I think the questions were an execrable waste of time, but I don't think most in the media are as stretgivally minded as folks here often credit them with being.

Blood in the arena will draw gawkers. So they'll prick him and see if he bleeds. That he withstands such slings and arrows while barely sseming to suffer at all makes him a more compelling character; either as an invincible hero or as one who will be brought down in even bigger spectacle at a later date.