Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that Joe Wicks is not a hero?

281 replies

Cheeseandlobster · 30/08/2020 09:34

Dont get me wrong, I like him and do one of his hiit sessions every day. He is a great trainer and motivator and he has raised a lot of awareness of the benefits of exercise. But a hero he is not. What he is, is an astute man who spotted an opportunity to make a lot of money during lockdown.

He raised 500k for the NHS through t shirt sales. But he also made 10 million for himself. I saw numerous comments about him being a national treasure as he got up every morning to do a 30 - 40 minute PE session for the nation. Even with planning weekly costumes, making props and planning the exercises (though often he winged it) this does not necessitate a full days work I am sure. I did the sessions on top of an 8 - 10 hour working day as did many others which is much harder.

It just annoys me when I see him being hailed as a hero when I doubt he would have done it without being able to make a ton of money for himself and to raise his own profile

OP posts:
Original poster
Cheeseandlobster · 30/08/2020 09:58

@Longwhiskers14 lots of people were calling him a hero and a national treasure. It was everywhere a while ago. The term hero has not come from me

OP posts:
Original poster
Cheeseandlobster · 30/08/2020 10:00

Also @Longwhiskers14 he did not speak to Rosie with respect. He talked over her constantly as another poster also noticed. I posted about it at the time and said I hoped it was due to nerves rather than him being like this with her in every day day life

OP posts:
Longwhiskers14 · 30/08/2020 10:01

@Cheeseandlobster

Nope not a reporter. But I am allowed an opinion.
But your opinion is to be critical of him being called a hero – yet no one's described him in that context apart from you! It just feels like a spiteful, moaning thread that's so typical of British attitudes towards people who work hard and do something good. God forbid they get too big for their boots eh? Let's build 'em up and tear 'em down. It's the British way. Hmm
alreadytaken · 30/08/2020 10:01

He's not a hero - so dont use the term. I neither know nor care if he made money from doing a good thing, I'm glad he did it though.

FourTeaFallOut · 30/08/2020 10:01

I think hero might be over egging the pudding but he was one of the few people that seemed to get his shit together really fucking fast. While mps were still telling us to sing God Save the Queen while we washed our hands, Joe Wicks managed to cobble together a media campaign for a brand new platform over a weekend that became one of the few shared experiences for kids who had been jettisoned from their classrooms. So, well done to him.

Longwhiskers14 · 30/08/2020 10:01

[quote Cheeseandlobster]@Longwhiskers14 lots of people were calling him a hero and a national treasure. It was everywhere a while ago. The term hero has not come from me[/quote]
But you're now using it as a stick to beat him with.

ukgift2016 · 30/08/2020 10:01

People forget he also had a ex girlfriend he treated appalling when he hit the big time.

Crawlbee · 30/08/2020 10:02

Tbf he was already a multi millionaire before doing the PE sessions, yes he has likely helped raise his profile, but he was already well known with high performing books etc beforehand.

FinnyStory · 30/08/2020 10:02

"Apparently he is not that an astute businessman, his brother is behind a lot of it because Joe isn't the sharpest tool in the box."

Being able to recognise your weaknesses and find the right help is part of running a successful business. Far too many talented tradesmen, for example, run failing businesses because they can't manage the business side and should get some help.

FlySheMust · 30/08/2020 10:02

Agree that hero is much overused. as much of a hero as many medal winning sportspeople, though. They aren't heroes either.

Thirtyrock39 · 30/08/2020 10:02

I think he's great and his workouts are really effective
However I did notice he's moved into a massive swanky house on the reunion show yesterday!
Fair play to him as others have said he saw an opportunity and if not altruistic it's certainly helped a lot of people at a difficult time
He is a bit over the top at times but he sounds like he had a pretty shit childhood but is ridiculously upbeat about it - eg on desert island disks he cried as he felt guilty for once telling his heroin addict father off- I think pretty understandable to do.
He can be a bit cringe but it makes him quite relatable and likeable eg during one of his quizzes he described Lisa Simpson as a vegetarian 'that means she only eats vegetables' ?!?!

Original poster
Cheeseandlobster · 30/08/2020 10:03

So if he could have done this as say a character with a costume so no one knew who he was do you think he would still have done this? Possibly not. It raised his profile to enable him to make money from his other ventures. That is an astute business man and not a hero.

OP posts:
Sarahandco · 30/08/2020 10:03

It is awful when someone does something and becomes a success - what a rotter!

Mummyoflittledragon · 30/08/2020 10:04

@Cheeseandlobster

I liked him a lot more before he got his wife Rosie involved. Rosie was lovely but and did his sessions for him when he had a hand operation but he spent a lot of the time talking over her. I then saw another session he did in the garden on a Saturday morning. His daughter was being a bit vocal so he ordered his wife to take her in the house. You could still hear his daughter a bit from inside the house so he then told her to take the children upstairs. I don't know, it didn't sit right with me. During lockdown in a family home, a bit of noise is expected surely?
The man (could have been woman) was on live tv and struggled to concentrate with the distraction of the noise from his dd, whom he loves. I imagine he knew if she hurt herself, he wouldn’t be able to concentrate for example. It is also fine to be distracted.
Noextremes2017 · 30/08/2020 10:06

Who the hell could EVER think someone like this is a hero?

Fishlegs · 30/08/2020 10:06

How do you know he earned £10m in lockdown?

FaffingForEngland · 30/08/2020 10:06

Where has he called himself a hero? If he hasn't, but someone else has, maybe direct your ire at them rather than Joe Wickes. He's done a great job at keeping (and getting) people fit during lockdown. He needn't have bothered.

ithinkiveseenthisfilmbefore · 30/08/2020 10:06

Not a hero.

And I still can't figure out who the workouts were targeted for. Certainly not children or people with bad knees. They were all quite random and pointless if you couldn't do large chunks of them. Kids in our school hated his workouts; we switched to other options early on.

Mummyoflittledragon · 30/08/2020 10:07

@Cheeseandlobster

So if he could have done this as say a character with a costume so no one knew who he was do you think he would still have done this? Possibly not. It raised his profile to enable him to make money from his other ventures. That is an astute business man and not a hero.
It was reported he was incredibly fed up with it in the end. But felt a duty to continue. He may have then monopolised on the success. But it doesn’t sound like business and wealth was his end game from the start. He simply found a gap in the market and has now monopolised on it. That’s clever. Sour grapes.
Longwhiskers14 · 30/08/2020 10:07

@Cheeseandlobster

So if he could have done this as say a character with a costume so no one knew who he was do you think he would still have done this? Possibly not. It raised his profile to enable him to make money from his other ventures. That is an astute business man and not a hero.
You really need to do your research. He was already worth about £6m when he did this! He'd had about five best selling books out with Pan Macmillan, one of the biggest publishers in the country, and millions of YouTube subscribers to his Body Doctor channel. You might not have heard of him before but his profile didn't need raising.

Why have you so determined to find fault with someone who did a really nice thing to boost people's spirits and get them moving during lockdown and raised half a million for the NHS?

HarryElephante · 30/08/2020 10:07

A hero is an odd way to describe him, but there is no doubt he has done a lot of good.

ICouldHaveCheckedFirst · 30/08/2020 10:07

Apparently other people have benefitted too, eg a local physiotherapist told DH he has got a lot of extra business from people injured doing JW workouts Wink. Still not a hero though.

Grapesoda7 · 30/08/2020 10:07

I think he did a good thing that benefited a lot of families, I don't know why people are slagging him off.

People were calling all health workers heroes though and my neighbour who is a home carer was having loads of friends and family round for the whole of lockdown, then going into vulnerable people's homes.

I think the whole hero thing has got a bit out of hand.

Sarahandco · 30/08/2020 10:08

Hero is obviously an overused word and role model would be more applicable, but why is it wrong that he raised his profile and profited? Even the non-sporty kids can have been inspired by the fact that he seized the moment, did the work and profited.

Original poster
Cheeseandlobster · 30/08/2020 10:08

@Longwhiskers14 yet again. I strongly suspect you are either a family member of his or at least know him personally. Look at what I have said
Astute business man
Great motivator
Raised awareness of the benefits of exercise.

All positive things.

I have also said.

Not a hero. I stand by that.

Talked over his wife a lot - that's an observation others made too.

Pretty balanced and not a mean bashing thread. Like I said, I have done his hiit sessions for months. I enjoy them and I find him a good trainer but it doesn't make him a hero

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread