Joe Wicks has raised more than £80,000 for the NHS from his YouTube PE lessons.
The 33-year-old fitness guru – who is known as The Body Coach – is donating all the money he makes from his online ‘PE With Joe’ workouts throughout the coronavirus pandemic to the National Health Service (NHS), and he feels "so proud" after amassing 22 million views from six videos.
He said: "I saw the views and it’s unprecedented. YouTube isn’t a massive part of my business. It’s free content, I love sharing it, but obviously with the views comes more ad revenue.
"I saw the number and I was blown away. I thought that money had to go somewhere special, and it felt right to be the NHS.
"I’m so proud I’m doing it.
"In the past week alone on the videos the ad centre is almost at $100,000 [£80,950].
"Every penny of every workout we do from this school stuff is going to NHS in the UK, so we are raising money during these workouts.
"The more we do it, the more we raise. I’m so proud of that.
"We’ve had 22 million views on six videos, so it’s been unbelievable. It’s insane.
"I’m so proud that everyone has shared it, I’m really grateful to anyone who has because I’ve reached millions of families and kids."
Joe’s wider aim from his online PE lessons is to "change the culture of fitness within a household", and he is confident his videos will have "long-lasting effects on people".
He said: "My goal from all of this is to change the culture of fitness within a household.
"So we do exercise in front of each other, and it is something we do and enjoy and it’s not a separate thing that mummy and daddy do and go to the gym.
"This is going to have long-lasting effects on people."
But the star admitted he is still human and feels "low and flat" at times, but turns to exercise to boost his mood.
Speaking on ‘Good Morning Britain’, he added: "I’m not super-human, I have days where I wake up feeling low and flat, but I always use exercise as a way of lifting my mood."
Joe Wicks raises £80k for NHS through online PE lessons
