On the January 2 episode of The Menace Podcast, reigning Mr. Olympia Derek Lunsford revealed how the notoriety surrounding bodybuilding may be holding it back.

"Outside businessmen, companies may look at this, and they say, that's a lot of negativity in the industry," said Lunsford. In fact, athletes and celebrities have directly reached out ot Lunsford.

"One of the first people who messaged me after I won this year was Shaq. Shaquille O'Neal. He was like, 'Hey man, you look perfect. You look crazy.' I have the messages. So there's that," Derek Lunsford told the hosts.

"There's Mark Wahlberg. There are tons like Sylvester Stallone. There's, you know? Arnold himself," added Lunsford. However, the champion believes the culture around bodybuilding is what has held these more mainstream celebrities, except Arnie, from going all in.

"If we could argue and be passionate in the right way, without tearing down the athletes. Then I think our sport can bring a lot more dollars, and guess what? Everybody wins," added Lunsford. And few athletes know more about facing backlash than Lunsford.

Derek Lunsford had a tough time after winning the Olympia

While regaining the Olympia title after avenging his loss to Samson Dauda in 2024 should've been a great moment, the reaction to Lunsford's win was far from positive.

Fans argued that Lunsford didn't deserve to win the title over Hadi Choopan and Chinedu Andrew Obiekea, aka, Andrew Jacked. The noise got so lound that Lunsford even momentarity muted himself on social media.

The backlash against the champion of the sport got so bad that legends like Lee Haney came out in support of Derek Lunsford.

"I feel it's unfair that Derek is being crucified for winning this years Mr. Olympia. Whether we agree with his physique or not, Derek didn't judge the show. The call was made solely by the judges. So why should he be dragged through the mud," the 8x Mr. Olympia said about the negative reception.

While the noise has died down, Lunsford believes incidents like this have worked against bodybuilding.

Written by

Ruwa Javed

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi