Joe Wicks is about to show a different side to himself on Dragons’ Den (Picture: BBC)
Joe Wicks is set to show a very different side of himself on Dragons’ Den.
The 39-year-old fitness guru is starring as a guest investor on the BBC One competition alongside Emma Grede, who is a founding partner of Kim Kardashian’s retail business Skims, and fashion expert Trinny Woodall.
Across a new series, they’ll be battling it out against Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett for securing investments.
‘I’ve never looked at myself as an entrepreneur,’ Joe told Metro and other press while filming the programme.
‘But I can’t deny the fact that I have a tech company with 30 staff, it is a company and because I always think I’m not a brand, I’m me, I’m The Body Coach, but The Body Coach is a brand and so yeah, I think people are going to go, “What’s he got to say? Is he is an investor?”
‘I think they’d be quite curious to see what I’ve got to say, as opposed to this nutty, Lean in 15, throwing food in the microwave, the PE with Joe, being silly, and again, I’m not like a serial investor.
‘But I do really love helping small businesses, and I’ve given lots of different companies a little nudge on social, for nothing in return. So imagine if you really worked together and you actually invested together, I think it can be really successful.’
Joe joins the Dragons as a guest investor this series (Picture: BBC/Simon Pantling)
Over the last decade, his success has grown immensely, from cookbooks, TV appearances, a Glastonbury show, his lockdown PE sessions, and even a Guinness World Record.
His reported net worth is said to be around £14,500,000, with earnings from his personal companies and investments, YouTube and Instagram posts – which often feature his wife Rosie and their four children – and product sales.
Ahead of his stint on Dragons’ Den tonight, we’ve taken a look at the empire Joe has built, which may explain where his huge net worth comes from.
The Body Coach
Joe began sharing recipe videos and workouts on social media around 2014.
Joe built his loyal following from his brand The Body Coach (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Since then, he’s gained a loyal following of 4.8million people on Instagram, 2.8million YouTube subscribers, and 178,200 TikTok followers.
His Body Coach brand led to a website and app where he sells kitchenware, tailored workout cycles and personalised meal plans.
In 2023, Joe reflected on how far he had come since the early days of his career, where he was praised for his perseverance.
The former personal trainer, who has a sports science degree, wrote: ’11 years ago this year I was handing out flyers at my local train station to try and get people to come along to my bootcamp in the park.’
He started his career trying to flog tickets to bootcamps, and has since hosted a Glastonbury workout (Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
He went on: ‘Often not a single person would turn up, but I kept coming back every morning, rain or shine, and very slowly it started to build and grow.
‘I never could have imagined the journey I was about to go on, and that 11 years later so many people would have tried one of my workouts or cooked one of my recipes.’
Joe concluded: ‘Remember, whatever your goals are, work hard and never give up.’
Before his life of fitness and health, Joe has often spoken about his childhood where he grew up on a council estate, and admitted his single mum had ‘no idea about healthy eating’.
Joe has come a long way in the world of health and fitness (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Lean in 15 and Joe’s cookbooks
In 2015, Joe published his first cookbook, Lean in 15: The Shift Plan.
It was said to have sold 77,000 copies in the first week alone, hit the number one bestseller spot and led to two more books in the Lean in 15 series the following year.
Joe has now published a total of 12 cookbooks, with his most recent, Feel Good in 15, having been published in 2023, and has also authored three children’s books.
In total, he’s sold more than 4million books.
He’s sold more than 4million books, and is known for the Lean in 15 franchise (Picture: Brian J Ritchie/Hotsauce/REX)
Joe Wicks: The Body Coach on Channel 4 and more TV appearances
In 2018, Joe fronted a Channel 4 programme with recipes and workouts to challenge ‘ordinary Joes’ into healthier lifestyles with his 90-day regime.
While he’s also regularly appeared on the likes of This Morning, Loose Women, Sunday Brunch and even CBeebies Bedtime Stories, he gave viewers a more insight into his life in 2022 with a documentary titled Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood.
The BBC documentary opened the door to conversations about mental health and family relationships amid struggles, following Joe’s own journey as a child with parents who both suffered from mental health issues.
Speaking to Metro ahead of the documentary airing, he said: ‘It’s got a lot of heavy content, but it’s done in a really lovely way, and at the end of it, it has a really positive, uplifting message.’
‘It’s quite an intense, emotional thing to do, but now it’s exciting and I just can’t wait to share it with the world,’ he added.
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PE with Joe
If he wasn’t already well known enough, Joe really won the nation over when he kept us all fit and active during lockdowns.
At a time when going outside was kept to a minimum, Joe became everyone’s PE teacher through livestreamed workouts.
He was later awarded with an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, having achieved a Guinness World Record with the workouts and raised £580,000 for the NHS.
When he was given the honour, he said: ‘I can’t quite believe it… To receive this is just incredible. I’m so proud that I’ve done something which helps so many people.’
Joe became our PE teacher during lockdown (Picture: Aviva Health UK/PA)
He was awarded an MBE in 2022 (Picture: PA)
He added: ‘To get this… It’s something I couldn’t even imagine, I couldn’t even believe.
‘I haven’t even told my mum and dad yet, so it’s a surprise for them and I hope they are going to be proud of me.
‘My childhood and how I grew up, if you met me as a little boy you’d have thought, he’s not going to go anywhere, he’s not going to do anything great.
‘But I’ve turned it around and I really am proud I’ve become this person who’s helping people.’
Around the same time, between 2020 and 2022, Joe hosted a BBC Sounds podcast which featured guests including Gordon Ramsay, Fearne Cotton, Sam Ryder and Olly Murs.
Joe has also raised a lot of money through charity work, and completed a 24-hour workout challenge for Children In Need in 2020, which raised more than £2million.
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