Lee Priest continues to offer his unfiltered take on the sport of bodybuilding. In a recent endeavor, shared on March 25, 2025, he offered up his top four favorite bodybuilders.
Throughout his bodybuilding career, Lee Priest stood out thanks to his dense muscularity, along with some of the most impressive arms of anyone in the IFBB Pro League. While he wasn’t able to nail down a Mr. Olympia title, Priest thrived at Pro contests, raising the bar in the Men’s Open division.
Picking our favorite bodybuilders can be quite the conundrum. Some favor accolades such as Mr. Olympia and Arnold Classic titles. Others put more weight into personalities and camaraderie. Below, Priest justifies why he chose these four bodybuilders to make it onto his list of greats.
Lee Priest Names and Justifies His Top 4 Favorite Bodybuilders: ‘They Aren’t Ego-Type People’
In a recent YouTube video, Priest explained that personality and a willingness to work with others dictated his selections.
Find Priest’s top four bodybuilders below:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Tom Platz
- Mike Matarazzo
- Paul Dillett
He chose Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Platz first, crediting them for being ‘down-to-earth’ personalities that were easy to get along with. Then, grouped Mike Matarazzo and Paul Dillett in his list as well.
“Probably Arnold because I got on with Arnold. And then, Tom Platz, because I liked his personality before I met him, but when I met him, he was pretty cool and down to earth. Mike Matarazzo because he was down-to-earth and funny. Paul Dillett.”
Priest mentioned that personality is a major factor when picking favorites, adding that some athletes who won the Olympia lacked such attributes.
“There’s many people I know and their personalities, because some people go, when you say best of all time, they go Mr. Olympias but you can win a Mr. Olympia being an asshole.
I prefer people that have probably never even won a big Pro show, but they are good to people, good personalities. You can have a laugh with them. They aren’t ego-type people.”
He likened picking favorite bodybuilders to selecting favorite cars, revealing that it’s opinion-based.
“It’s so opinion-based. You could have a Dorian Yates, Flex Wheeler, Kevin [Levrone]. It’d be like having a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and a Bugatti; they are all top-of-the-line cars, but it’s just someone’s opinion on which one they like the most.
You could say I love the Lamborghini and someone could say ‘Oh Lamborghini’s suck, I like Ferrari.’ They are both beautiful cars. How can you pick one over the other? I think physiques are the same,” he shared.
Plenty of high-level IFBB Pros have offered their favorite bodybuilders, including former six-time Olympia champion Dorian Yates. He chose Chris Bumstead in the Classic Physique category and revealed Hadi Choopan as his top pick for the Open class. Meanwhile, others, such as Olympia President Dan Solomon, emphasized that Jay Cutler was his favorite bodybuilder of all time.
Priest argued that high-profile victories shouldn’t be a prerequisite for choosing a favorite bodybuilder. He believes his top four selections managed to find success in the sport while still being accessible and easy to talk to.
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