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Brendog the rule breaker ?
Curtain twitching at it's best...
His job - Living life to the full.
OK, this past year of being locked down is a bit like an open prison, with a bit of freedom but you must follow the rules and stay in. Which looks to have turned some folk into professional asses(Not suggesting the OP is an ass, but appears some are).
to make it covid safe and more importantly in reality make it look responsible. As entertaining and likable as he is, he is not doing that.
sure, but this is a “performance” in the same way that you wouldn’t expect the actors in a period drama to be wearing masks, or the presenters on every TV show (bbc morning news for instance have 2 people sitting side by side...no masks). This is the same thing, it’s a TV show, not real life
Heres something to ruffle the feathers of all the curtain twitchers.
You have no idea about any workplace risk assessments that have been carried out there. I imagine they have done this.
Furthermore there are no mandatory rules for wearing face coverings in that setting.
So should news TV crews also stay at home? What about other professional sports people? Football? Rugby? Cricket? etc.
I’ve not been a STW member for very long but what I have learnt in that short amount of time, that there are plenty of pathetic old men on this forum.
That’s going to look dope.
I think you will find STW is a hotbed of cool young chaps who use words like "dope" and those who "pull the trigger" when making online purchases.
The level of bell endery on this thread is spectacular. He's doing his job, for right or wrong he's allowed to. Some of you remind me of the lovely women last April, who told me "I hope your family get cancer" when I was delivering to one of her neighbours. Seriously, **** off you self righteous boomer ****s. People have to earn a living, not all of us can work from home or claim furlough.
And if this annoys you, you'll blow a ****ing gasket if you see him riding an ebike 😁
The level of bell endery on this thread is spectacular. He’s doing his job, for right or wrong he’s allowed to.
You are right of course. He is allowed to try to make a living. But I see very little evidence in that video that either the firm he visited or the you tubers made much of a covid adaption effort. It would have been very easy to tweak. Most others are - by making different sort of material or using masks, keeping at 2m, shooting outside etc. I've just reminded myself the guy in the video that owns/runs FC is doing so as a come back from illness - used to be a bit of a hitter himself but has a major heart issue. Probably on the severely at risk group. I guess he could have been vaccinated already and pretty relaxed about everything.
Are you volunteering to pay his bills then? He's got a young baby to pay for. Or, you could mind your own business and get on with life
Are you volunteering to pay his bills then? He’s got a young baby to pay for.
Can you actually read?
Read my lips text.......go for your life with the video content. Knock yourself out - it's entertaining for the rest of us stuck in lockdown. Almost a public service. But just try a little harder to look like you are trying to comply. It's really easy - most other content creators are doing it.
Or, you could mind your own business and get on with life
Why should I (we, the great unwashed) not comment? It's not exactly like he's filmed this for friends and family to watch. It's in the public domain - that's how he pays for that baby. He wants comment and interaction - that's how it works. Just use a bit more good judgement and little more imagination and all the comments would be positive. Because he's very good at making watchable material.
And you say I’m the angry one?
All I said was is he breaking the rules.
As far as I’m concerned he is. Painting a bike frame isn’t essential any more than Instagrammers trips to Dubai are. I understand he’s got bills to pay but there are plenty of people who can’t work who also have bills to pay.
I haven’t been furloughed and have been at work all the way through as I’m an essential worker and have bills to pay and a toddler to take care off.
I’m having a massive party tomorrow round my house anyway and you’re all invited. I’m going to put it on YouTube and claim it’s my job so should be alright eh?
Painting a bike frame isn’t essential any more than Instagrammers trips to Dubai are
Sure, lots of jobs aren't essential. The current rules say; work from home if you can, if you can't; then go to work normally. The rules are flabby, and the govt are invested in you becoming angry and upset with people like Brendog because it diverts attention away from the people who wrote the flabby rules in the first place, hence you get al the nonsense about breaking the "spirit" of the rules. This govt have leaned heavily on the word "essential" during the pandemic without actually troubling themselves to accurately define it
The Johnson govt are like cowboy builders who've built a shoddy extension and then declaim that it's horrid that the rain comes in through the gap in the window and wall...You can get angry about Brendog "showing off" if you want, but it's precisely the "showing off" bit about what he's doing that makes it legal.
Interesting to see so many of those clamouring for tighter/longer lockdowns on the Covid thread now piling into this one to defend someone who is clearly not doing essential work. Is everyone just so bored they want a fight?
He might not be breaking any laws but if we all bent the rules like that a lot more people would be dying. If I have to work from home as far as I can, so should he.
If I have to work from home as far as I can, so should he.
What about these two? Should they be working from home? Because the same rules that allow these two to work at a studio in Manchester (without troubling themselves to take extra precautions, like wearing a mask), is precisely the same rule that Brendog is exploiting to make YouTube content
I do find it interesting that this is the video that's been singled out......
There are sooo many online of pro MTB'rs going for a ride (with their pro YouTube camera buddy), and then 'happen' to come across all their mates (also with pro camera buddy's), all making a vlog together.
Personally I couldn't give a damn anymore.... I see so many people every day braking the current restrictions that for Brendon / Oli to go paint their bikes for my enjoyment really is small on my list of 'oh isn't that anoying' things.
The rules are silly, the gov has done a terrible job. Stop pointing at others and concentrate on your own accountability.
Not sure why it's so hard for some people to understand, aside from being a professional rider he also has a Youtube channel. He can still create content (as his job) for the channel regardless of what that content is, just so happens he wanted to spray his bike and document it for said channel (allowed) and he collaborated with another business that is still allowed to trade during lock down.
So Bren and Fat Creations engaged in a 'business transaction', no rules broken.
As for if/why/what masks they were wearing, why do you care? Concentrate on what you're doing.
Scummy cause if everyone was a little bit more sensible maybe we wouldn’t have such a high death rate.
They are holding hands at 5min point in the video so obviously not that fussed about common sense
What about these two? Should they be working from home? Because the same rules that allow these two to work at a studio in Manchester, is precisely the same rule that Brendog is exploiting to make YouTube content
They could be I guess - a lot of radio broadcasters are.
But your video still is a perfect example - I was thinking about trying to find a screen grab but cnba so thank you. See the distance between where they are sitting? That's not normal - that's a covid response. An easy tweak. I'm no scientist and appreciate the 2m 'rule' is arguably a bit arbitrary but they look like they are trying. Do you remember Tom Cruise loosing the plot a couple of months ago - same deal. People making content and socially distancing (or not in the Tom Cruise rant's case) so they have the right to continue making content/films whilst the rest of us live bolloxed lives.
It's just simple tweaks like that BD needs to make, and is not. Probably because whilst he is monetizing the work in every other respect he is an non-professional broadcaster/content creator and doesn't really know what he's doing. Because he is actually a mountain biker who has chanced upon this extra line of work.
Tell Bozza then. Think you should direct your frustration elsewhere tbh
They could be I guess – a lot of radio broadcasters are.
But the Govts own rules say they don't need to, as I posted up there a few hours ago. You can make TV normally, here's that line again...
- Performing arts professionals may continue to rehearse and train, and perform for broadcast or recording purposes
There's nothing in that that says you have to sit apart of wear masks or anything...So why single Brendog out?
There’s nothing in that that says you have to sit apart of wear masks or anything
Yet weirdly the pros on mainstream media do. Odd isn't it. Almost like there are industry guidelines they are following. All very confusing.
Performing arts professionals may continue to rehearse and train, and perform for broadcast or recording purposes
I think my monitor must be broken. You said it they can make them 'normally'. I keep reading that line and the stupid computer keeps on deleting the 'normally' from it. Could you please help by showing me where it's deleting it from. Stupid thing.
He is allowed, no doubt.
But his channel is sort of gonzo-style journalism. “I get my bike painted because I’m an ordinary MTBer” with the subtext that all us ordinary folk should all go out and spend actual money with FAT creations. To achieve that style, the video is kept jokey - it’s supposed to look like bants between mates. And while doing that he trivialises the lockdown. People watching may well think “he’s doing that so I can too”.
Now, I don’t take my cues from Brendog, or whatever athlete/celeb/professional footballer is supposed to be ‘setting an example’ to me. But it seems a lot of people do. Do we expect MTB YouTubers to be setting an example? I dunno, but it does seem kind of irresponsible to me.
TLDR; is it illegal? No.
Unfair? Yeah.
Irresponsible? Maybe.
I dont have a problem with what Brendog is doing in that video, but Bernard Kerrs latest video is a blatant p*ss take of the rules
The Atherton's do appear to keen to have fellow pro mtb'ers turn up and ride without out taking precautions.
Theres a Matt Jones video where he gets in the same vehicle as one of the Athertons without wearing a mask.
In that vid Bernard walks in to a fuel station close to where I live without wearing a mask. Maybe he has a medical condition that means he does not need to wear a mask, or maybe he is just an idiot?
Our local hospital is full of COVID patients and over run. The local specialist orthopaedic hospital is currently closed because the acute hospital is too busy. Some of these very same world class mtbers have had treatment at that hospital in the past. The these same people are potentially spreading the virus in to this area.
I personally don't have an issue with the vid, but I also don't have an issue with the OP calling it out if he thinks the guy is taking the piss.
As an aside, I don't get why people seem to think that it's bad that people call out rule breaking. It's folk that break the rules that contribute to a continuing lock down.
my issue with the video is that he went to a rural location, where NHS services are limited under a guise of work. He didnt have to be in mid Wales and could have created youtube content in Surrey where he lives - there was absolutely no reason to go to Dyfi.
id love to see my parents in wales, but i cant , and haven't done so in order to obey the rules. If i decide to start up a youtube channel to supplement my work and film myself visiting my parents would that be acceptable - no it wouldnt.
Its a youtube loophole that is being exploited to allow a certain few to carry on as normal.
Eek. What happened to the swear filter.
Oops.
nice fella you are…
Yeah ok. I'm being a knob. Stressed and bored. No excuse. Sorry.
No. If we had a government that weren’t such a self serving useless pack of shits
No, it's simply not good enough to blame the government. We all have an individual and collective responsibility to follow the spirit of the rules and do what is right.
Anyway, your government doesn’t set the rules here in Wales...
It’s really not Boris Johnson’s fault Bernard Kerr travelled all that way to have fun on his bike. With his mates. And maybe inspire the more impressionable to ignore the rules too. It’s irresponsible and it’s wrong.
As a professional mtb guide I need to keep up my skills and fitness. Does that mean I too can go ride wherever the hell I want?
As a professional mtb guide I need to keep up my skills and fitness. Does that mean I too can go ride wherever the hell I want?
It does, so long as you video it and set a bad example.
Having watched it, it’s not the non-essential v essential journey argument that really stands out, I just can’t understand why they can’t take a few seconds to put on a paper masks before get in such close contact with each other. Is it that important we can see the mouth of someone expecting that they print stickers or how wave about a spray gun. We’ve managed it in work for months
Loving the colour of the frame and it would look great with the stays in blue with the gold/yellow highlights.
None of us know what risk assessments were carried out on site or what other precautions were taken before filming. The guy creates content as part of his job and I’m not sure how it can be compared to the muppets hanging out in Dubai posting pictures of themselves. At least what he’s doing is related to the sport he partakes in.
Sorry, burn him or cancel him or something.
He’s employed/sponsored/paid to promote the brand. That goes way beyond just the riding.
very true. I’m not sure how him blatantly being stupid in a pandemic helps his sponsors? I would have thought he would be embarrassing them
The olly Wilkins vid he’s just uploaded is more of the same and he even sarcastically says it’s “essential “ whilst filming himself and driving his car
Great role models for da kidz
He also has a Youtube channel.
By that logic anyone fancy riding anywhere in the country can just setup a YouTube account, grab their phone and off they go. They are more professional content creators, not mates out for a ride
Theres a few instances of close quarter no mask wearing between the three and that was on film so probably worse instances off camera and if Ali has real health issues maybe he's not taking it as seriously as he should and maybe put a mask on when spraying that cardboard box at the beginning, if anything just to set a good example on spray painting advice.
I'm in the high risk category and have just had my first vaccination jumping the queue by a few months and I'd be uneasy being that close to Brendog and Olly without masks, wouldn't surprise me if one of them caught covid while filming content with various others, its not like they needed to go to fat creations for content and put Ali at risk, they have been filming with a dozen other riders recently and there's plenty of other things to shoot outdoors.
Personally though I'm not bothered, but I can see both sides off the argument.
Also, come to think of it, if they've been tested they would no doubt have filmed that as well.
They have both already had it.
They have both already had it.
Oh so they haven’t learnt from their mistakes then?
I am glad someone in the 2nd or 3rd post mentioned its his job, as that's the primary here.
However a relevant secondary is that we are all MTB'ers. Over the last 10 years the sport has gone through the roof, bikes are better, trails are better, access is better, kit is better, bike parks everywhere, umpteen holiday providers, ski resorts, airlines recognising bikes, new businesses springing up with great new products, amazing kids bikes, amazing kids, great videos and entertainment, bike festivals, bike oriented food and drink, and many people are fitter. I mean some bloke on here has a chainring tattooed on his leg!!
I love it, its ruddy utopia.
Now this probably would not be so good if it wasn't for people like Brendog and all the other racers and influencers, love em or hate em, getting the message out there and generating interest. Interest = £££$$$, and that is what has driven our sport to its healthy position.
I salute him, and all the others.
Of course if you hate MTB and all the broad range it covers, well then yeah, he's a useless lunk.
OP which are you?
By that logic anyone fancy riding anywhere in the country can just setup a YouTube account, grab their phone and off they go. They are more professional content creators, not mates out for a ride
Well no because this is his actual job.
These threads are pretty pathetic TBH and distracting from the real shambles that is our government's woefully late efforts at quarantining travellers.
These threads are pretty pathetic TBH and distracting from the real shambles that is our government’s woefully late efforts at quarantining travellers.
Not really. I'm quite able to comprehend that the government are useless AND that the general public need to do their bit as well. The 2 aren't mutually exclusive.
These threads are pretty pathetic TBH and distracting from the real shambles that is our government’s woefully late efforts at quarantining travellers.
Indeed.
Well no because this is his actual job.
By chance I've been directly on YouTube and because I looked at his video through here, it appeared on videos I might like......
If it's his actually job.......he's got a way to go to get successful at it! 81K subscribers and less than a dozen videos with more than 100,000 views. The current video we a bleating on about like very bored muppets (because we are 🙂 ) is on 36K views. That's peanuts in YT terms. I teach a 15yr old kid who gets more views than that with videos of him playing computer games most weeks. It's a very very long way to go to a living wage - more like beer money for someone on dry January.
That Olly Wilkins video of the same day came up in my feed too. 5 mins of filming himself holding his phone in one hand driving to Fat Creations. Not cool.
But as I've said already - I like his stuff. He's very natural in front of camera. I hope it works and grows for him. Just get it right.
Not watched it all, but the quick hit through i'm not seeing a huge amount of rule breaking, as many say, his job is bikes and biking, youtube videos is one strand of that and not really something he's thrown himself into that much, it's just more in focus now due to Covid stopping a lot of the other avenues, so keeping himself busy, as many others are doing.
I've seen the same amount of 'rule breaking' down my local tescos when i do a shop, i honestly don't think we'll ever go back to the old ways after this pandemic, we've turned into a nation of 'what about them' now.
The 2 aren’t mutually exclusive.
They're not but the government is quite effectively getting us all to turn on each other as a distraction. When they start slagging off instagram influencers going to Dubai as if that's a big problem, when they still haven't got their shit together over quarantine - it's a blatant ploy, and it's working.
I am really pretty careful I think but I doubt I've followed the rules precisely all the time, I doubt anyone has. So, you know, glass houses etc
we’ve turned into a nation of ‘what about them’ now.
We always have been but now it's turned up to 11.