A FORMER Gladiators contestant revealed a show injury left her leg ‘mangled’ and she was housebound for months.
Zavia Hill originally reached this year’s Grand Final, before having to withdraw due to injury.
It meant semi-final runner up Anelia Afsar stepped in to take her place.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Zavia shared her experience following the injury – sustained after hard tackles from the Gladiators in Powerball.
She said: “I’m probably a bit naive and thinking, ‘oh, I’ll just, I’ll keep going’, you know, you try and you try and you don’t give up.
“And I probably shouldn’t have done it to be fair because my leg was mangled after.
“You know, I gave it my 100% but then it was like, well, I’ve got a little bit left in the tank here and I actually got my fastest time on that round of the Eliminator with my one leg.
“So, you know, it just goes to show you push yourself.”
She added: “I got like a bit of a bad tackle in Powerball and with some of the games, I think it’s important that you kind of just go with the flow.
“If you get tackled, go with the tackle. And I was being a little bit stubborn with that and I kind of was resisting, you know, I was a bit like, oh no, you’re not taking me down.
“And that’s when it happened. Injury took about two months to actually recover.
“So there was no way I was going to be able to do it regardless. I mean, I got up the next day and we had a little chat [her and the producers] and they just said, you know, can you do it?
“And I said, I would love to, but I’m not going to be able, I can’t. I literally was struggling to walk. I was pretty much housebound afterwards, for about two months.
“I’m a personal trainer so it impacted my work quite a bit. I like to give 100% with all the people that I work with.
“And then, you know, not being able to do that was quite upsetting.
“But you know, the time I had on the show really outweighed anything else. I was just like, well, I’m injured but I’ve had the best time.
“So what can I say? I can’t complain.”
Regarding eventual winner Amanda Wah, Zavia said: “To see Amanda win it, like I love Amanda.
“So I was so happy when she won it. I think it would have been a good final with me and her in it, but I think the best person won.
“I fully feel like she deserved it. So I was so happy for her.”