HULKING Eddie Hall was once the world’s strongest man, packing enough power to pull an eight-ton double decker bus by a rope and harness.
But now, in a surprise twist, the 6ft 2in man mountain nicknamed The Beast has become one of the world’s biggest influencers, with 5.4million followers on Instagram and 2.8million on TikTok.
The switch from deadlifts to dot com has seen him signed up by Netflix to compete with stars including a former Love Islander, ex-Strictly contestant and a podcaster on Gen Z’s battle royale reality series, Inside.
On the show, a group of content creators are locked in a bunker, where they take on challenges and face eliminations as they battle to save a £1million prize pot.
Even taking a hot shower will reduce that fund.
It’s quite a change for Eddie, 37, from Staffordshire. But it has given him an estimated worth now of £27.5million, up from around £4.5m in 2021, before his career move.
He said: “Since I’ve retired, I’ve been busier than I was when I was doing strongman — and that’s just through building up the brand, being entertaining and being myself.”
Eddie first found fame achieving a world record deadlift of 500kg — half a tonne — in 2016. That was before fulfilling a promise he made to his nan on her deathbed to become the World’s Strongest Man.
He achieved the title in 2017, when he pulled a 44,000-pound cargo plane.
‘Snapped sofas in half’
At the time, his weight peaked at 31st, maintained by eating up to 14,000 calories every day. But it was a “full-time job” to stay that size, and he once ate a meal of pure fat.
Eddie explained: “If you had a bowl of porridge, I’d have a bucket. If you had a full English breakfast, I’d have four. Everything was quadrupled. I was like four average men in one.”
He once revealed: “I don’t fit into normal-sized seats. I’ve snapped mates’ sofas in half, I’ve broken restaurant chairs.”
But the lifestyle was incredibly dangerous. He admitted: “Every night was a lottery. I’d go to bed wondering if I was going to wake up.”
During his record-breaking half-tonne lift, Eddie suffered a brain bleed and went temporarily blind.
He collapsed backstage and it took three hours for his blood pressure to restabilise.
Eddie casually recalls how an eyeball once popped out of his skull while he was lifting, saying: “I had to force it back in with my hand, and then I carried on training.”
It was health concerns that finally led to his decision to retire from weightlifting professionally, and he pivoted to TV which showcased his cheeky sense of humour.
In 2019, among other things on his YouTube channel, we saw Eddie teach Paddy McGuinness how to lift kettlebells with his testicles in a challenge he dubbed “The World B****** Lifting Championships”.
I saw the Shaolin monks lift huge rocks with their balls and I thought, ‘We can do better than this’. I’m happy to say my balls lifted more weights than Paddy McGuinness’s
Eddie Hall
Eddie, who managed to hoist six kilos, said: “I saw the Shaolin monks lift huge rocks with their balls and I thought, ‘We can do better than this’. I’m happy to say my balls lifted more weights than Paddy McGuinness’s.”
His likeable persona quickly made him a star on screen, and with stints on The Chase and A League Of Their Own in the UK, Hollywood beckoned.
Eddie has had cameos in blockbusters Expend4bles and Transformers. In 2021, he spent a year training for a boxing match against Hafthor Bjornsson — “The Mountain” in Game Of Thrones — as he diversified his career.
His regime saw him wear a 15-kilo vest for his workouts, drink ten litres of water every day and sleep in oxygen chambers.
Bjornsson, who has broken Eddie’s deadlift record by lifting 510kg in Birmingham in September, still won.
It was a far cry from Eddie’s humble beginnings when, aged 13, depression over his nan’s cancer diagnosis derailed his hopes of a career as an Olympic swimmer.
He spent two years locked in his room, where he became “obsessed” with the World’s Strongest Man competitions. Eddie said: “I was expelled from school at 14, and while everyone else was studying for their GCSEs, I got a membership for that gym and I just started lifting weights.”
He has a myostatin deficiency, known as the “Hercules gene”, which allows muscles to keep growing, seemingly without limit.
While pro powerlifters were inspirational, he credits his success to the deathbed promise he made his nan as she died in his arms when he was 19.
He has said: “Even after her death, she inspired and pushed me through the deepest, darkest holes.
“And every time I thought of giving up, her sweet voice would fill my head. “I would get up, brush myself off and keep pushing forward . . . for her.”
In 2023, Eddie’s documentary with his idol Arnold Schwarzenegger, called Taming The Beast, was released. It chronicled the weightlifter turning to social media “to stay relevant” and proved to be the making of him.
He now lives in a £1million pad with a swimming pool and a tattoo studio where his wife, Alex, works. But he had to install a 6ft spiked fence around his land after a cocky fan broke into his garden asking for a fight as he reclined in his hot tub.
Eddie recalls: “He literally put his fists up and said, ‘Let’s do some boxing training’.” It was not his first brush with odd fans.
Eddie added: “People want you to crush them, to sit on them. ‘Twist your head off’ “You even get people wanting to buy your underwear. Loads of weird stuff. It’s lunacy to me.”
Eddie is a proud father of four, and recently showcased his 13-year-old son Max deadlifting 120kg.
In April, the retired strongman started his mixed martial arts career with a fight against Poland’s Mariusz Pudzianowski, winning within 30 seconds.
He also defeated twins Jamil and Jamel Neffati together in a World Freak Fight competition. But there was controversy over his style of “trash talking”.
People want you to crush them, to sit on them. ‘Twist your head off’. You even get people wanting to buy your underwear. Loads of weird stuff. It’s lunacy to me
Eddie Hall
In May, a video went viral showing Eddie chasing a blue BMW and shouting at the driver: “I’ll twist your f***ing head off!”
He told his 3.4million YouTube subscribers that he had first “politely” asked the drivers to leave his property, admitting: “The last bit of the interaction looks really bad.
“But when you get the context, you will understand. I am telling this guy to f*** off, you are scaring my kids.”
Eddie has amassed a fortune thanks to online content, including fitness videos and challenges.
Brand deals from MyProtein and BoohooMan alone have netted him £4million and most of his earnings now come from being a social media personality, estimated at around £30,000 a month.
And having shed 8st, he eats around 8,000 calories a day, usually following a carnivore diet.
But he is likely to struggle on Inside, due to the meagre rations provided, though contestants can buy food, using the prize fund.
He will appear alongside creators including Indiyah Polack from Love Island, Saffron Barker, who has danced on Strictly, and Geordie Shore’s Chloe Ferry.
The series comes from The Sidemen collective, which includes Britain’s Got Talent rapper and boxer KSI, and has huge viewing figures.
Eddie has already filmed the run, which will be screened in 2026. His appearance will open him up to even wider audiences, but he has been honest about the need to diversify throughout his career, with varying levels of success.
Thanks to his “savvy” business attitude, Eddie’s brand is now as strong as he is.
He said: “I’m a believer that if you do something good on TV, that will lead to other good things.
“But if you do bad things, then that will only lead to other bad things. The bigger your brand, the longer you’re going to last in this game.”
Where Eddie is concerned, bigger has always been better.
