Step right up, step right up! Time to get acquainted with the unearthly pleasures of The Toe Bro, otherwise known as chiropodist Jonathan Tomines. According to the Collins English Dictionary, "a chiropodist is a person whose job is to treat and care for people's feet." Described by The New York Times as a man "who can handle the most unpleasant of foot problems," Tomines lives in an underworld of oozing toenails and foot calluses gone wild. Thanks to his YouTube channel and squirm-inducing reality show on A&E, the world has been granted a window into The Toe Bro's exclusive world: Expect plantar warts aplenty and ganglion cysts galore, often served up in streaming rivulets of pus. No, these sights aren't for the faint of heart. They're probably not even for the strong-stomached.
What makes Tomines think anyone would want to watch this parade of misshapen feet? In an interview with A&E, he says "feet are sacred" and claims that watching these procedures is a form of "therapy." According to A&E, the Toronto-based foot specialist—who became a full-time chiropodist in 2012—has reportedly "helped over 5,000 foot patients." He's clearly a man who loves his work: "Being a foot specialist is not only my profession but my passion!" he says.
What makes him tick? How did the profession find him? Why is he doing this to us? Grab your scalpel and pull up your surgical mask: We're gonna poke into every callus and corn to tweeze out the untold truth of The Toe Bro.
Table of Contents
- Biography
- His YouTube Channel is ... An Experience
- How Critics Reacted to The Toe Bro
- He Swears He Doesn't Have a Foot Fetish
- He Was Inspired by Dr. Pimple Popper
- His Father Got Him into the Business
- C'mon, You Know You Want to Hear About One of His 'Craziest Cases'
- How Often Does He Get Grossed Out?
- His Instagram Page is Personable and Terrifying
- Don't Forget to Stock Up on Toe Bro Merch
Biography
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Jonathan Tomines |
| Occupation | Chiropodist |
| Years Active | Since 2012 |
| Location | Toronto, Canada |
| Notable Work | The Toe Bro (Reality Show) |
His YouTube Channel is ... An Experience
Toes riddled with gangrene. "Ram's horn toes," with toenails being shorn off in real-time. Let it suffice to say, "The Toe Bro" YouTube channel is a singular experience, best experienced with your back turned to the computer (though you'll still hear all that scraping). Among the channel's most popular offerings, you'll find a video tauntingly titled "EXTREME PAINFUL INGROWN TOENAIL REMOVAL-DID IT HURT TO REMOVE IT?" As of this writing, that clip has been viewed well over 11 million times. Go ahead and call it "IckBait," if you will.
If you liked that one, be sure to check out "TOENAIL CUTTING OF A LONG NAIL – 2 YEARS WITHOUT CUTTING HIS TOENAILS!!!" As of March 2019, that video has been viewed by 7.8 million presumably traumatized internet dwellers. Finally, as something of a palette cleanser, we recommend taking a good long stare at "REMOVING EXTREMELY HARD FOOT CALLUS." You won't be alone (although you may feel alone): More than 2.4 million viewers have endured that video to date.
How Critics Reacted to The Toe Bro
Join his club? When Jonathan Tomines addresses his YouTube subscribers, he refers to them as his "toes," as in: "What's up, my toes?" In January 2019, he had "some exciting news" to share with his toes: "I'm just so happy about all the awareness that we've curated," he beamed. "Everyone's looking at their feet, everyone's cutting their nails right, and we're saving the world one step at a time." Then he dropped a bombshell: The very first season of The Toe Bro reality TV show would premiere on A&E in March 2019! He promised his subscribers — his toes, rather — they were "going to be up right next to the toe in the middle of the procedure. It's unbelievable to see the quality, the definition..." Picture it: All the gout, "toenail fungus," and "cracked heels" in glorious HD, as nature intended.
A&E execs evidently expected Tomines' "oddly satisfying and cringe-worthy procedures" and friendly "bedside manner" to be irresistible to audiences, although initial reviews were decidedly mixed. Decider called the series "extremely compelling," despite the reviewer watching much of the program "through [her] fingers." Hidden Remote claimed The Toe Bro "is the guilty pleasure you need in your life," while Metro found one segment — revolving around a patient's "claw-like" pincer nails — to be "toe-curling. We can't deal."
He Swears He Doesn't Have a Foot Fetish
As we mentioned earlier, Jonathan Tomines claims that "being a foot specialist" is his "passion," but just how passionate is he? As you watch in helpless horror as he goes about his business — contentedly prying toenails off of toes, squeezing diabetic blisters, and patiently paring calluses — you might begin to wonder: Does The Toe Bro have a "thing" for footsies? Could the face of a bonafide foot fetishist be lurking beneath that powder-blue surgical mask? In a sprawling interview with A&E, Tomines was asked if he felt "a level of personal satisfaction" when he plucked out "an ingrown toenail."
Tomines may have suspected the interviewer was using the term "personal satisfaction" as a euphemism for something far more squalid because he promptly set the record straight with the speed of a scalpel plunging into a toe blister. "I don't get pleasure out of it," he said. "I'm sure it's going to come up, but I do not have a foot fetish." He claims people ask if there's anything kinky in his particular brand of foot fanaticism "all the time," but he swears on a stack of bunions that everything is strictly above board. "People with a foot fetish like a certain type of feet," he told A&E. "The feet I see are not [in the best condition]."
He Was Inspired by Dr. Pimple Popper
Are you familiar with the work of dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee? According to her official website, she "aims to give people a better understanding of how to take care of their skin," but judging by her official YouTube channel and TLC reality show Dr. Pimple Popper, she also wants to rack up eyeballs with nauseating footage: pilar cysts prodded, whiteheads extracted, and something she upsettingly calls "gnocchi in the arm." In the category of more horrors from The Land of Nope: To honor St. Patrick's Day, Dr. Lee posted an Instagram video featuring "a seriously gross cyst filled with green goo," according to Women's Health. There's a huge audience for this kind of thing. As of this writing, she has more than 5 million YouTube subscribers.
In an interview with Hollywood Soapbox, Jonathan Tomines cited Dr. Lee as a huge influence on The Toe Bro brand: "I, of course, am a Dr. Pimple Popper fan," he admitted. While watching the show one day, he reportedly thought to himself: "You
