Amazon Reveals It Paid Jakob Ingebrigtsen & Josh Kerr $1 Million Each to Talk Trash Ahead of Documentary Series
By LetsRun.comLast week, a LetsRun.com reader sent us a series of photos and videos showing 1500-meter stars Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen having dinner together on three consecutive nights in Albuquerque, N.M. The two men were laughing and acting like best of friends, rather than bitter rivals. We sent the photos to the Kerr and Ingebrigtsen camps for comment and were stunned by what we got in response.
We received a press release from Amazon this morning admitting that the offseason war of words between the Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen and world champion Kerr was in fact a marketing gimmick designed to promote the new documentary series about the Ingebrigtsen brothers’ 2024 season that will be released on Amazon Prime after this summer’s Olympics in Paris.
All smiles in Budapest (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images for World Athletics)
“Immediately after Josh beat Jakob in Budapest last year, we offered each of them $1 million to make a series of outlandish comments and drive up interest in the men’s 1500 meters,” said Anders Forfalskning, head of content for Amazon Prime in the Nordics. “It actually started before they even left Budapest. That line about Josh being ‘just the next guy’? I told Jakob to say it after he won the 5,000. Worked like a charm.”
Forfalskning also revealed that his team were the ones responsible for Ingebrigtsen coming down with illness before the 1500-meter final.
“Jakob looked a little too good in the semifinals, so I had one of my camera guys sneeze on Jakob’s plate at dinner that night,” Forfalskning said. “We did not know how much it would slow him down, but it turned out to be the perfect amount. The series is much more interesting now than if Jakob had just won every race in 2023.”
Ahead of the Olympics, Amazon mulled a “Nancy Kerrigan scenario” in which they would hire a hitman to attack Ingebrigtsen’s knees but ultimately decided against it.
This was real we think (Kevin Morris photo)
“The TV ratings for women’s figure skating at Lillehammer 1994 were through the roof, so we definitely considered the hitman,” Forfalskning said. “Ultimately we decided that we were better off not doing it since it’s not technically ‘legal’ to assault someone for good ratings.”
Kerr and Ingebrigtsen already had reputations for speaking their minds, and both agreed to the $1 million offer quickly when approached by Amazon. Kerr said he not is surprised how much attention the pair have garnered from just a few interviews.
“Honestly, most of the people in this sport are pretty boring and there is such a long gap between meaningful races that I knew it would not take much to create some buzz,” Kerr said. “If you show the slightest hint of personality or say anything even close to provocative, the media is going to run with it. All I said was that Jakob has a big ego and some weaknesses as a runner. Anyone with a brain knows those things are true but because it was coming from me, it became a big deal.”
In reality, Kerr and Ingebrigtsen are close friends. In addition to dining together, they were recently spotted working out together in Albuquerque. Kerr finished the workout by running an all-out 400-meter rep in 49 seconds. Ingebrigtsen had been right with Kerr until the final turn, when he tripped and sprained his ankle on a wayward tennis ball.
“Unfortunately, when you run workouts with a blindfold on, it is much harder to detect loose obstacles like that,” Ingebrigtsen said.
Happy April Fool’s Day, everyone.
