Good day!

Regarding Monica Carlson from Milwaukie, Oregon and her fantastic win on American Gladiator! I followed her all the way through the competition and knew that she would win! She is an amazing athlete!

The reason I'm writing this letter is that I saw her on the Today Show and she mentioned that she couldn't think of an American Gladiator name for next season.

The way she rocked the other Gladiators and plowed her way through the competition, I feel this name would work well for her! I would like to suggest to her that "Tsunami" should be her new American Gladiator name! I think it fits her well!

Ray Sword
New Castle, Colorado

The reason I loved watching Monica this season was that she had by far the highest number of "WOW moments" of all the contenders. I don't mean just good performances, but moments where she did something completely unexpected--something that hadn't been done before and didn't seem at all likely to happen. Here's my list of Monica Moments:

First Episode
1. Monica tosses Stealth down the pyramid and runs to the top. That was the first time we saw anyone try that approach: attacking the gladiators instead of trying to run around them--Stealth probably wasn't expecting it either--and it paid off big. Granted, it didn't work so well for her the next two times she tried it, but at the time, it was something we hadn't seen before, and it made her the only contender this season to reach the top.
2. Monica finishes the Eliminator with a time of 2:00. Up till that point, we had been wondering if anyone would crack 2 minutes. If anyone did, it was surely going to be one of the men. No one expected Monica to be the first one to do it, setting the course record not only for the women, but overall. Granted, Evan later tore her record to bits, and a couple of the other men beat it as well. Even ShaNay beat that record, in the semi-finals; still, when Monica set it, and became the overall record-holder, it was jaw-dropping.

Semi-Finals

3. Monica kicks Siren off on the Wall. When Siren got hold of both of Monica's legs, it seemed like it was over. Even the announcer thought so. Up until then, the Wall had been about whether the contestants could scramble up ahead of the Gladiators, and keep out of their reach. There was never any question that if the Gladiator caught up with one and got a good grip on them, that it was over. The announcer commented on how long Monica was managing to hold on, but there was about half a minute left, and it was clearly just a matter of time before she lost her grip and fell off. Suddenly it was Siren who had fallen off, somehow; Monica clambered unopposed to the top and I was left in disbelief again.

Finals

4. Monica launches Hellga on Assault with the loving SLINGSHOT, for pete's sake! In the pre-challenge interview, Monica seemed unusually confident, especially for one of the few events that she had failed to do well in on her previous time around. She claimed to have worked out a strategy, but I have to confess that I was skeptical, seeing as the first time she played this, she was picked off before she even reached the second station. When I saw that her strategy involved taking lots of time on the slingshot, I was even more skeptical--obviously, the only smart thing to do with the slingshot is to get a quick shot off and skip it. When I saw her head pop up and down again behind the slingshot station, trying to line up her shot, I sighed and rolled my eyes inwardly. And when she let the slingshot go (in a beautiful release) and hit the target, I was left utterly speechless again.

So there you have it: my four Monica Moments. There were lots of reasons to like Monica and some to dislike her, this season, but those are why she made for absolutely compelling TV. Looking forward to seeing her as a Gladiator.