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“Prime Time Muscle” face major backlash over comments made

April 30, 2023

“Prime Time Muscle” face major backlash over comments made.

The official Olympia Weekend YouTube show, “Prime Time Muscle”, is facing some major backlash due to their criticism of bodybuilding stars Iain Vallieire, James Hollingshead, Steve Kuclo, and Antoine Valliant.

Prime Time Muscle’s panel of critics is made up of bodybuilding legend, Chris Cormier, IFBB Pro Judge, Terrick El Guindy, and host Tim Wilkins.

Prime Time Muscle, has gained a lot of popularity with fans, in the way they review bodybuilding events, and major issues taking place in the sport.

Until now, the show has never had any controversy, or backlash from the fans, but this all changed when they published Episode 13, from season two.

What did they say?

First of all, the titles used for Prime Time Muscle’s Instagram post, and episode title, were seen as being too harsh.

The episode title “Are they Olympia failures or promises?“, was the first mistake, labeling what many believe are four of the top bodybuilders at the moment “failures”.

The second mistake was the title used on their Instagram post, “Olympia Threat or Bust”.

Both the YouTube episode, and the Instagram post, did not last long as they had to be removed not long after they were published.

The backlash from the fans, forced the Olympia TV marketing team to pull the episode from YouTube, and Instagram.

At the time of publishing this article, the full episode is still available on “Muscle & Fitness Plus“, a subscription based channel, but the episode can be viewed for free, the user just has to register.

Iain Valliere

At the beginning of the episode, Cormier, Wilkins, and El Guindy, start the show by analyzing the physique of Canadian bodybuilding star, Iain Valliere.

Iain is a proven champion, winning a number of pro shows, including the New York Pro. Placing seventh at the Mr. Olympia in 2020 and 2021, cemented Iain’s status as one of the best bodybuilders in the world. Unfortunately, everything went wrong for Iain at the 2022 Mr. Olympia, as he had to settle for 11th place.

Iain is on record saying that everything went wrong, especially with his posing, at the 2022 Mr. Olympia.

The bodybuilding pundits on Prime Time Muscle, exposed Iain’s weak points, with constructive criticism, focusing on his back, and triceps pose.

Iain is already focused on the 2023 Mr. Olympia, with the goal of winning the 2023 Toronto Pro, to earn his qualification. If Iain does qualify for the 2023 Mr. Olympia, he will surely learn from his previous mistakes, and get back in the top ten, with the goal of placing in the top five.

Bodybuilding legend Chris Cormier, is very careful in the way he criticizes athletes, and uses the right words to get his point across.

The same cannot be said for Terrick El Guindy, as his choice of words can sound harmful. There are better ways to tell a bodybuilder, that might be struggling, to take a break, or improve a body part. We all know ElGuindy means well, but to the bodybuilding fan that does not understand everything about the sport, the words used can sound negative.

Antoine Valliant

The second athlete discussed was another Canadian champion, Antoine Valliant. Antoine is known to look fantastic during the contest season, as he works very hard to qualify for the Mr. Olympia.

Winning the 2022 Chicago Pro, qualified Antoine for the 2022 Mr. Olympia. Antoine looked fantastic for that event, but unfortunately, he placed in the dreaded 16th spot, at the 2022 Mr. Olympia.

Antoine is not the biggest bodybuilder on the Mr. Olympia stage, and it is obvious he will have a difficult time, competing against the top athletes. As with a lot of other bodybuilders, Antoine was not in the same condition as he was in Chicago.

Terrick suggested that Antoine takes a year off to regroup. Meaning well, Terrick said this so that Antoine can possibly give his body a rest, and come back bigger and stronger.

Terrick is probably right, but the entire industry knows the story of Antoine Valliant, he is on record revealing his dark past, and struggles, trying to help people going through the same struggles. Every professional bodybuilder dreams of winning the Mr. Olympia, but they know the reality, and are just happy to arrive on that stage.

Bodybuilding needs a lot of focus, and this could be what Antoine needs to stay on the right path. He surely will understand what Terrick means, in regards to his physique.

James Hollingshead

The big man from the UK, James Hollingshead, was the third bodybuilder discussed on the show.

James qualified for the 2022 Mr. Olympia, by winning the Tsunami Nutrition Pro show in Rome, Italy.

James is one of the bigger bodybuilders on the Mr. Olympia stage, but has never been at his best on the big day. James has a incredible physique, and when he finally arrives on point, he will surely be a top ten athlete at the Mr. Olympia.

As with Antoine, Terrick suggested that James takes a year off to focus on his weak points.

While taking a year off might help James, we all know that he is totally dedicated to bodybuilding, and wants to be on that stage.

If James manages to qualify for the 2023 Mr. Olympia, his main goal will surely be to place higher than 16th, and hopefully move up to the top ten.

Steve Kuclo

Steve has not stepped on the Mr. Olympia stage since 2019. At the 2019 Mr. Olympia, Steve finished in sixth place, his best placing ever at the Mr. Olympia.

Steve qualified for the 2022 Mr. olympia, by the points system, but due to some personal matters, Steve decided to skip the 2022 Mr. Olympia, and focus on his family.

Steve had planned to return for the 2023 season, but destiny had other plans, as Steve and his wife are expecting their first child.

In a recent interview with Flex Lewis, Steve expressed the joy he felt, when he found out his wife was pregnant. As it looks, Steve will not be back for the 2023 season, as he is 100% focused on his family.

On Prime Time Muscle, Terrick emphasized that the window of opportunity is slowly closing for Kuclo, as father time is slowly approaching. At 38, Steve still has some time to get back on the competitive stage, and prove himself.

The official Olympia press feel the wrath of the fans

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the choice of words for the titles, and the way comments were made on the show, did not go down well with bodybuilding fans, and media.

In the last few years, it has become a trend for bodybuilding federations, all over the world, to start up their own media channels, with the goal of providing news to their fans.

These media channels, such as “Prime Time Muscle”, would have never thought, they would be criticized for the comments they made on their shows.

If the same comments were made by this website, Nick Trigili, Dave Palumbo, or even Bob Cicherillo, the official media representing the Olympia Weekend, such as Prime Time Muscle, would have been the first people to call out these media networks.

This time, the official media channel of the Olympia Weekend, would feel the wrath of the bodybuilding community.

Private media channels, 99% of the time, leave their videos up, and take all the criticism from the fans and media. Meanwhile, the decision was taken to remove the Instagram post, and the YouTube video of Prime Time Muscle’s show.

If Chris Cormier, Terrick El Guindy, and Tim Wilkins want to work as bodybuilding pundits, they have to realize that they will not be protected, or treated any better, than all the other bodybuilding media outlets.

Just because they are working for Jake Wood, the owner of the Olympia brand, they are not invincible, or protected from the opinions of bodybuilding fans, and media.

The team at “Prime Time Muscle”, will surely have to regroup after this incident, and answer some questions.

• Why did they remove the YouTube episode?

• If Chris Cormier, Terrick El Guindy, and Tim Wilkins, believed they gave constructive criticism to these athletes, why don’t they stand by their comments, and explain everything in another video?

• Was it the decision of Chris Cormier, Terrick El Guindy, and Tim Wilkins, to remove the video, or was it removed by people higher up in the Olympia organization?

What happened was not totally negative, as these people now know how difficult it is to work as a journalist, or pundit, within the bodybuilding industry.

Bodybuilding is one of the most difficult industries to work in as a journalist, and the people working at “Prime Time Muscle”, now know how it feels.

Bodybuilding is an industry that can allegedly crush or praise the media, when they express their opinion. If the athletes, or representatives of the sport agree with the media’s opinion, they are praised, but if they do not agree, they allegedly do everything to destroy the media in question.

The party that is annoyed tries to allegedly crush the media in question financially, or they try to totally remove them from the sport.

A perfect example is Nick Trigili’s Bodybuilding & BS YouTube channel. This channel was just recently removed from YouTube, for no logical reason. It’s no secret that Nick Trigili has annoyed some people with his videos, but shutting him down is not the right solution.

This is a threat to freedom of speech, and the right for the media to do their job.

Bodybuilding media is going through a difficult moment, with a number of individuals allegedly trying to silence them.

What happened to “Prime Time Muscle”, is unfortunate, but it’s a breath of fresh air for the rest of the media. The people that run the sport, now know how it feels to be in the firing range of the fans, and media.

Prime Time Muscle’s video can still be viewed on Muscle & Fitness Plus. Registration is free.