Gladiators, ready! Using her hijab as her power, Aneila Afsar is smashing women in sports stereotypes as Britain's first Muslim finalist on hit show

When Aneila Afsar applied to be a contestant on Season 2 of BBC One’s infamous sports entertainment show Gladiators last year, she had no expectations of actually being selected.

The reboot of the famous British ‘90s TV show pits everyday people against ‘gladiators,’ a team of ultra-fit men and women, in several adrenaline-packed physical challenges.

Months later, the Manchester-based sportsperson, online coach and single mother-of-two is not only Britain’s first Muslim Gladiators contestant, but she has made it to this Saturday’s finals.

“You never think it would be you,” 26-year-old Aneila tells The New Arab.

“As a competitive sportsperson, I love a challenge, so, I thought, what better way to test myself than to go up against these superhumans? But also, I recognised that if I was able to get onto this show with my hijab as a Muslim woman, it could have a massive positive impact on our community.”

Being a visibly Muslim fitness influencer and wanting to break down barriers for other Muslim women was part of the reason Aneila applied to be a contestant in the first place.

"I've had really amazing messages from young girls, older women and even from men saying they've come across my account and shown it to their daughters"

The former Team GB Taekwondoin and professional athlete says she started wearing the hijab three years ago and since then has become a huge advocate of representing and empowering Muslim women in fitness and sports, who are often underrepresented.

While she says she was too young when the original version of Gladiators aired in the ‘90s to recognise the barriers Muslim women faced in competing in such a TV show, in recent years she has witnessed the evolution of the sports and fitness industries into more inclusive spaces for women of different faith backgrounds.

“In the ‘90s there might have been women like me in the gym and women like me representing Muslims, but you might not necessarily have seen that, because we weren't in the age of social media," she adds.

"In this respect, social media is being used for something positive.”

Overall, Aneila says the reception from her Muslim followers and the Muslim community has been phenomenal. While she anticipated a little backlash being a visible Muslim woman on TV, she says this has been overshadowed by the huge amount of support she’s received.

“I've had really amazing messages from young girls, older women and even from men saying they've come across my account and shown it to their daughters.”

Season 2 of Gladiators began in January of this year and will see Aneila face fellow finalist Amanda Wah in what is set to be an exhilarating finale on Saturday.

Despite airing during Ramadan, the series was pre-recorded last August. “If it had been recorded during Ramadan, I wouldn’t have been able to compete!” laughs Aneila.

While Aneila did not have the challenge of fasting while competing, being a mum did pose its challenges. The demanding physical challenges in the show required her to amp up her training at the gym and as any mother knows, getting to the gym when you have small children is no easy feat. It is even more challenging as a single mother.

“Some weeks I get two sessions in the gym, other weeks there are six,” she explains. “I was fortunate that during this time of training for Gladiators, my family rallied around to help me train regularly.

"My eldest daughter is seven, so she understood everything that was going on, and she's so excited by the whole thing. My kids really got involved in the process.”

The show tests all elements of fitness, from upper and lower body strength to agility and speed. Aneila says having a martial arts background and varied training programme that includes lifting heavy weights, running and HYROX came in handy. For Gladiators, she increased the frequency of her upper body workouts.

“Anyone who has watched Gladiators and has seen Hang Tough will know you need upper body strength,” she says. “I was really surprised at how well I did on that. I honestly thought I wouldn't even be able to swing across.”

For Aneila, being a contestant in Gladiators wasn’t just about Muslim representation in TV or sports. It was also about reminding her own community about how important being fit is for their health.

With Muslim communities in Britain being at a statistically higher risk for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, she wanted Muslim viewers to see just how vital physical activity is for their overall wellness.

“We are more susceptible to things like Type 2 diabetes and part of that is genetic and part of that also is because of the lifestyle we lead, which tends to not be as active or involved in sports,” she highlights.

“A typical South Asian diet is not always a healthy one. So, if anything, it's more important for us to be taking these steps and taking action to be more active, eating better and living a healthier lifestyle. We already have a higher risk factor of having these diseases, which can really affect our quality of life in the future."

Perhaps one of the most astounding things to have come out of Aneila’s Gladiators journey has been the self-discovery that wearing the hijab has not stopped or limited the extent to which she competes in sports.

She says when she first made the decision to wear the hijab three years ago, she wondered if it would impact how much she could compete, but it’s been far from the case, and making it to the finals of Gladiators just cements that.

“I've had to find confidence in myself that goes beyond my exterior and it's made me appreciate my core values,” Aneila shares with The New Arab.

“And I really love that. I love my hijab. I'm not going to say it doesn't come without difficulties and I'm on my own journey, but I love who it's made me and what it represents," she adds. 

“If anything, I think you should flip the script and use it to empower you. We're not all supposed to fit in. It's good to be different. It's good to have a core belief that's important to you and visibly represent that. And women should use that as their power.”

The season finale of Gladiators airs on Saturday 12 April 2025 at 5:50 PM BST on BBC One and iPlayer.

Yousra Samir Imran is a British Egyptian writer and author based in Yorkshire. She is the author of Hijab and Red Lipstick, published by Hashtag Press

Follow her on X: @UNDERYOURABAYA