Ep 71 : Scary animals

The PickMaster General obviously felt that Martin, Gareth & Andy needed some help with this week's topic so invited an old friend of the pod, Victoria Denoon, back to join the panel. PMG then tasked the panel with choosing the animals that truly scared them which led to some fierce debate. Find out who is scared of what and why on this week's episode.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Three men with three decades of separation debate three tough choices every week. This is the Pick Three Show. Welcome to another episode of the Pick Three Show, where every week the Pickmaster General challenges us to select our top three choices to answer his or her topic of the week. However, although there is no such thing as a wrong choice, there is certainly plenty of debate, derision, and poorly hidden disgust at some of the logic applied by a panel that boasts three decades of separation. Today we are tasked with debating the top three animals that really scare us. And I suspect the choices may well surprise, especially since Gareth and Andy are city slickers, whilst Martin prefers wide open spaces away from crowds but much closer to nature.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Oh yeah, it's a terrible thing.

SPEAKER_05 1:21

Albeit it is uh a font of childhood memories. To assist the team in this week's discussions, the PMG invited an old friend of the show, a noted dog Wrangler, to join the panel. Yeah, okay, I didn't think that gag would work. It's the pause.

SPEAKER_07 1:43

It's the pause between the two.

SPEAKER_05 1:45

It's clearly a bear reference, not a dog reference. Something like that. So welcome to Gareth and Andy, and welcome back to Victoria, who, aka Queen Victoria, who is a regular correspondent with the podcast and has been here a couple of times. And so we as we sit opposite the sea lion enclosure at the zoo, we're ready to talk about the animals that truly scare us. How is everybody this afternoon in what can only be described as a very warm afternoon here at Belfast Zoo?

SPEAKER_01 2:12

It is hot. The sun Andy's fake tan is actually running down his leg. Is it actually running? That's not fake tan. But you see.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Cutting room floor.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

Anyway, Victoria. Victoria, welcome back.

SPEAKER_07 2:31

Thank you, Martin.

SPEAKER_05 2:32

Uh could you go and get us three ice creams?

SPEAKER_07 2:34

Well, I contemplated removing the red pandas from their ice blocks and just taking them on.

SPEAKER_05 2:39

Oh would you get me a Mr. Freeze? When I said three ice creams, you're not getting one, Andy, because you never buy us anything.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Do you know someone said to me recently, I can't believe the stick you they give you over a coffee. I said a couple of weeks ago I was driving in, Martin came to say hello, and it was like X-ray vision through the car. He's in a coffee in a cup holder, and I was like, Oh no, he's just spotted it again.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

I'm gonna give you better than that. Victoria walked through the day and says, I was gonna bring three coffees with me.

SPEAKER_05 3:09

Andy, you have a reputation. But anyway. So we're talking today about animals that truly scare us. And that could be anything, and for any reason. Some people have fears of certain animals that are completely irrational, and some are based on personal experience. So because we're sitting in a little circle here outside the sea lion enclosure, you've kept your back to the sea lions. I know, Gareth, you're you're a bit nervous around them. You seem to be doing the same tricks as the sea lions. Similar noises. I thought you were still annoyed about the one that didn't bounce the ball for you at the desert island. Or you'd want to have a wee sea lion or a dolphin. But anyway, so we're going to start with you because that's the easiest way for me to follow round the order today. So, Gareth, you're first up with an animal that truly scares you.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Rats. Hate them. Absolutely hate them. Now it's something sometimes goes back to that story about the mouse that I told you about, which my dad did to me. Um that was a mouse. That was a mouse, but still it's a it's a long furry thing with a horrible tail. And if I saw a rat, I would go running. Would you squeal? Yeah. I suspect that's true. No, I would. I would. What's definitely?

SPEAKER_02 4:23

What's this what's the stat about rats that you're never more than what, six feet or something?

SPEAKER_05 4:29

Well, you and I are five feet apart now.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Get a bit further away, Martin. But I think that's that's part of the the terror as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

The tail looks so horrible. When was the last time you seen that? And the other thing is, I'm not I hate them that bad. You know that they have algorithms on Facebook and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Whatever comes up on mine is the rat dogs and the guy shooting the rat.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Why does that happen? Because I sent you a video once with about the rat temple. Yeah. And then there's obviously you viewed the rat temple and went, he likes rats. I've got to show him more rat-related.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

And there's some guy shooting them, and then there's the the dogs. Have you seen the dogs?

SPEAKER_02 5:05

I've seen that as well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

The rat temple was horrible as well. So that would just be see going anywhere near that rat temple. That'd be my worst nightmare. When was the last time you seen a rat? Dead in the road about two or three days ago. Do you reverse over it? Alive one last ten years? Uh I've probably seen it on a road or something out there.

SPEAKER_07 5:24

What about you guys? When was the last time? I think New York. Um they are massive in New York, like size-wise, they're huge.

SPEAKER_05 5:31

Those might be dogs. You do know they also have titles and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_07 5:36

They didn't come to me when I tried to wrangle them, so I think they were rats.

SPEAKER_05 5:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

But it's the many stories that people talk about. One that they run up your legs or your trousers, two that if you put rats in a barrel, they'll start eating each other and all that type of stuff. So all these stories that make it.

SPEAKER_07 5:52

There's that really famous one where they'll also cook you your meal in a French restaurant.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Oh, yes, that's right. That's right. Rat tattoo.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

That's good. That's appeared in a couple of uh ones recently. I love that.

SPEAKER_05 6:02

No, we were selling a property up in the northwest, and there was a rat population. And w when we went in there, the rats were so casual about it, they would just sit around and look at you. Some of them would try to bum a cigarette and stuff off you. And um we eventually got some people in to say, Well, look, we need to work out how we're going to get rid of the rats. And the guy came back and said, Yeah, we've worked out roughly the rat population. It's 250,000. In that vicinity? In that particular facility. It was a former it was a former waste management site, and there was a lot of old waste on it, and they had just multiplied. And then, not unsurprisingly, because that's the other thing that happens with waste management centres, is one, they get a lot of rats, and B, they tend to go on fire, and this one went on fire and burnt down, and the rats then have to go somewhere else.

SPEAKER_07 6:49

Like your bulleting system there, one and then B.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yes. Well pecked up. Well picked up, Victoria. You're in for next week as well.

SPEAKER_05 7:01

For those of you hearing clapping, those were the sea lions in the background.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

And I'll tell you, Victoria, we might as well celebrate this victory now because it won't make the edit. I'll tell you that.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

You've been listening out for that to not hear it. Well, you might. Because he's got he's got really quite uppity recently because we pulled him on repeating a story. Oh, and he's been gone for the two of us about a hundred.

SPEAKER_05 7:26

What did you do 38 seconds after that? You repeated the story. And we hadn't heard it before. Only because he didn't listen, because I only heard it when there was anyway. Yeah, Raf is a good one, actually. Sorry. All right. Yeah. Andy.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Number three for me is gators. Alligators, specifically, as a kid, I remember Are there other types of gators just for uh well we had a conversation once about a Bond movie and Martin corrected us to say it was gators. It is gators. Live and let die. We actually Googled it and it was crocodiles. And we took great pleasure in telling you that.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Remember.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

It was it was one of our first victories. So that was part of my gator choice was actually reliving that story. But we've broken for our listeners. He's laughing on controlling twice.

SPEAKER_05 8:21

I'm not laughing uncontrollably, I'm crying on the inside and laughing briefly on the outside.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Yes, so alligators number three. Why? What is wrong? Alligators are useful. What uses would you have for them?

SPEAKER_05 8:34

They keep other forms of wildlife down, they eat a certain number of pests.

SPEAKER_07 8:38

Good point. Actually, it could work well there. When was the last time you were up close with a gator?

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Actually joking about that. I was thinking on the way up. Not a gator, but a crocodile in the aquarium, a portiferius.

SPEAKER_05 8:52

I mean you know your ex-girlfriend with a brace doesn't come.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

But I'm also Victoria, I'm heading away on Tuesday and the kids want to see some uh gators in uh Gatorland.

SPEAKER_05 9:03

So I'm actually I'm Florida's best half day attraction. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

That's how they market themselves. I've done the crocodile shows in Thailand. They are fantastic. Terrifying? Oh terrifying. Jumping quickly.

SPEAKER_05 9:14

You're in there and it's very snappy.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Oh god, so yeah, gators.

SPEAKER_07 9:20

What do what do you think, Victoria, of Gators? Yeah, I'm not a huge fan. I haven't uh seen any gators, but I've been up close with a few crocodiles in there.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

But they don't m bring immediate fear to me.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

I did ones with gazelles in their mouth. Yeah, oh true. You're gonna you're doing I love watching. Are you doing a safari this year? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:38

Then But I don't think he's going to the Serengeti. Where are you going? South Africa? Kruger.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Kruger.

SPEAKER_05 9:44

Yeah, which isn't the Serengeti.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

No, no, no, I know that, but but but I where the the crossings happen. Yeah. Yeah, that's where the the microscopes do that. Yes. It is. Again, that appears my my feed a lot to this. I do like watching the Lana Clubs and Crocodile Zebra stuff.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Yep, so an easy one to start. Number three, gator, before we digress.

SPEAKER_05 10:05

Okay. Well, I mean, look, a lot of people are scared by gators, and in fact, there's a court case at the moment in the United States of America about the the woman who's suing the management company because their mother was killed on the property by a gator. She lived in this gated community. It's not a gator community, a gated community. It's a different thing, apparently. But apparently in this case it wasn't because uh she went out through the gardens and was killed by a gator and that court case is running. So it'll be very interesting to see whether or not humans are are now responsible for wildlife access.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Was it mother or mother-in-law that went missing?

SPEAKER_05 10:39

I believe it was their mother rather than the mother-in-law. You normally don't find the mother-in-law.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

No, no, true, true. My my uncle said he always had a very soft spot for his mother-in-law behind the oil tank.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

I like that.

SPEAKER_05 10:53

For anybody in the PSNI listen, it was Gareth who said that.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Oh, brave.

SPEAKER_05 10:59

Alright. We've we've dealt with Andy's fear of things before they're made into handbags. How about uh you? What's your first fear or third fear?

SPEAKER_07 11:10

You know me. I like to analyse everything to death usually, but not this one. It didn't require any thought. Just the three came to mind right now.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

Becoming so Andy. Oh, lovely. Required no thought at all.

SPEAKER_07 11:22

Well, it just looks you know pure instinct. Would I share space with these creatures? That was my sort of criteria. And three immediate no's. That could be us, by the way.

SPEAKER_04 11:33

Three immediate no's these three buffoons.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

We all looked at each other.

SPEAKER_07 11:37

Great out of point there. I'm gonna have to go to my reserve list now. Uh number three is piranhas. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 11:47

Now yeah. I know most wildlife experts will tell you they're actually not uh dangerous. You know, they're not the bloodthirsty killing machines Hollywood has made them out to be. They're quite shy, attacks are rare, and I think people are supposed to find that reassuring.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 12:02

I don't. Hollywood and a trip I made when I was a teenager to the Amazon um have done irreversible damage to my perception.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

She's obviously a rich kid as well. No, no, I mean you had portrush. She went to the Amazon.

SPEAKER_05 12:18

So don't don't don't extract the mic book. Victoria was in a canoe in the Amazon trailing a hand in the water just to cool down, and that's why she's known as Victoria Ninefingers.

SPEAKER_07 12:30

I'd have to be trailing both hands in the water.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

So back to the story. You went to the Amazon on holiday as a teenager.

SPEAKER_05 12:38

Right, sorry, yes. How come you ended up in the Amazon? That's a vague conversation.

SPEAKER_07 12:44

I could tell you, but then I'd have to throw you in the piranha and festive water. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Remember, she thinks he's a spy. That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 12:52

So basically, if anyone says, Do you fancy a swim in the Amazon? The answer will be no. I don't want to come out as just a floating hat.

SPEAKER_05 13:00

There is a little fish in the Amazon that for blokes is way. You're gonna have to cut this one out as well.

SPEAKER_06 13:08

In fact, frequently you have to.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Is that a true story, do you reckon? Or is that a fable that has been made up and passed round guys?

SPEAKER_05 13:20

Stand waist deep in the water for ten minutes in the Amazon and see what happens, mate.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Is that right? Is it true? It's not a story that's made up, you know, but I heard this person.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Have you ever heard it happen to anyone? No.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Well to be f- But you live in Belfast. I say the Amazon people do you talk to who are stuck. on their holidays as a teenager. Me and I didn't do Port Rush or Newcastle. I need that. But you make a very good point. What Hollywood It's a long time since she spoke. What Hollywood has done to create fear in you as a kid. That's Hollywood USA, not where filmmakers.

SPEAKER_07 14:04

That might be a general theme in my three answers.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

And that's going to come in mine as well.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

I think there's some commonality here.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

There is. And just they put it up in the piranhas. You saw the person go into the thing, and it was just we can all do the movement.

SPEAKER_07 14:18

It was just millions of them. They're like an underwater chihuahua with a knife collection.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

That's a great line. That's a great line.

SPEAKER_05 14:26

But do you not think I'm so tempted to steal it and edit it anyway?

SPEAKER_02 14:29

No, you weren't. Well, like in the 1980s, piranhas were terrifying. I watched a clip on social media the other day of a hammerhead shark. My comment on it was why have hammerheads went out of fashion? In the 80s, they were always the second best shark behind the Great White. You never hear them. Piranhas falls into that category a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

But per but but with with that, those movies, you wouldn't even go near water as a kid. Well you wouldn't, but I would did. No, no, no. You were fearful of like if any lakes or whatever, your welly boots or whatever, you were scared of the shark. Sure, Martin's water skiing and all the time and all just and I don't wonder if the old story will come out about the sharks.

SPEAKER_05 15:13

Now which one is that the time when I was surfing off California and was chased by Martin?

SPEAKER_02 15:18

No, no, no, no. But do you know what the best bit is? If we criticise the story for repeating it, he'll edit it out a complete.

SPEAKER_05 15:26

No, no. I will just be waiting. I take the blows and then come back fighting. He does. He does.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

And annoyingly, his memory is surprisingly better than all that.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

It is. I just say apart from not remembering what today time today's recording was at. I don't know what we thought was this morning. I'm sorry, I was away doing something else.

SPEAKER_07 15:46

Oh what were you doing for our listeners? Polishing the silverware.

SPEAKER_05 15:50

Yeah. And again, I I'd have to kill you. So I can't tell you. So anyway, and by the way, I was just going to say when you're all of that Alagash River. So don't don't think it up. I'll bring it up. I'm just telling you. Don't think it gets forgotten.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

I've got to say, Martin, you've got to.

SPEAKER_05 16:06

What's your number three, Martin? My number three is polar bears. Now they look very cuddly, but they're an absolute apex predator and one of only a few animals that actively target humans for food. They are known well. In fact, there is a rule if you're in polar bear country that and you're out on your skidoo. That would be something you go across the snow and the ice in if you're an Eskimo or a hunter. I don't know why I'm looking at Gareth, because there's no chance he's going to be an Eskimo. Where'd David Attenborough come from? But the number one rule is never turn your engine off while you're getting anything at the same time because suddenly when a polar bear arrives, you do not have time to get on and fire your engine up. I watched a film actually recently where this boy was just going to pick up something, literally put a letter in the post box in one of the towns above the Arctic, and the next minute he's turning sprinting for his skidoo, and this polar bear comes out between the buildings and is chasing him down, and he just gets away. And it wasn't AI. So that's when you think polar bears everybody loves them, but they have a very, very bad reputation for just going after anything they think they can eat. What do you mean it was AI? It wasn't AI generated, that's what I'm saying. So did he get killed by the polar bear? No. What I'm saying is he got away, but only just it wasn't an AI generated video code. Oh, right, okay. Genuine.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

I think that's a good one. I also think when you see the differences in black bear, brown bear, then polar bear, that's when it starts to resonate the size difference. To know bears in general. I'm awarded on this one.

SPEAKER_07 17:45

This is a great that's a great pack one. Any any sort of species of animal that has a book that tells you, you know, bear attacks and how to avoid them. Yes. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_05 17:54

Well, somebody told me recently, do you know the difference between a brown brown how to deal with a brown bear and a grizzly bear? Oh, here we go. And he said apparently you you look on the trail as you're going along, and apparently brown bear scat, as it's called, which is the its thing, is just berries and nuts and all the rest of it. And grizzly bear scat is filled with things like people's fingers and it smells in bears spray, as people have tried to survive it. Very few people survive a grizzly bear.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

I did start watching that uh film, although it wasn't great, the grizzly man there recently, where he got eaten in the end.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Oh, that's that's the documentary Tim something is called. But actually, for he lives with him for like three years or something, hasn't he?

SPEAKER_05 18:40

Yeah, he lived out there waiting to get eaten. Yeah, yeah, because that's what was always going down.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

He was completely the one that had him was like the rogue one that kept going past. He was like, We'll have to stupid. So we'll Google it out of that. Yeah, that's good. Good choice, Martin.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Okay, my number two. That's the way the system works. You designed it, you and Andy came up with the idea. So originally I had scorpions in because again I had watched a program as a kid, and the scorpion had got into the slipper and the person put their foot in and you know got uh killed. And I remember for years after that, there my brother doing the old sort of checking the shoes to see a score scorpion. But I've gone with snakes.

SPEAKER_06 19:28

It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

It's not a pair of piranhas, pop my piranhas exactly. Exactly. And Don Patrick. But I've gone with with snakes. I've gone with snakes, right? And the reason being and the particular snake I'm gonna go for is the rattle snake. Portrayed brilliantly. Don't see them again. They're not trending anymore. No, they used to be everywhere. Everything you saw that we rattle at the back, got the horse out in the western or whatever. You see?

SPEAKER_02 20:02

We need to get them hammerheads and piranhas back in a group of trending again.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

I actually don't know what that's happening.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

I would think lots of teenagers do not know about piranhas. No, hammerhead sharks or rattlesnakes. But okay, we've had enough rattles. Here's what happens. All right, thanks, Gerald. That was Gerald on the Maracas for that one. But the so when was the last time you saw rattlesnake in a movie or anything out there? Twenty years. They're not the Anatomy. You know, long time ago. Like even Yellowstone all set out it wasn't a rattlesnake. There was.

SPEAKER_05 20:41

Was there? Yellowstone, there was a rattlesnake. Uh Casey's son had to was hiding in a pipe, and the next minute there's a rattlesnake ride. Oh, actually.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

You're right.

SPEAKER_05 20:49

Now you're saying that in the Madison one appeared as well. Right? But oh, and at the end, when they went down to Texas and they set up camp. They set up a camp over a rattlesnake uh over a rattlesnake hole. Outside of that, you're absolutely right. I can't think of it.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

You're right. So anyway, the rattlesnakes scarred me more than all of them. King Cobra, maybe in a second.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Snake was my number two as well. Was it? I went general on snakes because there's so much fear around them all. I've told the story before, I'm just putting that line in before Martin corrects me about a friend of mine, Bradley. He had a pet snake, and I was playing pool in his house once, and he hadn't told us he'd got a snake. And so I'm lining up for a shot, and then next minute this thing falls on my hand. Uh it's like a little grass snakes, I think, and it just sinks its teeth into my hand. What on earth is this? And like flicked it off, and he was laughing. He was standing there laughing, Oh, I just got a new snake. Never felt terror like it in my life. You didn't die, I haven't heard you tell this one. I I thought I'd told that before.

SPEAKER_05 21:48

No, you haven't actually. Oh yes, it's a wave. And I'm wondering what size of snake it was that was in the rafters watching you, and went, I could have him. I haven't had me eaten for a week.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

But again back to those stories. I mean there was always that story went around that oh I knew this person had a snake and the snake would wander around the house at night time, but anyway the snake wasn't eaten, it was a big python thing and whatever, and anyway he took it to the vet again. It's one of these magical stories, urban legends or whatever, yeah. Um asks him what's wrong with Sir Hiss. What's wrong with it, Sir Hiss? And the the vet says he's been starving himself because he's been getting ready to eat you.

SPEAKER_05 22:28

Yeah, you see, anybody that keeps a snake that big in their house and makes it roam around kind of deserves. I read a survival manual one time and said, What to do if you wake up and find a boa constrictory is trying to eat you and it started from your legs. And apparently you wait till it works its way up, till about your thigh, then you take your knife out and you just put it in the side of its mouth and slit it straight down. And I'm going, Yeah, I'm not sure I'm gonna be that patient.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

I'll do it before very true.

SPEAKER_05 23:00

I I'm going to be sitting there going, Nah, look, he's gonna take a while. I'll doze on, yeah. And then when he gets up a bit.

SPEAKER_07 23:06

That's like that book I was saying, Bear Attacks and How to Avoid Them. It's like what to do if a grizzly bear is trying to eat your I can't remember, really important to know the difference, but you're supposed to lie down and play dead and then they'll come and like nibble at you a bit. Just could instead of rubber nibbling at you a bit as a grizzly. I'm not sure I'm gonna lie still and let that happen.

SPEAKER_05 23:25

If you've ever watched a piece of film, grizzly bears with dead food tend to bat it around with their paws to see what happens. I suspect if a grizzly bear batted you a few times, you would actually react.

SPEAKER_07 23:36

And then it would it would probably I'm not sure where the person that wrote this book got their doctorate, but uh No, it doesn't sound like it's particularly well thought out.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Snakes, good one, G. My two as well.

SPEAKER_07 23:47

Have you ever been up apart from that? Like poisonous snakes or in up close and personal with a were you gonna tell us what the next holiday was?

SPEAKER_04 23:55

And the answer is yes, but you go with your stories first, because yours are going to be new.

SPEAKER_07 24:02

Uh I lived in Zambia for a while and uh went to visit some friends and their house was nicknamed the snake pit, which should probably have given it away. It was the middle of the night, well not the middle of the night, but after uh curfew. Yes, after curfew, knocked on the door, and it was a big steel door that you know in front of the main door. And I'm waiting for them to come and open the door, and the next thing I heard and I looked down, and there's a cobra.

unknown 24:30

What?

SPEAKER_07 24:31

Right there. Was it like attack mode? It was full hooded.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Full hooded up, ready to go.

SPEAKER_07 24:38

And literally at that second the steel door opened and you know, pretty much smacked it in the face. Oh my goodness. I was like, I live here now.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

That would just scurry. It didn't actually scare me that bad, but my worry is that probably isn't in Victoria's top three. No, if it isn't, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

I went to again in Thailand a snake show, and it probably was the funniest moment I have ever seen in my life because what happened was it was like a round like circus type thing with with tiered seating or whatever, and the guys came out and you know, they're very big in Thailand and getting the venom the bit into a glass which had you know cling film over. It's called venom extraction, exactly. And then they took it off and they they then did made they did various things, and then about five of the guys came out, and they came out with a brown sack or whatever, and said, This is Thailand's deadliest snake in French. That was no, it said this is just trying to work out. I think they walk English, but uh, this is Thailand you were going for. Yeah, it was from this is Thailand's deadliest snake, and they had the five guys and are in barefoot and they had sticks or whatever around the uh rag and going like this here and be careful, everybody, and that type of stuff. And then they flicked a bit of rope into the audience, and I have never seen a place clear in my life. Did you jump? No, I was lucky enough it didn't arrive in me. I would have been out of there, but it landed a bit of rope on someone's lap, and the person just went running. Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_05 26:16

It is fairly scary. We've seen a lot of snakes on golf courses in various places, and in fact, playing in South Africa, very first tea box we ever arrived at in South Africa had the welcoming sign of beware mamba, which is one of those things. And I went to go and get a golf ball out of a little grassy nail, uh huh. Um, and my caddy grabbed me by the shoulder and went, No, spitting cobras. And I went, Okay, probably not.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

But titlas prove.

SPEAKER_05 26:42

But but I know I'll let it go. Um, but we went out on a rattlesnake hunt in Arizona one time. Why? We'd played golf in the morning, we needed something to do in the afternoon, and my mate had booked this, and we went out to meet this guy and in some random car park outside Phoenix, and he was gonna say so dodgy. Oh, it was beyond dodgy, and he turns up in this Jeep with like bullhorns actually on the front of it. I love it. We spent a bit of time practicing roping the bull hornets in the front of the jeep, and then then we went out and he said, Right, are you boys gonna change before you go out? Because we were standing there ready to go in shorts, t-shirts, and track shoes. And he was cowboy boots, jeans, long sleeve shirt, cowboy hat, gun on right hip, and three knives on the left hip, and we went out into the desert with him to go looking for rattlesnakes. Was that Des' idea? No, he wasn't there, it was uh and uh so we get out and we're we're standing in the middle, and the next minute I'm I have my camera out and I'm doing a bit of film, and the next minute all I hear is the hissing sound and the rattle. And I went and I looked down and there was a rattlesnake right between on the ground between my two legs. Oh my god. What size? Well, I wasn't looking at perspective at that exact point.

SPEAKER_06 27:56

Size 11.

SPEAKER_05 27:58

Comparison to foot. I'm just thinking maybe that's okay. It depends how we correspond these things.

SPEAKER_06 28:04

Anyway, so we actually and the next thing I realised this snake isn't actually moving.

SPEAKER_05 28:10

And the guy had thrown down behind me this plastic, very rare plastic and had a box of tic-tacks brilliant and was shaking them. Brilliant. At which point, and the other boys were all going, oh, he didn't jump and scream and run away like we thought, because in the moment was kind of what I'll do. And I didn't have to do anything. Oh, that's excellent. But we've seen a few, quite a few snakes at various times. Anyway, there you go. Another new story, Gareth.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

And it's a good story, actually, as well. He's pulling out the good ones for Victoria. He's done well. We don't get these stories, normally, Victoria.

SPEAKER_06 28:42

No. No, you get the very average stuff. Oh, the other ones definitely come out, but 100%.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

Okay, I'll bet you a coffee it comes out of you. You'll never see that, Gareth. But anyway.

SPEAKER_05 28:52

Victoria, what is your number two choice of an animal that really scares you?

SPEAKER_07 28:56

Okay, my number two is the huntsman's spider.

SPEAKER_05 29:00

Oh, great choice.

SPEAKER_07 29:02

You know, people try to reassure you, don't worry, they're harmless, but that's not the point. Um, they're roughly the size of I'd say a dinner plate. And if I can identify it from across the room without glasses on, then it's too big.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 29:16

And you know, typical Aussie attitude to that would be just put a glass over it and, you know, take it outside. No, I'm carrying myself outside. I'm selling the house, I'm getting on a plane, I am absolutely, you know, not anywhere near that. And why do they move so quickly?

SPEAKER_05 29:31

Well, because they're hunts. They can't go slowly, otherwise it'd catch nothing.

SPEAKER_07 29:36

If you're gonna be that big, have the decency to at least move slowly so it can get out of the way.

SPEAKER_05 29:41

They are very scary, to be fair.

SPEAKER_07 29:43

I've never seen one. They disappear. Like you see them one minute and then they're like completely gone. And somehow that makes it worse because you just know they're waiting in the house somewhere, hiding.

SPEAKER_05 29:54

Yeah. No, I actually those spiders. Are you scared of spiders generally? No. No. So what's up to what size of spider will you feel quite confident dealing with it? And then I'm I'm okay here. You do know this is an audio medium.

SPEAKER_06 30:08

Showing showing some signal with your hand that the listeners can't see is kind of a bit useless. Below tarantula level of fitness.

SPEAKER_02 30:17

But again, where are tarantulas these days? That's another one. The Adela WhatsApp group we created. Okay, it's another movie.

SPEAKER_05 30:25

There's one at number 27. But Debbie is not scared of spiders at all and will happily pick up spiders and re take them outside and all the rest of it. So she was on um uh a charity thing out in Africa, and she was in a room and they opened the door, and there's this huge spider up in the cupboard. Yeah. So she thought, well, I'll just put it outside, and she went to go and grab it. And the person who was sharing the room with her smushed it with a slipper and said, Don't touch spiders in Africa. And Debbie went, Oh yeah, I wasn't even thinking about that. I was just she was just gonna pick it up and pick it out in the book. Uh so again, that story is again new for the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

But do they survive if they go down the toilet?

SPEAKER_05 31:08

Only if you give them a small air tank and a pair of flippers.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Right, okay, so they're they're dead, are they?

SPEAKER_05 31:14

Well, I've no idea. They'll come out somewhere else, hopefully at Andy's house.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

I don't mind spiders, spiders gates. I don't mind spiders.

SPEAKER_07 31:23

Bangladesh, they just come right up the toilet bowl when it floods. Tell me a beaser to say a country you haven't been in, no, tell you the truth.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Wait till Victoria's number one. I know, dude. Antarctic wildfall.

SPEAKER_05 31:38

Trafficking is no laughing boys.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Easter Island.

SPEAKER_05 31:43

She was one of the original heads of Easter Island.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Oh, lovely.

SPEAKER_05 31:47

Martin, you're number one. Martin, number two. Okay, so Huntsman Spider, it's gonna get a vote, it'll get in. Yeah. Uh my number two are bull sharks. Now, I actually love sharks. I absolutely sharks fascinate me all of the time. No, no, I'm not going to tell you the story about diving with a great white shark. You've just had it. Or the time I was chased while surfing by a great white shark. I'm not telling you that story now. The reason bull sharks scare me is because they can decide to go up rivers and survive in fresh water. And suddenly bull sharks have been found a thousand miles inland in South America. They come up rivers also in Africa. They they've New Jersey. They they they are very adaptable and they are very aggressive. Bull sharks don't mess about. You have a much better chance of surviving a great white or a tiger shark. Bull sharks are rated as number three, but they have the most number of attacks logged against them. And in these attacks down in Florida recently, in a couple of years, you know, if the last few years there have been a lot more, they're nearly all bull sharks.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Yeah, right. Well, my number one is sharks. Just in general. Yeah. You'd do the whole lot. Yeah, because the other thing is, I can't tell the difference. I don't do the old, oh hold on. I'll get my Encyclopedia Britannica out here and check what shark it is. Once I see something moving with a fin, I'm out of there. Yeah. Well, what if it's your dolphin? I even yeah. Yeah, I'm not even not fussing.

SPEAKER_05 33:12

Can you tell the difference between a dolphin and a shark when you're looking at it?

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Yeah.

unknown 33:17

Right.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

I still don't want to, I still don't want to be in the middle of the way. You know, where you are. I'd I put it this way, as I say, I'm not going to get out the phone and check which type of thing it is.

SPEAKER_05 33:28

Well, maybe maybe if you've done a bit of research before you go.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

But again, I still don't know all the various types of sharks. I like quite like Andy's hammerhead. Hammerhead's shaped like a hammer.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Mine is my number one, great white. Yeah. So it falls in love.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

And I actually and all caused by one thing. 100%. Jaws. Which my daughter says now, who is 18 years old, still brings up why did you let me watch Jaws age sex?

SPEAKER_02 33:58

I've seen there was this great, well not great, great, it's the wrong word for this, but shark attacks in the United States over the last f uh 50 years. And they're all obviously on the coast, and there's one right smack bang in the middle in Detroit, an aquarium, and there's a little thing said an aquarium worker was was killed by a shark in 1962. And the the whole story is about this aquarium was now shutting down and all, but the only shark attacked in America inland.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Because uh I've seen people who go down, you know, in the cages down to see the sharks.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Yeah, I've heard the stories of that.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Sometimes the shark gets into the cage. You've seen that.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Yeah, I've I've heard about those cages. I'd love to meet someone who's actually done it.

SPEAKER_05 34:39

Well, I'll see if I can introduce you to someone later, Andy. Because with your attention span and ability to listen, you obviously are unaware of it so far.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

But no, so sharks are sharks. Caused by Jaws, primarily by jaws.

SPEAKER_05 34:52

I think you're vastly overestimating there are about five or six dangerous, truly dangerous species of sharks, and your chances of meeting. I don't have any. With the only exception being, I mean, Andy is going to be if he goes to the beach in Florida with the kids, you have a fair chance of being close to a bull shark. That's the but most of the others are all you're right. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

But I mean, so you're actually saying bull sharks are a lot of them in Florida. You're not actually saying just because Andy's are the bull sharks are circling to tell her mates, Andy's here.

SPEAKER_05 35:24

On the bull on the bull shark WhatsApp, they said there's a big meal coming from Northern Ireland. No. Don't tell the hammerheads. Yeah, don't tell the hammer. Okay. Nobody likes the hammerheads. But the thing about bull sharks, and actually, there's a great piece of film from in around Miami where a helicopter was going down the coast, and they did they measured out 400 yards, and in the water, in those 400 yards, people waving at the helicopter, they found something like 185 people in that 400 yard stretch. And then they went out and identified from the shapes, and they found about 75 sharks all within 20, 30 feet of the of where these people were, completely oblivious to these sharks. And then they narrowed it down and said the vast majority of those were bull sharks. Maybe adolescent bull sharks not fully grown yet. And they'll come in to eat. They will come in, they eat, and they just attack whatever's there.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

So, Martin, the Great White was my number one, but I love them. Great Whites first one spotted in the Mediterranean a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

Uh no, there's been rumors for years, but they've actually seen it and filmed it inside the last couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

So they're saying the UK, they're expecting this summer to have the first Great Whites spotted within UK water.

SPEAKER_05 36:34

Steve Baxhall is currently leading a research project to try and see if it is true that they think Great Whites may be.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

I watched him last night looking at blue sharks, actually. Yeah, great.

SPEAKER_05 36:43

But he's he's thinking doing a project to see whether or not we believe that great whites have made it to the UK. I'll be great.

SPEAKER_07 36:49

So that's gonna ruin one of my points I'm about to make.

SPEAKER_05 36:53

Well, not necessarily, because why don't you jump in now, Victoria?

SPEAKER_07 36:57

Oh that's definitely not jumping in. That's a good uh so my number one is also great white sharks. Um actually let's not discriminate pretty much most sharks. Yeah, correct. Yeah. Um, but isn't there a word for that, Victoria? There is actually and and I have a legitimate phobia of sharks. Don't ask me how to pronounce it. Give it a go.

SPEAKER_05 37:14

No, I'm not really I I read it somewhere and I'm struggling with it, so I'm gonna let you have a go at it before I have a go at it.

SPEAKER_07 37:21

Well, you know the way people always quote you statistics when it comes to things like this, you know, like you're more likely to be killed by a vending machine than a great white shark. That's great.

SPEAKER_05 37:31

I don't actually go swimming with vending machines, so yes, but you rarely ask a great white shark for a kit cabin.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Every time you jump into open sea, no matter where you are, anywhere thinking.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Even lakes, we know a shark's not in there.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Yeah, you're more likely to have alligators there, Andy. True.

SPEAKER_07 37:48

Logic has no place in this conversation whatsoever. The minute I see a fin, even if it's a dolphin, I'm out of there. I'm setting an Olympic record to get out of the water. I don't even live somewhere where great white sharks are yet. But anytime I'm in water, even if I'm in a swimming pool, I still think about it.

SPEAKER_05 38:06

Yeah. I can't believe it in a swimming pool.

SPEAKER_07 38:09

Well, I think you know, today's the day they finally made it into the swimming pool.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Yeah. Yeah, that's like that we fish in the Amazon.

SPEAKER_07 38:15

Yeah. Exactly. And I know when if David Attenborough starts describing the shark as an elegant apex predator, someone's about to have a very bad afternoon.

SPEAKER_05 38:25

That's very true. See, having been fascinated by sharks all of my life and read an enormous amount about them and actually studied them, so yes, maybe I could identify things a little bit more. But in murky water, of course, you can't, you can just see a lump arriving and you don't know. Sharks are somewhat maligned and are essential to the environment and the control of the oceans. And again, so you really don't want to lose sharks. Again, that's logic coming in there.

SPEAKER_07 38:51

I know.

SPEAKER_04 38:51

I think and cut that bit out because it would be a bit boring for the podcast.

SPEAKER_05 38:56

Some of our listeners occasionally say, I like the moments where we learn where we learn something from the podcast. That was one of those listeners.

SPEAKER_07 39:03

I actually almost per my number one as humans. But um, you know, given the state of the world recently, I thought maybe I better keep things light. Absolutely right.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

No great white shark has a nuclear weapon. Agnes in the office.

SPEAKER_07 39:17

No, it's just a prehistoric torpedo with 300 teeth, you know.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

Yeah, I'll try it.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Joyce. Or is that just your number?

SPEAKER_05 39:28

And they roll around. You lose a tooth, it rolls all over.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

Shark, shark, shark shark for number one, us three. Sharks are my it might sharks are his best friends. I love a shark.

SPEAKER_05 39:39

I like the fact you picked up on the word malign. I heard Malign as well.

SPEAKER_06 39:42

I think that's good because it's helping your vocabulary move forward, you know. So number one, Martins.

SPEAKER_05 39:48

Okay, mine's very, very specific. Very specific. It is the South American black-headed bushmaster, which is a snake. But it's a particular type of snake. The problem is if you get bitten by one of these, the game's over. For two reasons. Number one, it's incredibly virulent venom. That's not easy to say, actually. I'm gonna have another go at that. Venomous. It's a very venomous snake. Thanks, Gareth. Better, better. Also, it's only found in fairly remote areas. But the problem with it. Toria's been there. She probably has. She's probably been within a yard of one and didn't even know. Exactly. As a teenager holiday. Yeah. You know, it was out hunting for piranos at the time, but anyway. The the thing about the Bushmaster is at night, if you're doing one of those expeditions where you're in like a well, what you would be in? A hammock.

unknown 40:39

Hammock.

SPEAKER_05 40:40

A hammock with a little cover over it to keep the spot. It is South South America, Brazil. Brazil, Bolivia, those sort of things in the forest. The thing is, at night, it makes these really weird scratching noises and sounds, and the locals are terrified of it. They're convinced the thing is, you know, it's pretty much that it's possessed. And these things. So there was um an expedition video I watched a while ago for this girl who was taking this uncharted route across with a group of locals, and the only thing that scared all of them was the blackheaded bushmaster. They were doing other stuff that I thought was insane, didn't phase on any of them. And then they started hearing one night they they were and then they killed one of them, and then they thought, uh-oh, the rest are coming for a sort of thing. Which isn't true.

SPEAKER_07 41:29

There is no there is no when you kill them, it doesn't attract other ones. No, not like a wasp.

SPEAKER_05 41:34

No. But if you actually check out the black-headed bushmaster, watch a bit of film and watch the strike, guarantee you'll not sleep. That's good. It is a sad.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

No, I'm not doing it. I don't like the snakes.

SPEAKER_05 41:47

Blackhead Bushmaster. Check it out. Blackheaded Bushmaster. Blackheaded Bushmaster, okay. I'll have to look at that. It is an evil-looking thing. Okay, and you go first with you've actually got some listener feedback today.

SPEAKER_01 42:01

I've got a couple, just uh not too many. I've got what? Rodney Maxwell, any snake, any lion or tiger, and crocodiles.

SPEAKER_05 42:10

Rather than alligators. Rather than alligators.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:13

Um and they're right, by the way. If you if you were putting it in the in the scary, you start with saltwater crocodiles, then you look with Nile crocodiles, and then you look at alligators. And alligators might indeed be number four number three.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

Number three from Ron, who sent some in birds. I've always been freaked out by birds, not the ones in the sky. That is. Do you ever read your messages before you started picking? I've got so many of them coming through. Well, five. Uh Kies, only because during COVID I was walking wild in England, came across a calf. When the mother seen us, they charged at us and we had nowhere to go. That's an elephant. That's an elephant. Thankfully, she gave up about a hundred yards away. And number one from Ron, which is guaranteed the correct answer, is sharks. What does walking wild mean? I don't know. And actually, I don't really actually want to ask them what that means because it could open up some other conversations. Go ahead, Martin. One of yours will I say.

SPEAKER_05 43:16

Well, I was just going to say, Andy, this is this one's for you. That's an adult alligator growling just over in the sound.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

Has recorded you snoring.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

We have Corinne who sent in a blue ring octopus. Very good choice.

SPEAKER_05 43:37

Do not play with the blue ringed octopus.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

I saw someone on a Instagram thing lift up there, and then they must have touched it and had jumped into the sea and they were dead.

SPEAKER_05 43:47

Yeah, they are basically they they will kill you pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

It's to the touch.

SPEAKER_05 43:50

Yeah, no, they will sting you. The blue ringed octopus is highly venomous.

SPEAKER_02 43:54

Yeah, yeah. His number two was similar lines box jellyfish. And number one was Cone snails.

SPEAKER_05 44:02

Cone snails are surprisingly dangerous. And what catches a lot of people out is it's a really pretty shell. And people are walking around the beach, they pick one of these up, go, I'll take that home. And they don't realise that there's a cone snail or whatever it is inside. And it has just a barb, it comes out. And if it's if you get hit by it, yeah, you're not making it very far.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

Uh Lewis sent in cockroaches. One of those flying at you is genuinely terrifying. Sorry, do cockroaches fly?

SPEAKER_07 44:30

In Africa they do. Oh, so I was on a basketball court and I thought, oh my gosh, look at that in a flock of birds there, and somebody goes, Those aren't birds.

SPEAKER_04 44:40

Oh dear. Sorry. I know you played basketball.

SPEAKER_05 44:46

You don't strike me as being a natural basketball player. Because you wouldn't be six foot eight. Yeah. Well, I mean, I know. It is very unnatural. Yeah. You must be able to your vertical jump must be insane.

SPEAKER_07 45:00

It's only the men that can jump.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Lewis is number two, snakes, then sharks is number one. Ben sends in number one, rats, number two, mice, and number three, women. Number three from Pete McQuellen is stray Asian dogs that chase you. Came across packs of these loads at times in Thailand. And there's always the fear of rabies. Oh, yeah. And then again, the film Cujo. Number two for him is monkeys. Again, rabies. Number one is drop bears. Sorry, what are drop bears? I don't know. Drop bears. No one Pete, there'll be some humour behind that. I'm very wary of it.

SPEAKER_05 45:43

None of us know what that is.

SPEAKER_01 45:45

That's not Delvee.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

Ashley sent in wolves, rabies-infested animals, and just a really generic number one, ugly insects that fly.

SPEAKER_07 45:57

Do you know what should be on the list that I haven't heard yet? Is hippos. Well, but they are very dangerous.

SPEAKER_05 46:05

They are the most dangerous animal in Africa, the one that kills the most number of people. So again, when you're in the Kruger National Park and you're watching the crocodile over there and you're watching the hyena on the bank, if there's a hippo nearby, that's what you really have to watch out for.

SPEAKER_01 46:20

I have seen hippos save things that were getting eaten by the crocodile. So they mustn't like crocodiles.

SPEAKER_07 46:27

They don't. Have you heard them laugh though?

SPEAKER_05 46:29

It's a great sound.

SPEAKER_07 46:30

Alright.

SPEAKER_05 46:31

Actually, I'm just checking. I'm looking around all the various exhibits around here. I don't think we've got I don't think we've got a hippo. No, we don't.

SPEAKER_02 46:40

Or finish with my listener feedback onto yours.

SPEAKER_05 46:42

Uh Ashley Parks, number three, crabs. And very interestingly, my son is terrified of crabs. And here's another shark story for you.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

And he was terrified of crabs as well.

SPEAKER_05 46:55

Yeah, but I differ different reason. Um we we were in Sydney at one point and we decided we were going to go and dive with sharks in a tank. These were not great whites. And we went there and Mark was Mark was uh walking through and the guy said, Right, there are 11 sharks in the tank. This, this, this, and this. Are are you okay with that? Mark says, I'm absolutely fine. Just tell me there are no crabs in the tank. And the guy went, What do you mean? He said, If I see a crab in the tank, I'll freak out. He says, There's four sharks in there that are 11 feet. I said, Mark, I'm not in the slightest bit scared of those. It's crabs. If there's a crab in there, I could I could have a problem. There's another bit to that story, and I'm going to save it because you don't deserve it. You don't deserve it today. Uh Ashley also said, a chicken. Not chickens generally, but a specific one of my father-in-law's chickens who attacks anyone who walks past, often drawing blood. Oh. So do you know what I would call that chicken? Dinner. Correct. That is the correct answer. If he's going, you've been warned once, you've been warned twice, now you're in the pot. Yeah. Okay. And his number one is spiders. He is utterly terrified of spiders. Now, Ashley's a big guy. Yeah, yeah. What's number two? Uh the chicken. What's number one? Crabs.

SPEAKER_07 48:11

Crabs, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:13

Crabs, chicken, and then spiders.

SPEAKER_07 48:15

Make a nice uh plate of food there.

SPEAKER_05 48:16

Yeah. Not the spider at the end. You'd have to use it, the huntsman. Spider's the size of a dinner plate. So you you put the other food on the back of the huntsman and it'll walk over and bring you your food. Perfect. If you could train it well, not to run away and hide, which is what scares you the most. Anyway, Janet Williamson, uh, cats. I have a absolute passion lit hate of cats. Okay, fair enough. Toads. She woke up in a tent in Costa Rica full of toads. Now, this is for you then.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

You must have had some fun today. Getting signs. No, that's her just over there.

SPEAKER_05 48:52

That's one just behind you. And her final choice was narcissistic humans who have no self-awareness and leave a trail of chaos behind them. I thought that was an animal you're truly scared of is is is quite good.

SPEAKER_01 49:03

She said that to you, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 49:10

I think we've been doing this nearly a year and a half, and that's the first time I think you've landed a bullseye.

SPEAKER_05 49:18

It'll never be in. Um anyway, Colonel Lou said uh grizzly or brown bears, wolves and piranhas. Now, considering he spent a bit of time down in South America on work reasons, maybe piranhas is another one where he's a little bit of experience.

SPEAKER_01 49:37

The wolf is an interesting one. There's uh something likeable about them and something scurry about them.

SPEAKER_05 49:44

A wolf would be a great thing to have as a pet if it if you could have control of it. Because I mean, if you had a wolf, let's face it, nobody's messing with you in the park.

SPEAKER_07 49:53

Yeah. You know, you you can Do people normally mess with you in the park?

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Because I've got a wolf. The way they're portrayed in the movies, they always sort of come good in the end, don't they?

SPEAKER_02 50:04

Yeah, there's a yeah, they're they're good brand around wolves, it's like foxes. Yeah. You watch Clarkson's Farm and he has that rant when the fox gets in and he eats his checks, he goes, People think foxes are lovely, they're not, they're killers. And it's like brand fox is quite good. Yeah. Foxes are everywhere.

SPEAKER_05 50:19

Anne McKissick said, Bears, crocodiles, and or alligators and sharks. It's a fairly common theme that a lot of people are a bit unnerved by. Meanwhile, while I'm reading, Gareth will check his phone messages. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

Actually, I'm just checking if one person has come back who or request to be emailed. Oh, just in case just in case when it goes into my junk.

SPEAKER_05 50:41

Okay. Alright. Johnny Kerr said snakes, Alsatians, and Andy Hill at the harp bar on a Thursday night.

SPEAKER_02 50:53

That's pretty scary. I thought JK would have bears in his.

SPEAKER_05 50:57

Yeah. I've no idea. And the last one I have is a big Keithy. Seagulls, especially the Psycho Newcastle ones. Yeah. Uh then he says, a big scary dog. Now they have dogs, but uh what constitutes what's the dog breed that scares you? Yeah, we challenged listeners recently to to decide of the various dog breeds because Andy described himself potentially as a Labrador. Yeah. And Gareth described himself as a whippet. And I suggested Doberman for mine. But the boys weren't buying it.

SPEAKER_02 51:34

No, he was like an elite hunting machine.

unknown 51:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 51:38

And and big big Keithy's numberman Pincher is rats. Oh rats.

SPEAKER_02 51:44

Must be something that down that down Patrick area.

SPEAKER_05 51:47

Well, it was because Down High was a very old school and presumably was infested. No, never saw rat ever. Really? Never. At Down High? Never.

SPEAKER_01 51:57

No rats at Down High. No rats. They've actually you see them more now than you did as a kid.

SPEAKER_03 52:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

Listeners.

SPEAKER_03 52:05

Oh, Victoria.

SPEAKER_07 52:06

So I actually have one from a frequent listener to the show, Stephen Bartlett, who's taken time out from writing in his diary to give us eels, barracudas, and ticks.

SPEAKER_05 52:19

Okay, some very good choices there. Eels scare the living daylights out of a lot of people. Eels, yeah. And you know, again, there's a good villain for movies, a moray eel. When you dive down the next minute, there's moray eel goes past. Uh ticks, surprisingly horrible. Yeah. And you do not want to- Long term. Long term, slow, slow recovery. Yeah. What was his third one? Barracuda. Barracudas.

SPEAKER_07 52:43

I think he just likes the song, maybe.

SPEAKER_05 52:44

Yes, it's a great song, actually, but they are insanely fast. Have you ever swum with a barracuda by the boys? Boys? Anybody? Anyone else? No. Right. That's a story for another day. On that note. Yeah. My name's Andy. Anyway, listeners, plenty of animals out there that will scare you. I'm not surprised with some of the choices that came in from the listeners today because it's pretty, you know, for a lot of people, there are very obvious choices. I like the way some of the listeners thought a little more deeply and didn't just do what Gareth and Andy did, which is, you know, say big scary things with teeth, sort of thing. But anyway. Well, we'll all spend the evening trying not to dream about the things that have scared us uh to death. But we will be back to talk about a few more things.

SPEAKER_04 53:32

Right.

SPEAKER_05 53:35

Anyway, on behalf of the podcast, my name is Martin. My name is Carl. My name is Andy. My name is Victoria. Our special guest, Victoria. Thank you very much for coming in and uh spending some time at Belfasto. I'm sure it's been a long time since you've been here. I don't know what that line's actually doing at the moment. It sounded like it just ate something. But anyway. All right. See you soon, listeners.