Canada.com – BodyBreak’s Hal Johnson grows his moustache back
BodyBreak’s Hal Johnson grows his moustache back

The most famous couple on the Amazing Race Canada may have been eliminated from the show halfway through its run. But the contest provided the BodyBreak couple with enough inspiration to last the rest of their lives.
Among other things, their involvement in the show inspired Hal Johnson to grow his moustache back after a decade of largely living without it.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Hal Johnson
Hal Johnson on Sept. 4, 2013
A poll conducted through the latter half of August at the BodyBreak website found 63 per cent of visitors in favour of the idea that Johnson should bring back the facial hair he sported in televised fitness segments with wife Joanne McLeod produced between 1988 through 2003, when he decided to shave it off.
Of course, that also meant 37 per cent liked his upper lip to stay smooth.
The growth originated when the Canadian national baseball squad that Johnson played for decided to grow Fu Manchus in 1981 for a game against Japan — as part of a team effort to look tougher and older than they actually were.
But then he decided to tame and maintain it for more than three decades.
Hal and Joanne with and without the moustache
Johnson explained to Canada.com that changing his face after the first 15 years of BodyBreak led to some double takes when he went out in public although he could easily trick people into thinking he was actually Hal’s clean-shaven brother.
Still, he remained synonymous with the moustache, to the point that the Movember fundraising campaign recognized that even a temporary regrowth would be worthy of national attention.
Now, the moustache will be part of any appearances by the BodyBreak duo in the next 16 months, including at the Grey Cup in Regina, the city in which they were eliminated from the Amazing Race in dramatic fashion.
Johnson has pledged to keep the facial hair through all of 2014 — the year in which BodyBreak will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the airing of its very first broadcast break, April 28, 1989.
You look much better with a shaved face Hal!