Bernadette Hunt, who starred as Falcon in the hit 90s competitive sports combat game show Gladiators, has died aged 59.
The news was shared by her brother-in-law, Rick Jango, on a Facebook page celebrating showbiz from days gone by.
He wrote: “It is with great sadness that I have to tell you of my partner’s younger sister Bernadette Hunt. Most people will remember her as Falcon From the hit TV Show Gladiators.
“I had the privilege to be in her company a few times and I have to say she was one of the most loveliest people I have ever met.
“She never had a bad word to say about anyone, indeed she was always known as the nicest Gladiator, always stopping to speak and sign autographs for anyone.
“She had been battling cancer for a number of years until sadly she lost her fight. R.I.P. Bernie.”
Hunt’s sister, Carol, also commented, writing: “My beautiful sister was the best kind of human being on this earth.”
Suzanne Cox, who was Gladiator Vogue, wrote: “I found out a few days ago.”
Image: Gladiators was a massive hit with audiences. Pic: BBC/PA
A statement on the Gladiators website said Hunt was “the most lovely, warm, generous person with a beaming smile”, adding: “Our Gladiator family is truly heartbroken with our loss of Bernie.”
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The statement said she was the second longest-serving female Gladiator.
Stepping out of the limelight
The site goes on to describe her warmth as a competitor, saying: “Win or lose Falcon is always there to congratulate [her contenders]”.
Starring in series two to eight of Gladiators, Hunt had also performed in Gladiators live shows in Wembley and Sheffield.
Since working on Gladiators, she had left the world of TV and became a personal trainer, holding classes at Basingstoke Sports Centre.
Hunt had said in previous interviews that she had turned down the chance to appear in a Gladiators series reboot, preferring instead to “keep a low profile”.
Broadcast from 1992 to 2000, at its peak Gladiators drew huge audiences to its Saturday evening ITV slot. It was revived on Sky One in 2008, and a second reboot is set to come to the BBC later this year.
Ballerina-turned-bodybuilder
She had fallen into the world of TV somewhat by accident after her plans to become a ballerina were crushed due to a back injury.
She had gone on to train as an aerobics teacher, before discovering the world of bodybuilding, and quickly winning several titles.
Hunt had previously been involved in fundraising for both Help the Aged and Children with Leukaemia.
Her brother-in-law said her funeral will be a private affair, attended by family only.
Hunt leaves behind two children, her husband Mark, son Adam, and young daughter Angel.
It is “pretty surreal”, Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon admits, finding herself at the top of The New York Times bestsellers list.
When I meet the actress alongside her co-writer, best-selling author Harlan Coben, overnight the pair have learned that their thriller is now at number one.
He jokes: “I was texting her last night and saying you’ll now have to call yourself number one bestselling novelist, forget about Oscar winner!”
Image: Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye
As one of the most successful authors in the world, Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground.
Not content with running a hugely successful production company responsible for a string of hits, as well as one of the most successful book clubs in the world, she explains she felt compelled to give writing a try.
“People want you to stay in your lane… as a creative person I think it’s impossible to just choose one kind of life.
“Creativity is infinite and who I was as a creative person when I was 20 is very different from the person I am now at 49.”
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Gone Before Goodbye, a thriller about a talented surgeon who finds herself caught up in a deadly conspiracy, is the result of Witherspoon daring to put her head above the parapet.
Image: Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try
Coben admits he was “a little wary” at first.
“I don’t co-write novels but when she made the pitch and started talking about it, I was like ‘dang that’s good, we can do something with that’.”
While countless celebrities work with ghostwriters, Coben says: “I said to her from day one ‘it’s only going to be you and me in here… no third person in here, I don’t do that’. So every word you [read] comes from Reese and me.”
Image: Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground
Witherspoon explains: “He was like ‘if we’re going to do this, it’s going to have to be at a really high level because people going to expect a lot, so our bar was really high.”
“I said to her, in the beginning, novels are like a sausage,” Coben laughs. “You might like the final taste, but you don’t want to see how it was made and Reese got to see the full sausage getting made here.”
When it came to writing, Coben says they “fell into a rhythm right away”, working together in three-hour stints, “back and forth with a yellow legal pad – what about this? What about that?”
Image: Coben says they ‘fell into a rhythm right away’
Witherspoon says it “feels really deeply personal” to have their work now in print.
“Usually, as an actor, I walk into other people’s worlds and it’s already set up… but this was creating the whole world with Harlan and just from beginning to end feels very personal.”
While the story seems an obvious fit for being adapted to the screen, perhaps with a certain blonde actress in the leading role, Coben says that was never their intention.
“The biggest, biggest mistake novelists make when you write a book is to say ‘this would make a really great movie’. A book is a book, a movie is a movie, and we both focused on wanting this to be just a great reading experience.”
Given that their collaboration is already selling in big numbers, will the pair team up again to write a second?
Witherspoon says: “Let’s just see what people think of this one first.”
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Associate professor of neurology Dr Laura Stein told Sky’s US partner NBC News: ” The most well-described risk factors include a predisposition [family history of aneurysm], high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and inflammation.”
She went on to explain that most fatal ruptured aneurysms are in the brain, killing about one in three patients.
“When it’s a blood vessel that’s in the head and it bleeds, there’s a much higher risk of having a very bad problem just because the brain is enclosed in a fixed space,” Dr Stein added.
Low-risk aneurysms are monitored by doctors for growth or abnormalities, and there are a series of potential treatment options for those considered dangerous.
Elsewhere in The Kardashians clip, Kim admitted that her ex-husband Kanye West will be in her life “no matter what” because of the four kids they share together.