Fish and a Rice Cake Guy: Danny Andrews Transformation

If you spent any time on fitness internet circa 2011, there’s a good chance you stumbled across a clip of a young bodybuilder from Preston, UK, cheerfully describing a pre-competition diet built almost entirely around fish and rice cakes. The clip became a meme. The guy got a nickname. Eighteen years later, he’s still out there—and he looks nothing like the kid in the video. LADbible ran a transformation piece on June 21, 2024, that put the “fish and rice cake guy” back in the spotlight, this time as a 29-year-old barber shop owner with a rice cake business and a physique that made headlines for going from scrawny to unrecognisable.

Real name: Danny Andrews · Viral period: 2011 · Transformation gap: 13 years · Recent update: June 21, 2024 · Podcast: Fish & A Rice Cake on Spotify

The table below consolidates the key facts about Danny Andrews’ transformation over 13 years.

Who is the fish and a rice cake guy?

The “fish and a rice cake guy” is Danny Andrews, a bodybuilder from Preston, UK, who first appeared in a BBC Three documentary called “Baby Faced Bodybuilders” airing around 2011. At the time, he was just 16–17 years old, preparing for the Mr Cumbria bodybuilding competition. The documentary captured Andrews describing his pre-competition eating schedule in meticulous detail: breakfast was fish and a rice cake, lunch was fish, and right before training he’d have fish and a rice cake again.

Early fame and viral moment

The clip of Andrews describing his fish-and-rice-cake routine spread across fitness forums and social media, eventually becoming a meme that still circulates today. The appeal was simple: a teenager with an almost comically strict diet, cheerfully explaining what most people would consider an extreme eating plan for the final two weeks before a bodybuilding show. Men’s Health UK noted that the fame from the 2011 documentary “led to internet meme status” for Andrews.

Real identity: Danny Andrews

For years, the internet referred to him mostly by the nickname—the “fish and rice cake guy”—without widely knowing his actual name. LADbible confirmed the identity in their 2024 coverage: Danny Andrews, Preston native, who went on to build both a barbering business and a new venture hawking rice cakes under the handle @dannysricecakes_.

What is fish and a rice cake Guy a reference to?

The phrase itself is a direct quote from Andrews’ documentary appearance. During a sit-down interview, he walked through his competition prep eating schedule with the calm confidence of someone who genuinely believed this was normal. The specificity of the times—”eight o’clock,” “two o’clock,” “four o’clock”—combined with the nature of the meals made it ripe for parody.

Origin of the phrase

As reported by LADbible, Andrews’ exact words were: “Eight o’clock in the morning, I’ll have fish and a rice cake. At two o’clock, I’ll have fish. At four o’clock—just before I train—I’ll have fish and a rice cake.” The matter-of-fact delivery, from a teenager who didn’t seem to realise how extreme it sounded, made the clip shareable before “meme” was even a word most people used regularly.

Context in fitness culture

Pre-competition diets in bodybuilding are notoriously restrictive, often reducing calories to extremely low levels and narrowing food choices to a handful of items. What made Andrews’ clip stand out wasn’t just the diet itself—it was the casual certainty with which he described it. Men’s Health UK clarified that the fish-and-rice-cake regimen was only for the last two weeks before the show, not a year-round approach, but the meme long outlasted that nuance.

Is fish and a rice cake Guy a real person?

Yes. Multiple sources confirm Danny Andrews is a real person from Preston, UK, who appeared in a BBC Three documentary and has since given interviews and podcast appearances discussing his transformation. He is not a fictional character or composite persona.

Confirmation from sources

Men’s Health UK, LADbible, and Andrews’ own YouTube channel all corroborate his identity. The outlets describe him as a working barber shop owner in Preston who has maintained his bodybuilding interest while running other ventures. Andrews himself appeared on the Gear No Idea podcast discussing his viral fame and current pursuits.

Podcast appearances

Andrews has begun doing podcast interviews about his story, including an appearance on the Gear No Idea show where he discussed his transformation journey and his rice cake business. The podcast host described him as “one of the soundest lads” he’d ever met. Andrews has also posted “day in the life” content on his YouTube channel, which he promotes alongside the @dannysricecakes_ handle.

What is fish and rice cake from?

The original content comes from the BBC Three documentary “Baby Faced Bodybuilders,” which followed several young bodybuilders preparing for competitions. Andrews was one of the subjects, and his interview segment became the most enduring clip from the film.

Viral video origins

The documentary aired around 2011, placing Andrews at age 16–17. He was preparing for the Mr Cumbria bodybuilding competition. The fish-and-rice-cake clip circulated on early video platforms before eventually landing on YouTube, where it has been re-uploaded multiple times under titles like “Fish and a rice cake – Danny Andrews (4K).” The exact original broadcast date remains somewhat unclear across sources, though the 13-year span to 2024 is consistently cited.

Evolution into meme

Fitness communities and meme accounts picked up the clip over the following years, repackaging it with new captions and contexts. The phrase “fish and a rice cake” became shorthand for extreme diet dedication in a humorous context. By 2024, the meme had enough longevity to warrant a “where are they now” style update from LADbible, which described Andrews as “unrecognisable” after 18 years.

The implication is clear: Andrews leveraged his accidental fame into a genuine personal brand, something few meme subjects manage to achieve.

Fish and a rice cake guy now?

Eighteen years after the original clip, Danny Andrews is a 29-year-old businessman in Preston who runs a barber shop and recently launched a rice cake brand. His physique has changed dramatically—outlets have described him as “absolutely enormous” and in better shape than during his viral moment. He plans to return to bodybuilding competitions and is building a content presence around his journey.

Transformation details

Men’s Health UK documented the shift from a teenage bodybuilder to an adult who has clearly continued serious training. The publication noted Andrews now owns a barber shop in Preston while maintaining his fitness focus. LADbible’s 2024 article highlighted his transformation as “unrecognisable,” emphasizing the physical change over 13 years from age 16 to 29.

Tattoo and size changes

Some reports, including coverage from Metro, have mentioned significant tattoo work, though exact details and spending figures cited in various corners of the internet have not been consistently verified across Tier 1–2 sources. What is confirmed: Andrews has built considerable size through continued training, and he no longer follows the extreme pre-competition diet from his teenage years.

What started as a teenager’s earnest description of a crash diet has become a reference point in fitness internet culture. Danny Andrews—the actual person behind the meme—has spent the intervening years building a barber shop, launching a rice cake brand, and planning a return to competition stage. He’s not trying to recapture the viral moment; he’s trying to move past it, trading the fish-and-rice-cake desperation of a 16-year-old for a more sustainable approach to food and training.

The 2024 coverage makes clear that Andrews has embraced the irony: he’s now in the business of selling rice cakes, the very item that once defined his meme status. Whether that becomes his next enduring identity or just an amusing footnote remains to be seen, but for now, he’s doing what most people who find themselves as accidental internet celebrities rarely manage—turning a moment into a foundation.

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The ‘fish and rice cake guy’ Danny Andrews, now a 29-year-old barber and entrepreneur, continues to inspire in his then-and-now feature nearly two decades later.

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