Joe Wicks to donate ALL of his earnings from daily PE lessons to the NHS as he admits his income has soared
JOE Wicks will donate all of the earnings from his daily PE lessons to the NHS.
The 33-year-old fitness fanatic took to social media this evening to share his generous plan with followers - after he admitted that his income has soared thanks to the popularity of his classes.
Joe took it upon himself to become the nation's PE teacher last week, after schools across Britain were forced to close down indefinitely due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Every weekday at 9am he runs a 30 minute live class on his YouTube channel, with almost a million people tuning in each day.
Posting a grab from one of the workouts to Instagram tonight, Joe reflected on a successful week as he wrote: "Words can't express how happy and proud I have felt every day this week as the nation's P.E. teacher.
"I’ve been overwhelmed with the response and the support it's had from everyone.
"As a result of so many people viewing the #PEWithJoe workouts on YouTube the advertising revenue generated has been unlike anything I've seen or experienced on my channel before.
"So I've decided that as long as I’m the nations P.E. teacher, every single penny of the money generated on these videos is going to the place where we need it the most right now. All of it is going straight to the NHS, to support the real heroes right now."
He added: "Thank you for watching, joining in and sharing… I’m loving being your P.E. Teacher and now you can watch again, knowing you’re not only staying fit, you’re also helping raise money for the NHS. See you Monday at 9am".
Joe was widely praised for his decision, with one follower commenting: "Wow! Amazing Joe and such a wonderful thing to do for our NHS."
Another added: "Joe this is amazing!! Thank you for giving the kids something brilliant to look forward to every morning. It’s such a blessing to see them thriving, excited and tearing to go."
Earlier today, The Sun Online revealed that Joe's subscribers had jumped up by almost one million after his week of workouts.
At the end of February his channel had a healthy 823,000 followers and was picking up new subscribers at the rate of around 5,000-a-week.
A week ago, his subscribers numbered 839,000.
But since he added his first 9am work-out session on Monday his fans have jumped to a whopping 1,710,708 million.
All the videos across his page have been viewed a total of 84 million times– with viewings up almost 20 per cent and with the average views per video showing a five-fold increase.
Joe, also known as The Body Coach, started out eight years ago, handing out flyers at tube stations in a bid to get people to attend his park bootcamps.
He had to borrow a £2,000 loan from his parents to start his Rumble In The Park classes, and so few people showed up that he was unable to pay them back.
Although he is passionate about nutritious meals now, Joe previously admitted he grew up on a council estate and his mum had “no idea about healthy eating”.
Instead, Joe grew up on a diet of pasta and sandwiches every night, and it wasn’t until he was older than he overhauled his meals.
It took a while to get his business off the ground, and he said in 2012 that he didn’t make “a single penny”.
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However, a determined Joe didn’t give up, and realised that he could reach people on Instagram through a gap in the market.
In 2014, when Instagram launched a video function, he began sharing motivational videos about fitness and nutrition for those looking for advice.
The videos started out with Joe chatting in his kitchen, and after eight months, he had built up 44,000 followers - with his count now standing at over three million.