Jemma Palmer (born 4th october 1986) is an English model and professional wrestler. She is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment, set to train in their developmental facility Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). She is also known by the name Inferno, which she used in the 2008 British television series Gladiators.
- Jemma Palmer
| Birth Name | Jemma Palmer |
| Date of Birth | April 10, 1986 |
| Place of Birth | Tamworth, U.K. |
| Official Site | Jemma Palmer |
Modelling
Palmer grew up modelling under the encouragement of her mother, winning the Little Miss Midlands and Miss Littlesea competitions as a child. As an adult she entered a number of competitions, becoming a finalist in the 2006 Musclemania Britain, Miss Hawaiian Tropic, Ms USA Dream Bikini Body and Miss Maxim UK competitions. She also came third in the Maxim Little Black Book UK modelling competition.
She went on to model in many publications including Loaded, WWE Magazine, FHM and Fabulous Magazine. Her modelling work was compared to video game character Lara Croft by the Daily Mail.
Gladiators
While her mother encouraged Palmer into modelling, her father encouraged her into athletics. She enrolled in the cadets where she began to train in climbing, abseiling and amateur wrestling. She would later gain a purple belt in submission wrestling.
As a fan of Gladiators growing up, when rumours mounted of a revival show in 2008 she began sending promotional material to television companies. Her wrestling manager landed her an audition for the similarly timed American Gladiators revival, but she received a call up for Sky1′s British version days later and passed their fitness test. She performed in both series of Gladiators under the name Inferno, sporting red hair and a fiery, flirtatious personality. Despite not appearing on the American version, BBC America aired Gladiators in the United States. As a cadet, she also later appeared on Sky1′s Battle of The Forces which pitted the British Army, Royal Navy and RAF against each other.
British circuit (2005–present)
Along with her other exploits Palmer also was a fan of wrestling, particularly the original incarnation of D-Generation X. In 2005, she began to appear for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) mainly as a valet for Doug Williams. This led to her having a try out match with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) alongside Katarina Waters who went on to become Katie Lea Burchill. Although she was not signed, she was later offered a scholarship to train at Ultimate Pro Wrestling. During her time on the circuit, Palmer filmed a reality television show based on pro wrestling as one of the three lead stars.
After much training, she was booked for her debut match against Jetta at Pro-Wrestling: Eve’s first show on 8 May 2010 in Sudbury, Suffolk. Before her match with Jetta she suffered an injury in her hand but wrestled the match anyway, with a storyline written in that Jetta attacked her and goaded her into a match while she was explaining the injury to the crowd. The referee stopped the contest and awarded it to Jetta out of concern for Palmer’s health.
Florida Championship Wrestling (2009–present)
On June 29, 2009 it was announced that Palmer had signed a contract with Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).
Big Brother (2011)
Jemma entered the UK Big Brother house during the shows twelfth series in 2011. Her younger sister Faye Palmer was an original housemate on the show, and was still a contestant when Jemma arrived on Day 29.
