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[music]
I'm the greatest bodybuilder ever.
And one tough son of a ***.
Fifteen years ago, April '99.
After I placed fourth at the Arnold Classic before my first
Mr. Olympia which I finished second to last, 240 pounds.
I've secured the legacy on the competition stage.
I've done it, I've lost it, I won it back.
It's not about how many times you win it.
It's about the fashion you win it in.
I still think I'm still the biggest name in bodybuilding.
You hear the stories about someone becoming a bodybuilder
because they were short or they were picked on or this and that.
That was never the case with me.
For me, it was doing things at the fullest, which I learned to
my whole life.
If you're gonna do something, you're gonna do it all the way.
I thought okay, I'm gonna be a bodybuilder and I'm gonna take
it as far as I can take it.
Jay Cutler!
It was about me getting on the stage and just showing my
physique and--it'd be like asking me who's your favorite
bodybuilder.
I really don't have one.
Jay Cutler is my favorite bodybuilder, of course.
He's the greatest of all time.
I tell you, Jay Cutler's the greatest of all time.
I have something that a lot of these guys don't have and I
don't even have to know them to know that they don't have it
because it's very rare.
And that's, you know, the drive and the determination to be at
your absolute best and what I've done and what I continue to do
and what I plan to do is still much bigger than anyone's gonna
do in this business.
I have no question.
You know, when you think you've seen someone work hard,
like, "Oh, man, he works hard."
And then you meet someone like Jay and you're like, "This is
a whole 'nother ball game, like, the game kind of changed."
After, you know, obviously what we do every day here, he also
has to go out and travel every week.
He has to speak to other people.
He has to--you know, he's an ambassador for the sport so him
being, you know, technically my mentor, like, obviously we're
friends but I look at him more as like, you know, a mentor and
someone who's guiding me 'cause I can tell you in the time--a
lot of time that we've been together, I--the stuff that I've
learned is kind of priceless.
This is all about the fans.
So for me, I got to sit, you know, I got to be able to
produce money to obviously, you know, to keep coming up with new
stuff and give people something to see.
Now, yes, I've become one of the best merchandisers as far as,
you know, online stuff or, you know, in the bodybuilding market
but it's with help through, like, guys like this.
I mean, he's a 21-year-old kid, he's keen on a lot of stuff.
He does a lot too.
It's not just, you know, I'm more or less just kind of
set it in front of him.
'Cause at this point, I'm--what I'm trying to do is take the
pressure--take all of the workload off of him because it's
not his job, it's my job and also he has a--you know,
he's training for the show.
For me, I was, kind of like, thrown out there and being,
like, you have to learn on your own.
And you learn from mistakes and I tell him my success and what
I've done in my career, everyone looks at it and says, "God,
Jay's been successful at a lot of things he's done," but I
failed at so many things and that's how I've become
successful because I know the mistakes and you have to make
those mistakes before you learn.
You know, early in my career, I had great success.
I won almost every show I ever did.
I turned professional in my third or fourth contest.
Going into the Olympia, I had huge expectations.
My first Mr. Olympia, '99, and I finished 15 out of 16.
And I quit after that show.
I'm like, "You know what?
This is just--am I just not good?"
I actually questioned myself for the only time ever in my career.
You know, I said, "Okay, I'm gonna move forward.
I'm gonna get settled.
I'm gonna compete in the Night of Champions in 2000.
And I won.
I won.
I beat, you know, the likes of Paul Dillett, these guys.
I've won my first professional show, which I was not even on
the radar for.
And that was justification and made me realize that I can be
very good.
That's when I kind of knew I could be, like, the best soon.
He's the winner of this year's Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic.
He's the hottest new pro to come on the scene in the last couple
of years.
Second place in this year's Mr. Olympia, Mr. Jay Cutler.
I was great.
And I was talked about as the upcoming pro and, like, I
thought, "Okay, I'm gonna win this thing, like, one year, this
year, next, you know, right around the corner."
And I got second four times to Coleman in a row.
And to be honest, I mean, when I got to 2004, I was at wit's end,
man, I was pretty much, like, I think I said, "In 2006, if this
doesn't happen, I mean, I'm gonna start thinking about doing
something else."
Ronnie's been here winning the show for the past--how many
years, Ronnie?
Six.
Six years but this is my town.
It just got frustrating.
The guy won eight times and, you know, I was second four already
out of those eight to him.
I sat out 1 year so that's basically 5 years that I was,
like, waiting for this guy to be beat and I understand the guy
was probably the best bodybuilder ever but at the same
time I was, like, the guy right there.
It was like me and him in the show every year and then
everybody else.
So the show was being sold as the Jay and Ronnie Show.
I've been coming here, you know, and getting second all
these times and, since 2001, and they said, "The champ can't be
taken out."
Well, you know what?
The new champ's in town.
I think the dedication and the commitment to being who I
was and staying with it and actually winning is what people
can look at as just if you really put your time and effort
in, eventually, good things will come.
I think pretty much I've, you know, I've secured the legacy on
the competition stage.
I really don't have any real specific goals as far as my
physique.
It's more on the aspect of the legacy of Jay Cutler and where
it's gonna go from here.
Once you win the Olympia, I always tell people it's not
about how many times you win it, it's about the fashion you win
it in.
So for me, I won--you know, I beat the greatest guy of all
time.
You know, I lost the title and I came back and won when no one
thought I could do it.
I'm pretty satisfied with the way things have gone and
continue to go and what the future holds at this point.
For me, what I learned all along is, like, the only real
money I made that stayed was money I invested in myself and
through, like, even like the small stuff like the videos
which at the time were huge, you know, I did, like, a trainer
site which didn't end up doing what it could have but I didn't
have to put a ton of money into it.
You know, the signature items, like, you know, the Jay Cutler
shaker cup and the Fat Gripz and things that I chose to endorse,
you know, the belt line with Schiek, with the Jay Cutler
signature belt.
All that residual stuff, it's money forever, that's just gonna
come in, you know?
You can make a drastic amount of money being a marketer and
traveling and doing guest appearances, being involved
sourcing the Internet.
You know, I have my clothing line and I did things that no
one ever did.
The DVDs and I was kind of the leader of all that stuff and
becoming an endorser of--I made up so many endorsements.
I mean, I created magazine--I was the first one ever to be
contracted by any magazine.
I was contracted by "Flex" and "Muscular Development" at the
same time.
I was the first one ever with both those magazines.
I created that for the athletes.
My first "Muscle & Fitness" cover is here.
I was 21 years old in this cover.
This was taken in Marina del Rey.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
It was 1995 and that was my first "Muscle & Fitness" cover.
And that was part of--that was the beginning.
That was--I would say, if anyone asked me what was the highlight
cover, was, for sure, Joe Weider put me on "Muscle & Fitness"
cover.
Looking back and looking at my success, it's hard to think,
well, I would have done things much differently.
I always said if I won the Olympia, I'll try to do
something different than the last guy did.
I did in certain aspects but I was so consumed with the
training and the travel schedule and the demand of the sponsors
that I had, I had so little time to commit to that.
Pulled myself away and I secluded myself.
I became very selfish because I wanted to avoid any conflict
that would affect my training.
And that was my life.
And that became, in the beginning, a show a year.
Then it turned into two shows a year, then multiple shows and
then eventually it was, like, when I wasn't training for the
show, I was booked at events so no weekends were available to go
see my family and spend time with my family and I missed
weddings and missed anniversaries and missed
birthdays and, you know, now, looking--my dad's 84 and my
mom's 72.
I'm trying to get there as much as I can to be with them.
And obviously, my brothers and sisters, you know, that's--their
kids are all grown now, married, children, I mean, it's crazy.
It's--life goes by quick and that's when you sit and realize,
like, you know, there could have been a lot of opportune times to
spend more time with the family.
You know, that's how I'm so successful is I cut out
anything--I can cut things in a minute.
I can be your best friend, talking on the phone every day
and people used to be, like, "What happened to you?
You disappeared.
I haven't talked to you."
'Cause I'm training for a contest, man.
They're like, "Well, why didn't you say anything?
You like, you just--it's one day it just stops."
I said, "That's how it works, you know?
I told you when--the phones go off when this training starts,
you know, I don't answer the telephones."
I don't have time to talk about what's going on outside of the
gym and my house and training for this competition.
It's just--it's the competitive nature of an athlete.
You know I wish I had the answer for what the future brings.
I have an idea.
It involves a lot of work.
But it's definitely a more mature stage.
I mean, I think, the competitive side's slowing down.
I can't say when that--necessarily that's gonna
end but I know my focus today is stepping into my job and
stepping out.
I know, you know, my training is getting a little more loose.
I'm a businessman, I'm not just a bodybuilder anymore.
I'm not just zoned in on winning Mr. Olympia titles anymore.
I've done it, I've lost it, I won it back.
Yeah, I'd like to win one more but I realize that to keep
a level base and to keep moving forward and to have the success
where I want to go now, not just on the stage but off the stage,
it's necessary to find more balance and that's what I'm
focused on.
And that's every day moving forward.
There's never gonna be a day that passes that I'm gonna step
out and people are gonna--aren't gonna know who Jay Cutler is.
I don't see it ever happening.
You know, I've been a four-time champ, you know, and I've been
six-time runner up and I'm the greatest bodybuilder ever.
There's no question, I feel that I'm the greatest.
Jay Cutler!
Stack 'em is the show.
Come on.
Let's go, Jay, come on.
Suck it up, suck it up, suck it up, suck it up.
Mentally, you have to be, I think, a little crazy.
People approach me and they say, "Jay, what's the secret?
What's the secret? What's the secret?"
I don't like to eat anything.
If you ask me what my favorite food is,
I don't have a favorite food.
I don't look forward to any meal at all.
You're a living legend,
that's what's amazing about what I do.
Jay Cutler!
And I tell you, Jay Cutler's the greatest of all time.