A bodybuilder who became an internet celebrity with his ‘fish and rice cake’ diet has now found ‘the love of his life’ through a reality TV dating show.
Danny Andrews, 35, became a 16-year-old viral sensation after a 2007 documentary called Baby Faced Body Builders showcased his peculiar fitness regime of eating fish and rice cakes at regular intervals throughout the day.
Danny, then aged just 16, later took himself off all social media after suffering from a negative backlash online in response to the broadcast and multiple internet shares.
But he has since embraced his meme fame, and featured on several TV dating shows such as First Dates, Celebs Go Dating and most recently Channel 4’s Love Triangle eight months ago.
And now he says he has met the love of his life, 29-year-old Bristol-based social media manager Sadie Bass – despite initially going on the show primarily for fun and to promote his rice cake business.
Sadie says she is smitten – while dubbing her partner ‘meme royalty’.
Danny, now living in Preston, said: ‘I went on Love Triangle to have a holiday and have fun – and promote the rice cakes.
‘I never thought that I would meet the love of my life on there, but Sadie’s absolutely my soulmate and I’m so happy that embracing the meme has led to us meeting.
‘We’ve been together for eight months now, but we couldn’t go public with our relationship for the first seven months as we had signed an NDA so not to ruin the show.
‘Things are going along really well though since going public.
‘She’s moving from Bristol to my four-bed house here in Preston to move in with me, after our first holiday to Tenerife in two weeks’ time, and I can’t wait.’
Sadie added: ‘I knew of the video – I used to live with my cousin who would watch the meme.
‘He showed me it, and my friends and I would quote it all the time and laugh about it.
‘When I met Danny, I didn’t realise he was the guy from the meme. I didn’t know until some guys ran up to us asking him for pictures.
‘I was confused, I was thinking he was some big celebrity. He awkwardly told me he was the fish and rice cake man – I thought it was hilarious.
‘I am dating a legend – he is British meme royalty.’
In the original clip from Baby Face Body Builders, Danny revealed to producers his itinerary for the day including his very repetitive diet.
Appearing in the show, Danny shared his meal plan ahead of a ‘Mr Cumbria’ bodybuilding competition.
In the video, the producer asked what he was preparing – to which he replied: ‘Just me fish for me 12 o’clock meal, which I’ll have with a rice cake.’
Revealing the ‘very strict diet’ given by his trainer, Danny went on to say he started the day with fish and a rice cake at 8am.
That would then be followed by fish at 11am and then moving on to the same breakfast meal again at midday.
He then detailed six different meals, all of which included the same two ingredients.
Danny now says he remains thankful for the meme – and that without it Sadie would not have typically gone for a self-professed ‘gym lad’.
He said: ‘I wouldn’t be her type normally as she doesn’t go for gym types, and vice versa – she’s into poetry and is a bit more introverted than me.
‘Gym lads tend to have a bad stereotype and I must look like a prat, because everyone always says they’re surprised when I meet them in person.
‘If I had met her on a night out, it probably wouldn’t have worked because of preconceived ideas about how we both look, so the show has worked.
‘Or if we had met on a dating app, she would have definitely swiped past me, which is why I’m so glad we did the show because we had a spark.
‘You hear about dating shows and a lot of it is for fun, exposure and clout, and a lot of relationships are “showmances”. I’ve done all of them, but now I’ve got the real deal.
‘I’d never do reality TV again, but I’m very thankful to have met Sadie through it.’
Sadie was initially unaware about the meme, which Danny says helped their relationship blossom at the start.
He only explained it to her after a group of people approached him to ask for pictures in Manchester’s Trafford Centre.
He said: ‘In the Trafford Centre people were asking for photos, so I had to explain it to Sadie, but she didn’t judge me or find it cringey.
‘She thought it was funny and by then we were fully together so it hasn’t affected the relationship.
‘It’s not too bad getting recognised now. At the start when it first came out, I’d say 80 per cent of the comments on social media were negative and that’s why I came off those platforms.
‘But since embracing it, I’d say 80 per cent of my interactions are positive. But even if you were Mother Teresa, you’d still get bad comments.’
Danny has used his experience of being associated with rice cakes to create a firm in the food industry from March last year onwards.
He works with business partner and friend, Zack McGuirk, 38, employing five people.
Danny said: ‘People would stop for photographs and laugh their heads off and they would always think of me with rice cakes.
‘I thought I could create a protein rice cake and I asked my friend Zack if we should go for it.
‘We’ve had lots of success in the first year, and we’ve done it all ourselves – all the merch is made and sent out off our own bat.
‘Lots of memes come and go, but people still remember mine because it was the first internet meme, and now younger people watch me on TikTok.
‘It’s crazy that I make money from something that I used to absolutely hate.
‘It’s mainly online sales off the website at the moment and to get to the next level we need to get into supermarkets – and we’re in talks right now.
‘All I’ve worked on is changing Britain’s first meme into a brand – and I think I’ve just about managed to do it.’