ED MATTHEWS

Annie Castellano poses for a portrait inside her family's restaurant, The Capri Fish House, on Wednesday, July 2, 2008. Castellano will appear in an episode of American Gladiators on Monday, July 7, 2008.

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At just about every step of the way, chance played a role in Annie Castellano’s path from college student to network TV reality show contestant.

She tried out on a lark. She was moved to the front of the line because she was a member of a sponsoring gym. And she just happens to have several friends who are video editing wizards, so they helped her make her audition tape.

When you meet Castellano, 20, it’s easy to see why producers kept bringing her back through the rounds of auditions. She’s cute, perky as hell and never afraid to assert herself. But when she stands up, and you see that she’s 4 feet 11 inches, and weighs less than 110 pounds soaking wet, you want to ask her: “So which show were you on, again?”

“American Gladiators,” she says and laughs. “Yeah, I know, right? I’m small, I know. But I’m tough and tenacious.”

And so it is that on Monday, little Annie will mix it up with one-named women like 6-foot-1-inch, 205-pound Hellga.

The story of how Castellano went on to fight the women of “American Gladiators” really starts with another TV show — “Saturday Night Live” and one of its earliest stars, Gilda Radner.

“She’s my girl,” Castellano says in her thick Boston accent. “I love that Roseanne Roseannadanna bit. That always has me falling out of my chair. That’s what I want to be.”

It’s her desire to be on “SNL” and a comedienne that led her to drop out of business school in Boston to go to Chicago to attend the performance program at Columbia College and study sketch comedy with the Second City troupe.

She sets her sights high. Her role models, Radner and Lucille Ball, are two of the most influential women in comedy.

“I love them because they can be so innocent and vulnerable and then turn around and be so funny in the next instant,” she says. “And it seems so natural.”

It makes sense that she’s drawn to actresses who play children, because at 20 she doesn’t look much older than 15. She’s short, with a shock of kinky-curly hair. She’s got the energy of a attention-deficit afflicted teen, too. She moves from point to point in rapid time and uses phrases like “boom, boom, boom” and calls people “kid.”

More than anything, it was her personality that her mom thinks drew the “Gladiators” producers to her.

“You can just tell she’s competitive,” Theresa Castellano says. “She’s always had this drive. I think that’s what made her stand out.”

It doesn’t hurt that she’s a gym rat and soccer player who is in peak physical fitness.

“Thank god for that,” Theresa Castellano says. “Otherwise those girls (on “Gladiators) would have killed her.”

You might remember “American Gladiators” from its late-’80s, early-’90s show that featured burly gladiators battling everyday guys in a faux-futuristic arena. You’ve probably seen it if you’ve channel surfed across ESPN Classic at 3 a.m.

That’s probably where Castellano first saw it.

“I remember laughing — a lot,” she says of watching the original.

So when a classmate of hers at Columbia saw that the new version of the show was holding auditions in the Windy City and suggested they sign up, she said OK.

When they got there, Castellano says she got bumped to the front of the line because she had a membership to Crunch gym, which was sponsoring the auditions.

After passing the first round of auditions, she worked on making a video about herself and her life in Chicago for the producers.

“They gave us three days, and I swear I sent it at the last possible minute,” she says. “I think they were closing the Fed Ex.”

After that, she kept making the cut, round after round. She made it through more auditions in Los Angeles and a two-week boot camp designed to weed out those who weren’t physically capable to handle the challenges on the show.

Despite her slight frame, Castellano swears she can pack a punch.

“I’m like a baby bear,” she says. “I look all small and cute, but I’m still dangerous.”

So did that translate to the events on the show? That she can’t say. Since it hasn’t aired yet, she is under contract to not disclose the results.

“All we can say is that she did a great job,” Theresa Castellano says. She and her husband, who own the Capri Fish House on Isles of Capri, flew out to Los Angeles to watch Annie compete.

“It was frightening, you don’t know if she’s going to be alright or break her neck,” Theresa Castellano says. “But Annie’s fearless and focused. She got them and they got her.”

But mom says she was never too worried that Annie wouldn’t make it through.

“She’s always been tough,” she says. “When she was born she was premature and only weighed 3 pounds, 2 ounces. I figured then that if she could make it, she could do anything. And she has proven that.”

If she wins the competition, Annie would get a ton of prizes, including $100,000 and a chance to be a gladiator next season. That means she’d have to pick a name. So what would it be?

“Maybe Mighty Mouse,” she says.

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If you watch: “American Gladiators” airs at 8 p.m. Monday on NBC.