Edward Stephen Hall (born 15 January 1988) is an English media personality and retired strongman. He is best known for his world-record setting deadlift in 2016, which stood for almost four years and is widely regarded as one of the most important lifts in the history of strongmen. He is also known for winning the 2017 World's Strongest Man competition.
Hall has won national competitions such as England's Strongest Man, Britain's Strongest Man, and UK's Strongest Man multiple times. In 2022, he was defeated by fellow World's Strongest Man winner Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson in a boxing match that was taglined "The Heaviest Boxing Match in History". He has presented his own television series called Eddie Eats America (2018) and was featured in the History Channel series The Strongest Man in History (2019). He had his first acting role as an extra in the action film Expend4bles (2023).
Early life
Edward Stephen Hall was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme on 15 January 1988. As a teenager, he was a successful competitive swimmer in his age group; he competed in the UK Nationals swimming competition in 2001, winning four gold medals and one silver while setting two British records in the process. He attended Clayton Hall Academy, but was expelled at the age of 15 and began homeschooling. At the age of 16, he began an apprenticeship as a technician at Lex Commercials, the local DAF Trucks site in Stoke-on-Trent. Upon completion of his apprenticeship in 2008, he began working as a mechanic and technician at the Robert Wiseman Dairies site in Market Drayton until 2016.
Athletic career
Strongman
In 2007, Hall entered his first strongman competition, coming 5th out of 15. In an interview with DAF Trucks in 2020, he said, "From then, I entered competition after competition, at first staying local, before moving onto qualifying events for England's Strongest Man."
In 2010, Dave Meer of Tamworth had to drop out of the England championships organised by Elite Strongman because of an injury. He arranged for Hall to take his place, which led to Hall making it into the 2010 finals and winning on his first attempt by half a point.
Hall finished first at the UK's Strongest Man 2011 competition in Belfast, with Ken Nowicki in second and Rich Smith in third. His win was helped by setting a new national record in the "Viking Hold", hanging on to 20 kg (44lbs) axes in each hand at full stretch for one minute and 18 seconds. Hall tore tendons in an arm during the competition, but was hopeful of a spot at the World's Strongest Man (WSM) in September. However, his improved ranking could only guarantee a spot for 2012, and he did not compete at WSM in 2011. Winning the UK title meant that Hall became the first choice to replace Jono MacFarlane of New Zealand in the Giants Live Melbourne event in February 2012, when the latter suffered a back injury. He placed fourth in his first taste of international competition. Later, in April 2012, he was invited to compete at Europe's Strongest Man, another Giants Live event. This was held at Headingley Carnegie Stadium, home of the Leeds Rhinos rugby league team and Hall found himself competing alongside six of the ten finalists from World's Strongest Man 2011, including two-time World's Strongest Man, Žydrūnas Savickas. Hall finished in eighth place.
In 2012, Hall competed at the World's Strongest Man competition, but did not progress beyond his qualifying group.
In 2013, Hall failed to qualify for Europe's Strongest Man 2013. However, he was given a second chance when Ervin Katona was forced to retire due to injury. Hall competed in his place and came in eighth place. That same year, he was featured on BBC One's Watchdog series when the producers enlisted his help to test even the strongest of drivers in specific circumstances. He also competed at that year's World's Strongest Man, winning two events in his heat but narrowly missing out on qualifying for the final.
In 2014, Hall reached the final of WSM for the first time, coming second in the Squat Lift event and ultimately finishing sixth.
In March 2015, Hall achieved the world record for lifting the weight of in the deadlift.
In April 2015, Hall finished fourth at the World's Strongest Man, an improvement of two places on the previous year. In December, a feature documentary about Hall called Eddie: Strongman was released. The film, directed by Matt Bell, follows Hall for two years as he strives to become the strongest man in the world.