Marina Fogle has been ridiculed after revealing she has stopped heating her private swimming pool for her morning dips, with critics ruthlessly branding her ‘vapid’ and ‘tone-deaf’.
Marina, who is married to TV presenter Ben Fogle, this week celebrated the ‘spine-tingling amazingness’ of taking icy plunges at luxurious Oxfordshire home.
Writing for The Times, the mother-of-two, described how she has moved from taking cold showers to ‘wake her up’ to swimming in her ‘pristine’ pool without the heater on.
‘It was easy at first of course,’ she said. ‘There were days when I wasn’t desperate for a swim, but those 20 lengths gave me the silence, the focus, the solitude to clear my mind and order my thoughts.
‘But then the temperature dropped and my pool turned somewhat icier… And it is cold. Eight degrees this morning. Gaspingly cold. The first six lengths are the hardest, the lengths where my body is screaming at me to get out, where my body hurts from the cold.’
She even ‘braved’ the deadly Storm Darragh for her swim, adding: ‘There was a bit of debris in the usually pristine pool, and the water wasn’t as still as I’m used to, but on a weekend where we lit fires and hunkered down, it was great to have something that only took ten minutes and yet challenged me both physically and mentally.’
But her comments have been savaged by readers, who have mocked her online.
‘Even in this world of shallow self absorption that piece stands out,’ one person wrote, in response to her article.
Marina Fogle has been ridiculed after telling The Times she now switches off the heat in her private pool for her regular morning swim (Marina is pictured in her pool)
Her husband Ben Fogle has previously shared a snap of the pair treading open water during a chilly November swim in Cornwall, with the caption: ‘And this is why I married Marina’
Pictured are Ben Fogle and his wife Marina Fogle at the 2024 BAFTA Television Awards
Another joked: ‘I’m persuaded! I can’t wait to make use of the rare and special circumstances that will allow me to safely benefit from all the physical and mental health benefits I’ll be getting from a daily peaceful, solitary, undisturbed 20 lengths in my very own private swi… oh, wait.’
While in a third barbed comment, one person said: ‘I’m going to stop heating my imaginary pool as well. Lifestyles of the rich and vapid.’
‘While I do not begrudge her for having her own pool, it is a strange way to write the article,’ said a fourth person. ‘She could have just as easily extolled the benefits of her cold water swim, without even the need to mention that she does it in her own pool. Seems rather “in your face”.’
Marina has long extolled the virtues of cold water therapy, posting about her chilly watery exploits on social media.
In 2019, she and Ben took took and icy November plunge off the Cornish coast to celebrate Ben’s 46th birthday.
In another snap, shared by her adventurer husband, Marina is seen treading open water with him.
Posting the image on social media, Ben wrote: ‘And this is why I married Marina……November 1st swim in Cornwall #coldnotcold #abitcold #freezingcold.’
Advocates of cold water swimming say the activity helps to promote health, improves circulation, cuts joint paint and boosts the immune system.
Ben Fogle took to Instagram to share a snap of himself and wife Marina celebrating his 46th birthday in 2019 with a freezing cold open water swim in Cornwall
The broadcaster and his wife were joined by their children Ludovic, nine, and Iona, eight for the seaside break in 2019 (pictured with Iona)
However, there have been calls for a crackdown on the growing cold water immersion trend amid potential safety concerns.
Last year, a senior coroner said people could die undergoing the practice, following the death of a mother of three.
Peter Nieto warned of more tragic deaths as he said there is ‘very little oversight’ of companies providing the activity, in which participants plunge into water colder than 15C (59F), that is growing increasingly popular in Britain.
His appeal comes after Kellie Poole, 39, died when her heart stopped after entering the freezing River Goyt in a £200 session at Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, in April 2022.
During an inquest, it emerged she had an undiagnosed heart condition which meant she was unable to recover when the cold water triggered it to fall out of rhythm, causing a ‘sudden cardiac death’.
Although she was unaware of her heart abnormality, there is no ‘specific health and safety guidance’ that participants must be told or shown, the coroner for Derby and Derbyshire warned.
Kellie Poole died on April 25, 2022, during a cold water immersion session in the River Goyt
Others have previously warned how those entering cold water can potentially panic and drone through shock.
Cold water shock is a term for the sudden and drastic measures the human body undergoes when submerged in extremely chilly water.
Sudden exposure to cold water dramatically increases the risk of cardiac arrest as the body dramatically reacts to frigid temperatures.
This shock puts the body into survival mode as it desperately attempts to slow the amount of heat escaping and keep vital organs functioning.
MailOnline has approached Mrs Fogle’s representatives for comment.
