After slowly emerging from the And Just Like That... incident, which saw one of its exercise bike kill Chris Noth’s Mr. Big (followed by some even worse problems), things were starting to look up for Peloton despite its stock taking a hit. And then the season premiere of Billions happened. While no one died this time around, yet again, another character on a major prestige drama suffered a heart attack while using a Peloton.
Naturally, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert decided to have a little fun with this new trend of Peloton widow-makers, but man, did they take it to a dark place. In a parody episode of Peppa Pig titled “Daddy Pig Gets a Peloton,” the porky head of the household gets an exercise bike, which should immediately cause a feeling of dread to anyone watching. But, don’t worry, Daddy Pig does die, but only because Mommy Pig poisoned his coffee for having an affair and not from using the Peloton. Talk about a marketing win!
Just to set the record straight, there isn’t an intentional trend of having Pelotons kill TV characters. The Billions heart attack happening on the heels of the And Just Like That… incident was truly a coincidence as Billions filmed in the Spring, months before Mr. Big bit the big one. More importantly, Peloton didn’t authorize Showtime to use their brand, and needless to say, they weren’t pleased about the situation.
We get TV shows want to include @onepeloton to get people talking, but to be clear, we did *not* agree for our brand or IP to be used on @SHO_Billions or provide any equipment. As the show itself points out, cardio-vascular exercise helps people lead long, happy lives.
— Peloton (@onepeloton) January 23, 2022
As Peloton notes in the tweet, “cardio-vascular exercise helps people lead long, happy lives” is an accurate statement. Daily exercise is more likely to prevent a heart attack than cause a heart attack, despite premium cable’s latest choice for a bogeyman.
