Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 30, 1993 TAG: 9307300046
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Or I'm gonna kick your butt."
The reporter said, "Yes, ma'am."
When you're talking with Raye Hollitt, better known as Zap, one of the formidable American Gladiators, you say things like "yes, ma'am."
Especially if she threatens you.
You don't mess with American Gladiators.
In this case, Hollitt could bench-press the reporter for breakfast, if she wanted. He's no Pee-Wee Herman, either.
(Whew! That's seven paragraphs right there.)
Meanwhile, Hollitt, 29, is talking about her rise to American Gladiator status. The reporter is risking life and limb for a telephone interview because Hollitt will be the master of ceremonies at Saturday's Jan Tana Classic body building competition at the Roanoke Civic Center.
A Pennsylvania native, Hollitt was a school jock, excelling in volleyball and track and field. She took up bodybuilding after high school.
Back then, she weighed 107 pounds and stood 5-foot-7. She worked as a secretary during the day and a bartender at night.
In 1983, after only three months training, she entered her first state bodybuilding championship. She placed third.
Her success inspired a move from Pennsylvania to Venice, Calif., probably the country's bodybuilding mecca. She landed steady work as a paralegal and steadily started beefing up.
She got into power lifting, which differs from bodybuilding. It requires lifting much more weight and typically puts on much more muscle mass.
"By the end of three years, I was pretty big," she said. She reached 170. "But big was in."
In 1988, she won the Los Angeles women's bodybuilding championship. That led to a role in the John Ritter movie, "Skin Deep."
Her bedroom scene as a strong-armed seductress was one of the movie's few funny moments.
Hollitt said she was happy with her performance, but not everything else.
"When the movie came out, I didn't like the way I looked at all." She was too big, she said.
Today, she's at 145.
She also didn't like the way she handled herself off-camera. Up to then, she had resisted getting an agent. But she naively signed a nudity waiver that forced her to appear naked in the movie.
"So after that, boom, I got an agent real quick."
That led to audition after audition. "If your agent says, `Go,' you go. You go to everything," she said - including a new television show slated for the USA Channel on cable, "American Gladiators."
"Initially, I thought, `How hokey,' " she said. "Six gladiators, six games, prehistoric sets, the games were not tested for safety. But we charged on."
Going into her fifth year now, Hollitt, as Zap, will join Ice, Siren, Sky and Jazz as this season's women gladiators. The men will be Laser, Turbo, Saber, Tower and Hawk.
For fans of the show, Hollitt wanted to say there would be four new games this year, including a spin on the child's game "King of the Mountain." It will take place on a 35-foot cushioned pyramid.
None of it is as much fun as some people might think. The gladiators take on a series of athletes and other challengers. "It's a lot of pain," she said.
All 26 shows are taped during a four-week period. "You can't believe how hard it is."
Arnold Schwarzenegger believes it, Hollitt said. "He just thinks what we do is crazy." In her best Ar-nold accent, she added: "You take some abuse, don't you?"
She called Arnold a friend. She said her notoriety as an American Gladiator led to their meeting. It also has landed her guest roles on several other television shows and movies, plus appearances on more than a dozen talk shows.
If her body holds out, Hollitt hopes to be a gladiator three more years. Then she wants to be a commentator for the show. She doesn't see the show ending its run any time soon.
"There are always contenders."
(That makes 32 paragraphs now.)
by CNB