Gladiators, Ready? PPO Readers, Ready? (Whistle!)
By: Pete Phillips
July 20, 2007

one of zap's recent pictures, from her myspace page

It was the weekend of Chris Paone's wedding when I stumbled out of my bedroom and into the living room to find Greg, in from Maryland and spending the weekend on the couch, enjoying some reruns of American Gladiators on ESPN Classic. It usually only takes a few seconds before anyone watching these reruns says, "I wonder what happened to (insert Gladiator name)." Greg and I weren't easily satisfied by finding out Nitro (Danny Lee Clark) is going to be in an upcoming CMT Original reality show about bull riding or that Sky owns a gym in Orlando, FL, (as is the case with most of the cast, in scattered locations). We needed to probe deeper to find the shocking truth about one of the original six Gladiators, Zap: She's from Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Hot damn! Zap's from the crappy town that I'm trying to move out of?! A body builder escaped the cold clutches of Northeastern PA to become one of America's choice muscle-bound ass-kickers of policemen and computer programmers? Awesome!

This was the key indicator that PPO had to come back from a long silence. Wilkes-Barrians from all over the world (anybody get the geography joke?) come to this site to get the latest news about the area and obscure celebrities. Two birds-- it's time to die by one stone.

Zap was the very first Gladiator chosen for the show. She had the physique of a Greco-Roman sculpture (not Grieco-Roman), blonde hair (all American), and the angst of coming from NEPA to help her stay focused on destruction. It wasn't long before she mastered every single event. She shot tennis balls, wielded those jousting sticks, and manned the pit when people fell off the spinning log-thing in The Eliminator.

She took time off in 1990 to have a daughter (who has the same Aryan good looks as her mother). She returned in 1991 and stayed until 1995. She had an extensive bodybuilding career, but I'm not interested in that at all. I mean, she fought to the top and made it (best in the National Physique Committee Los Angeles Championship in 1988). She went on to grace plenty of magazine covers for muscle mags and acted in a few movies (and plenty as herself).

zap and jeff goldblum-- how could i resist? yes, music is one of goldblum's many passions

It wasn't all thrusts and squats for Zap though-- OH, by the way, her name is Raye Hollitt. I realize I missed that early on, but you wouldn't have known who I was talking about if I used her real name. Anyway, she went on to pose for Playboy in 1996, opening the window for swimsuit pictorials and a few artistic nudes that you can see if you join her website ($30 a year-- not bad-- only $2.50 a month when you divide it up).

What you may not know is that she didn't forget about her hometown on the road to fame. As queen of her class at Lake Lehman High School, she couldn't turn her back on the area that treated her so well. Instead, she came back and did commercials for Ye Old Clock and Gift Shop in Dallas, PA (click the link-- I drove out and took a picture for you). Word is she owned a gym for a bit around here too, and her mother still lived in Harvey's Lake until this past June. And, as Spiderman would encourage, Zap is staying in school. She's working on getting her degree in Journalism & Broadcasting. Heck, stop by King's College-- we'll give you an honorary one for sitting at a graduation. We have online courses too!

How can you participate in honoring this woman's successful career? Send her some flowers from HER OWN FLORIST! Bam! Take that-- not only will she kick your ass, but she'll put roses by your bed when you're in the hospital. Really though, she seems much friendlier than an ass-kicker, as evidenced by her website and, of course, myspace . There you'll learn that she's into My Chemical Romance, but nobody's perfect, right? You'll also see more beef than an Oscar Meyer factory in her top friends.

As for chubby old me, I salute Zap-- okay, Raye. At this time, where I find myself trying to find my way through life and a way out of Wilkes-Barre, Raye stands as proof that it can be done. I'm gonna go pump some iron and hope for the best. As for Raye, keep on being you!

Oh, one more thing... Do you think... Hear me out... Do you think they got "Zap" from her real name, "Raye?" Like Raye... Ray... stingray... death ray... laser ray... zap? Just wondering. Not like you can answer here, but let me know what you think...