Olly Murs admits debate over his body ‘hurt a bit’ as he trains for Soccer Aid

Last year, Olly Murs found himself at the centre of a debate focused solely on whether he was hotter before or after his body transformation.

The Heart Skips A Beat singer unveiled his toned abs last April, expecting it to be just his fanbase who interacted. Instead, the whole internet suddenly had an opinion.

‘I want to say I’m used to it, but I’m normally used to it for sort of positive reasons,’ he told Metro of the out-of-the-blue attention.

Olly felt the debate ‘really shouldn’t have been a story’, and was left a little baffled as strangers voiced whether they preferred his ‘before’ body.

His nutritionist, Greg, had posted a side-by-side comparison: one of Olly before starting his new training plan, and another after three months of healthy eating and what he described as ‘discipline’.

A random X account then shared a poll on which people preferred, gaining over 4,900 votes, with more than 79% of women saying they preferred him pre-training plan, compared to just 35.65% of men.

It erupted into a gender debate, which even the panel on Loose Women weighed in on, asking if our ‘fitness obsession’ had gone too far.

Having been in the spotlight since 2009, he’s grown comfortable with his life being up for public consumption, but he admitted this time ‘hurt’.

‘It didn’t affect me, well, it did a bit,’ he confessed. ‘I’d like to think it was done in jest, it was more tongue in cheek, but it did hit home to me.’

The strangest thing about the entire story was that Olly posts shirtless workout videos constantly; this was not a big reveal or an oddity on his page.

Despite the fascination with him, the former The Voice judge simply kept going to the gym and ‘let everyone else comment.’

‘I did it for many reasons, personally,’ he continued. ‘It was on my own little journey. So, for it to be put out there like it was quite odd, to be honest.’

Olly’s body overhaul came at a really transformative time in his life; he’d just welcomed daughter Madison the year before and they were expecting their second child.

Baby boy Albert was born in September, with wife Amelia declaring at the time her heart was ‘so full of love’.

He’s continued his fitness journey and is preparing to get back on the field for his eighth Soccer Aid for UNICEF, 16 years after his first time playing the charity game.

Olly took a bit of a break over the past few years, but he’s considered an original player and was basically always on the pitch for several years.

‘Soccer Aid has been a huge part of my journey in my career, really, it was one of the first things I ever did when I came off X Factor,’ he recalled.

He’s itching to catch up with ‘the old guard’, as celebrities ‘don’t really get to hang out’ outside of big events like this.

‘To spend a week with people at the hotel and during the game, it’s a real experience. And then when you meet up in like, a year or two, three years’ time, you always remember the experiences that you shared together.’

‘It’s something you always remember, and it’s pretty special.’

In 2021, he had to undergo surgery after a fragment of bone lodged in the back of his knee from an injury on stage.

He told us after the interview that he was planning to post an MRI scan with a big update on his knee, proving he’s not been intimidated by the body debate.

In the update he shared after seven years, he still gets the ‘odd arthritic niggle and moments where I feel it’.

After the long road to recovery, Olly is finally ready to step back on the pitch, taking on a variety of football stars, including Wayne Rooney.

This year’s celebrity squad boasts big names, including founder Robbie Williams, alongside Tom Hiddleston, GK Barry, Owen Cooper, Joe Marler, and Jordan North.

While it might be a charity game, Olly’s assured us it’s anything but a casual kick around, it’s a ‘really serious game of football’.

Returning player Usain Bolt is a prime example of that after being carried off on a stretcher in 2024 due to a ruptured Achilles.

Outside of his dedication to fitness and the great game, Olly is taking a break from music after dropping his album Knees Up last year.

One song, Bonkers, went particularly viral, which he had anticipated, acknowledging it was always going to be a ‘marmite sort of song’.

‘For new people, because of the internet, they were just a bit like, “Well, that’s a bit odd”. But if you’re a fan of my music, then that wouldn’t be odd, I’ve done things like that in the past.’

However, for the next year, he’s going to be putting a pause on music and focusing on his ‘nice little side projects’ instead.

He told us he planned to take a ‘nice year’ to focus on his family as well as presenting on Heart radio.

‘I’ll keep myself busy, but it’s a nice pace, relaxed,’ Olly grinned.

Soccer Aid for UNICEF takes place on Sunday 31st May at the London Stadium. Adult tickets start from £20 and juniors from £10: socceraid.org.uk/tickets.

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