Star Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby reveals he was hired because he has 'a cute face' - as company is sued after Brooklyn man died when bike fell on top of him
- Cody Rigsby, 36, is the highest paid Peloton instructor after joining the company in 2014 despite little experience in the industry
- He said he had never taught before and was told the company would train him
- Johanna Furtado's mother is suing the home-exercise giant after her son was 'killed instantly' when a Peloton bike fell on him during a workout
Star Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby has claimed he was hired because he has 'a cute face' - even though he had no previous experience teaching fitness classes.
Rigsby, 36, gained national notoriety as a popular Peloton instructor during the pandemic and made the comments while promoting his new book on the podcast Not Skinny But Not Fat.
'Literally, there was no audition. I walked in, had cute face, and had a job 20 minutes later,' the former dancer said.
His comments come as the mother of a Brooklyn man sued the home-exercise giant, claiming her son was 'killed instantly' after a Peloton bike fell on him in January 2022.
When asked if he had to show that he 'could bike,' Rigsby claimed he had never taught before and was told the company would train him.
Star Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby has claimed he was hired because he has 'a cute face' - even though he had no previous experience teaching fitness classes
Rigsby, 36, gained national notoriety as a popular Peloton instructor during the pandemic
He added: 'It was a whole different company back then, it was a startup.'
'Once in a while I would take a spin class, but it was not something that I did consistently or knew how to teach so I literally had to figure it out,' he said about his experience spinning before Peloton.
Rigsby, known for incorporating pop culture in his classes, was hired by Peloton in 2014 and has previously said he learned to teach classes by watching other trainers and by studying his own sessions.
He is the highest-paid Peloton instructor, earning as much as half a million dollars a year from his work at the company.
It's not clear if Rigsby has any official certifications to teach fitness classes.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Peloton and Rigsby's representatives for comment on this story.
According to a lawsuit filed in New York, Johanna Furtado says that her son Ryan was 'killed instantly' when his Peloton bike toppled on him when he was using it as part of an exercise program in January 2022, just a week before his 33rd birthday.
During his routine, as Furtado was getting up from the floor and using the equipment for leverage, the bike 'spun around and impacted him on his neck and face severing in his carotid artery in his neck killing him instantly.'
In the suit, Furtado is described as doing a 'Core' workout when the tragic accident occurred inside of his $4,000 apartment in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood of New York City.
'The workout requires riders to disembark the bike to conduct exercises on the floor. Ryan disembarked the bike and conducted the floor exercises. When rising from those exercises, Ryan used the bike to assist him in getting up,' the suit reads.
Ryan Furtado's mother, who says her son was 'killed instantly' when his Peloton bike fell on him and sliced an artery, is suing the company
In the suit, Furtado is described as doing a 'Core' workout when the tragic accident occurred
The suit alleges that Peloton should have identified 'the foreseeable misuse that people would also use the Subject Bike to pull themselves up from the floor during a workout increasing an unknown risk of injury to the user, such as the case with Ryan.'
As part of the 'Core' workout, riders are asked to use the bike to aid stretching.
Peloton bikes feature a warning on the front of the bike, but the lawsuit said that the disclaimer is not enough.
One section of the lawsuit says the company should have multiple warnings in order 'to adequately warn the user of injury that could occur if the Subject Bike is used to pull oneself up from the floor during a workout.'
In a response, Peloton blamed Furtado's death on his own 'negligence, intentional act and/or fault... Peloton is not legally responsible.'
Furtado's death is not the first involving a Peloton bike. In 2021, a 6-year-old was killed after being dragged by a treadmill, while a 3-year-old suffered a 'brain injury' during a similar incident.
The model involved in those incidents, the Peloton Tread Plus, has since been discontinued.
Shares in the New York-based company fell by more than seven per cent when the news broke, marking a sharp blow for the fitness brand that has seen its shares plummet by 39 per cent over the last 12 months.
It's been a dramatic fall from grace for the company that became a fitness darling for those working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Last month, Peloton managed to beat sales expectations during its fiscal fourth quarter, but the exercise equipment maker reported a bigger loss than anticipated partly due to recall costs and a shift in consumer spending.
