For the second season of American Gladiators, they are introducing even more gladiators to stop the contenders from winning the competition. One of the new characters is Phoenix, a pink haired muscle babe who looks as likely to be found in a Hollywood dance club as The Gauntlet. She spoke softly and flirtatiously, all touchy feely, but she was gentle with us.

Phoenix: Absolutely, of course. Growing up it was must-see TV. We research on YouTube and the old "Gladiator" site.

Crave Online: How did you get involved in the second run of the show?

Phoenix: Actually, for me I heard the rumor of them bringing the show back, and of course I was like, "That's not possible. How could that be? That would be such a miracle of a great thing." I didn't realize it was true until some new episodes aired. So I felt foolish that I had overlooked the possibility of it being a true, real thing. For me coming in, it was kind of a similar process. I had a few small contacts that kind of came through and had some great conversations with some of the not only the producers but also the people who worked on the first initial season. They brought me out here, and honestly it's been really easy great steps all the way through.

Crave Online: Are you replacing someone from the first year?

Phoenix:   No, honestly what they're doing is they're trying to keep it fresh. Lots of new looks, lots of new [people]. They want to keep us as diverse as possible. So by no means am I replacing anybody or are the other new gladiators replacing anybody. We're just building our family a little bigger.

Phoenix: My character, well, obviously she was an easy stretch for me because the character itself is a very strong, beautiful, kind of a striking competitor. When you guys tune in, you'll be noticing me bantering with the competitors and chatting and kind of being sarcastic, but make no mistake. I'm a very strong competitor and I always get the job done. My catchphrase is, "I'm hard to the touch, but easy on the eyes." So that's my relation to Phoenix.

 Phoenix: We went for a really big look. I've got bright pink hair, the bubblegum lips to match it and the pink rouge. I think it's kind of taking the responsibility of bringing a little extra sex appeal to the show as you will see in my uniform. It's pretty functional and it keeps all the good parts in, but it shows enough. So I have a feminine look, but I'm definitely very strong. I don't know if that's the description you want. I'm wearing silver spandex just like the rest of the girls are.

Phoenix: No, I'm not a natural pinkhead. Beautiful hair and makeup ladies spend many hours making sure to give me a quality look. It's been a lot of work, but it's not natural.

Crave Online: Even with the sex appeal, are you just as tough as the male gladiators?

Phoenix: Oh yeah. Let me tell ya, I thought I was pretty hard-nosed coming in. As Wolf said earlier, we have such a great range of female athleticism on the women's side. Everyone brings something different, cage fighters, we've got some former fitness figure competitors that you would think could play for the Chicago Bears. Like, Siren, you should see her in the Gauntlet. It's incredible. And it's not just athleticism, but it's strength and the body awareness. We get after it. We give justice just as hardcore as the guys do.

Crave Online: What's the most important quality you have to have to be a gladiator?

Phoenix: No matter how much talent you have or how much strategy you have, it's the ability to get the job done and follow through on it. And honestly all the reactions, all the charisma, everything that follows, all the show that comes with it is a natural reaction off of you pursuing what you went for. That's what's key and what you see a lot with our whole team of gladiators is we really go out there giving it our best. The reactions that you see, they're real. We get really involved. We play to win, and you'll see it. Our hearts are so in it. It's built to push the limit. We're getting pushed to the edge of good, but not crazy.

Crave Online: How much time do you spend every day in the gym?

Phoenix: It's been more minimal as we've been into filming just because you're really exerting yourself in those rounds. They might just be a 30-second or minute bout, but it's a really all-out effort. Given that you're often doing multiple events in a day, it's difficult to train hard as far as a regular regimen of lifting weights or doing running because you really want to be fresh and bring your best effort to each day of filming. I think that's only fair to your fellow teammates and the contender you're going against. So we've been maintaining our physiques a lot too though. We're eating good calories. We've had a really good catering service there that has protein, brown rice, a lot of quality food to help us maintain our physiques and our health.

Crave Online: What was your real name before they changed it to Phoenix?

Phoenix: First name's Jennifer, last name's Widerstrom. Here's the thing if you want to get into it. "Widerstrom" is a very strong, beautiful, powerful name and I love it, but it's a mouthful, so I was going to be like shorten it up or change it to have my little stage name that I wasn't sure I liked enough to tell you guys today. I was thinking Jennifer Ryan. Do you guys like it? Are you into it?

Crave Online: Actually, that's more generic. Widerstrom is unique.

Phoenix: We're going to go with Widerstrom for today. I may just be Jennifer Phoenix. Just know I'm Phoenix.