Alix Small, the Scottish IFBB Pro League Fitness competitor who earned her pro card at 19 and won two professional titles before competing at the Olympia, has died at 26. News of her death surfaced on Sunday, November 8, 2026, after her mother, Karen Small, and a best friend contacted the bodybuilding account Beyond The Stage TV. The account posted: “Shocked to hear to the terrible news of the passing of 2 x Fitness Pro winner and Olympian @alixsmallll. I was passed this information by her best friend and mother earlier today. My thoughts are with her friends and family.” No cause of death has been released, and no official details on the exact time or place have been published.
Small grew up in Forfar, Scotland. She earned her IFBB Pro card around age 19 and made her professional debut in 2021. That year she won the Europa Pro Championships in Alicante, Spain, which qualified her for the Fitness Olympia in Orlando. She finished 12th. In 2022 she took first at the Mr. Big Evolution Pro in Portugal and earned another Olympia invitation. She appeared at the event but withdrew because of health issues and did not return to professional competition afterward. Coach Darren Farrell once described her as a “phenomenal athlete” with a realistic shot at winning the Olympia after her early success.
Before bodybuilding, Small dealt with anorexia that began at 15, followed by bulimia. At her lowest she weighed roughly 33 kilograms (about 70 pounds or five stone) at 5 feet 8 inches. She told STV News in 2021 that the sport shifted her focus from appearance to performance and that “Bodybuilding saved my life.” In a 2021 interview she described refusing chewing gum because of the calories, hiding a 50-calorie slice of toast, and living on a potato with plain Quorn mince while fainting from exhaustion. She later built up to eating nearly 6,000 calories a day during off-season phases and gained more than 40 pounds while training. She maintained an Instagram account at @alixsmallll and had built a TikTok following (reported above 66,000 in 2021) where she posted training and routine clips and responded to comments that called her muscle “fat” or “chunky.”
Karen Small commented on the Beyond The Stage TV post that her daughter was “my beautiful girl” and that “our hearts are broken.” In a separate message she wrote that they were “simply devastated,” that Alix “was my best friend and we did everything together,” and that “the world will be a lonely place without her.” Fellow competitors offered short tributes. Phoebe Goodwin called Small funny, caring, and thoughtful and recalled her support after Goodwin earned her own pro card. Corinne Bean described her as an early friend in the sport who remained hopeful. Tamara Vahn and Whitney Jones also posted brief condolences. Multiple reports, including those from Generation Iron and TMZ, note that no public connection has been established between Small’s earlier eating-disorder history and her death. Family and the bodybuilding community continue to await any further official information.
