[Neil Jones]

Can't the contestants tie their shoelaces properly? Two of the Gladiators tried to grab a contender on The Wall, but instead only removed a shoe.

Somebody in the original show prior to The Wall greased their legs and somebody else (or maybe it was the same person) deliberately untied their shoe laces.

John Anderson later said it wasn't a breach of the rules to do either of these things so the result stood, but it wasn't in the spirit of the competition and was effectively bad sportsmanship. However IIRC leg greasing was banned with immediate effect. Shoe laces being untied? Maybe not, as even an tied shoe can be pulled off without much effort...