Whether or not you’re into at-home fitness, you have probably heard of Peloton by now. The fitness company has grown into a full-fledged global community, with health and wellness buffs and novices alike singing its praises.
Peloton bikes are the company’s most well-known feature. While they are expensive – well over $2,000 – people can’t get enough. Though the bikes are a big deal, the company actually began with a simple goal: to streamline at-home fitness. Founder and CEO John Foley explained Peloton’s origin story to Fit Tech Global in a 2020 interview.
“My wife, Jill, and I have always been pretty serious about staying fit and we enjoyed going to boutique studio fitness classes,” he explained. “But, with an increasingly busy work schedule and two young children, we found that we were struggling to work out as much as we wanted. I felt that there had to be a better way, a way where you could digitize and scale the experience, and so the idea of Peloton was born.”
Like any well-known international brand, Peloton has experienced its fair share of highs and lows. A few of those lows have included the abrupt departures of the company’s most beloved instructors, and the stories behind some of the sudden exists are pretty juicy.
Jennifer Jacobs left Peloton under a cloud of controversy
Jennifer Jacobs was one of Peloton’s most popular instructors when she suddenly left the company in 2019 after three years. She announced her departure on Instagram and Facebook, simply writing, “For the last three years, this community has been my heart and soul. You have continually amazed me with your strength and commitment and the power of our community. It’s with much thought and so much gratitude that I’ve decided it’s time for me to leave Peloton to pursue other opportunities, but I’m not going out without one last ride.”
While Jacobs didn’t add any other details about why she was left, people from her classes soon began to speak out. According to a Reddit post, it seems that Jacobs called out a participant in one of her classes who had the username #BMIwayover50, then added, “she’s not pedaling, so maybe that’s why.” The implication is Jacobs was picking on a user who appeared to have a high BMI, or body mass index.
However, it seems the story from that particular class might not be so cut and dry. A commenter on the Reddit post noted that her actual words were, “DrSpinGrid, PlanetTacker, MHillary, So good, First time riders stay on that, BMIWayOver50, Better get on that ride Kate35, (laughing and breathing), she’s not pedaling that’s why.”
It may be that we never truly know the whole story about what happened that day, but the story is definitely a curious one.
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