The future of Sky One's new series of Gladiators was thrown into doubt yesterday after it emerged a contestant lost a finger whilst competing on the show last week, and is threatening to sue.

Alan Skelton, a 30 year-old PE teacher from Rugby, slipped and fell on the shows infamous "Travellator", a sloping conveyor belt that contestants must sprint up in order to complete an assault course. Mr Skelton's left index finger was completely severed at the knuckle when his hand went under the conveyor belt and was caught in the Travellelators gear mechanism.

Filming of the show was immediately cancelled for the day, and the horrified audience was escorted from Birmingham's NEC Arena with promises of a full refund. Mr Skelton was treated at the scene by the shows medics, before being rushed to Solihull hospital for emergency surgery.

A spokesman for Shine Ltd, who produce the show for Sky, would not comment on the impending lawsuit, but said: "We are deeply shocked at this horrible accident and would like to extend our best wishes to Alan for a swift recovery, as well our thanks to the professionalism of the medics who looked after him following this dreadful incident. Safety is always our number one priority on Gladiators, and we will be launching a full and thorough investigation into how this accident happened".

Referee John Anderson came under fire for imposing a five second penalty on Mr Skelton for bleeding excessively on the padded mats in front of the Travellator, despite the stricken contestant rolling in agony and clearly unable to complete the assault course. An unrepentant Anderson said: "I agree it was unfortunate and could be seen as rather harsh, but I don't make the rules. The rules in Gladiators are clear. Any contestant causing damage to the equipment or creating a potential hazard for other contestants will be subject to a penalty".

Gladiator presenter and ex-footballer Ian wright was unavailable for comment yesterday, but on being informed of the accident, former presenter John Fashanu issued a brief statement last night. "Awooga".

Mr Skelton's opponent Matthew Symes, a 26 year old window cleaner from Braintree, came from behind to win the assault course and goes through to the quarter finals, although filming of the present series has currently been suspended pending an investigation of the incident.

Gladiators was also the subject of several complaints from viewers on Saturday night, with claims that Oblivions cock could clearly be seen through his spandex leotard.