfect for you. Yeah.

[00:30:57] Lori: Yeah. Dean Kane was a lot of fun. So yeah. I met a lot of people in the industry, which was awesome. You know, and that was definitely perks off the gladiators. Of course. I'm not, you know, like I said, I, I never thought about being an actor, you know, when as a kid. So, you know, being able to get into. A little bit of the industry.

[00:31:18] April: Yeah, yeah. Aren't some of those on your YouTube channel for people to, to look up? I don't know. I think so. Or you're in the zone. Is that one right?

[00:31:26] Women in the Zone

[00:31:26] Lori: Oh my God. In the zone. I forgot about In the zone. In the zone. Okay. So this is where I went. All right. Fuck this shit.

[00:31:33] Lori: Nobody's hiring me for, you know, the, like, the roles that I want. I wanted to do hosting. You know, but I do look back and I was a bodybuilder and I wasn't, I mean, they weren't really like into female bodybuilders. I was bigger than the average girl, so they just didn't wanna hire me. So I was like, fuck this, I'm gonna do my own show.

[00:31:54] Lori: And that's when like the women at that point in time in the Olympics were there and the women were kicking ass and they were getting gold medals and it was just like amazing for the. And so I created a show called Women in the Zone to where I wanted to go in their world, try out what they were doing.

[00:32:11] Lori: You know, showcase them. And it was just gonna be an awesome show. The whole concept was, So I started shopping. I mean, I literally did a pilot. I got some great footage. Yes. That's on YouTube. And, I repelled out of a helicopter. You know, the beginning of it, which was, was so much fun and.

[00:32:30] April: I don't know if I could do that, but that looks really cool.

[00:32:33] Lori: It, you know what, it wasn't that much, it wasn't that scarier. It, I mean, it was weird because the way that it was filmed, we went to the cliffs down in, it was past Laguna, like Oceanside area To where there was a cliff, a drop off of like maybe a hundred feet, and then there was the ocean.

[00:32:48] Lori: So what would happen is they took the helicopter up and it looked as though it was just like incredibly high above the ground when it was just an illusion. We were still pretty high, don't get me wrong, when I repelled out of the helicopter. But, that was awesome. But the point of it is, is that everywhere I took it, believe it or not, they were just like, ah, it's a women's show.

[00:33:07] Lori: The men aren't gonna watch it. You know, it's just like, are you kidding me? These women are fucking kicking ass and they're beautiful. So men are gonna watch the show. And the last one I took it to, And usually I don't take no for an answer. I just keep going and going and going. But I kept every, I kept hitting walls and I kept hitting walls.

[00:33:28] Lori: And I think the last time that what happened is I actually took it to Fox Sports and they were like, it's a great concept. We absolutely love it, but nobody's gonna watch it because it's all about women. Fuck you. Now it's so mad. a year later I turned on the television and I shit you not, I saw in the zone all men.

[00:33:49] Lori: I was like, Hey, thanks for, like, I mean,

[00:33:51] April: nice idea.

[00:33:52] Lori: I can't really say they stole the idea idea, but come on. Yeah. I know. Yeah. So that was a little heartbreaking.

[00:33:58] April: That's messed it up.

[00:33:58] Lori: So it's like I kept trying and I kept trying, but man, it's like that's where I learned to hustle. You know, it's just like, yeah, you, you do get a lot.

[00:34:07] Lori: I got a lot of nos and I just kept moving. I kept pushing. I kept pushing. And it's like I kept trying. You know? And here I am with a podcast. I'm kept trying.

[00:34:18] April: Hey, you never know. Like when it's gonna be your turn. I mean, you have Netflix coming out, right?

[00:34:24] Lori: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

[00:34:25] April: Which is cool. Yeah.

[00:34:27] April: Kind of a wraparound and Exactly. You know, remind everybody who you guys are and what you did

[00:34:32] Lori: and Exactly. It'll make us more relevant again. Yeah. You know, I mean, seriously, it's been, it's think about, it's been 30 years.

[00:34:38] April: It's been 30 years. Yeah. So are you guys actually all still friends?

[00:34:41] Are the American Gladiators still friends?

[00:34:41] Lori: a lot of us kept in contact, but there was some of us that we definitely lost contact with.

[00:34:47] Lori: I mean, Dallas and I talk all the time. Zap and I talk all the time. Diamond. Dan of course, you know, nitro, laser tower, everybody that, when they're kind of local here, it's easier to stay in contact with the ones that live far away. And, and again, Shannon's in Florida, so I go there all the time. Yeah.

[00:35:08] Lori: Obviously. But I would. A handful, and then there's a handful that we just, it's just like anything else. When you work for a company, there are people that you're gonna stay in contact with. And then there are people you just don't really give a shit about. You know, because you really weren't good friends anyway.

[00:35:25] Lori: You just worked together.

[00:35:26] April: Yeah. You just didn't have that connection.

[00:35:28] Lori: Kind of the same thing with the gladiators. You know? Except the ones that we traveled a lot together with. like Blaze, for instance. Blaze, I, I love her. She's great. She's very shy, but we didn't have a lot in common, so we really didn't stay in contact.

[00:35:41] Lori: I know Jazz is in Texas and she probably, I think she has a really kick ass job. She's like, you know, some really high up in a company for em, engineer, so she doesn't really have anything to do with the gladiators, but, so yeah. Again, just a handful of us really stayed in good contact, but the rest of them, necessarily.

[00:35:59] April: How did you feel when the Gladiator reboot came out? What was that like

[00:36:06] The Reboot

[00:36:06] Lori: in the very beginning? I was, when I heard that it was being redone again, I was, I was very excited about it. I guess I was really excited about it because I really honestly thought that they would have us doing something.

[00:36:20] Lori: I don't know, a coach in the background, it's something I don't know, you know, but kind of having us involved,

[00:36:27] April: it would make total sense to have you guys, especially you, or Nitro to any of the Gladia, any, any of them. But I mean, to be like a, I dunno, a voice of some sort, you know something. Yeah.

[00:36:40] Lori: Something, something. But they, they didn't They didn't and they didn't want anything to do with us whatsoever. And I think it was,

[00:36:48] April: that surprises me actually. People would love to see. And that's you guys again. That's Thes those,

[00:36:55] Lori: that's the comment that I got. I got emails.

[00:36:58] April: Because it didn't make sense when I saw it. I went, I don't get it. I, yeah, I'm a Gladiator fan. I was, you know, back in the day too. Still am, which is my favorite one. but it didn't make sense to me when I didn't see them contact you guys to like, Hey, we're gonna have, you know, you guys on, off and on just to make an appearance.

[00:37:21] Lori: One would think

[00:37:22] April: it didn't then.

[00:37:23] April: That's why it didn't, I think it didn't do well. I thought it, I think it would've done better if you guys were on it, to be honest.

[00:37:28] Lori: I don't know. Even to like little cameos. You know, here and there. I think everybody was expecting that as well. It's like, oh, gladi, yours are coming back out.

[00:37:35] Lori: You know, they took away the red, white, and blue and they made it all black, which is weird. And you know, again, that was kind of strange. the gladiators themselves, I was kind of surprised at, no disrespect to the women whatsoever, but I just thought they'd be better.

[00:37:53] April: It just didn't make sense. It just didn't make sense. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's like if you're gonna do it, like make it make sense. Yeah. But it didn't, the, the girls, you're right, they were not, they looked, it just looked like girls in, I don't like bathing suit model kind of bodies. I guess

[00:38:07] Lori: not all of 'em. I mean, like, there was Gina Carrano and I think that maybe they just chose her because she was at the top of her game and Mm.

[00:38:15] Lori: M a and I remember talking to her backstage and she,

[00:38:18] April: well, she made sense.

[00:38:19] Lori: Well, she hated doing interviews. She told me, she's like, fucking hate doing these interviews, and you could tell That she hated doing the interviews, you know, and that wasn't good television. mean, she was strong, but at the same time, I mean, m m A is a little bit different than gladiator games.

[00:38:35] Lori: You know, so

[00:38:36] April: she was pretty though. Yeah.

[00:38:37] Lori: She's gorgeous.

[00:38:38] April: She was really pretty.

[00:38:39] Lori: We're talking like she's not around anymore, but yeah, she was, I know she was gour, she was the most beautiful one out of all of 'em. I mean, she was absolutely gorgeous. She was, you know, know. Yeah. Yeah. I probably have, I think I had a small crush on her.

[00:38:50] April: Oh. I think we all do.

[00:38:51] Lori: I think every, yeah, I think we all do. But, even like the guys, I just didn't, I was really kind of surprised, you know, when, however, the one, Mike O'Hern Titan, he came from the other gladiators. I'm really trying to get him on because I really wanna, you know, do a podcast with him and get him in the studio and talk about the comparisons for him.

[00:39:12] Lori: You know, the original show versus the new show, how it was for him, tryouts, all that kind of stuff. But he made sense because he, he actually looked like an original gladiator. You know, and he was, he was an alternate on the, the original, but, so I don't know. It was just really interesting.

[00:39:27] Lori: I was really disappointed. I was really disappointed they didn't want anything to do with us whatsoever.

[00:39:32] April: I was surprised actually.

[00:39:34] Lori: So it was kind of like a fuck you attitude kind of thing. I think with all the GLAD Eats when we watched it was like, fuck it. Well, and it didn't do right. So we were just like, fine, whatever.

[00:39:41] Lori: Yeah, we're glad that it, like did 13 Cs see 13 episodes? You fucking sucked. Yeah, yeah. You should have had us on,

[00:39:48] April: should have had 'em on. So what was it you wanted to do when you were in Gladiators? So let's say,

[00:39:55] Lori: you mean like when I was at the height of the career?

[00:39:59] April: Yeah. When you kind of, you were, when, yeah. When you were like the star of American gladiators, what was it you actually wanted to do or accomplish? Like the most, like, did you wanna become an actor? Did you want to, you know, hang out with very famous people? You got to hang out with very famous people and you got to do some really cool things.

[00:40:19] What did Lori really wanted to do?

[00:40:19] Lori: Actually I did. I did. I. I wanted to, I wanted to become an action star. I, I really did. Once I got my feet wet in acting it was so much fun. I wanted to be like, you know, the Angelina Jolie, tomb Raider, you know?

[00:40:34] April: Did you do your own stunts?

[00:40:36] Lori: I actually did do my own stunts. Fuck you. No, wait, I didn't do all my own stunts.

[00:40:42] Lori: I take that back when I did Superman. Spice Williams was really huge in the, stunt industry at the time. She's the one at the very end of Superman. It's like something happens, she comes back to me, blows me up, and it kind of, I don't know, throws me through like this door slash window. She did that stunt for me.

[00:41:02] Lori: And as a matter of fact, she did another stunt for me, and that was when the movie, the movie that I did with cia, there was a high fall. And it was something like, I don't know, it was, it's something crazy that we did on this movie. she did the high fall for me as well, so she did do my stunts.

[00:41:18] Lori: So no, I didn't do all my own stunts, but, you know, I wanted to do like, you know, I was training in fight scenes and learning how to handle a gun and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, in the height of my career, oh my God, I wanted, I wanted to become that action star. I wanted to become that person. And you got, and this never happened.

[00:41:33] April: You didn't get, didn't you do like a training or a school or something like that for

[00:41:37] Lori: I did. I trained a little bit in the stunt school, you know, and all I kept hearing in the back of my head here is, Ooh, it's a really hard industry to break through. You know, it's really hard to get into it. I knew how to ride horses, ride motorcycles.

[00:41:49] Lori: I mean, I could do a lot of shit. Yeah. You know,

[00:41:52] April: and it's dangerous as well.

[00:41:54] Lori: Yeah. And hard on your body for sure. But, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't really too afraid of that. I hated High Falls. I wasn't real good about that. I, I tried 'em. I, I tried to learn how to do 'em, but. Yeah. If I could have been an action star, that would've been,

[00:42:07] April: yeah. Aren't you afraid of heights?

[00:42:09] Lori: You know, I never used to be afraid of heights. The older I've gotten. Hmm. For some reason I don't know what that's all about. Maybe someday I'll have like a psychologist on the show and go, so why is it when we get older, all of a sudden the, the fear of heights comes into play.

[00:42:28] Lori: Yeah. Very strange. I, as a kid, I was never afraid of heights. I would jump off roofs. I mean, it didn't matter. Even like the helicopter, when I was repelling outta the helicopter, it didn't phase me. But for some reason, the older I've gotten, it's just like if I'm on, if I'm in a hotel room and then it's like I'm on the what, 25th floor?

[00:42:49] Lori: It's hard and it's all windows all the way down. It's hard for me to go all the way to the edge and, and like it just gives me the evg and I don't know what that's all about.

[00:42:59] April: I am okay with heights for the most part, but for me it's more, claustrophobia. Hmm. Like the whole mask thing for me.

[00:43:08] April: Like being claustrophobic. And you wanted me to put a something on my face all the time. Like it made me feel claustrophobic. I

[00:43:14] Lori: shut up.

[00:43:15] April: Hated it.

[00:43:15] Lori: You just didn't, you just didn't believe in the mask. And that's a whole nother, it's a whole other, that's a whole nother, that's another episode show.

[00:43:22] April: We won't get into that, but

[00:43:24] Lori: I can see Earth flat or round.

[00:43:26] Lori: Okay.

[00:43:27] April: Oh, I don't, I'm not that. I'm not that person. That's an also another,

[00:43:32] Lori: oh my God, it's So wanna do an episode with you on conspiracy theories? I really do.

[00:43:36] April: It would be fun actually.

[00:43:37] Lori: I know, I really do. It was so much fun

[00:43:39] April: to have different views on it from

[00:43:40] Lori: different people. Yeah. Because I'm in the middle of a lot of these things.

[00:43:43] April: Yeah, I know.

[00:43:45] Lori: Well, I know. Go on back to gladiators

[00:43:48] April: more, you know. so what was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome?

[00:43:53] Ice's biggest obstacle

[00:43:53] Lori: I would say not being able to do anything that had to do with American Gladiators as far as my career. Let me explain that. I played ice on the American Gladiators, but yet I can't, I I, okay. There's a gentleman who owns the American Gladiator, like trademark. So anything that had to do with American Gladiators, we could never put it next to us.

[00:44:22] Lori: So, in other words, I had a website and it was like, I did, I called it, gladiator Life and Fitness. I got a cease desist. You can't use a gladiator name. Why not? It's because it looks as though we're endorsing you.

[00:44:34] April: Well, like you couldn't even do, like, you couldn't wear your uniform. Like if people wanted

[00:44:38] Lori: you, you couldn't wear a uniform anywhere unless Yeah.

[00:44:40] Lori: Yeah.

[00:44:40] April: And people wanted you for like event and stuff, right?

[00:44:42] Lori: Of course, of course. Think about it. I mean, they knew me as ice. They didn't know me as Lori Fetrick. Right. They wanted you, they were like your uniform. Yeah. I mean, if I showed up like this, they'd be like, well, who the fuck are you? okay. Put your uniform on and now we want you and we want you to sign autographs.

[00:44:56] Lori: We couldn't do that without the written approval or consent from the show or the creator of the show. So the obstacle was trying to create a career around being an American gladiator without saying that you're an American gladiator,

[00:45:14] April: but would they give you the permission if you asked?

[00:45:17] Lori: It depends.

[00:45:18] Lori: It really depends, like for your uniform stuff. it again, it depends. a lot of the time it has to do with money. You know, everything has to do with money. How much are you gonna make? How much am I gonna get?

[00:45:30] April: Greedy bastard.

[00:45:31] Lori: Yeah. I mean, and I, I understand it's like, you know, coming from the creator standpoint, he's like, well, I wanna protect my brand. Okay, we get that. But we are your brand.

[00:45:45] April: You would've kept the brand alive.

[00:45:47] Lori: Absolutely. And we didn't wanna hurt the brand because it's our careers. We wanted to enhance it. so I guess that, you know, it was for you a constant battle. And I know it's not a private rainstorm, because apparently that's what happens with WW F and I heard that happens with W W E.

[00:46:05] Lori: And I heard that happens with a lot of, you know, once you sign your life away, you're kind of screwed. You're fucked. So that's why I always say being a gladiator was a blessing and a curse at the same time. Because the blessing was, I would've never done anything different. It was the most amazing. Opportunity I ever had in my life. But the curse was we couldn't do anything That people wanted us to do without getting permission. And half the time they either wanted all of our money, half the money, or they wouldn't let us do it at all. So the, the obstacle that's, that was the biggest obstacle, trying to create a career around something that you couldn't use.

[00:46:43] Lori: So you had to become very creative. You know, in the sense of how can I do this without putting the American Gladiator logo there, or without saying gladiators or, or whatever it may be.

[00:46:58] April: Like chilling with ice,

[00:47:01] Lori: possibly. Yeah. Trademark. So, you know, things like that. That's the biggest obstacle in my entire career.

[00:47:08] Lori: Because everybody wanted ice, right? Everybody wanted American guy of ice. They didn't really want Lori Fedrick was, you know, and I understand that. Is that, yeah, I get it.

[00:47:16] April: Right. I mean, people know the Rock is the Rock. We don't know what his name is. Right. Do we?

[00:47:21] Lori: We do now. We do now.

[00:47:24] April: We do now I guess. All right. Okay. So what would you have done if you didn't, if Gladiators never came along, what would you be doing? You think?

[00:47:32] Life instead of AG?

[00:47:32] Lori: I would've probably been a chiropractor. I would've went to school, become a chiropractor.

[00:47:37] April: I can do that. It's not too late, right? It's only like 10 years of school.

[00:47:40] Lori: Whatever. Go on.

[00:47:44] April: Did you ever, hook up with any gladiators or contenders? Is that a question I can ask?

[00:47:52] Lori: No gladiators. No gladiators.

[00:47:54] April: Everyone, everyone wants to know.

[00:47:55] Lori: No gladiators.

[00:47:56] April: Everyone wants to know that.

[00:47:57] Lori: No gladiators. we'll leave it there. How's that? No gladiators,

[00:48:00] April: no gladiators. Okay. So you're saying there's a chance that you possibly, you know, with other,

[00:48:07] Lori: I don't know. Possibly. Yeah. All right. We'll, that a few here and there.

[00:48:10] April: We'll leave that for the comments maybe. Right. who was the biggest celebrity you met?

[00:48:16] The perks of being a Gladiator

[00:48:16] Lori: Ooh, there was a couple of 'em. There was, there was, Bruce Springsteen. Tom Hanks.

[00:48:21] April: Yeah. But something was really cool. Cool. About Kevin Costner

[00:48:23] April: Springsteen.

[00:48:23] Lori: You went to Ooh, Bruce Springsteen's. I went, I get to go to his birthday party. That was amazing.

[00:48:28] April: That must have been really fun.

[00:48:29] Lori: That was a lot of fun. That was very, very cool. so, yeah. And well, and the other big thing was I went to Kevin Costner's wedding. That was, that's pretty cool.

[00:48:37] Lori: Awesome. As well. That was like a three day wedding in Aspen. Wow. So did that day three day wedding. Three day wedding. My gosh. Yeah, I know.

[00:48:45] April: That's crazy. All right. so you went to a lot of industry parties. Mm-hmm. What, okay, so you said, Springsteen,

[00:48:53] Lori: Springsteen's birthday party was like,

[00:48:54] April: but what was it like at the party?

[00:48:56] Lori: It was just amazing just being there.

[00:48:58] April: What did you see there? There had to be tons of celebrities,

[00:49:00] Lori: believe it or not. There wasn't, I mean, there was, but there wasn't, and I couldn't, I was so in, I was so in awe with being at Bruce St.

[00:49:06] Lori: Springsteen's home. Yeah, yeah. And then he took, oh, it was at his home. It was at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Oh, that's cool. You walked in and there was like this. Like Harley Davidson Indian. An Indian Harley Davidson, like in a, like showcased in his entranceway. It was the coolest thing in the world.

[00:49:23] Lori: Oh yeah. And he actually kind of tapped me on the children. He goes, come here, I wanna show you something. And he took me downstairs and he showed me his gem. And I'm just like, in my head going, holy shit. Oh my God. Bruce Springsteen is, is like literally I'm one-on-one with him. He's showing me his gym.

[00:49:39] Lori: Remember this moment? Stay in the moment. I mean, that's what was going through my head. That was really cool. That's awesome. Yeah,

[00:49:45] April: that's, that's really. Okay, so this is actually my favorite. My favorite question. Did you ever attend a Playboy Mansion party?

[00:49:52] Lori: Yes, I did two of 'em.

[00:49:54] April: Two of 'em?

[00:49:55] Lori: Two.

[00:49:56] April: And who was there? Who'd you see? What was, what was go, can you paint the picture for everyone because,

[00:50:01] Lori: okay, so the very first time I was at the Playboy Mansion I got invited to a movie night. Hugh Hefner used to have movie night, I think it was maybe once a month. And he had this big, huge theater in the home.

[00:50:12] Lori: I don't wanna say huge. It probably sat like maybe, let's say 50 people. and he would show like old movies, 1920s, 1930s. It was just like, awesome. And it wasn't like studio, it wasn't like chairs, but they were more like couches and things like that. I got invited there from a producer that I met at an event that I did in Hawaii.

[00:50:34] Lori: And

[00:50:34] April: because they do like a movie night. Yeah, yeah. They do that. Yeah, absolutely. They used to do that. Yeah.

[00:50:38] Lori: So obviously the producer thought he was gonna get himself some, and so he invited me to the Playboy mansion. Oh, little did he know. Exactly. and that was an amazing movie night. That was just awesome.

[00:50:51] Lori: I remember that. But the second time I actually got invited is, was a huge party and where all the girls were painted, they were all naked and they were painted. Yeah. That's like their biggest party of the year. I did not know, believe it or not, as they were walking around, it took me a moment To click that.

[00:51:06] Lori: I was like, oh my God, these girls are naked. Holy shit. They're bodies are rocking.

[00:51:12] April: Isn't it amazing how they do the paint?

[00:51:13] Lori: It gonna look like paint. I, it was like, no, it was just amazing. That party was just off the chart. I bet. I mean, everybody, I mean, there were so many celebrities there, to be honest with you.

[00:51:23] Lori: I couldn't even name 'em all. That was definitely one of the perks of being the gladiator Yeah. Is going to a lot of industry parties. you know, meeting different lot of fun celebrities. Oh, so much fun. Especially being a gladiator. Because I remember being backstage at the Bruce Springsteen concert, that's where I met Tom Hanks.

[00:51:40] Lori: And I, I saw him sitting over there as, you know, backstage kind of thing, and I was like, oh my God, that's Tom. And that was a, he was in the big, huge height of his career. And I go, I've just gotta meet him. And I had the balls enough to go, hi Tom, my name is Lori Fedrick. I play ice on the American Gladiator.

[00:51:55] Lori: She's like, oh my God, I know who you are. I watch you. And I was just like, holy shit is so cool. Oh my God. Cool. Tom Hanks watches me.

[00:52:02] April: That's so cool.

[00:52:03] Lori: Yeah. So

[00:52:04] April: that must have been like, mind blowing.

[00:52:05] Lori: It was mind blowing. You know, and, and just that part of being a gladiator that, you know, I, people knew who I was. Like even, you know, leaving in the United States,

[00:52:18] April: you guys were world famous. It was world known. Yeah.

[00:52:21] Lori: Just fucking the coolest shit in the world. I know. And then, as it kind of wound down a little bit, now as remember I was in, south Beach in Miami and we were riding bikes. This is kind of funny story.

[00:52:33] Lori: There was this homeless man, like, shit, you not, he was sitting on the, he was sitting on like, you know, like this, little wall and we are walking by and I kid you not, he goes, holy shit. You're ice from the American Gladiators. And I'm like, oh my God, I made it. A homeless man knows who I am now.

[00:52:50] April: That's awesome. Aw.

[00:52:52] Lori: But yeah, it was the Playboy Mansion. Parties were sick. They were, I bet they were. Just that, that is something that you just never forget. It was so much,

[00:53:02] April: much fun. They don't even do that anymore, do they? Is that like an end of an era? Is that

[00:53:05] Lori: I think so.

[00:53:05] April: After Hef passed.

[00:53:06] Lori: Yeah. I'm sure.

[00:53:07] April: How sad.

[00:53:08] Lori: I'm sure.

[00:53:09] April: what was the coolest place? Went during gladiators. What was your favorite?

[00:53:15] Lori: I would, I would say when we went international, and that was, England. I went to the south of France, went to a, a can film festival that was fucking amazing.

[00:53:23] April: Oh, cool.

[00:53:24] Lori: I can't really say I was in Paris. I just flew in and flew out.

[00:53:28] Lori: but England, England was definitely that and the south of France was just such a cool place. Fucking off the charts. Beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. None of this would've happened if I wasn't a gladiator. I mean, these are the things that, you know, a lot of people, it's like, where'd you travel? Who'd you meet?

[00:53:42] April: Yeah. All those perks. Definitely. Oh God. Yeah. And so everybody also wants to know like, how are you staying in such sh, you know, awesome shape these days? I actually, how do you. Train compared to, compared to the American gladiator days? How are you training now? Are you training different?

[00:54:00] How is Lori training now?

[00:54:00] April: I would honestly say that I train almost the same. I still lift as heavy as I possibly can just to keep the muscle tone. I just have to force you to do cardio.

[00:54:08] Lori: You have to force me to do cardio cause I've always fucking hated cardio, hated it. It doesn't matter. I've always hated it. So, yeah, I do it. I do it now more so for my heart, which is an old thing.

[00:54:22] April: I need it. I just, I have to do cardio. I love it.

[00:54:25] Lori: I train my ass off, actually. I do. I train as hard as I possibly can. I am, I will fight this aging process with every possible In me, you know, as far as the whole anti-aging thing, it's like, I just don't, I don't wanna fucking do it. Yeah. I don't wanna do it.

[00:54:42] Lori: I don't identify, I don't wanna age, I don't, I don't identify as old. I, I don't identify as old, never in my head. I'm still 30. You know, I really do. And I think that that contributes to eating good. Mm-hmm. everybody, you know, people do. They go, oh my God, you, you look the same. What the fuck?

[00:54:57] Lori: How do you do this? Well, I eat good, I train, I exercise, I take care of myself. I used to smoke. I stop smoking when I was 40. So, you know, it's been a while.

[00:55:09] April: You get plenty of sleep and pull up your wrist.

[00:55:10] Lori: I do. I take, you know, and honestly, I, I do things like peptides. Peptides are very good for your body.

[00:55:17] Lori: naturally we had peptides. And so there is like an anti-aging peptide out there. I don't know if the fucking thing works, but I'm gonna fucking, I'm gonna try it. You know, it's, it's not necessarily h g h, I even tried that because our own growth hormone, I mean, it goes all the way up until you're 30.

[00:55:33] Lori: After 30 it just fucking dies. And then we just are dying. And we're dying constantly. You know, we're dying right now. Yeah. So it's like your skin, everything. I think that's the biggest thing with me is Watching my skin age, which blows and sucks and everybody's like, well that's part of aging. I don't care.

[00:55:48] Lori: I don't like it. I know, you know, I look at, I look at guys and girls in the gym that are like 25, 30, 35, even 40 for fuck's sake. And I'm looking their skin and it's just so beautiful and I'm like, oh my God, I remember the day.

[00:56:01] April: Well, think of how ginormous you were.

[00:56:04] Lori: I know though. I know. I gotta think of that too,

[00:56:06] April: you know? I mean, you gotta eat more if you're gonna wanna be.

[00:56:09] Lori: I try. I, I actually, I mean, be between intermittent, intermittent, intermittent fasting, you know, which I kind of do a little bit here and there.

[00:56:17] April: You just have to eat more pizza.

[00:56:19] Lori: Oh God. Like if I eat like you, I'd be like, the girl eats Taco Bell. All right.

[00:56:24] Lori: Anyway,

[00:56:25] April: I eat, no, I eat way better now, you know, than I used to.

[00:56:29] Lori: what was your diet like when you were a gladiator compared to now?

[00:56:32] Lori: Let's talk about that later. Let's talk about that next time you're fish. Let's talk about that next time.

[00:56:38] Lori: All right, cool.

[00:56:39] Lori: Yeah, let's, that was a great episode. Thank you so much. And, that was fun. Yeah. We will see you on the next episode. I believe I have you for one more episode on it. We got me for one more at least.

[00:56:48] April: Yeah. All right. Beautiful. As long as you'll have

[00:56:50] Lori: me. All right. Great. All right. That's it for today.

[00:56:54] Outro: Thank you so much for listening to Chilling with Ice, and don't forget to hit that like button. Subscribe and share wherever you listen to your podcast. Remember to follow us on Patreon and YouTube at Chilling With Ice and on Instagram and TikTok. You can follow me@lori.ice dot Patrick. I look forward to chilling with you next time here on Chilling with Ice.