icon Giant was forced to pull out of the show mid-competition after he suffered a gruelling injury.

During Saturday's instalment (February 22) of the reality show, Bradley Walsh and his son Barney welcomed the latest bunch of contestants, including boxing legend Frank Bruno's daughter Rachel, who were ready to push themselves to the limit to beat some of Britain's best athletes.

But things took an awful turn towards the end of the show when the the former firefighter - whose real name is Jamie Christian-Johal - injured himself during a nail-biting challenge.

The star fell foul of the powerball game despite looking supremely confident as he stepped out to compete with fellow Gladiators Legend and Phantom.

However just seconds into the game he was involved in a "crunching clash" which saw him visibly hurt as the commentator announced: "Giant stays down, and the hugest Gladiator of them all is hurt here".

It was at this point that a doctor arrived on set and confirmed he couldn't continue to compete on the show. The commentator quipped: "If Giant has pulled something it'll take 10 people to pull it back again."

Fans were quick to take to X - formerly known as Twitter - to share their well wishes to the injured celeb online as another put two and two together, realising why Giant was missing from the celebrity special.

They penned: "Hold on, that must be Giant suffering that bicep tear that ruled him out of the Celeb Special, and he's out of this one. #Gladiators #UKGladiators."

Another pleaded: "#gladiators hope Giant is okay" as a third sympathised: "Poor Giant. He seems one of the nicest Gladiators #Gladiators."

Meanwhile, ither fans were quick to call out contender Andy for trash talking the star after his injury as one fan fumed: "#Gladiators Those were some amazing duels this episode and truly incredible blocking by the female gladiators in powerball.

"Can't believe next week we'll already be in the quarterfinals. Goes far too quick. Hope Giant is ok. Shame on Andy for trash talking someone getting injured."

Another agreed: "Andy was vile gloating about Giant being injured #Gladiators." However, one viewer was not convinced it was real, commenting: "Oh s***, Gladiator 'Giant' has broken a nail, bless him ... #Gladiators.

Gladiator airs on Saturdays from 5.40pm on BBC One or catch up on BBC iPlayer.