[Closed] John Bishop's triathlon

what is it about these celebrity endeavours that I dislike so much?
am I being completely irrational?
I liked the Eddie Izzard one, but all the others I just think 'meh!'

Good on him I say! Not an easy thing to do and going to raise an awful lot of money for charity!

what is it about these celebrity endeavours that I dislike so much?
am I being completely irrational?

I'm the same. I can't help but think they have seen what it can do for your career and think i'll have piece of that. Years ago nobody was interested in doing children in need now it's a complete luvvie fest, all trying to emulate Angela Rippon. Then again I am cynical and should see that whatever their motives it does raise money for good causes.

I'm not sure it is selfish or not, but even if it is, raising money for charity by doing marathons/cycling/swimming etc has got to be better than having some kind of Katie Price style kiss-and-tell story over the front pages of the trashy newspapers.

I went down to The Thames so see David Walliams swim past and there were loads of families out waving him on and stuff. I think there must be a positive message in there somewhere. I guess its raising the profile of sports and charity too

These celeb challenges are very different in levels of impressiveness. Izzard's was awesome and Walliams has done stuff most ordinary folk could not manage. The celeb JOLE and the swim the Irish Sea one were pretty pants I thought. Cringe worthy levels of poor preparation and faux angst.

This one looks pretty tough by anyone's standards. Is this not using your celeb status in a good way (with a healthy dollop of career promotion to boot)?

I genuinely don't think bishop is doing it for any help up the fame ladder, he's had a meteoric rise to fame already an has a massive sell out tour in the pipeline. I think he's a genuinely funny bloke and is doing it all for the right reasons.

it seems to be the wrong way round.
you should gain notoriety for your incredible endeavours, not do less-incredible endeavours because of your notoriety
.
maybe I wish those who completed truly incredible feats achieved the celebrity status of John Bishop/ Helen Skelton/ Matt Baker/ David Walliams* like in the good old days 🙂

*idiot

The title slightly confused me, as I know another John Bishop, who also did a tripple /decca ironman - can't remember which, but I remember it was stupid 🙂

iirc John Bishop was featured in a cycle mag a year or so back, I think he is a bit of a cycling nut himself.

🙄

He didn't have to do it though did he? The easiest thing would have been to sit on his arse at home and write a cheque for a couple of hundred quid.

People moaned about Moyles & Co. climbing that mountain and raising a shed load of cash. Again, the easiest thing would be not to do it.

IT'S NOT A TRIATHLON

you should gain notoriety for your incredible endeavours, not do less-incredible endeavours because of your notoriety

It took him 17 hours to do the cycling leg after falling off early on. He got an hour of sleep before getting up to row the channel (with Andrew Flintoff, Davina McCall and Denise Lewis) in February. Then he's got the running to do.

He's had lots of support, as everyone who does these Sport Relief events. He also has my respect because he's put lots of effort in, and is doing something i couldn't. Plus he's going to raise over £1m for people who need it.

I can't stand his comedy, though.

The trouble with these events is often the way they get hyped up (see Skelton's 'cycle to the south pole'). Ignore the publicity - which is totally needed to get the donations - and it is hard to be so cynical.

Text 'sport' to 70011 to donate a quid. You can follow it here: https://twitter.com/#!/sportrelief

People moaned about Moyles & Co. [s]climbing that mountain[/s] walking up an inclined path and raising a shed load of cash.

If moyles had been climbing a mountain I would have been there like a shot to cut thr rope!

How many on here could ride 185 miles in a day??I reckon not as many as we'd hope for !!

Climbed, walked, whatever. He still did it.

I think he deserves credit for what he's done and his rise has indeed been meteoric. He was my ex's old boss (very good job in pharma industry) and when he said he was leaving to be a comedian no-one could believe it. He has also been a keen cyclist for a long time and has done some very long distance trips IIRC.

Yes, he does get the publicity but he's also put himself out and given up his time to raise a lot of money, so hats off to him.

ps. I don't think he's very funny either

IT'S NOT A TRIATHLON

This is true.
He's not even bothered with a pointy hat and a man bra.

He has also been a keen cyclist for a long time and has done some very long distance trips IIRC.

Tough crowd.

Good on him I say; it must be very tough.

I found it rather embarrassing though that for all his effort and continued exposure on Radio 1, by the time Scott Mills spoke to him this afternoon listeners had donated £199k. Dont quote me on exact figures, but had it been fatty Moyles trudging up a mountain, the figure would probably have been ten times that.

Yes, I have donated.

I genuinely don't think bishop is doing it for any help up the fame ladder, he's had a meteoric rise to fame already an has a massive sell out tour in the pipeline. I think he's a genuinely funny bloke and is doing it all for the right reasons.

Here, here.

I'm the same. I can't help but think they have seen what it can do for your career and think i'll have piece of that.

IMO Mr Izzard's career has hardly taken a leap forward in the 2 years since. Still an unfunny bloke (saw him live - 2 hrs I won't get back). And Walliams didn't exactly need more exposure.

Good on him. Mebbe should concentrate on his comedy routines though.

Did anyone watch the documentary last night? Hadn't realised he finished the bike ride at 4am and had to get up at 6 to row the channel?!!

Mental.

I saw it. Fair do's to the guy, respect! raised 1.6 million in the end and you could tell the last couple of days were agony. No,I think his comedy is rubbish as well, but he's a determined bugger!

Christ! There are some right miserable bastards on here!

How dare he raise his profile! By cynically and opportunistically raising £1.6 million for charity?!! Have a word with yourself FFS!! 🙄

I thought he was pretty inspiring and had a great attitude - you know when you have a bit of a hangover or a bad nights sleep and you can't be arsed to ride bike in the morning. I really liked the story of how he got into comedy as well - he'd split with his wife and only had his kids at weekends and was utterly depressed on mondays so decided to go to a comedy club to cheer himself up - but it was 4 quid to get in or free if you have a go! Pretty positive type bloke.

The most impressive bit to me is that at the end, he was still actually jogging, albeit slowly yes, not walking/crawling/being carried.

Respect is due.

Yes I donated.

I'm in awe of anyone who does immense stuff like this. Cynical side of me says the celeb will get plenty of exposure and another part of me is saddened that JB or DW will raise millions by doing stuff but if Joe Bloggs from skipton decided to run twice around the world in 2 weeks he'd only earn a few hundred quid for sport relief, mainly from friends and family.

But well done to the man.

I found it very inspirational and the wife was in tears by the end of it.
He put a huge amount of effort in and raised a sh*t load of cash,top bloke and pretty damn funny imho.

I shall be thinking of him when i run the poxy three miles for sport relief on Sunday when im moaning about my kneecaps,shins and ankles giving out. 😳

chapeau to the fella.

Yes, totally agree that his efforts were amazing.

Regarding his comedy, shirly I'm not the only one to find him (naturally) funny?

I watched it last night and was very impressed.

Shame on him. If £5 is enough to SAVE A LIFE, and he raised £1.6m...he deserves a kicking for not doing more and doing it incognito.

I really can't believe (well I can, because it's STW) that you lot can be so miserable about such an effort and about such a cause. Those that whinged, you must swim in a sea of cynicism. Miserable lot...

What he did was impressive whatever his motivation, but I can't listen to the bloke. The most grating voice on the planet - scouse with a mouthful of gravel. *shudders*

A hugely difficult challenge irrelevent of who was doing it. The fact that it was a guy who could get some serious TV and radio coverage and therefore make more money for the charity is even better. A massive effort and very emotional towards the end.

And to those who mention Chris Moyles, you can insult him all you like but the guy has raised some serious money for charity. The longest show got over £2 million, I think Kili was not far off that as well. His shows listeners also consistantly donate large amounts to events he/the BBC supports (like Bishops efforts).

He cost me £10 last night 🙂

I'm in awe of anyone who does immense stuff like this. Cynical side of me says the celeb will get plenty of exposure and another part of me is saddened that JB or DW will raise millions by doing stuff but if Joe Bloggs from skipton decided to run twice around the world in 2 weeks he'd only earn a few hundred quid for sport relief, mainly from friends and family.

I'm not sure thats strictly the truth - I donated last night but not because it was John Bishop.
I would've donated regardless of the participant as the challenge was so immense.

The fact is though that its far easiler to put a celebs 'antics' in front of a large crowd and hence draw more money.

but I can't listen to the bloke. The most grating voice on the planet - scouse with a mouthful of gravel. *shudders*

+1

but I can't listen to the bloke. [s]The most grating voice on the planet - [/s]scouse [s]with a mouthful of gravel.[/s] *shudders*

fair play though, monster effort, huge amount of money raised.

I couldn't give two s**ts about his 'motives' for doing it.

He did it.

He raised £1.6 million (at the time he finished, so undoubtebdly more now) by doing it, which is going to support people living in horrific conditions.

Well done John Bishop.

Watched it last night, I thought what he did was amazing. Just a few months training, and those runs at the end were killing him, you could see it in his face!!

A mate who's doing the sport relief mile thing at the weekend (and she has a diet that consists of KFC and not much else) is whinging like hell cause she has to train to do 3 miles...

I'm not sure thats strictly the truth - I donated last night but not because it was John Bishop.
I would've donated regardless of the participant as the challenge was so immense.

No you wouldn't have, you'd not have know that Mr 'not John Bishop' was doing it, he'd just be some other bloke doing a LEJOG or a london to parris Bike ride (have you spnsored every LEJOG and L2P effort?).

Not criticising, but you did sponsor him because he was a celebrity rather than some anonymous bloke having a wipround in a pub you've never been to.

he did it because he knew that his profile as a celeb, comedian, whatever, would guarantee a much higher rate of donations than yer average bloke who would only be able to raise cash from his friends and family.

I reckon he's a bloody hero.

I donated last night but not because it was John Bishop

You occasionally hear about [s]"nobodies"[/s] (thankyou tinas) mr "not john bishop" doing some impressive stuff for charity but it'll only be local news and even then chances are it'll be sandwiched between the sport and the weather.

Again I'm not taking anything away from Bishop and his achievements, impressive stuff.

I can only assume there's a lot of anonymous cheques for £1.6M being written right now, that sit better with people's consciences.

Nice one John. Bloody brilliant.

[i]Still an unfunny bloke (saw him live - 2 hrs I won't get back)[/i]

Love it. Interestingly I find Izzard very funny, have also seen him live and STILL it's 2 hours I won't get back. Because I haven't invented time travel, you see.
ridiculous thing to say.

[i]I reckon he's a bloody hero.[/i]
certainly more deserving of that tag than footballers, squaddies etc.

I think it's a good show on his part... Shame it won't make him funny.

Raising money for charities that will make a difference to a lot of people and their lives.....enough said!

Good effort, and I like his comedy stuff too- result!
I'm with Zaskar and others: maybe he's done it out of the goodness of his heart, maybe he's done it to raise his profile (which was pretty high anyway I thought?), maybe it's somewhere between those two, or whatever- he's done it, made an excellent fist of it, and raised a boatload of money.

I'm new to these forums and frankly I'm in shock! Having watched the documentary last night and seen the footage where he witnessed a mother lose their baby to a cureable disease and talked in tears about the noise she made as they took her child away, Shame on all of you who posted destpicable hateful comments...You're a disgrace, have a word with yourself...John Bishop 'You're a giant amongst men'...

sharkbait - Member

Seems. Strange then that he fell off the bike at traffic lights when he didn't unclip

I've been riding 20 years, and it would not shock me if I did this tomorrow

Shame on all of you who posted destpicable hateful comments...

Spot on.

Not criticising, but you did sponsor him because he was a celebrity rather than some anonymous bloke having a wipround in a pub you've never been to.

No you're wrong and I think maybe you mis-understood my original post. I sponsored him because I was impressed with the incredible effort he went to. End of.

I KNEW about him doing it because he is a celeb and hence easier to get him in front of people like me, but if there had been a documentary about Joe Bloggs doing the same challenge I'd have donated just the same. Do you see? If you show me incredible effort, I'll support it. If you show me a celeb doing some mindless abseil or sky dive I'm highly unlikely to support it regardless of the fact they're famous.

Likewise the donation I made recently to a fella running 31 marathons in one year. Not a celeb.

Watching it right now. I'm no fan of the guy but my God I admire him. What have all you haters done for any bugger else? Not a fraction of what he has.

I used to do sport at a fairly high level and as such know a lot of people at that level and better. I reckon very few of them would have done what JB did without some suffering and as such I think he really made a fantastic effort. Well worth a donation IMO.

I for one, consider myself massively fortunate that by pure accident of birth, I live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world so that when my baby son needed life saving help, he got it immediately and is still with us. I was very moved by John Bishop's report from that African hospital and cannot believe that what he witnessed was a far greater motivation than raising his professional profile.

Fair play to the guy, there are are plenty more who have not used their public profile the help others.

Shame on all of you who posted destpicable hateful comments...

Spot on.

+1

+1 Nickbc....

I admire these celebs that do stuff like JB, Eddie and David Walliams... even the walk up Killimanjaro... even Moyles.... they're putting themselves through it to raise cash....

And I would admire the celebs that are on, telling a story by the side of that dump where the kids are working to say something like

"and if your sitting there thinking, did I put my hand in my pocket... damn right I did".

I know most probably support a charity but why not lead Sport Relief by example.. ?

Lenny Henry last year in Comic Relief did this to get a family out of a grim home situation, it broke him to the point he got his credit card out. Respect, mouth, money etc etc.

Congrats to John it is an amazing feat.
But I think the pang of resentment felt by some people (myself included) is that you have to be a celebrity in the first place to do these things. In past years Joe Bloggs could do something similar and get publicity for whatever the cause is, which in turn gives funding. Now media companies just turn round and say 'great idea lets get Fearne Cotton to do it...'which creates a situation where its about a 'worthy celeb' not about a worthy person.

What he did was amazing but it was seeing his film in the children's hospital that made me donate - and I never normally donate to these charityathons.

Regardless of what you think about the celebs raising money it's a damn sight more admirable than the miserly £250k that the Premier League donated, I mean FFS how much many of the players earn that every week.

The amount they gave shouldn't come into it. How many people and organisations have given nothing?

He raised £3.4 million.
Thats amazing, and what he did is amazing too

Amount of money he raised is super impressive and all for a good cause, but I get the resentment over some of these challenges, I would love to have the opportunity some of these guys have. It's just jealousy

Like him or not the guy suffered big time in doing the challenge and that to me shows the guy has balls bigger than most on here. I bet many of the critics above couldn't do what he did ie raise over £3m and get from Paris to London.

Don't people just FF through al the bits where its all very sad and some child dies etc?

Funky - I don't think any of us could raise £3m but the more important thing - how many of us could do what he did physically and mentally.

Good luck to him and the charity. That said, he did the bike ride incredibly slowly for someone who is used to riding a bike, bit quicker and he'd have got a decent kip before the row.

I'm impressed with anyone who can spend a lot time in a boat with Devina without tipping her over the side.

He really needs to do something about his accent though. I don't think I've ever met a scouser who talks like that.

That said, he did the bike ride incredibly slowly for someone who is used to riding a bike, bit quicker

That was the bit that puzzled me, the documentary didn't seem to offer any explanation of what happened.