Olympian Ryan Lochte is defending himself from accusations that he’s “unrecognizable,” after fans were stunned by his appearance in a recent video.
Online conversation about the former “Dancing with the Stars” contestant’s looks went wild after he took to Instagram to announce a major career move. But it wasn’t his new gig as an assistant coach with the Missouri State Bears that got people talking.
Instead, the comments were filled with remarks about how different he looked.
Ryan Lochte Responds to ‘Clowns’
On Thursday, May 14, Lochte shared a video originally posted by his girlfriend, Molly Gillihan, to his Instagram Stories.
In the footage, she tells him about the various headlines and comments about his looks. She captioned the post, “👀 Who is this guy pretending to be my boyfriend @ryanlochte?!? 🤣🤣🤣 #unreconizable.”
“Baby? My phone is blowing up with everyone saying that nobody recognizes you,” she says in the video, as he wonders why.
“I don’t know. You haven’t seen it? They’re saying you don’t look the same at all,” she continues. “One person said that Missouri State’s getting catfished.”
Lochte then asks what picture people were comparing him against.
“You look good. You’re all fit. It’s a professional picture,” says Gillihan. “Oh, so they’re taking a picture of when I was working out every day, getting makeup put on me for photoshoots,” he interjects, before she says it’s clearly from the 2012 Olympics.
“We’re in 2026. What’s that? 14 years? You think I aged?” he then quips, as Gillihan says she has to take some “ownership” about his recent makeover. “Because I was dying my eyebrows the other day, and you were like, ‘I’m gonna throw some of this on my head,'” she claims, as Lochte adds the dye turned his hair “black.”
“To be unrecognizable, I mean, I don’t get it … They’re all clowns, like, come on,” he then says of his critics. To Gillihan, however, he was still her “handsome baby.”
While sharing the video to his Instagram Story, he added the caption, “I guess aging is frowned upon?! What is happening lol.” He also included a number of crying laughing emojis.
Initial Reaction to Lochte’s New Look
Lochte first shocked fans after posting the video above on May 10, as he opened up about his new role at Missouri State.
“Over the last couple of years, something so unexpected happened,” Lochte explained in the video. “I might actually be more passionate about coaching than competing.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I had a pretty good swimming career. But honestly, I think I might even be a better swim coach,” he added, saying he’s since traded in his “goggles for a stopwatch.”
Amid comments of congratulations came a number of remarks about his appearance, with some comparing Lochte to director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Kash Patel.
“Literally does not look like him,” read another comment, while someone else wrote, “Something ain’t right.”
“Plot twist this is the Greek version of Ryan,” wrote one fan, as another told him to “stop coloring your hair.”
Added another follower: “Everyone saying Kash Patel but I see Jersey Shore GTL vibes 😂”
Lochte’s new job and appearance come after he split from his wife, Kayla Reid, who filed for divorce in 2025. In January 2026, he shared that he and his three children had moved in with Gillihan and her three children.
