Narratives about the polar expeditions in the nineteenth and early twentieth century usually convey the ideal of heroic masculinity, with the Arctic imagined as a testing ground for heroes. There are, however, also counter-narratives where both the Arctic as a demanding landscape and the image of the conquering hero are questioned. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, commentary in the form of cartoons, jokes and verses in the English periodicals Punch, Fun and Judy sometimes present an alternative Arctic discourse where the region emerges as a mirror of metropolitan Europe and the polar hero as a bumpkin who just happens to stumble across the North Pole. The article discusses popular English responses to the British Arctic Expedition in 1875-76, particularly in relation to late nineteenth-century gender ideals.