Sneak peek & a question: What's up with the fluffers in 'Spartacus?'

One of those details viewers can see in the upcoming episode, called "Legends," which premieres at 9 p.m. Friday on Starz. (I've added 4 video clips and the episode description below.) In once scene, the gladiators wash themselves after a day of training.

"Originally we had written the gladiators are in the bath, and [Irving and Jeffrey] said, 'No, actually they would get oiled up and scraped down,'" DeKnight said. "And I thought, 'Well, that's great. I hadn't seen that, let's do that.'"

Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) and Batiatus (John Hannah) get some help in the bedroom on "Spartacus: Blood and Sand." (Starz photos)

Other details include the types of wine Romans drank, the gladiator's weapons and the fact that even though the gladiators were revered, they were still slaves and kept in tiny cells. Irving and Jeffrey also consulted on Roman's attitudes toward sex and sexuality, their bodies and religion.

"The feeling toward the gods was a lot different than I had assumed it was," DeKnight said. "It was very much about fortune, and the gods giving good fortune, and you would pray, basically, to advance yourself."

But what about last week's scene in which Batiatus (John Hannah) and Lucretia (Lucy Lawless), the owners of the gladiator school, were prepped for lovemaking by his-and-her fluffers?

"It originally was written they were engaged in the act and having this conversation," DeKnight told me. He said his co-producer Rob Tapert thought a simple sex scene could be seen on any show, so the writers began throwing ideas around that "shocked even me," DeKnight said.

DeKnight finally came up with the fluffer idea. "This first scene really needs to set up the master-slave relationship, and why not use that in the sexual connotation and actually have them be fluffers, but not just the woman fluffer for the guy, but also have a fluffer for the woman."

But did the experts vet it? DeKnight didn't say, but he did say they try to be as historically authentic as possible.

"We always like to say that we will bend history," DeKnight said, "[but] we will try never to actually break it."

MORE SEX IN 'SPARTACUS'

MY 'SPARTACUS' REVIEW

LEGENDS premieres at 9 p.m. Friday on Starz. Here's the episode description and video sneak peeks:

Excitement ripples through the gladiator camp when a new festival of games is announced at the end of training. However, when the fight card is revealed, Spartacus (Andy Whitfield) is dismayed to find himself fighting in the lowest match against Varro (Jai Courtney), earning a mere pittance, while his rival Crixus (Manu Bennett) is fighting in the primus--the best match of the day. At the party the night before the fight, Spartacus decides to take the matter into his own hands when he purposefully attacks Crixus in front of the assembled guests who call for the fight to be continued in the arena the next day, leaving Batiatus (John Hannah) no other choice but to pair them together.

SHIRTLESS: THE GLADIATORS OF 'SPARTACUS'

SHIRTLESS: SPARTACUS HIMSELF

PETER MENSAH (in video above) WHIPS IT REAL GOOD.