THE operator of Bournemouth’s council gyms has been accused of promoting celebrity fitness gurus over its own trainers.

In a post which has since been deleted, BH Live shared details of free workouts being run by Joe Wicks and Courtney Black.

But the move infuriated some of its trainers, who are running businesses and offering workouts online.

BH Live has suggested it could not promote their classes as they are not allowed to work or volunteer for the organisation while furloughed.

It is the second controversy within days for the social enterprise, which was criticised for leaving casual staff at the BIC and Pavilion without wages rather than put them on the government’s furlough scheme.

'We've been hung out to dry': Casual staff at BIC and Pavilion left without furlough pay

The Facebook page for BH Live Active pointed people to free workouts provided by Joe Wicks, known as the Body Coach, whose own Facebook page has four million likes, and Courtney Black, who runs a private Facebook group with 42,000 members.

It said: “We hope the first full week of lockdown is going well and you’re managing to keep on top of your training.”

It gave the days when the celebrities offered free virtual classes, adding: “We will be providing you with fitness related challenges and other useful lockdown content in the coming weeks so make sure you check the page daily.”

One Facebook user responded: “This is a huge kick in the teeth for all your hard working instructors who are offering online workouts! Why on earth would you promote these fitness influencers over your own teams?”

Another said: “Why on earth advertise some random celebrities when your members have the opportunity to train and interact with qualified local instructors?

“Or is Joe Wicks liable to correct position and posture when he has 600,000 people doing a class?”

Another instructor said: “We give our all to the members because we love what we do and so many of us are continuing to offer classes during lockdown.

“You repay us by advertising these two. Ask them if they’ll turn up and teach our weekly classes.”

A statement from BH Live said: “We are sorry that some of our followers have been upset by the post, which was intended to encourage our community to keep active during lockdown.

“We are aware that while our centres are closed, many of our instructors are providing their own classes and content across their personal social media pages. Whilst we’d love to be able to share all this content across our channels, it is requirement of the coronavirus job retention scheme that instructors who we employ are not permitted to provide services or volunteer for BH Live whilst on furlough.

“Our instructors do a fantastic job for our community and we have removed this post while we reflect on what we can share.”