Turns out that he was a mortal, a former high school gymnast named Scott Madsen, who was waiting tables in a seafood restaurant while attending the University of Wisconsin when he answered a modeling ad.
Fame was instantaneous. His poster sold 700,000 copies. He released an exercise video, featuring Soloflex equipment, of course. He was interviewed by fitness magazines. He published an exercise book, Peak Condition.
Everyone thought that he was gay. He was so obviously inviting the male gaze, so obviously displaying himself in ways that emphasized not only sinewy hardness, but flexibility and vulnerability. Gay.
Scott Madsen wasn't gay after all. He was straight, and homophobic! In an interview, the man who became famous by being gazed at by gay men complained that he didn't want to be "chased around the room by faggots."
Scott resurfaced briefly in 2010, when a federal court sentenced him to two years in prison for embezzling $248,000 from Adair Financial Services, where he worked for his uncle.
This post destroyed my favorite childhood memory. Scott Madsen is the first guy I thought was obviously gay.
ReplyDeletei'm sure he was "gay" for two years in prison :)
ReplyDeleteShortly after he left Soloflex he caught meningitis. He wrote an account which is on the Meningitis Foundation webpage, as is a pic of his hot ass covered with holes and scabs.
ReplyDeleteHe recovered enough to return to somewhat normal life. He worked for his uncle until he was caught embezzling a quarter million dollars.
He died in 2015.
Ass covered in holes and scabs doesn't sound like meningitis. Or any other brain infection.
DeleteAS someone who had bacterial meningitis, almost 20 years ago, I can assure you that skin lesions are common. The bacterium that causes meningitis can also cause sepsis (or septicemia or 'blood poisoning') at the same time. And while my ass still has only the one, original hole, I do have scars on my arms, chest and back from the open sores that occurred during my 10-day coma.
DeleteA 57 year old man named Scott Madsen died in 2015, so born in 1958.
DeleteFrom what I can find (2010 article about his embezzlement says he was 48 at the time), Soloflex Scott Madsen was born in 1962. Not the same person.
As far as his death, not sure what is out there is really about this Scott Madsen. If he was 48 when he was put in jail he was born in 1962. The sites that talk about his death say he graduated from high school in 1975. That would mean he would have been only 13?! Also ages don't match on the obit... and the meningitis case...how do we know it was the same Scott? Maybe he is still around and in hiding?
ReplyDeleteHe began doing Soloflex ads in 1984, so if he graduated high school in 1975, he would be 27 or 28, which looks about right. I'm not sure the 2015 obituary is "our" Scott Madsen, since it says he was from Lakewood, Colorado, and our Scott was from Wisconsin.
DeleteBoomer, if he was born in 1962 and graduated in 1975 he would have been only 13 when he graduated which doesn't seem possible. That's why I don't think the obit is about the same guy. If he was born in 1962 and started Soloflex ads in 1984 that would make him 22 when he started the ads which seems about right. If he is still alive he could certainly write a book and cash in...
ReplyDeleteOh, the guy in the top ad you feature on this page isn't Scott, it looks like it is his later replacement Randy Potter who later went over to Bowflex and made a small fortune.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of Randy Potter. I thought Scott's replacement was Mitch Gaylord
DeleteI used to masturbate to the Bowflex ads in the 90s. Yeah, that's Randy Potter.
DeleteThat is Randy Potter at the top. I am like Anonymous. I used to masturbate to the Bowflex ads in the 90s
DeleteTalk about mistaken identity....I think you have all three Soloflex guys pictured on your site! First is Randy, then Scott and the "hard man is good to find" is Mitch. Here's Randy for Bowflex (after he left Soloflex) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_V5iUlmlZo
ReplyDeleteAbout twenty years ago I spoke to Scott's dad Lloyd in Scott was working as a gulf pro and I wanted to take lessons. It never happened. As you all know he went on to work for his uncle and conducted criminal activities which landed him in prison. I am unsure what happened to Lloyd and Scott after about 2013. I very well could be that both are dead. O well whatever happened Scott had his brief claim to fame both as a posterboy for fitness and as a badboy in prison.
ReplyDeleteCan someone please research and tell us if the "Soloflex" Scott Madsen is dead or alive? Where is he now, if alive, and what is he doing? What does he look like now?
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know what happened to Scott, too!
ReplyDeleteI saw him at the antifa meeting in Seattle last week...
ReplyDeleteI still have his poster of exercises he had a beautiful body looked like a gat porn star . I used a solo flex machine 6 months before a prison sentence and went from 180 to 280 in 6 months, it works ! I guarantee it! The resistance activated my muscles and tendons and I became very strong it works your body core and again I was freak strong guys at my work of all ages and size tried to take me down wrestling and no way! I’m as shocked as many that this machine WORKS
ReplyDelete