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Your support makes all the difference.Spoiler alert: This article contains a spoiler from the first episode of And Just Like That…
Cult exercise brand Peloton has responded to one of their bikes playing a major role in the first episode of the Sex and The City reboot, And Just Like That...
The company’s at-home stationary bike has a crucial part in a storyline about main characters Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mr Big (Chris Noth).
In the first episode, which premiered on Thursday on Sky Comedy and NOWTV in the UK, Carrie and Big joke about Big having an affair with someone named Allegra.
It turns out that Allegra, played by real Peloton instructor Jess King, is Big’s favourite spin instructor and leads him on an intense workout session on the bike.
But the couple - whose longtime on-again, off-again romance played a central part in the original series - have their marital bliss cut short when Big (again, spoiler!) dies from a heart attack after the bike ride.
Fans of the show have rushed to social media to mourn the fictional character’s death and condemn both the writers of the show and Peloton for killing him off.
But Dr Suzanne Steinbaum, a member of Peloton’s health and wellness advisory council and a preventative cardiologist, said Big’s death was due to his “extravagant lifestyle”.
In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, she said: “I’m sure SATC fans, like me, are saddened by the news that Mr Big dies of a heart attack.
“Mr Big lived what many would call an extravagant lifestyle – including cocktails, cigars, and big steaks – and was at serious risk as he had a previous cardiac event in season six.
“These lifestyle choices and perhaps even his family history, which often is a significant factor, were the likely cause of his death.”
Steinbaum added: “Riding his Peloton Bike may have even helped delay his cardiac event.
“More than 80 per cent of all cardiac-related deaths are preventable through lifestyle, diet and exercise modifications. And while 25 per cent of heart attacks each year are in patients who already had one (like Mr Big), even then they are very, very treatable.”
The episode sees Big smoking a cigar in the evening before his death, with Carrie commenting that he was treating himself to his “weekly cigar” and his workout “on the same night”.
In the second episode, which also premiered on Thursday, Cynthia Nixon’s character Miranda says Big had done “over a thousand rides” on his Peloton bike and had gotten “the OK from his cardiologist”.
Longtime fans of the show, who had followed Carrie and Big’s romance from the start, were shocked and disappointed by his death on And Just Like That...
One person wrote on Twitter: “Are you telling me after ALL these years, the only thing the writers could think of was to kill off Mr Big in the first episode after a Peloton workout?!
“This is the MOST disrespectful s***. I haven’t been this mad over a show since Shonda [Rimes] killed McDreamy.”
Another said: “We did not wait years for a new series and go through all those ups and downs to have Big and Carrie to finally get together for Big to be killed off on episode one.
“We didn’t sign up for this s***. Big deserved better. Screw you Peloton.”
According to Buzzfeed News, Peloton had no prior knowledge of how the scene would play out, or how prominently its bike would be featured.
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