{"id":14295,"date":"2025-05-24T00:30:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T17:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=14295"},"modified":"2025-05-24T00:30:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T17:30:52","slug":"the-panel-discuss-ever-increasing-prize-money-on-the-menace-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=14295","title":{"rendered":"The Panel Discuss Ever-Increasing Prize Money on The Menace Podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Dennis James was joined by regular brothers in iron, Milos \u201cThe Mind\u201d Sarcev and Chris Cormier on Episode 233 of The Menace Podcast, and they discussed the breaking news that the winner in the open division at the <a href=\"https:\/\/generationiron.com\/arnold-classic-increasing-prize-purse-mens-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2026 Arnold Classic will take home $750,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/athletes-celebrities\/interviews\/rich-gaspari-on-1989-arnold-classic-win-arnold-called-me-to-compete\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The first official Arnold Classic made its debut in 1989 and was won by Rich Gaspari<\/a>, who took home $55,000 for his efforts. That same year, the already hotly established Olympia contest awarded $170,000 to winner Lee Haney. But that gap has been getting as slim as some of the waists on stage. The top prize for Mr Olympia in 2024 was $600,000, meaning that unless the purse is increased, The 750K Arnold check is now the richest prize.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a \u201cpissing contest,\u201d remarked Sarcev with his special brand of honesty. \u201cLook, we were fighting for 100 and $130,000,\u201d laughed host Dennis James. Of course, the industry is now buzzing with anticipation over how the Olympia contest will respond. \u201cAnd now\u2026 if it goes up to a million dollars, that means second place would be half a million probably,\u201d said James, commenting that if you increase the top of the scale, then you have to increase it a little for everyone else. \u201cBut what I see happening here is The Arnold is trying to compete with the Olympia when it comes to prize money as the most prestigious show,\u201d added James. \u201cWe know the Olympia is the most prestigious show, because the Olympia was all these years, sixty years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>James speculated that the late Joe Weider may, at one time, have had a deal with Arnold Schwarzenegger to make sure that the bodybuilder-turned-actor didn\u2019t compete with the Olympia prize money. But that deal seemed to have been thrown out of the window when Arnold hit the $500,000 threshold. Last year however, the battle of the bank was still won by the Olympia, as the top prize was increased to $600,000.<\/p>\n<h3>What does the $750,000 prize money for the 2026 Arnold mean for bodybuilding?<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cSo, now Arnold goes in and says it\u2019s 750k,\u201d explained James. \u201cWhat does that mean? Is prestigious [meaning] the one that pays the most? Or is the most prestigious show, will it always be the Olympia because \u2018it\u2019s the Olympia.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sarcev answered that people tend to go wherever the money is, so perceptions can change over time. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting times to be a bodybuilder,\u201d he noted. \u201cDennis, when you and I starting, if there was prize money it was just like a little bonus,\u201d reflected Sarcev. \u201cChris (Cormier), he was more consistent, you were always in the money.\u201d Still, Cormier appeared aghast at the money some competitors are making these days, agreeing with \u201cThe Mind\u201d that Mr Olympia could soon hit $1,000,0000. The panel noted that while the total prize purse for The Arnold has increased, just how this will be distributed among other placings is not yet public information.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, another testy issue is the difference between what the men and the women are paid, and it\u2019s a complex subject that was brought to the surface in a recent post by female Olympia icon, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DJ0NS9Xvb07\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Linda Murray criticizing Arnold for making an announcement<\/a> that didn\u2019t include the girls.<\/p>\n<p>To watch the complete episode, where the guys also discussed how competitive bodybuilders deal with carbs before hitting the stage, and Sarcev\u2019s beef with Giles Thomas over whether or not Ugolnikov \u201cGoodvito\u201d Vitalii should have competed at the 2025 Pittsburgh Pro, see below:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NY PRO RECAP, ARNOLD CLASSIC PRIZE INCREASE &amp; MILOS LOSING IT ON GILES!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2723hpzrmvU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/flexonline\/flex-news\/the-panel-discuss-ever-increasing-prize-money-on-the-menace-podcast\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dennis James was joined by regular brothers in iron, Milos \u201cThe Mind\u201d Sarcev and Chris Cormier on Episode 233 of The Menace Podcast, and they discussed the breaking news that the winner in the open division at the 2026 Arnold Classic will take home $750,000. The first official Arnold Classic made its debut in 1989 &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}