Davinia Taylor first encountered the way of
the Iceman at a one-day Wim Hof workshop
at the famous Camden music venue the
Roundhouse. “Last time I’d been there
I was off my head at an Arctic Monkeys gig,”
says the reformed party girl turned health
entrepreneur and Instagram influencer
(643,000 followers and rising). This time it
was a Sunday morning and everyone was in
their swimmers jumping in and out of iced
paddling pools. Taylor was an immediate
convert to the method. “We are not exposed
to the extremes we are designed to survive.
We are too beige,” she says.
Cold showers, ice baths, winter swims —
you would have to have lived in a sensory
deprivation tank for the past few years to
avoid the rising chorus of fans. At first they
came from the outliers — Taylor’s “thing”, for
example, includes biohacking with bespoke
supplements, oily bulletproof coffees, IV
drips and high-fat diets — but now the Wim
Hof way has hit the mainstream.
Hof, 62, is a daredevil extreme athlete from
the Netherlands who has been drawn to the
cold since childhood. He has set more than
20 world records, 16 of them acquired packed
in ice, the rest cold-related such as climbing
7,400 metres up Everest in only a pair of
shorts and shoes or running an Arctic half
marathon barefoot, in shorts, at minus 4C.
Hof ’s method is all about controlling the
autonomic nervous system (which acts
largely unconsciously to regulate bodily
functions) so that the practitioner can gain
mastery over their body. And it’s not just
about cold immersion, there is crucial breath-
work and a focus on intention or meditation.
His fans now number in their many
millions. They can pick up a book, download
the free app or tune into Hof ’s YouTube
channel to find hours of free instruction. OneIce, ice baby
From winter swimming to ice baths, the cold is hot right now and it’s
all thanks to one man: Wim Hof. On the eve of his new BBC show, he tells
Kate Spicer why his woo-woo method became a mainstream hit
YouTube video guide to his basic breathing
technique has had more than 40 million
views. Famous fans include Joseph Fiennes,
who is producing and starring in a biopic of
Hof ’s life, and Gwyneth Paltrow, who made
him one of the first studies in her Netflix
series Goop Lab. There are also retreats, not
too costly, which is how I was first introduced
to the cult of Hof. Of course I had heard of
him, but somehow the cold seemed terrifying
until you try it, and then it is still terrifying but
also wonderfully uplifting.
This month, however, the power of the cold
goes mainstream, arriving on BBC1 in the
new reality series Freeze the Fear. Presented by
Holly Willoughby and Lee Mack, it follows
eight celebrities undergoing Hof ’s ice-
encrusted challenges in the Italian Alps.
Hof is an enthusiastic guy and he tells
me he is ecstatic about being on the BBC as
he wants to reach out to as many people14 • The Sunday Times Style