‘Why are women lying about this?’: British pop star’s gym ‘glow-up’ sparks chaotic debate over what women actually want

British singer Olly Murs’ gym transformation unexpectedly kicked off wild discourse about whether modern men have any clue what women actually find attractive.

The whole thing started after @CostelloWilliam posted a poll on X asking which photo responders found more attractive—one of Murs “after a 12 week gym transformation” and one before.

pic.twitter.com/cDsXSHPYl3

— William Costello (@CostelloWilliam) April 23, 2025

The poll is similar to many others Costello has posted on his page, all of which additionally ask respondents to specify whether they are male or female. In theory, this provides insight into what men find attractive in other men vs. what women find attractive in men. However, the results are often notably skewed, as was the case here.

What did people think of the Olly Murs gym transformation?

The final poll had 4,920 votes. The majority of responders (66.2%) claimed to be male, with the majority of those saying they think Murs looks better in the after photo. Of those who claimed to be women, the overwhelming majority (26.8% of the overall poll vs 7%) said he looked better before.

Men accuse women of lying

For some reason, a number of men who came across the poll were convinced that women were lying about what they found attractive.

“Any man who has been 10% body fat or below can tell you women turn into rabid dogs around you. Women lie about their preferences,” @JoshRainerGold asserted.

One tweet that went particularly viral was so convinced women were blatantly lying in the poll that they jumped to immediately demanding answers. 

“why are women lying about this?” @justalexoki asked. “like what’s the actual cause?”

why are women lying about this? like what’s the actual cause? pic.twitter.com/RM3b82jIF4

— taoki (@justalexoki) April 26, 2025

The refusal to believe that so many women could possibly find any man more attractive when he isn’t overly ripped kicked off truly hilarious—and rather telling—discourse. 

No matter how many women explained their reasoning, there were scores of men who came up with excuse after excuse as to why they were either lying or wrong or simply misinformed. Some blamed the lighting in the after photo. Some insisted the women who said they prefer the before must all be ugly. One just said women have no clue what they actually want.

Male gaze vs. female gaze

Of course, the one thing most of these men refused to do was simply listen to women explain their reasoning. And this led to women—and the men who do listen to them— not only doing that, but also theorizing as to why some men have gotten so caught up in this belief that women want a certain type of overt masculinity no matter how many times they are told otherwise.

We’re not lying. Men cater to the male gaze more often than they realize. https://t.co/5jhUUyisAE pic.twitter.com/a9IKTnHUiK

— Emily (@emilily88) April 26, 2025

women are not lying in that poll

this meme has been saying the truth since forever, gym bros are simply in denial about not getting them girls… pic.twitter.com/CkctAfNh2v

— krillin ॐ (@LSDinmycoffee) April 28, 2025

Not a lie. Men used to look like this and it was peak masculinity. https://t.co/eyuk5OtVj5 pic.twitter.com/d1HStxlr2J

— Mary ♰ (@realmarythursby) April 26, 2025

Granted, there are obviously women who do prefer the after look—the entire gender is not a monolith. And Costello’s poll isn’t exactly scientific. But it’s still clear from the responses as this whole thing went viral that women are not generally ranking men by level of buffness when they’re looking for someone to date.

If men want to get cut for themselves or for other men, that’s totally cool. But if they’re specifically looking to attract women…listening to what women say they like is probably a good place to start.

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