BEING a world champion strongman who’s never afraid to push himself to the limit has put me in some incredible situations and in front of some amazing people.
While my fight with Thor earlier this year is all in the past now, I’d like to draw your attention to a part of that adventure that lives on thanks to BBC iPlayer.
The run-up to that fight saw me spend some time with Louis Theroux for his documentary Eddie Hall: The Beast v The Mountain.
Louis is one of the greatest writers and broadcasters of modern times. I’ve always liked watching his stuff which sees him get right to the heart of some crazy situations and people.
What I didn’t know, and never expected, was for Louis to be a massive fan of strongman competitions, something which he’d always loved watching as a kid. Strongmen, as he puts it, are like ‘real life superheroes’ – hard to argue, when you put it like that. When he heard of the fight between me and Thor, no way was he going to miss out on the chance to make a film about my life and mine and Thor’s rivalry.
Louis always digs deep and was fascinated also by my mental health story, the contrast, as he put it, between someone ‘so tough and yet so fragile’.
Eddie Hall: The Beast v The Mountain, says Louis, is ‘a kick-ass story, funny, and sad in places, but mainly compelling and life-affirming – a story that on one level is easier to grasp, the narrative is so simple – and yet it’s also subtle and psychologically compelling’.
I’m really proud of Eddie Hall: The Beast v The Mountain. Me and Louis got on because we’re both blokes who believe in honesty, telling a story how it really is.
‘Eddie is a rock star,’ says Louis, ‘but there was no rock star attitude.’
Thanks mate, I’ll settle for that.
Eddie Hall: The Beast v The Mountain is on BBC iPlayer now.