{"id":550921,"date":"2025-11-05T15:14:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/550921\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T15:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:14:12","slug":"who-is-joe-marler-from-hair-raising-rugby-antics-to-breakout-star-of-celebrity-traitors-rugby-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/550921\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Joe Marler? From hair-raising rugby antics to breakout star of Celebrity Traitors | Rugby union"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s difficult to know where to begin with a not-so-quick guide to Celebrity Traitors\u2019 breakout star<\/a>, Joe Marler. The BBC series has introduced a wider public to the tattooed, 18-stone-plus former England rugby union player \u2013 fans won over by his quick-witted humour, allied to a direct, confrontational form of questioning and an uncanny knack for detective work.<\/p>\n

Not all viewers, though, will be au fait with his backstory; the 35-year-old dungaree-wearing ex-prop forward admitted he was mistaken for a sound technician by his fellow celebrities when first on set, and then asked whether he played rugby league when he revealed his previous 15-year career. For those who know rugby union, however, Marler\u2019s style on the show has come as little surprise, save it being slightly toned down for a wider public audience.<\/p>\n

The background<\/p>\n

Marler, from Heathfield in East Sussex, started out playing for Haywards Heath, captained England at under-18 level and went on to a career with Harlequins on the outskirts of south-west London, a stone\u2019s throw from Twickenham. His schtick was the loud front-rower with a slightly edgy undertone, a dollop of eccentricity and a penchant for winding people up; including his own teammates.<\/p>\n

Over the years there were two domestic Premiership titles with Quins and 95 caps for England with whom he reached a Rugby World Cup final in 2019<\/a>. A landscape gardener before his rugby career took off \u2013 which might explain experiments with a different set of clippers on his hairstyles \u2013 Marler is married to Daisy, and they live in Sussex with their four children.<\/p>\n

The hot water<\/p>\n

At times Marler has seemingly been unable to help himself with on-field chat and eyebrow-raising antics. In 2020 he was found guilty of \u201cgrabbing, twisting or squeezing\u201d Alun Wyn Jones\u2019s genitals<\/a> during an England v Wales Six Nations match and banned for 10 weeks. The brush with Jones was not the first time he had got into disciplinary trouble against Wales. In 2016 he was banned for two matches and fined \u00a320,000<\/a> for calling Samson Lee \u201cGyspy Boy\u201d. Warren Gatland, the Wales head coach, apologised after initially playing down Marler\u2019s comment as \u201cjust banter\u201d and then released a statement saying: \u201cI don\u2019t condone racism of any kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Marler lands himself in hot water after grabbing Welsh rival Alun Wyn Jones\u2019s groin. Photograph: Michael Mayhew\/Sportsphoto\/Allstar<\/p>\n

Even the week Marler ultimately retired from England duty was framed around a throwaway comment on social media when he suggested the New Zealanders\u2019 pre-match ritual, the haka, should be consigned to the bin<\/a>. The remarks fired up the All Blacks, who duly dispatched England, with Marler having not even played. The social media post was his parting shot after leaving camp for personal reasons having decided he could not continue in international rugby.<\/p>\n

The humour<\/p>\n

When he wasn\u2019t getting himself into trouble, Marler\u2019s turn of phrase and quirky humour has lit up the sport. Discussing his post-retirement career earlier this year, Marler referred to his taking up of padel and new exercise as a necessity, describing himself as looking like \u201ca melted wheelie bin\u201d. When asked about his rooming preferences on tour, he referred to fellow prop Mako Vunipola as \u201cSnorlax\u201d and Tom Curry\u2019s weird sleep-walking habits.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

There was an OnlyFans account dedicated to pictures of his feet, while after a heavy Champions Cup defeat for Harlequins by Clermont Auvergne in 2019, the front-rower\u2019s surreal reflections on a 53-21 thrashing went viral<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve got another week to get back on the horse,\u201d Marler said, warming to his theme with a horse \u201cimpression\u201d. \u201cI\u2019m sorry about the performance last week \u2026 but I\u2019m going to give a better performance at home against Bath,\u201d added Marler\u2019s imaginary, \u201cslightly Irish\u201d equine<\/a>. A podcast that originally began as The Joe Marler Show morphed into the more comedic Joe Marler\u2019s Things People Do, focusing on quirky careers.<\/p>\n

The hair<\/p>\n

Hats and flat caps have been a thirtysomething addition: for the younger Marler, hair was the way he said he tried to forge his identity in a well-heeled sport that sometimes felt alien to him. Think multi-coloured mohawks as loud as his personality or carving Jolly Hog Sausage into the side of his shaven head to promote Quins teammate Olly Kohn\u2019s nascent business. The irony of the company\u2019s \u201ca proper porker\u201d slogan was not lost sitting atop the mountainous prop\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

Marler, pictured here 2024, described himself as looking like a \u2018melted wheelie bin\u2019 in retirement. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The GuardianThe teammate<\/p>\n

Much has been made of rugby\u2019s team ethos being the foundation of Marler\u2019s success on the programme, although on retiring, the player himself suggested he hadn\u2019t always been the best colleague, admitting: \u201cI\u2019d been horrible to a number of the teammates, so they weren\u2019t going to make an effort \u2026 I felt like this bad smell in the corner that at any moment could say something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, his scrum coach at Quins, the Wales legend Adam Jones, described him as \u201cmisunderstood\u201d, saying he was a lovely bloke, protective of his friends, who just needed reminding every now and then to keep it all in check. Jones\u2019s method was to play a video of Wales defeating England in the 2013 grand slam match in which Marler played. His career post-retirement has also seen him become performance director with Team England Rugby, a body responsible for the welfare of players, negotiating with the Rugby Football Union and clubs over playing time, rest and recovery, suggesting the esteem he is held in by former teammates.<\/p>\n

The success<\/p>\n

Despite sometimes being the centre of attention for the wrong reasons, Marler became indispensable to England: he was a technically brilliant loosehead prop with the ability to play on the other side of the scrum. He tried to retire at 28 only for then England coach Eddie Jones to tempt him back for another 34 caps, including an appearance off the bench in the 2019 World Cup final, when England lost to South Africa.<\/p>\n

In 2021 he withdrew from another Eddie Jones squad, but again returned to the international fray, before hanging up his boots once and for all in 2024. \u201cThe first teammate I told was Dan Cole,\u201d Marler said of his final decision. \u201cWe were sharing a room at the England hotel. I hugged him, he hugged me. The conversation went a bit like this: \u2018I love you, mate.\u2019 \u2018I love you too.\u2019 \u2018What\u2019s up?\u2019 \u2018I\u2019m done, mate.\u2019 \u2018I know you are\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marler poses for a portrait in the kitchen of his home in 2020. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The GuardianThe advocate<\/p>\n

In his autobiography<\/a> Loose Head: Confessions of an (un)professional rugby player, and in subsequent interviews, Marler revealed some of his behaviour masked mental health issues. He opened up on his depression, telling Donald McRae<\/a> how he accepted help after smashing up his kitchen when his wife was upset he hadn\u2019t done enough to avoid a squirrel in the road (he didn\u2019t run it over). Medication, therapy and a change in direction followed. Now an ambassador for the charity Calm<\/a> (Campaign against living miserably); there was a documentary, too, with Sky called Big Boys Don\u2019t Cry, while his podcast also offered a space for men to speak about their mental health.<\/p>\n

After retiring he said he would undo some of the ways he treated teammates in the past, telling a recent podcast: \u201cIn that environment \u2026 you have to be that alpha, it\u2019s the toxic masculinity often described as poisonous \u2026 I look back at that and go, fuck, the amount of people I\u2019ve made uncomfortable \u2013 I don\u2019t want to do that now, I don\u2019t want to be like that now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans<\/a> can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org<\/a> or jo@samaritans.ie<\/a>. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline<\/a> is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline<\/a> is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s difficult to know where to begin with a not-so-quick guide to Celebrity Traitors\u2019 breakout star, Joe Marler.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-550921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115497747374914858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}