BLAST FROM THE PAST: Murder, Muscle And Exercise With Steve Banerjee!

If you weren't wired up on too much booger-sugar in the 1980s, then you may have caught a few work-out videos on late-night and early-morning TV featuring ridiculously hot menz ostensibly demonstrating exercise routines, each one sleekly muscled, some with big volume hair, wearing tighter-than-tight spandex or shorty-shorts. Yes, hor, they were caliente. 

Just think, you have the Bombay-born Steve Banergee to thank for all those bangable pieces. You know, the founder of Chippendales (pictured above with one of his danseurs), and, oh, yes, a cold-blooded murderer. 

Actually, scratch that. We should really be thanking Nick De Noia, a Chippendales choreographer and director (pictured above with his former wife, Jennifer O'Neil), who produced, directed and selected the models for the "Muscle Mayhem" work-out videos. And, oh, yes, he was murdered by Steve Banerjee, who hired a hit man to gun him down in the late 1980s. Banerjee was later convicted of second-degree murder and hung himself in prison before sentencing. So not really hot, but, hey, the videos live on. 

If you remember them, you probably not only remember the menz and their moves, but the female announcer giving us her best come-hither Brenda Vaccaro just had 14 ciggies in a row voice. The men had the looks, but she had a voice that made otherwise innocuous words, like, "And stretch and stretch. Gooooood" sound positively filthy. Some stunt!

As a wee gayling, I stumbled onto them by accident, probably after watching "Mildred Pierce" or "Flamingo Road" for the millionth time in a row on The Late Late Show. I swear I had no idea what this all meant at the time, though given that I sometimes grand jeted across the living room floor singing "God, I'm a dancer! A dancer dances!" I'm sure my parents did. I was mesmerized by the videos, and while I didn't know why I felt a tingle in my kiddie porksword, I knew enough to quickly change the channel to "That Girl" repeats when my mom walked in the room to tell me to get my bony ass to bed. 

Most unfortunately, since I lived in 'Murica and not England-land, I missed the British equivalent, Tony Britts' "Twice as Fit" segments on "The BBC Breakfast Time." Britts, a sometimes-working actor, achieved for-evuh fame for his wriggly, disco-fabulous workouts, which achieved new popularity during the Covid Lockdown, and it's not hard to see why. He brought sexiness and sunshine and itsy-bitsy workout shorts to the masses. Best part? No murder. 

Photo Credits: NY Times; The Hindustan Times; Getty Images