Gladiators star Falcon left staggering amount in will after tragic death aged 59

Bernadette Hunt, who was better known as Gladiators star Falcon, left a substantial sum to her children in her will after she died from cancer in 2023 aged 59

Bernadette Hunt, fondly remembered as Falcon from the legendary TV show Gladiators, left a hefty sum to her family in her will after sadly losing her battle with cancer in 2023 at the age of 59.

The surprising amount she bequeathed has now been revealed. The formidable gladiator left her son and daughter a total sum running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

After debts and costs were taken into account, Bernadette’s estate amounted to £293,000 from an original £444,000, according to probate documents seen by The Sun. This means her children, Adam and Angel, inherited nearly £300,000 from her will.

The much-loved 90s TV show Gladiators made a triumphant return last year, three decades after its first airing. However, just weeks before filming was due to start, Bernadette, affectionately known as Falcon, tragically passed away following her fight with cancer.

She had appeared in every series until its eventual cancellation, and her absence has certainly left a significant gap for fans everywhere. On the iconic show, members of the public went head-to-head with a team of ‘gladiators’, made up of bodybuilders and gymnasts, in a range of challenges.

Regularly pulling in over 14 million viewers, the original cast quickly became household names, propelling stars like stern referee John Anderson and hosts Ulrika Jonsson and John Fashanu to fame.

Rick Jango, the partner of Bernadette’s elder sister, shared the devastating news of her death in an emotional Facebook post. The poignant tribute stated: “It is with great sadness that I have to tell you of the death of my partner’s younger sister Bernadette Hunt. Most people will remember her as Falcon From the hit TV Show Gladiators.”

Rick continued: “I had the privilege to be in her company a few times and I have to say she was one of the most lovely 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.”

Throughout her time on Gladiators, Bernadette also appeared on International Gladiators from 1994 to 1995, and took part in three live performances.

She primarily took on challenges including Joust, Powerball and Tilt. Queen’s hit Breakthru served as her entrance music during her appearances, and she attracted a devoted following, with numerous fans affectionately calling her the ‘nicest Gladiator’.

Prior to her television career, the Brighton-born star had trained as both a ballerina and an aerobics instructor. Aged 18, she secured a place at the London Contemporary Ballet School, but a back injury put an end to her ballet ambitions.

She first made her mark in the competitive scene in 1992, bagging the Miss Natural Health title. Over time, she also clinched the titles of Miss Novice Britain, Miss London and Home Countries 1992, and Miss South Britain.

Following her exit from Gladiators in 1999, after the eighth series, Bernadette pivoted to a career as a personal trainer in Basingstoke. The tragic news of Bernadette’s passing was shared on 31 March.

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She is survived by her partner Mark and their two children, Angel and Adam.

Kate Garraway explains chilling impact of fake pics of her and ‘new man’ on her kids

Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway has admitted the effect an AI-created partner has had on her family after initially saying she tried to brush off the incident

Kate Garraway has revealed the impact of being the victim of AI-created deepfake images after she was put beside a fictitious partner. The Good Morning Britain presenter, 58, lost her husband Derek Draper two years ago after a long health battle following a Covid diagnosis.

And while she admits she initially laughed off the fake images, she quickly realised how upsetting they were to her and Derek’s two kids. She claimed people have been incorrectly congratulating her on her alleged new relationship for over a year. The presenter said she had to take calls from friends as well as be stopped in the street. And she says it is all because of artificial intelligence creating something that didn’t exist – and making people believe it was the truth.

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Kate admitted she was naive at first and thought the timing of questions was just an accident. She also confessed she thought it was touching to see people cared for her and her family.

However, she said she’d seen that there was more to it, after the intial laughing off of the whole thing when the imagined match-ups were co-stars and friends including Richard Arnold or Ben Shephard. She wrote in The Sun. that “we laughed it off”.

However, she added: “The turning point for me was when I became aware of the impact it might have on my children and Derek’s family, too. A headline popped up, sent to me by an algorithm I assume, saying: ‘Everything you need to know about Kate Garraway’s new boyfriend’.”

Kate said she was “flabbergasted and intrigued” to find out more about the new man in her life who didn’t actually exist. But it was one detail that claimed her son was not happy and wanted his mum to end her “relationship” that Kate said “stopped me cold”.

She fumed that her 16-year-old son had already had enough to deal with without reports claiming he was being obstructive of his mum’s happiness. Kate insisted he is “the opposite of that”.

The presenter said it was this moment that made her worry and set her mum instinct into play. And she said the instance had left her worrying about how we can trust what we are seeing anymore due to the rapid rise of AI’s capabilities.

“When everything can be faked, proof starts to lose its meaning,” she said. And Kate said that if the trust is eroded, then it makes it extremely hard to get it back.

She urged for the world to slow down and actually question what they are seeing. By doing this, Kate says we can teach our children that scepticism isn’t cynicism, but instead is a vital skill.

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Rock star who said ‘I couldn’t give a f***’ about Ozzy after his death’ in fresh outburst

Roger Waters has bluntly said he wouldn’t like to apologise to the Osbourne family after his scathing words towards the late Ozzy Osbourne following his death last summer

A music star who shared a unkind outburst in the aftermath of Ozzy Osbourne’s death has blasted his wife Sharon in a new rant. Roger Waters said he “couldn’t give a f*** about Ozzy” last year after the Black Sabbath legend died aged 76.

His rant saw him say the Prince of Darkness had “been on TV for hundreds of years with his idiocy and nonsense” and now, he has been asked if he’d like to apologise to the Osbourne family for his previous comments.

While he said he would, he also went on the attack once more. The Pink Floyd star was challenged by Piers Morgan on his past words. The pair got into a heated debate and when Piers pushed for whether the musician would be apologising.

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Roger said:”Yeah, of course I will if I caused [offence]…not that I have any time for Sharon. She’s a raging Zionist.”

As he continued his rant, Roger went on: “In consequence, she’s not in my very…and she’s accused me of all kinds of things. She’s constantly accused. “

Piers pushed for an answer on whether he would like to apologise to the family, and bluntly, Roger said: “Not really.”

Earlier in the chat Roger had mistakenly called Sharon Karen, with some followers believing it was a slip up he did on purpose. He also said he doesn’t have to like every rock band and mocked Ozzy for biting the head of a bat.

He did say that he would happily talk to Ozzy’s son Jack if he wanted, after the I’m A Celebrity star was left raging at his initial comments. , Jack, Ozzy’s youngest son took to his Instagram Stories at the time to criticise the musician.

Jack raged: “Hey @rogerwaters f**k you. How pathetic and out of touch you’ve become. The only way you seem to get attention these days is by vomiting out bulls**t in the press. My father always thought you were a c***t – thanks for proving him right.” He later added: “#f**krogerwaters.”

Speaking of his late father, Jack said: “I haven’t really wanted to post anything since the passing of my father. My heart has hurt too much. I’m gonna keep this short because he certainly hated long rambling speeches.

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“He was so many things to so many people, but I was so lucky and blessed to be apart of a very small group that got to call him ‘Dad’. My heart is full of so much sadness and sorrow, but also so much love and gratitude. I got 14,501 days with that man and I know that is such a blessing. I think this quote best describes my father.

“Hunter S. Thompson once said: ‘Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body… But rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow! What a ride!’ That was my dad. He lived and he lived his life fully. I love you dad.”

Traitors star Jade Scott’s devastating tragedy that left her mum and half-sibling dead explained

Traitors star Jade Scott’s devastating tragedy that left her mum and half-sibling dead explained – The Mirror

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Need to know

Traitors star Jade Scott’s devastating tragedy explained:

  1. The Traitors was rocked by an unexpectedly horrible story on tonight episode, when Jade Scott opened up about the death of her mum and her half-sibling.
  2. It was revealed in a dinner thrown by Claudia Winkleman for the remaining players in the castle. One by one they went round the table explaining what they would do with the prize money – and many of the answers came with emotional stories about the contestants’ lives.
  3. When it was Jade’s turn she explained the awful circumstances of eight years ago, saying: “My parents got divorced when I was seven, my Mum moved back to Hong Kong, she had a kid and then in 2018 they were both found dead.”
  4. She went on: “I have had to really rebuild myself from that point onwards. So I’m really proud of myself for being here and getting this far.”
  5. Jade added that if she ended up winning The Traitors this series she’d spend the prize pot (of up to £120,000) of her own place. “I think I’d really like to buy a home,” she said. “Somewhere I can call my own.”
  6. Speaking to producer on camera, Jade said: “In 2018 I lost my Mum. I was always very close with her so it was a shock to the system. Our parents form a big core of our own identity so I had to rebuild myself.”
  7. She added: “It’s affected me a lot. It takes me a very long time to let people in just because it does take me a minute to get comfortable and I can come off as a bit standoffish at first.”
  8. Fans sent her their best wishes, with one writing: “Jade’s backstory just broke my heart man. really explains a lot about how isolated she’s seemed in there.”
  9. It was an emotional night for Jade, who cried during the incredibly tense round table on Friday night’s show.
  10. She said: “I’ve never seen someone go through so many roundtables and have to put up with as much as I have. I’m frankly so sick of it.”

READ THE FULL STORY: Traitors’ Jade in tears as she shares family tragedy saying ‘they were both found dead’

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Traitors’ Jade in tears as she shares family tragedy saying ‘they were both found dead’

In a discussion about how they’d spend the money if they won, Jade told the group a heart-breaking story about her past

The tears were flowing freely tonight in The Traitors castle, as the remaining eight players took part in what became the most emotional night in the show’s history. In an astonishing confession at the dinner party thrown by host Claudia Winkleman, Faithful Jade Scott told the group gathered around the table that she had lost her mother and her half-sibling in very difficult circumstances eight years ago.

As the others gasped and looked horrified for her, Jade wept as she explained: “My parents got divorced when I was seven, my Mum moved back to Hong Kong, she had a kid and then in 2018 they were both found dead.”

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Blaming her tears on the fact that it had been “an emotional day”, the 25-year-old Phd student from the West Midlands told the group: “I have had to really rebuild myself from that point onwards. So I’m really proud of myself for being here and getting this far.” As the others commended her bravery, Jade said that if she ended up winning the prize money, she’d spend it on getting her own pad. “I think I’d really like to buy a home,” she said. “Somewhere I can call my own.”

In an interview after the dinner party, she told the camera: “In 2018 I lost my Mum. I was always very close with her so it was a shock to the system. Our parents form a big core of our own identity so I had to rebuild myself. It’s affected me a lot. It takes me a very long time to let people in just because it does take me a minute to get comfortable and I can come off as a bit standoffish at first.”

At dinner, Stephen Libby told her she’d done an incredible job and Matty Hyndman, who had voted for her at the round table, apologised for making her cry. Separately, Rachel Duffy admitted it would make it hard to make future decisions in the turret “knowing what people have come through”.

Jade’s shocking backstory came after she broke down at the round table over the agony of being endlessly suspected took its toll. “Of course I’m going to be guarded in front of 22 people who I’ve never met before,” she told Matt, who is wrongly convinced she’s a traitor. “I’ve never seen someone go through so many roundtables and have to put up with as much as I have. I’m frankly so sick of it.” Refusing to hug him at the end, she told him he’d been “spinning things that are’t there”.

Her tears came after Ellie Buckley also broke down when Rachel picked her for banishment and explained that she’d found it “suspicious” how close Ellie had stuck with her that day. Crying, Ellie said that since her pal Jessie Stride had been murdered the previous night, she was simply looking for friendship. She told Rachel: “You’re actually the person I felt closest to after Jessie and I just wanted to spend some time. You don’t know who to trust – that’s why I wanted to hang out with you.”

The result of Jessie’s departure meant that Stephen feared he would have plenty of fingers pointed at him at the round table, because Jessie had set out her case for him being a traitor immediately before her murder.

Saying he needed to be “very careful”, Stephen explained that one way or another Jessie needed to leave the BBC show but he knew it was a risky move and said that, if he got through this banishment, it would only be “by the skin of my teeth”. He admitted: “It’s a miracle I’ve got this far.”

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But in the event his fears were unfounded with neither him nor fellow traitor Rachel receiving a single vote. Ellie did manage to leave on a high by causing widespread astonishment with her revelation that she and Ross Garshong had come into the castle as a couple.

After her banishment, there were just eight players left to revel in Claudia’s declaration that there would be no murder, and instead a dinner party would be thrown to raise their spirits after an extremely difficult day.

Celebrity SAS star Graeme Swann opens up on ‘disgusting’ show and reveals nasty injury

Former England cricket legend Graeme Swann has revealed the toughness of Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins took him by surprise as he opened up on being made a ‘scapegoat’ at the end of his career

Graeme Swann has labelled Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins ‘disgusting’ – but admits he loved it. The former cricket legend, 46, was put through his paces on the brutal Channel 4 reality show and revealed it was so much tougher than he ever anticipated.

The Ashes winner might be known for aggressively tearing through batting orders as one of the best off-spin bowlers of his generation. But he admits he was surprised at how “mind-numbingly hard” the intense TV show is.

Graeme exclusively tells the Mirror: “It was way harder than I thought. I honestly thought because it’s television, I thought it’d be a bit watered down for what you see and a bit dramatised. It really isn’t. It is brutal.

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“I think Ben Cohen at one point said to me, this is disgusting. And that is a great adjective. It was disgusting. Like there’s some of those things you have to do and some of the cr*p you have to crawl through and swim through and just put your body through.

“It was way harder than I thought. I’ve got so much respect for those guys, for the actual guys. It was mind-numbingly hard.”

The former Nottinghamshire star admits he signed up for the show to prove to his kids that he is not a quitter following claims he “abandoned” England midway through their 2013 Ashes Tour. He fiercely rejects the claims, but sadly revealed he still gets abused about it to this day.

Explaining how he hit rock bottom at the time, Graeme tells us: “It was injury, unfortunately [that forced him to leave the series and retire]… They [the press] needed a scapegoat so they obliterated me in the press.

“I should never have gone on that tour. I had nerve damage in my elbow, and that was the end of my career. It wasn’t that I didn’t think I was good enough [as has been reported]. It’s that I couldn’t feel the ball in my hand.

“When you’re bowling for England and you don’t know where it’s gonna go, that’s not the ideal place. And my hand has never recovered. So, unfortunately, I’ve had to just live with that. But yeah, it was a low moment.”

And he admits it’s an issue that he still struggles with. “I can’t feel these two fingers for 90% of the time, the little ones, and weirdly it’s only when I bowl,” he said.

Opening up further on what happened, Graeme reveals he received a barrage of abuse by supporters saying he had “abandoned ship” and gone home. But in a staunch denial he continues to call out those criticising him, confessing it felt like it was the other way around.

“I was forced to retire and told to go home,” he continues. “The amount of people who just sort of abandoned ship and showed no support whatsoever. It was shocking. It included my employers. The ECB were horrific.

“I was just cast adrift. I didn’t hear from anyone for about two years. I mean it was in the days before anyone really took mental health seriously.

“I was depressed after that Tour. No one ever checked in. It wasn’t until I got started working… And I saw a team England doctor about two years later, and he said, oh, how are you, mate? Is everything all right? That was the first time anyone asked. It shows how far things ae hopefully coming. Because back then, no, you just got absolutely cast adrift.”

Graeme, who shares three kids – Charlotte, Wilfred and Jessica – with wife Sarah, was born in Northamptonshire and went on to become one of the greatest cricketers to play for his country.

The former Nottinghamshire star played in four Ashes series for England, winning three. In a history-making victory, he was part of an iconic win Down Under across Christmas 2010 and New Year 2011.

The sports star has been open about mental health since quitting the sport and is an advocate for better psychological support for players in cricket.

“The biggest advice I can give anyone is to learn to be resilient,” he says. “Society now doesn’t teach resilience. It teaches everyone to be like, everyone’s okay…

“I think it’s good now that mental health is not seen as a stigma anymore, because everyone suffers from it at some point…

“But the very fact that I still get abused every now and again for supposedly abandoning the team shows the mental health issue is being absolutely poo-pooed by people who aren’t playing sport and just thinking they can say what they want and can be absolute a**holes and get away with it.”

Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, stream or watch live on Sundays and Mondays at 9pm on Channel 4

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