Late nighters in syndication...

[polo23]

American Gladiators was only to run for 13 weeks. The second half of the first season was taped much later.

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/07/06/american-gladiators-games-cast-history-episodes

[PYLdude]

Well, that certainly explains the wooden people thing from the early episodes (and I think those actually carried over for the rest of the time they were at Universal, no?)

Seriously, that article is a pretty damn good one. Worth a read.