Gladiators star Legend and his family enjoyed a ski trip to Switzerland – and the TV star’s brave son smiled with his leg in a cast after suffering an injury
20:13, 21 Feb 2026Updated 20:36, 21 Feb 2026
Gladiators star Legend – whose real name is Matt Morsia – had a family emergency while on holiday(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Gladiators star Legend saw a family ski trip end in disaster as his young son broke a leg. The 40-year-old TV star – whose real name is Matt Morsia – rushed his four-year-old son, Mauro, for emergency treatment after suffering an accident.
The BBC star – who has been one of the main Gladiators since the show was revived in 2024 – was in Switzerland with his wife Sarah and their two sons. And while Mauro was in need of a cast on his leg, he proved to be a warrior himself as he happily continued with the holiday following his treatment.
Taking to social media over the weekend, TV star Matt opened up about the dramatic turn of events – and documented it with a string of photographs. An opening image showed the 6’1″ athlete posing in a hot tub with his son flexing his own muscles while being held in his arms.
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His young son, Mauro, suffered a broken leeg(Image: Instagram/ @mattdoesfitness)
Mauro had his leg put in a cast while in Switzerland(Image: Instagram/ @mattdoesfitness)
A second image showed an X-ray of Mauro’s injured leg with a broken bone clearly visible in the image. Further snaps showed the young lad having his leg bandaged and then posing happily in a ski gondola with a thumb enthusiastically held up. Further photos and video clips showed the family making the most of the elements – enjoying the slopes and the snow on offer.
Matt shared the collection alongside a simple caption that summed up the trip – explaining: “Absolutely sick week of skiing in Switzerland ft. Mauro breaking his leg but taking it like an absolute champ.” He added a gold cup emoji at the end of the message.
The post was met with plenty of supportive messages, with many praising Mauro for his bravery. Fellow Gladiator Giant – whose real name is Jamie Bigg, 40 – commented: “Ah mate sending love.” While Nitro – aka Strictly star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, 37 – added: “What a champ! Recover well.”
The young boy smiled and gave a thumbs up after being treated(Image: Instagram/ @mattdoesfitness)
The family were able to enjoy the holiday despite the incident(Image: Instagram/ @mattdoesfitness)
Fellow star Comet – real name Ella-Mae Rayner, 30 – wrote: “Mauro is the real Ledge, get well soon!” While Steel – aka 35-year-old Zack George – typed: “Big hugs. What a strong guy.”
Matt was among the fresh batch of Gladiators that were added to the BBC version of the revived game show when it returned to screens in January 2024. The series sees members of the public compete against the athlete-level experts in an attempt to be crowned the winner.
Matt is a YouTuber, bodybuilder, and fitness coach – and runs a fitness app called the Morsia App – and had previously attempted to become an Olympian. However, his dreams of representing the UK as a member of Team Great Britain were derailed as he battled a debilitating eating disorder.
While the star – who is a former triple jumper – has since succeeded in conquering the disorder, he was battling a dangerous eating cycle ahead of the 2012 Olympics. He previously opened up about the fact he would starve himself for a week ahead of sporting events – and then binge on calorie-heavy foods immediately after competitions ended.
Opening up to The Mirror in a past interview, Matt reflected on this challenging period in his life. He said: “I would put away 10,000 calories a day over those weekends. Sometimes I felt so full, I could hardly move and would lie on my bed feeling like I was going to vomit. I remember thinking it was weird at the time but I felt powerless to stop it.”
Having endured his eating habits and moved on from the dangerous cycle, Matt explained that he has a concern that other athletes could be following similar avenues – putting themselves at risk. He also opened up about his health struggle in his 2020 book, The 24/7 Body, where he explained the reasons why he fell into such an extreme eating regime.
Matt wrote: “There’s a total lack of support for young people in a lot of sports, many of which encourage – if not actively then implicitly some kind of starvation or significant restriction of diet, and I certainly fell into this trap.”
While he ultimately did not make the 2012 team – with his chances crushed by a back injury – he later switched to powerlifting and won a silver medal for his performance at the 2016 European Championships. He then went on to find TV fame as one of the Gladiator champions, winning over one million followers online.
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