Instead of ragging on Tenet to her close friends, Jenn Sherman unknowingly criticized it to Christopher Nolan’s face, or screen, during her cycling class in 2020.

For those used to workout bootcamps where the instructor yells disparaging comments, they know that personal, incisive commentary can make for great heart-pounding cardio — provided one’s crying doesn’t slow them down.

But Sherman isn’t just a cruel cyclist trainer — she knows how to give credit where credit is due. Recently she clarified that Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023) was a winner in her eyes — thereby making her harsh words about Tenet (2020) justifiable.

Because like a professor who says one of your papers sucks but thinks the latest one is brilliant — their praise actually means something. One shouldn’t want a teacher, or their Peloton instructor, just blindly complimenting them.

Furthermore, Sherman finally discussed the rumors via Instagram. She wrote about the unlikelihood that Nolan would be feverishly pedaling away in one of her classes.

Jen’s full post is below:

“Huge day for me, when I come to find out that the one and only Christopher Nolan, one of the leading filmmakers of the 21st century, knows who the hell I am. I was excited. And then I read the article. Listen. It was 2020. It was a dark time. I’m on the platform, teaching my little class, and I’m running my mouth off like I’m known to do. And I make a random comment about a movie I had seen the night before. What do you think the odds are that the director of said movie would take that ride some four years later? That would only happen to me.

I may not have understood a minute of what was going on in ‘Tenet.’ That s*** went right over my head. But I have seen ‘Oppenheimer’ twice. And that’s six hours of my life that I don’t ever want to give back.”

According to Variety, Nolan had a good laugh about the instructor’s faux-pas. Backstage at the Golden Globes ceremony, he commented: “Nothing but love for Peloton.” He cheekily followed it up with: “But I did not climb on it today. I might just skip it for a little while.”

Finally, one has to wonder if Sherman’s biting commentary during her 2020 class fueled Nolan to pedal even faster and therefore, get a satisfying workout in. Like one of Nolan’s great psychological thrillers — in the aftermath, there are more questions than answers.

Be the judge of all of Tenet’s complexities, currently streaming on Hulu and TBS.