The TV mogul married to Holly Willoughby has already profited from a lucrative BBC deal to make the revamped Gladiators.
And now producer Dan Baldwin has found a way to make even more money from the Saturday-night hit – by setting up a talent agency to represent almost all of the show’s hottest new stars.
At least 12 of the 16 Gladiators have signed up to his company, Hungry Bear Talent, giving him a cut of future earnings as their fame explodes on the back of their BBC appearances.
Those on his books include heartthrob Alex Gray, known as Apollo on the show, Crossfit champion Emily Steele, who is Dynamite, Olympic sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who is Nitro, and 6ft 5in Jamie Christian Johal, aka Giant.
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Holly Willoughby and her producer husband Dan Baldwin pictured on a night out in London in 2022
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Baldwin, 48, launched the talent agency last year after signing the BBC deal to remake Gladiators, 24 years after the original series aired on ITV
With Gladiators attracting more than eight million viewers an episode, the stars are being inundated with offers for their services, such as endorsement deals and personal appearances.
One television insider told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Talk about a clever business decision. Dan made the reboot with his company, sold it to the BBC for a lot of money and now he has shrewdly signed up some of its most popular young stars. Whatever they make now, he will get extra money via the management company. Some might think that is a little greedy. The BBC isn’t supposed to be a shop window for Dan to cash in on.’
Also listed on the books of Hungry Bear Talent are the athletes behind Athena, Diamond, Legend, Bionic, Fire, Sabre, Viper and Steel, while two of the remaining four Gladiators have Instagram pages directing queries to the company.
Baldwin, 48, launched the talent agency last year after signing the BBC deal to remake Gladiators, 24 years after the original series aired on ITV.
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Alex Gray and Emily Steele – known as Apollo and Dynamite on Gladiators – are two of the 12 cast members to sign up to Dan Baldwin’s talent agency Hungry Bear Talent
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The cast of the new Gladiators reboot produced by Dan Baldwin pictured with Bradley and Barney Walsh
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He founded Hungry Bear Media in 2014, and it has become one of the UK’s most successful production companies
He founded Hungry Bear Media in 2014, and it has become one of the UK’s most successful production companies, making programmes including Michael McIntyre’s Big Show – which follows Gladiators on BBC1’s Saturday night schedule – and Breaking Dad, which stars Gladiators hosts Bradley and Barney Walsh.
Other projects include The Wheel and Freeze The Fear With Wim Hof, which Ms Willoughby presented.
Baldwin is close to the BBC’s chief content officer Charlotte Moore. In November 2022, she took him and Ms Willoughby, 43, to the Variety Club showbiz awards at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
Baldwin is one of the UK’s most sought-after television producers, having begun his career on the early 2000s children’s ITV show Ministry Of Mayhem, which Ms Willoughby co-presented.
The couple marred in a stunning ceremony at Amberley Castle in West Sussex in 2007 and now have three children together.
