THE only American Gladiator to participate in all seven seasons of the show has revealed the gnarly injuries that viewers didn't see on screen.
The American Gladiators series ran from 1989 to 1996 and featured more than 30 participants over 200 episodes.
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Jim Starr, best known to viewers as Laser, appeared in all seven seasons, striking fear in others with his intimidating physique and fierce competitive streak.
Before appearing on the show, Starr was an All-American linebacker at Montana State University, where he is still considered one of the best linebackers in the school's history after a record-breaking career.
He went on to play professionally, with the Kansas City Chiefs for a brief time before signing with the Los Angeles Rams.
Starr suffered a devastating injury in his first Rams game of the season, ultimately ending his football career.
READ MORE BODYBUILDING
Once that door closed, Starr got the chance to try out for American Gladiators, a competition show that matched amateur athletes with one another in tests of strength and agility.
"They had a tryout and obviously with my background with professional football and I was a roommate of Dan Clark, who was Nitro," he told The U.S. Sun in an exlusive interview.
"I appeared in more episodes than any other gladiator and I was the only one that lasted all seven seasons."
Despite this feat, Starr was also the gladiator that received the most injuries and had to undergo the most surgeries throughout the show's run.
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"I think it was close to 11 total surgeries," he said. "And then I've had almost another nine surgeries since the show ended just because of the things that have happened.
"I actually have four surgeries I need to get done now but I just can't even go there right now mentally. I'm 61 years old and trying to go through that again is pretty difficult."
Amidst all the wear and tear American Gladiators did to his body, Starr said that he never expected to get hurt, especially as frequently as he did.
"It never entered my mind because of my background of being an athlete," he said.
"It just never enters your mind that you're going to be injured but the Gladiator show, it was, you know, they never prepared for it.
Starr said that he and other gladiators "didn't have the protective equipment" when performing on the show.
"For instance, Powerball, which is basically football with no helmets or we had little neoprene helmets on, but we had no protective padding and people were just being injured left and right.
"I mean, there were so many serious injuries on that show."
Starr said many viewers weren't aware of the injuries as they weren't shown on screen since the target demographic of the program was children and young adults.
"They didn't really wanna portray all the injuries that were happening," said Starr.
A limited series on Netflix called Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators ran for five episodes, taking a look into the world of American Gladiators and the people who starred in it.
Starr appeared in the series to talk about his time on the show and said that he was thankful that the documentary gave fans new insight into the program that changed his life.
"I think that's a good thing," he said. "I'm getting people from all over the world reaching out to me on social media, telling me they had no idea there were that many injuries on the show.
"Now people realize what we went through and it's pretty devastating as you get older. Once you've been injured that many times, you just don't feel too young. I can tell you that."
Some events on the show did feature the athletes wearing protective gear such as helmets, elbow, and knee pads but other stunts on the show had the gladiators wearing no gear at all.
'PRETTY GNARLY'
Starr said that he's had several torn rotator cuffs each year, which was the main issue he faced while on the show.
"I had open rotator cuff repairs on both shoulders every year," he said. "I've had 60 some odd anchors in each shoulder just holding them together."
He recalled a specific incident where he got hit while playing Powerball and, to his knowledge, he got up and wanted to continue playing but was stopped after being told that he actually got knocked out.
"They're like 'No, no, you got knocked out. You're done' and I didn't even realize it," he said.
There was also a time when he cracked the orbital bone in his eye socket, which he called "pretty gnarly."
"I had actually missed, I think, two to three episodes, which had accumulated to about two days' worth of filming," he said.
'HAPPY AS ALL HECK'
In the years since American Gladiators went off the air - there was a short-lived revival of the show in 2008 that ran for two seasons - Starr said there are days where he regrets all his injuries.
But he said he would still do the show if he could go back in time.
"I'd do it again," he said. "There's days where I wake up and I feel older than I should be. I work out every day - I have to or I just feel worse.
"And mentally, there are days where you sort of regret all the injuries but I certainly don't regret competing. I've definitely had more injuries in the seven seasons than I did in all my years of boxing, wrestling, and football that's for sure."
Starr said that being on American Gladiators changed his life, especially after his career-ending injury in the NFL.
"It took me three years to heal from that injury and no other team would sign me, unfortunately," he said.
"I knew my athletic ability and when the Gladiators came about, I just had to try out. It was right up my alley and I flourished.
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"I was just happy as all heck to be an athlete showcasing my abilities and my strength. I was just thrilled to death that it came about. I never thought it would turn out the way it did."
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Netflix and Campfire Studios, who produced the documentary, for comment.
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