Father of bodybuilding, Joe Weider

Evil Genius with Russell Kane

BBC

History, Comedy

4.2 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You might not have heard of Joe Weider, but he was the man who invented modern bodybuilding. Formalised training, published magazines, birthed massive international competitions, and unearthed a megastar in Arnold Schwarzenegger. But was he a genius who built himself up from nothing to bring health and fitness mainstream? Or a charlatan who unleashed toxic masculinity on the world, who encouraged steroid use, and ripped people off on his way to making his fortunes? Jess Fostekew, Joe Sutherland and Emmanuel Sonubi join Russell Kane to flex their intellectual muscles to decide, is Joe Weider evil or Genius?

Additional Material: Eve Delaney Researcher: Miriam O’Byrne Sound Editor: Kate Mac Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls Executive Producer: Paul Smith

The Producer was Gwyn Rhys Davies. Evil Genius with Russell Kane is a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Sounds. An EcoAudio certified production.

Transcript

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0:00.0	So it's that time of year again
0:03.4	When a huge tented city rises in Somerset
0:06.5	And the stage is set for some incredible music
0:09.9	It's time for Glastonbury
0:10.9	Join us for bonus episodes of sidetracked
0:14.0	featuring some very special guests
0:15.9	Rod Stewart, Emily Evas and more
0:18.7	Plus all the festival chat
0:20.7	Sightracked by Glastonbury with Nick Grimshaw and Annie Matmanis.
0:24.5	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:28.1	BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts.
0:32.0	Warning, this episode contains strong language.
0:38.6	Genius. Genius. Genius. Genius.
0:39.4	Genius.
0:40.2	Genius.
0:43.0	Greetings, Jim bunnies, supplement junkies, and people pretending a foam roller changed
0:48.5	their life.
0:49.6	I'm Russell Kane, the only gym addict who skips upper body day.
0:53.7	And this is evil genius.
0:58.2	Honestly, I spend so much so, it never changes.
1:01.1	I think of the legs and ass of someone who lives in a tribe in the Latin American forest.
1:05.9	It's the podcast where we drag history's heavyweights into the moral squat rack and ask, were they inspirational icons or just morally shredded twats with good lighting?
	...

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