Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod
BodyBreak fitness icon Joanne McLeod has finally admitted she swore on The Amazing Race Canada.
McLeod and her longtime partner Hal Johnson, best known for their long-running series of wholesome BodyBreak fitness vignettes, were eliminated from the reality show on Monday night's episode following a grueling series of challenges in Regina.
In the episode, McLeod appeared to direct an expletive toward the team of real-life married doctors Brett and Holly (aka "Married Doctors") during a heated moment in the competition.
To the average viewer, it seemed fairly obvious that McLeod dropped an F-bomb, which was unofficially confirmed by the fact that the word was bleeped out during the broadcast.
But when asked about the confrontation the next day, McLeod told a reporter from The Canadian Press that she did not swear on the show. In her words: "What people didn't see is that I basically said, 'Get off, get off the field.' So that's what they saw."
One day later, however, McLeod, 54, did a complete turnaround and went on the BodyBreak website to issue a public apology.
And so she did. McLeod's carefully-worded mea culpa said it was pretty obvious she had swore on the show and claimed she had only been trying to make light of the situation in subsequent media interviews.
"It came after a very long, frustrating day as well as dealing with a painful hamstring injury, not having slept for 30 hours, being dehydrated and there had been a history of verbal attacks from Brett. The producers opted to single out this under-the-breath comment in the show and I apologize to the news outlets and to anyone I have offended."
The good news for McLeod was the Canadian public appears to agree with her disdain for Brett and Holly and firmly in support of her inalienable right to drop the occasional cuss word.
Or at least that's how it looks on the comments section of the BodyBreak site. A random sampling:
"You said what the rest of us were thinking! I hope they don't win and you guys rocked it," said Jerry. "It's ok, everyone gets frustrated at some point in their lives," said Rachel. "You're so sweet – no apology is necessary… We are all human and make mistakes. We still love you," said Heather.
And there's even better news for McLeod and Johnson, who married in 1999 after keeping their relationship quiet for years: Appearing on four episodes of The Amazing Race Canada has helped reboot their fitness brand for a brand new generation.
"It's got our message out to people...that message of 'keep fit,'" said Johnson, 57, earlier this week.
And should the odd swear word sneak into your daily workout, so be it. You're only human.