Matt Morsia, known as Legend on BBC’s Gladiators, competed on Celebrity Apprentice for Children In Need after recovering from a serious injury
Dan Laurie Deputy Editor of Screen Time
10:28, 29 Dec 2025
Matt Morsia is competing to win over Lord Alan Sugar on The Celebrity Apprentice(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Naked/Matt Crossick)
Gladiators star Matt Morsia is competing to win over Lord Alan Sugar on The Celebrity Apprentice.
Over the years, Lord Sugar has tested numerous celebrity contestants in special editions of BBC’s The Apprentice, but this Christmas instalment could prove to be amongst his toughest challenges yet.
12 well-known personalities were whisked away to Lapland, tasked with creating delicious gingerbread biscuits complete with branding, marketing strategy and a memorable jingle for an advertisement, all in pursuit of raising funds for Children In Need.
Matt, 39, is typically seen intimidating contestants on Gladiators, where his character Legend works to prevent challengers from defeating the elite athletes at their specialist events.
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However, viewers are about to witness an entirely different dimension to the sportsman, and here’s what you should know about the BBC personality, reports the Mirror.
Matt, known as Legend, is a former Championship bronze medallist in long and triple jump, as well as a silver medallist in powerlifting.
He’s also established himself as a fitness content creator with over 1.1 million Instagram followers, alongside running his own fitness enterprise and application, Morsia.
Standing at six foot one (1.85m), Legend can achieve a triple jump exceeding 50 feet – surpassing the length of a double decker bus – and boasts an impressive 40cm bicep measurement.
Matt is known as Legend to fans of BBC’s Gladiators(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
His motivation for becoming a Gladiator stemmed from believing he’d excel at it, whilst also fulfilling what had always been a “life goal” for him.
He became part of the revived competition series in its inaugural season. “I watched the original Gladiators as a kid,” Matt previously shared.
“From the age of nine or 10 years old, I wanted to be a Gladiator. It’s been a lifelong ambition, I guess.”
Matt is married to Sarah, who serves as managing director of his fitness company, and the couple share two children.
Earlier this year, the former PE teacher from Kent endured what he described as the “worst” fortnight of his life following a severe bicep injury.
Matt suffered a serious injury earlier this year(Image: mattdoesfitness/Instagram)
In a social media post, he detailed how he initially underestimated the severity of the injury. But the gravity of the situation became apparent when he went backstage and discovered his bicep had retracted halfway up his upper arm.
Whilst expressing gratitude to the medical team for their support, Matt revealed that the recovery period brought complications including nausea and other symptoms, resulting in him shedding more than two stone (15kgs).
The incident occurred during filming for the popular BBC programme when Matt was challenging another competitor, and his arm was “yanked” backwards, tearing his bicep “clean off the bone”.
He spent a fortnight in hospital where he “couldn’t eat food for 12 days”, leaving him so debilitated he was unable to stand.
Viewers will need to wait to discover whether Matt possesses the determination required to overcome his fellow competitors in the boardroom.
The Celebrity Apprentice airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Monday, December 29 and Tuesday, December 30 at 9pm
