Warning: This article contains major spoilers.
The “Sex and the City” limited series revival “And Just Like That…” shocked fans in its first episode with a main character’s death.
Carrie Bradshaw’s love, John James Preston, A K A Mr. Big (played by Chris Noth) died from a heart attack after riding a Peloton bike. During that fateful ride, he was being coached by a cycling instructor named Allegra.
And yes, Allegra is a real person. The character is portrayed by Peloton trainer Jess King.
King, 36, teaches bike and tread classes for the fitness company.
According to her Peloton biography, “Jess is a charismatic instructor with a boundless energy and passion for movement. With a background in dance, performance and fitness, Jess grew up down South and moved to NYC to commit to a career in wellness.”
The fitness guru worked as a professional dancer and competed on Season 4 of the dance conception series “So You Think You Can Dance” before becoming a trainer, and also starred in a Las Vegas run of “Cirque du Soleil.”
King took to social media on Thursday to thank her fans for the love she received from appearing on the show. “Thank you for all of the messages,” she wrote on Instagram. “Go watch @justlikethatmax on @hbomax!”
The Myrtle Beach native is the daughter of female bodybuilder Ximena Bernales, so it’s no secret that wellness is in King’s blood.
In a recent interview with the Path, the South Carolinian said, “My mother was a competitive bodybuilder, the owner of personal training boutique fitness studios and she educated and exposed me to all the things fitness and wellness.”
She also recalled that she tried to make it as a Broadway performer in 2014 and was having difficulty getting cast. That’s when a producer suggested she meet with Peloton, which was looking for instructors who were comfortable in front of the camera.
“They also wanted me to audition to be an instructor at Peloton, but I told them no, that I could take the job and would be great at it. I might be the only instructor ever who never had to audition for Peloton,” she explained. “I felt confident as an authority on the body and in my abilities to perform and connect with an audience.”
She continued, “What drew me to Peloton was the impact on people’s lives I would now have. As a dancer you seek to elicit emotion from your audience via physical expression.”
King told Self magazine in a separate interview published in September that she was “initially very resistant to abandoning my dance career. I had never even been on an exercise bike before.”
And being a proud Latina doesn’t hurt her career either.
She said, “Being Latina is inherently part of who I am, and at Peloton, we are encouraged to show up at work authentically and wholly, and I take that very seriously.”