The Real Reason Oliver Lee Left Peloton

Peloton is an international fitness and health brand that started with a stationary exercise bike. Founder and CEO John Foley told Fit Tech Global in a 2020 interview that the idea to design and build their own bike was born out of necessity. 

"Peloton sits at the nexus of fitness, technology, and media, but that concept evolved over time," Foley explained. "In the early years, we knew we wanted to be a software company, so we looked at the hardware options already out there and considered adding our software to someone else's bike. However, there hadn't been much innovation or capital in the category so we decided to build our own bike."

Peloton offers online classes that owners of their bikes can join from anywhere in the world, and the instructors who teach the classes are wildly popular. There are also instructors for just about nearly every type of fitness class you might want to take on the app, including barre, yoga, and even meditation. 

Users of the app get very attached to their instructors, so it can feel particularly jarring when one of them leaves the company. This was especially true when fitness pro Oliver Lee walked away from Peloton, especially since he did so under a shroud of secrecy. 

Instructor Oliver Lee exited the program in April 2020, and, in an unusual move, Peloton completely scrubbed his work from each of their platforms. Distractify reported that the company and Lee have not commented on why he left, other than Peloton sharing that "out of respect for his privacy, [they] cannot share the details of his departure."

While it's not exactly known why the instructor abruptly left the company, some rumors indicate that his behavior may have been part of the reason. 

Per the outlet, "Several members" on the platform may have made "uncorroborated allegations that Lee had shared unsolicited pics with female Peloton users that revealed more than proper form for a side plank... to put it delicately." 

We may never know the exact details about why Lee exited the company, but one thing is for sure: Peloton will just keep growing. As John Foley noted in his 2020 interview with Fit Tech Global, "Peloton started off with a bike, but we never set out to be just a bike company and I'm most proud of how the company has grown and evolved. Since launch, we've introduced new hardware (the Peloton Tread), yoga, and many other content formats. We've expanded internationally and grown our community to 1.6 million members worldwide."