Mr. Olympia, 2023 will start in a couple of days in Orlando. The competing bodybuilders are all set to showcase their mass muscle avatar on the bodybuilding stage. The event is set to play out from the 2nd of November to 6th of November, and fans have already reserved seats to witness the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding unfold. 

However, last year Mr. Olympia did not unfold the way some bodybuilding fans wanted. The event’s production was subpar, as per many bodybuilders, and Samson Dauda, this year’s Arnold Classic champion, has been vocal about the delay in the show last year. The Nigerian Lion is hoping to claim the title this year if such discrepancies are not repeated. 

Samson Dauda is hoping for the best while preparing for the worst

The bodybuilding icons compete across eleven different categories at the 2023 Mr. Olympia during Joe Weider’s Olympia Fitness and Performance weekend. The competition for the Open Category is cutthroat, with mass monsters like Derek Lunsford, Hadi Choopan, Samson Dauda, Brandon Curry, and Nick Walker competing. Dauda secured a place in the top six in his debut Mr. Olympia, last year. 

This year, he is being coached by the Serbian bodybuilding icon Milos Sarcev, and the experts from the arena have high expectations from him. Dauda is geared up to beat every bodybuilder on stage, but hopes that the event production doesn’t turn out as bad as last time. “Hopefully, this Olympia won’t have that problem. We won’t be backstage for four hours waiting to get on. So, we know we can time things a lot better. And I won’t miss sitting there waiting to go on stage,” he wrote in his Instagram story. Earlier, the bodybuilding icon narrated how they had to wait for a very long time backstage. 

The drawbacks of the 2022 Mr. Olympia

Bodybuilding fans worldwide will hop on Mr. Olympia tickets once the booking starts. The thrill of witnessing bodybuilding icons striking thundering poses is unparalleled. On the other hand, the excitement that the bodybuilders have of flexing their musculature which took months of hard work in front of a cheering crowd cannot be fathomed. 

Last year, however, the Open Category bodybuilders had to wait for five hours backstage before they could live a lifetime moment. The competitors of the Men’s Open were expected to be backstage by 6:00 P. M., but the event started only at 11:00 P.M. Narrating how Mr. Olympia, 2022 unfolded, Samson Dauda said, “We’ve been waited that whole time backstage. We sat there, waiting, and everything else… be backstage for seven o’clock and you don’t go on stage till 10 o’clock. We know that.“

Unlike other games, bodybuilding requires athletes to take care of their body metabolism and have to plan meals and other intakes accordingly. So, if things get delayed before the main show, the body definition can make the bodybuilders look watery. So, timings and planning are crucial to provide the best output on the bodybuilding stage. Even the veteran bodybuilder Jay Cutler was upset with Mr. Olympia’s production quality last year. 

Jay Cutler suggests that the Men’s Open should be given a priority

The dragged-out 2022 Mr. Olympia didn’t impress the QuadStomp, who was in the crowd to witness the show. Of all the 11 categories that compete at the Mr. Olympia weekend, the Men’s Open division was organized at the last, even though it is the most awaited show during the entire event. Cutler was concerned about how bodybuilders might become watery for waiting so long.

“I would end up training late just to be able to say, ‘okay, I’m going to peak at this time,’ to see what my body does,” Cutler said in a podcast, as per Fitness Volt arguing that bodybuilders could have looked better if the event was organized on time. “Listen, guys, let’s be honest: it’s complete bullsh*t that they are sitting backstage for hours on end. Remember, what time is this at [11 p.m. Pacific time]. This is absolutely ridiculous,” the 4x Mr. Olympia lamented. 

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Another concern of Cutler’s was that the majority of fans who came to witness the Open Division competition might get restless. “So, I know they want to turn this into a production, and they have all these divisions, but people are coming to see the Men’s Bodybuilding. They are coming here for the Men’s Open. It should be the priority,” he asserted. Many other bodybuilders echoed the same sentiments.

Similar opinion from other bodybuilders

Even bodybuilding coach Chris Aceto fell asleep while waiting for the event to unfold. So, such a long delay caused trouble for both the live audience and bodybuilders. Another bodybuilder who spoke about the backstage setup at the 2022 Mr. Olympia was James Hollingshead. The dim lighting at the backstage made the bodybuilder call it a “Nightclub.”

But this time, the bodybuilding community is hoping for a better production attempt at the 2023 Mr. Olympia. Either way, Samson Dauda is getting prepared to face the worst while hoping for the best. Who are you rooting for in this year’s Mr. Olympia? Let us know in the comments below. 

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