Former England rugby player and Celebrity Traitors star Joe Marler has become the new face of Old Spice in the UK, the men's grooming brand announced on Friday.
Marler, 36, officially became the British counterpart of the US Old Spice Man, actor Isaiah Mustafa, with the launch of a new advertising campaign.
Marler's new role
Marler said he had "a lot of fun" filming the Old Spice commercials, in which he appears wearing a bright red ship's captain jacket, hat and tie – and short shorts. In other images, the bearded Marler wears red sports gear, flexes his biceps and waggles his eyebrows.
"Who doesn't remember the smooth, suave, handsome Old Spice man? And now – it's me," Marler said.
Old Spice legacy
Previously, the Old Spice Man was played by Mustafa, who became famous with the viral 2010 TV ad campaign The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. In the 1970s, an Old Spice ad campaign famously focused on a surfer cresting rolling waves to dramatic crashing music, with the tagline The Mark Of A Man.
"Clearly I do not fit the old model and I am having a lot of fun shaping who and what it means to be a man, man today," Marler added.
Career transition
Marler rose to fame as an England rugby star and has moved to a career in television since retiring from the sport in 2024. He has featured on shows such as Michael McIntyre's The Wheel, Blankety Blank and recently took part in Soccer Aid 2026. His appearance on the Celebrity Traitors last autumn saw him quickly become a fan favourite for his friendships with comedians Joe Wilkinson and Nick Mohammed.
