Joe Wicks: 'Hilarious' Adele would be my dream podcast guest

The fitness sensation's latest venture is a new BBC podcast discussing the connection between fitness and mental health
The Body Coach via Getty Images
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Lockdown hero Joe Wicks is hoping to persuade Adele to take part in his new podcast.

The fitness sensation, who has been keeping the nation moving with his PE With Joe sessions during the coronavirus lockdown, launches his eponymous podcast with BBC Sounds today.

The series will see the 33-year-old quiz guests about the connection between their physical and mental health and how they prioritise their wellbeing during difficult times.

Wicks has so far chatted with the likes of Gordon Ramsay, Louis Theroux and Fearne Cotton, but told Standard Online that he’s still holding out for a guest appearance from the Skyfall singer.

“We reached out to Adele - I really love her and she’s an incredible musician,” Wicks said. “I just want to speak to her about what she does and her transformation.

“She’s just wonderful and I think she’d be hilarious as well.”

The star said that his older brother has been “telling him to do a podcast for about three years,” but admitted that he’d previously let doubt get in the way and “always found an excuse” not to try it.

“I’ve always told myself I’m not a good interviewer or I’m not gonna be able to find guests or I haven’t got time for it,” he said. However, the “amazing” response to his recent appearance on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, which he was “so proud of,” gave him the necessary confidence boost.

Wicks will chat to guests about their physical and mental health
Getty Images

“I used to really get uncomfortable whenever I did live TV or radio, I was really, really nervous, but now I’ve settled into it,” he said. “[Recording the podcast] is like when I filmed my first YouTube video - when you watch it back, you get a bit better each time.”

His talk with Ramsay, he joked, was “full of effing and blinding - I’ve got a little disclaimer on the front” while veteran documentary-maker Theroux (an avid fan of PE With Joe who has “only missed one session” during lockdown) couldn’t resist turning the table on the interviewer: “Oh, he definitely asked me some questions,” Wicks admitted.

Recording from the kitchen table in his Richmond home, Wicks aimed to have an “open, honest” discussion with each guest, to “really understand what they do when they’re stressed or anxious, and what they do to deal with their mental health.”

Children around the country have taken part in Wicks' PE sessions during lockdown
PA/Martin Rickett

His “ultimate goal” for the podcast “is to create a conversation that highlights the struggles, but also shows they can be overcome - and that if you feel this way, you’re human and you’re not alone.”

The link between physical and mental health has become an increasingly important one for the star, who admitted he was “shifted [his] narrative over the past couple of years” as he has gained “more of an understanding of it.”

“Lean In 15 [his workout series and bestselling book] was all about the physical transformation, the before and after, at that moment in time,” he said. “But now, I rarely talk about that. I talk about how exercise can make you feel - how it’s going to give you energy, lift your mood, improve your quality of life through that optimism.”

Joe Wicks Fancy Dress Friday Workout - in pictures

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Wicks is proud that his PE With Joe sessions have allowed him to bring this message to a whole range of families. “It’s kind of gone through all classes and all kind of age demographics,” he said. “It’s not just one type of family has been doing it, there’s [children from] really affluent areas and then from really deprived areas.”

Though his PE lessons will be winding down at the end of the month, Wicks will have his work cut out making his way through the gifts and fan letters that have piled up at his office during lockdown.

“People know I’m obsessed with marmalade and gin, so I’ve been getting loads of bottles of gin - and loads of homemade, craft marmalade,” he laughed. “It’s so emotional - a 60 year old will hand write me a letter just to say thank you, it’s wonderful. It’s a really lovely thing to absorb that energy and gratitude.”

The Joe Wicks Podcast is available now on BBC Sounds

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