Married At First Sight star Daniel Holmes sparked outrage on social media on Monday night after sharing an image of a plus-size mannequin in activewear, saying it promotes “early death”.
The reality star, who lives in New York, started the beef when he uploaded an Instagram Story of a plus-size mannequin wearing activewear inside a Nike store alongside the caption: “Those that say this is empowering are completely delusional."
“It’s promoting early death," Holmes added. "There’s no power in that.”
Holmes received instant bombarding from fans calling him out on what he had said.
The 32-year-old personal trainer then returned to Instagram to defend himself in a live video, where he responded to comments and questions from fans.
Holmes started the video off by saying he had received “literally a thousand comments” in the space of 12 hours in response to his Instagram story.
In defense of his comments, Holmes said: “As a society, we need to be careful in where we take things in a certain direction.
“If we start promoting unhealthy behaviors, where does that leave us in ten years?”
And in response to the comments he was receiving from people, Holmes said: “The number one thing people were saying is, ‘what are people supposed to wear in the gym if they can’t promote overweight activewear.’”
The reality star then sarcastically commented: “Hey - clothes? You know what I mean? Like, it’s just the gym.”
Holmes then used his own experience in the fitness industry to show his “compassion” for those trying to lose weight.
“I understand it is quite difficult to lose weight,” the personal trainer continued.
“The steps in order to do it are relatively simple but to execute it is pretty difficult. I worked in the fitness industry for close to ten years and it isn’t a new subject to me.”
Holmes concluded that he was not body-shaming people who are overweight but that his overall issue was with brands that promoted unhealthy body types to make money.
Despite his explanation, Holmes received more backlash from Instagram users.
“These are the sizes I wore when I was in the gym 4 days a week with my trainer when I lost 60 pounds. We all start somewhere and the fact that companies are helping people to start their journey is amazing,” one Instagram user commented.
Another user agreed, saying, per the Daily Mail Australia: “So bigger people are only allowed to wear non-branded clothes? Wow, really? So overweight people can’t wear activewear on their fitness journey? You need to be canceled.”
"As someone who is plus sized, seeing that mannequin encourages me to get into the gym because there is comfortable gym clothing that caters to my current size. Your original post is exactly why plus sized people can feel uncomfortable and judged in a gym environment," another Instagram user comments.
In the video on Instagram, Holmes can be seen drinking alcohol and smoking a cigar, which users were also quick to draw attention to.
"So drinking and smoking is ok but a manikin promoting plus size clothing is unhealthy??? Umm," one person commented.
Holmes is a recovering anabolic steroid addict, and abused the drug for almost a decade during his body-building days, he admitted to the Daily Mail Australia.
Some users even called into question his profession as a personal trainer, with one user commenting: “You’re a PT fella. Isn’t it [your] whole profession to help people who probably need to wear those clothes to a session with you to be a healthier and more active person?”
“Definitely wouldn't be signing up for you to be my PT mate. Get a grip of yourself,” another said per the NY Post.