It’s been six years since 10 famous faces dared to walk into Lord Alan Sugar’s boardroom for a series of Celebrity Apprentice, but for a two-part Christmas special, two star-studded teams will now go head-to-head to raise money for Children In Need.
Among the 2025 Celebrity Apprentice cast, and joining the likes of Big Brother host AJ Odudu, EastEnders actor Jake Wood, and British barrister Rob Rinder, is YouTuber and TV personality Matt Morsia. But if you’re sitting there asking yourself, “Who is Matt Morsia?” you’re in luck: we’ve got you covered with all the intel on the Gladiators star and fitness coach.
Matt said: “The Apprentice is an iconic show, and ultimately I knew I’d be good at it, so it felt like the perfect opportunity to showcase my entrepreneurial ability.”
Matt also admitted he wasn’t even a little bit nervous. In fact, he went as far as boasting: “I love high-pressure, intense situations where there’s a huge risk of failure. That’s what I thrive on.”
BBC
Where have you seen Matt Morsia before?
You might recognise Matt from Gladiators. If so, he might be more familiar to you as “Legend” – one of the hardest-to-beat warriors in the revival, which sees contestants take on the Gladiators in a range of challenges.
Legend is by far one of the toughest Gladiators going, and he knows it. Ahead of joining the BBC’s resurrection of the most entertaining Saturday night show of the ’90s, he bragged (via MailOnline): “I’ve been training like a beast for the show, but realistically I didn’t need to. I could’ve spent the last two months eating doughnuts and playing Dungeons & Dragons and I’d still be better than everyone else. I’m called Legend for a reason!”
BBC
So you might know Legend, but who is Matt Morsia?
“Firstly, I’m very similar to Legend,” Matt insists. “I’m basically just a slightly dialled-down version. But also I’ve done YouTube for 12 years as myself, and I’ve amassed over a billion views, so that’s my bread and butter. I’ve been doing that a long time, so being me on camera is natural.”
The thing is, Matt has the stats to back all this up.
Before he became a household name on Gladiators, he was a Championship bronze-medal- winning long and triple jumper, and a silver medal-winning powerlifter. The 39-year-old can jump over 50 feet —longer than a double-decker bus – while we’d struggle to jump over a Lime bike.
He also led a successful new venture as a fitness influencer and YouTuber, under the name MattDoesFitness. Matt was a PE teacher, but it soon became clear MattDoesFitness was his true calling and he made the bold decision to drop one day a week from teaching to pursue his dream.
Eight years later, on YouTube alone, MattDoesFitness now boasts more than 2.4 million followers, with his videos regularly amassing more than 300,000 views. On Instagram, more than 1.2 million followers watch Matt’s fitness videos and parenting tips, and get to see the more intimate side of his family life – from lavish holidays to dinner time.
Jump to 2020, and he added another string to his bow, releasing his first book, The 24/7 Body, a guide to diet and training. It swiftly became a Sunday Times bestseller, and cemented his place as the UK’s number one fitness vlogger.
No wonder, then, that in 2024 the BBC came calling, naming him as one of the new wave of Gladiators, fulfilling his ultimate dream.
“I watched the original Gladiators as a kid,” he said. “From the age of nine or ten, I wanted to be a Gladiator. It’s been a lifelong ambition, I guess.”
Now he’s about to tick another box off the bucket list, coming face-to-face with Lord Alan Sugar in the Celebrity Apprentice boardroom and hopefully raising thousands of pounds for a miraculous cause.
The Apprentice airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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