Male fitness trainer under fire for telling men to unfollow 'every female influencer': 'This advice is very concerning'

A Melbourne-based fitness influencer has been slammed after he encouraged his followers to 'unfollow every female influencer'. 

Thomas Baulch, who goes by Prime Train online, was called out after sharing the 'concerning' post on Instagram, which he has since said was misunderstood. 

Fans turned on the content creator, accusing him of 'reducing female influencers' by urging followers not to engage with women who post 'promiscuous photos'.

The furore began when Thomas shared a selfie of himself pouting with the caption: 'Unfollow every female influencer.'

He went on to explain in another caption that he wanted his male followers to stop giving attention to female influencers who promote 'promiscuity' and platforms such as OnlyFans.

'In fact if you're a guy, probably you shouldn't be following girls that you aren't dating or that could be distracting you online,' he continued.

'At the start of 2025 I followed 5,456 people, by the end of 2025 it was below 200. What you see on your feed is distracting you,' he added.

'Don't go liking girls' promiscuous photos. No one wants to see your name under a girl's photo (especially if you have a partner).

'Plus it trains the algorithm to show you MORE of that content. Every time you open your phone you see soft [porn]. Control your lust. Control your brain. 

'Control what you see. If a man can control lust, he can control his goals. Stop watching that stupid s*** on adult sites. Focus. Get back on track. C'mon bro.'

Enraged followers and critics alike promptly flooded the comments of the post to slam Thomas for sharing such a 'harmful' message. 

'This advice is very concerning,' former Miss Universe Australia Olivia Molly Rogers wrote.

'Dudes will move to Dubai and unfollow every woman on the planet before going to therapy,' joked influencer Lavender Baj.  

'Hmm is someone not feeling secure in his masculinity,' added Beauty and the Geek star Anthony Farah.

Others said Thomas' view of women being sexual 'distractions' was more indicative of his views of women than the value female influencers have online. 

'Reducing female influencers to nothing but "distractions" says a lot more about you and your self-control than a woman's value. We all deserve to be valued. You could have worded this as "unfollow any account you find distracting" but you chose to target women?' one person wrote.

'Setting aside the harm this creates for women, unfollowing us doesn't build discipline. Taking responsibility for how you see women does. Avoidance delays growth; maturity is learning to engage without sexualising. Women don't disappear offline, this is a deeper rooted issue,' added another.

'This is not control, it is an admission that you experience women primarily as sexual stimuli you cannot reliably regulate yourself around. Framing women as risks to be managed rather than people to be respected reflects predatory thinking rooted in displaced responsibility. Control requires regulating yourself in the presence of women, not treating their visibility as a liability. This framing is concerning. Seek help,' someone else commented.

Thomas went on to respond to the backlash on Wednesday, saying his post was completely misunderstood and that he wasn't telling his fans to 'unfollow every female influencer'.     

'Wow, that was a bit much. Sorry. Clearly missed the mark with a previous post so wanted to clear some things up,' he said.

'First off, don't unfollow every female influencer/content creator (I say this in the caption of the last post).

'I follow a lot of amazing women on this platform who are successful in fitness, business and fashion that add value to my social media feed and my life. 

'I love seeing their posts. The post was not about these women, I'm talking about promiscuity, soft [porn] and those types of photos/profiles that flood young men's feeds.'

Thomas went on to say he doesn't believe women are 'objects' as some critics suggested, saying he only wanted to advise his followers to control their lust and what they see online.  

'If a man can stay off adult sites then he can be more aligned with his goals. I explicitly say unfollow female influencers but again in the caption I talk about specific influencers,' he continued.

'To say I'm objectifying women is a bit of a reach - if it came across that way it wasn't intended at all. 

'I think it is our duty as men to remove that content (soft [porn]) from our feeds. Not just a random bikini pic, I'm talking a picture that then leads a young man to that girls bio which then puts them into some sort of OF subscription.

'Anyway. Sorry. Should've worded myself better I guess. Much love.'

While some fans rallied to Thomas' defence following his apology, many others were still not impressed, suggesting the influencer was simply 'backpedalling' on his original message and should delete the post. 

'Delete the post then?' one person responded, to which Thomas replied: 'Nah, I stand by what I said.'

'If you were actually sorry the FIRST thing you would have done was delete the post. Facts,' added another. 

'This is the most diabolical backpedal I've ever seen lmao,' someone else wrote.

'That was definitely not the message. And I've never seen someone backpedal as fast as you did and try to explain it to make it sound like it's actually a really good message. You didn't say Unfollow influences you said Unfollow female influencers,' commented another user.

'Be careful when you put things in writing my friend.'

The Daily Mail is not suggesting that any of the influencers shown in this article have engaged in any of the conduct referred to or criticised by Thomas in his posts.