No Ordinary Monday
The No Ordinary Monday podcast brings you the most incredible tales from people's working lives. Each week, we meet someone whose work is anything but ordinary - they may be clearing landmines, blowing up movie sets, or exploring uncharted caves.
We dive into the how, the why, and a life-defining moment they’ve experienced on the job. Whether it’s spine-tingling, hilarious, or just plain jaw-dropping, their stories will challenge what you thought a “career” could be—and maybe even change the way you think about your own.
No Ordinary Monday
Surviving an Erupting Volcano (Expedition Leader)
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A brother’s warning over the radio. An 80‑metre abseil into darkness. A cone splits, lava surges, and the exact spot rigged with rope is swallowed in seconds. That’s the moment Aldo Kane, former Royal Marines sniper, expedition leader, and on-screen explorer, decided not to commit to the drop inside Nyiragongo's crater, a call that almost certainly saved his life. We unpack that decision and everything wrapped around it: risk, responsibility, and the identity you carry long after the expedition ends.
We trace Aldo’s path from elite military training to leading film crews into hostile environments and appearing on camera for Apple TV, Nat Geo, the BBC and more. He explains what a safety lead really does when cameras narrow attention and the world around you turns volatile: build systems, translate danger into choices, and create productive friction so the best idea wins. We dig into decision‑making under pressure, how to act on intuition while you wait for facts, why a bias to action restores control, and when to abandon the first plan without ego.
From lava lakes and hurricane‑like thermal winds to CO2 sinks and crumbling calderas, the volcano story anchors wider lessons. The jungle breaks more crews than the cold, deadfall kills more than snakes, and the most dangerous missions may involve people, not landscapes: narcos, illegal wildlife trade, money and ego. We talk about the crash after the shoot, coming home as a parent, and building circuit breakers to protect your life off camera. As the TV industry shifts, Aldo shares how he’s pivoted his expedition mindset into coaching CEOs and leadership teams, proving that courage, discipline, unselfishness and cheerfulness in adversity are performance tools far beyond the field.
If this story moved you, tap follow or subscribe, rate the show, and share it with someone who thrives under pressure. Leave a short review with your biggest takeaway.
Links:
WEBSITE: https://www.aldokane.com/
BOOK: Lessons from the Edge - https://www.aldokane.com/books
TV SHOWS: https://www.aldokane.com/media
Socials:
https://www.instagram.com/aldokane/
https://www.facebook.com/aldo.kane
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aldo-kane-32526a136/
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Hey everyone, Chris here with a very quick recommendation for you guys before we get started today. There is a podcast that I think many of you will enjoy. It's called Sports Will Save Us All, hosted by Sasha Grimm. I was actually a guest recently on Sasha's show, and we explored one of the most defining moments of my own work. And it's actually a story that comes up in today's episode as well. Sasha uses sport and physical challenge as a way to get into bigger conversations about pressure and resilience and how these things shape us. You'll find sports will save us all wherever you get your podcasts, and I'll also put the link in the show notes. Alright, now on to today's episode.
SPEAKER_01:I remember being in the volcano on that trip with you. Nira Gongo is one of the best and most defining points in my career.
SPEAKER_03:Aldo Kane and I were part of a film crew shooting inside an active volcano in Africa. We were setting out for the most dangerous part of the shoot: a rappel down to the lava lake.
SPEAKER_01:At that point, it was still the plan to get down onto the bottom level, and I had an 80-meter abseil to go to get down to the very bottom.
SPEAKER_03:But something strange had been going on with the volcano while we were there. A large cone had formed near the side of the crater.
SPEAKER_01:Struan used my Sunday name, so he was like, Alistair, please don't go down.
SPEAKER_03:From another vantage point, his brother could see something that Aldo couldn't. The cone looked unstable.
SPEAKER_01:Just stepping over the edge, I kind of ignored Struan, and then he came back over my little brother and he was like, Alistair, please don't go down. And at that point, you remember it just started erupting and the lava basically bust out the bottom of this cone and flooded the entire crater.
SPEAKER_03:The exact spot that Alder would have descended to had vanished in a river of lava.
SPEAKER_01:My ropes were already down there. And so I, like he he did literally, in real-life terms, save my life.
SPEAKER_03:Hey folks, and welcome back to another episode of No Ordinary Monday. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm your host, Chris Barron, and each week I invite a guest onto the show to tell me about the most extraordinary experience that they've ever had on the job. We start with the path that led them there, we find out what the job is really like behind the scenes, and then we reveal the most important lessons that they've learned along the way. I'm super excited for this week's episode because I was actually there for the events that took place in my guest story. And it is honestly wild. Now, before we dive in, there's no major announcements today, but a big thanks to those lovely people who have left such nice ratings and reviews over the past few weeks. It has honestly been such a delight to see those coming in, and I'm glad you're enjoying the show. And as always, if you want to reach out with questions about the episode or guests or anything else, you can just email me at hello at no ordinary monday.com and I'll respond as soon as I can. Alright, so my guest today is Aldo Kane. Aldo is a former Royal Marine sniper and expedition leader who's worked with names like James Cameron, Tom Hardy, Alex Ronald, just to name a few. He's often responsible for getting people into and back out of some of the most hostile environments on planet Earth. In this episode, Aldo takes us back inside an active volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo to a moment where a split-second decision saved him from start to death. We talk about risk and responsibility in these extreme environments, the psychology of decision-making under pressure, and how experiences like this can shape our identity long after the expedition ends. You're listening to No Ordinary Monday? Let's get into the show. Aldo, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing, man? Good to see you.
SPEAKER_01:It's been a while. Where was the last time we worked together?
SPEAKER_03:Probably One Strange Rock. One Strange Rock, yeah. Yeah, 2016. So a good like 10 years now. But uh it's been a moment.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's been a while. Good to be on. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, absolutely. I've been looking forward to this one for a while, you know, because we've known each other for ages, and you know, your job is frickin' wicked. And uh it's kind of you know, it's great knowing like knowing someone a bit behind the scenes because we can kind of go a bit deeper with stuff. But I guess um I guess I honestly, how long you've been home for since your last expedition?
SPEAKER_01:Um we so we just finished filming a big Apple series um called The Wild Ones, um, and it's like an expedition series trying to find and film six of the rarest animals on earth. Um we finished filming that about a year ago now. Um so that was a bit and that was like two and a half years of expedition. Um I've been been at home about a year uh from TV expeditions, which is kind of like TV as you know is is going through a bit of change at the minute. So um that and I did a a a quick 10-day Arctic Ultra race um in March this year, which will be on channel four, so that was filmed.
SPEAKER_03:So you competing or are you safety or yeah, yeah, yeah, competing.
SPEAKER_01:Uh me, Foxy, Woody, and Carl Hinnett. Um four veterans basically raising money for Safa, the Armed Forces charity. I think we've raised 190 grand. Um but yeah, it was 10 days of hard graft up in the Arctic. I've never done an Ultra before, and that was the first and last one that I'm gonna do. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So you've been home for a while. Are you are you kind of itching to get back out? Are you you know I am, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean it's it's it's a tricky time in TV anyway, and you know as much as as anyone else is that it it becomes like it's not just a job. Like I so for people that don't know, I you know, I look after safety pretty much um on TV and film productions, and um it becomes kind of part of your identity as the Royal Marines was when I was younger. Um so when you kind of stop doing it or it slows down, then you know, there's there's a lot of questions that you're sort of asking yourself about where I'm going, what I'm doing. But you know, I'm I you know I've had 16 years of doing almost back-to-back expeditions in some of the most you know remote, extreme, hostile places on earth. So I like I I cannot complain. Um it's just a bit of change at the minute, and that's that's it.
SPEAKER_03:No, it's definitely something I want to uh touch on a bit later in the conversation because I'm going through exactly the same emotions you are right now. You know, it's you know this job becomes your identity, and then what do you do when when the jobs start rolling in, you know? But uh so we'll touch on that later. But you kind of touched on it there a little bit, but you know, the expedition zone. And I want to sort of give the audience just like a if you can just give us like a real quickfire rundown of the coolest, most amazing, most memorable stuff that you've done in the last few years, you know, alone. Just what's off the top of your head?
SPEAKER_01:Um so I get like a tiny bit of background. I was in the Royal Marines for 10 years, I was a sniper, joined at 16, left at 26, and then spent the next sort of five or six years leading expeditions, and then um I was asked by the BBC to get a crew inside an active volcano in the in the Congo. Um, and then since then I've been working exclusively in TV and film. So I think some of the wildest things that I've done is is the volcano job that we worked on, um for One Strange Rock near Gongo. Um I did a big series of I think 15 world first expeditions with Steve Backshaw, who's uh a British um uh naturalist. Um I I I want to say naturalist, uh, but I always get mixed up between a naturalist and a naturist. One's one's naked and one's animals.
SPEAKER_03:He's both he does he does it all he does it all naked as well, just to let people know.
SPEAKER_01:Um so I did you know that was that was three years nearly of of doing world first expeditions from first descents of rivers in Papua New Guinea and Suriname to first ascents of mountains in you know Oman to finding the oldest figurative art in the world in caves in Borneo. And um so that was uh very cool. And then more recently I've done Apple Project, um so the Wild Ones, which is on Apple TV now. Um Ocean Explorers. So I was James Cameron's sort of expedition lead on on a big series on Disney and Nat Geo, um basically exploring the oceans from surface to seabed, yeah. Um and then Arctic Ascent was another one we did recently where um Alex Hornold, Hazel Finlay, and a team of us went up to Greenland and did two big wall first ascents and the first traverse of an ice cap. And um, so to say, you know, I've been very, very lucky over the years of of doing some amazing things.
SPEAKER_03:Dude, like it just I mean, you we're not even like scratching the tip of the iceberg on what you've done. Like, you know, you're talking about Everest, and we're talking about, like I said, like oh I just uh I did Everest, you know. It's absolutely nuts when you think about it, like caves, places people are not like people haven't been before, but like it just reads off as like you know, any one of those things might be like a lifelong bucket list item for for a normal person. And uh but you're just oh you know, I did all these things. It's it's we have to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01:I do feel very Yeah, I do feel very privileged that that I've you know managed to do that. And I spend quite a big bit of my time trying to translate that into the corporate world for leadership teams that you know the last sort of two years I've been doing a lot of coaching of CEOs and leadership teams. Um taking that experience that I've had in some of the world's most sort of extreme and remote places and transferring that into the boardroom because there's a lot of transferable skills, you know. Although you know, lead leading a team inside an active volcano on the surface doesn't seem like there's very much that's transferable, but you know, there's a huge amount that transfers straight over into not just corporate life but also family life and you know the human performance piece as well.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, as I said, like you know, just determination, endurance, problem solving, logistics, planning, it all kind of feeds into, but you know, it's just a different environment, you know, whether it's boardrooms or volcanoes. But um Exactly. No, I think I think it's good to as you touched on it very briefly before, but I wanted to just define kind of what you do. I mean, again, like correct me if you're wrong, but from my experience of what you do, um, to sort of summarise it, you when we worked together, your job was essentially to get the film crew safely in and out of the various places that we're you know going to go filming, whether that's crazy caves or ocean stuff or or whatever. But is that kind of pretty much sums it up in a nutshell?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I I used my background of the Royal Marines, the security piece, um, and then I was offshore for a few years, so a big part of that is you know technical safety and safety advising and health and safety inverted commas. Um so it's kind of uh and then obviously my experience and qualifications in the outdoor world, so it's kind of blends you know the Marines with the safety with the outdoors into what I would call the perfect job. Um and so really, yeah, my job really is to is to look after people in you know in in environments that are quite tricky because you know when people are filming, they're not necessarily paying attention to the environment, what's around them, and you know, a camera operator or f or or a director can easily be stuck into their screen that they're looking at this thing and and not being aware of the dangers round about it. So, you know, really my job is to yeah, get people in and out of of tricky situations and you know, so that we can go and do it again.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It's a huge amount of fun. And again, like the lot of people that you take in there, you know, we uh when we did our volcano shoot and and the Venezuela shoot, like most people on the crew had a certain level of capability, whether it's you know, a little bit of experience on ropes or just you know be being able to tough it out in a in conditions that some people might not find enjoyable. But do you find it tricky sometimes when you work with crews that you've kind of gotta like fill the gap a little bit?
SPEAKER_01:Um I you know, when I start I mean, even even up to you know last year, I'm still carrying tripods and you know, carrying pellet cases and spending hours unloading and packing wagons. You know, I um you know I never get away from that. That's that's kind of where I started, and it's and really when you're working in TV, it's not so much about your skills. I mean that gets you in the door. But really the way and the reason I get asked back is because of who I am as a person, and it's the same in any walk of life, you know, you need to get on with people, you know, and I'm not the best technical rigger or cave diver or whatever, but I certainly the bigger picture, I get a lot of things done. Um, and you know, really it's about managing expectation, you know. As the director, you have a you know, you have a creative um sort of vision of you know, whatever, standing on top of Angel Falls, and you've got to get this climbing sequence done, and it has to look like XYZ. Um, and then the reality is that it's very difficult and dangerous to get someone into that position. So, how do we compromise? And really, all of that boils down to people by people. Um, you know, those those people have to get on, and you know, you have to really. I mean, it's it's how elite high performing teams work. You know, there's there's you know, I'm not saying it's it's smooth sailing all the time. In fact, in the line of work that I work in, and you know, you were in, is that you know, you don't want ten people all agreeing to your plan. You know, I want friction in that high-performing team because that means that people are listening and thinking to the plan and they're coming up with their own way of doing it. And my way isn't the best way, it's really the best way, but it's that team, you know, it's getting the editorial side of the team together, the safety side, and then coming to some sort of decision which allows everyone to get what they need and then get home safely.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, 100%. It's always that um situation where you're trying to achieve the best possible sequence as a director, things that people have never ever seen before on television, because that's that's what we're expected to do these days. And then you've got the safety guy going, nah, that's not happening. And then you've kind of got to then like come together butt heads and go, okay, understand why that's not happening because someone might die. So how do we do it? And then you solve the problem together, and that's kind of like that's basically what it's like, yeah. And I well I mean, going back briefly, you mentioned you know your background on the Royal Marines, and I kind of want to connect the dots there a little bit, you know. You entered the Royal Marines pretty young, as I remember, and worked your way into sniper to become a sniper. And how did the skills that you were learning back then how do they sort all translate into what you're doing now?
SPEAKER_01:I think you know the Royal Marines are Britain's elite amphibious fighting force, you know, it's the longest, hardest infantry training in the world. Um it's no mean feat just to get through the training um and become a commando. And then obviously the sniper course is the same but much, much harder. Um, but really, all of the the sort of hard skills that you learn while you're doing that, obviously with with time you get a huge amount of skill fade. So, you know, I would say that not very much of what I learned as a hard skill in the Marines helps me now or helps me on the jobs. What does help me though is is an ethos, um a sort of a work ethic. Um, you know, when I'm on expedition, I'm usually carrying the heaviest pack, I'm sleeping in the worst position, you know, I'm staying up the latest, I'm getting up the earliest. You know, it's it's that ethos that comes from the Marines, you know, they have their commando sort of values of the commando spirit, which is courage, determination, unselfishness, cheerfulness in the face of adversity. Now, those like four pillars, you never get taught that in the Marines, but by the very default of working in that environment, you know, they become second nature. Um, and you know, it's things like you know, the courage, for example, isn't the courage to run out into a hail of bullets or to run out in front of a bus to save a granny, it's moral courage. Um, you know, it's the the courage to do the right thing when it's the hardest thing to do, and then especially when nobody's watching. Um determination or drive, you know, we live in a you know a society now that is very much driven by external factors, by you know, external motivations, whether it's promotion, whether it's a pay rise, whether it's likes, whether it's subscribes, social media, you know, has has also sort of um made this harder or or you know it's made it more part of our lives. But when you're extrinsically motivated, when things get difficult, those foundations crumble almost immediately. You know, so to get through the longest, hardest infantry training in the world, you need to be intrinsically motivated, you need to have such a deep level of self-motivation that that nothing can can slow you down or stop you. Um and then obviously, you know, motivation wanes, it wanes at the end of the day. Um that's why people say, get up and eat the frog, do the hardest thing you've got to do that day in the morning, because by the end of the day, your motivation goes, by the end of the week, your motivation goes, by the end of the month, the quarter, and the year, so your motivation is continually being undermined just by time itself, um, and that's where discipline steps in. So that's courage, determination, and motivation and discipline. Unselfishness is is a huge one. You know, if I'm on expedition with you and a film crew and I see someone struggling, you know, I'm gonna help them, I'm gonna take their kit off them, I'm gonna make sure they're all right. Um and you know, it's it's it's the Raw Marines ethos, you know, you look after your your um uh your partner first, and then your fire team, and then your section, and then your troop, and in the process of looking out for everyone else, you are being looked out for as well. Um and then the the final one is cheerfulness, you know. We as human beings like to think we've got control over a lot of things, um, but the reality is you know, we've got control over about two things, um, and that's our Attitude in our breathing. That's literally it. You know, our thoughts and our biology, you know, like if we can control our breathing. So, you know, we like to think we can control other people and other things, but you know, you may have a bit of influence, but you certainly don't have control. So um that attitude of like shit happens, it can definitely get worse, and let's make the most of the situation, and that's that gallows humour, cheerfulness in the face of autusty. So, you know, to to say how the Royal Marines have helped me in what I do now, I would say one, it's the reputation of being in you know one of the most elite fighting forces in the world, but that reputation can be easily, you know. I I left probably 20 years ago. That could, you know, that's that's a long time, and you know, I can't still be living off that reputation from back then. Um, so so really it's it's that, and it's the values, the work ethics that come from being an operator in that line of work. That's what gets me asked back, not you know, not my skills, not not anything else.
SPEAKER_03:And just and that kind of goes for anyone on the crew, really, like cameramen, sound men, it's usually the people that are genuinely just the perfect people to have around. They're cheery when shit goes wrong, they just get through it, find the problem, they don't complain, they just get the job done. You're absolutely right. But I I wanted to pick up on motivation because it's the same thing with a lot of jobs. It's it's what drives you that that really pushes you through and it gives you the determination, the power to go through. And I'm curious, when you were going into the Royal Marines, what was your what was your driving motiv motivation back then?
SPEAKER_01:Um so my motivation was uh it's probably two things. One, I I came from a background where you know, where I grew up in Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland, there wasn't many opportunities. Um, you know, it was sort of factory work, or you know, that was about it. Um so for me I wanted out and I wanted adventure and I wanted travel. So that's what the Marines gave me, and that was the motivation that that I had all the way through. You know, the motivation I was running away from working in a factory, and I was running towards the unknown adventure, travel, um, camaraderie. Um so so really, you know, I think that was it. But ultimately, you know, like I said, you know, motivation wanes. You need a you need a strong why or a strong purpose. If your why isn't strong enough, then when things get hard, it crumbles very, very quickly. And you know, it's the same with having a plan. You know, if you don't have a plan, you'll become part of someone else's. So just by having a plan um and being motivated and then having the discipline to follow that through, is like it's a you know, it's a guaranteed roadmap for success in any walk of life. Um so really that was that was my motivation, and you know, it was also helped by the fact that at 16 I had no other frame of reference. So yeah, it was hard. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life. But you know, I I was a milk boy before and a paper boy, you know. I think it would have been a lot harder had I come from a normal job working in a shop, being a mechanic, because when you're cold, wet, tired, and hungry, you look back and go, I could be doing this now. I could be sat at home, I could be earning more money, I could be doing whatever. Um and so it's it's a lot of things, but ultimately, you know, motivation for anyone is is you know it it's an intrinsic thing. If like I said before, if it's if you're motivated by material things and pay rises and promotion and likes and validation, then as soon as things get hard, that crumbles to the ground almost immediately.
SPEAKER_03:100%, yeah. And on the on the subject of comfort zones, you know, I when we're on shoots, you know, I've never seen you look like you're outside your comfort zone. In fact, you look like you're having the best time of your life, which I'm sure you are. But like there must have been lots of times, you know, when you're in the Royal Marines, I can't even imagine the amount of times that you went through difficult times there. I mean, has there ever been situations in your kind of later TV career where you have actually been pushed outside your comfort zone, or is that all within your wheelhouse, really?
SPEAKER_01:No, not at all. Um probably two things that come to mind straight away is I did an undercover investigation into the illegal wildlife trade down in Southeast Asia. Um so you know, we're in China, Lao, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and and sort of trying to uncover and unpick um how, why, and where tiger poaching happens. Um, you know, and uh and that that pushed me out of my comfort zone a lot. You know, wildlife and environmental journalists are I would say it's probably one of the most dangerous jobs in the world right now, and people go missing or disappear all the time because they're reporting on deforestation, logging, you know, fracking, oil, um, you know, uh pollution in the sea, overfishing, um, wildlife trafficking, you name it. Anyone who's reporting on it um is in very real grave danger. Um, so that kind of pushed me out of my comfort zone. It was something I wasn't used to doing, and you know, I was pretty much on my own with a journalist and a filmmaker, Laura Warner, who was amazing, and she you know, she pushed me hard. Um BBC Doc, but um, you know, Laura, the director, was t absolutely tenacious. Um and you know, I you know I'm sort of in my head big timing it because I was in the wrong reins, but we were in some seriously sketchy situations there with no backup. Um Do you mean with wildlife or people? Uh mainly people, yeah. But I mean, yeah, when you're climbing over the when you're climbing over the you know, a ten foot wall into a tiger compound and you don't know where you're sort of dropping into, whether it's where they are or on the other side, um, then that's that's pretty worrying. But um, you know, ultimately it's people. The most dangerous things I've ever done is is you know that and and um uh myself and Foxy, Jason Fox did a series that's on Netflix now called Drug Lords Inside the Real Narcos. Um and again, working with people, drugs, money, egos, um, it's just a very a very tricky balance to get right. Uh and and any mistake in that environment with with narcos in Colombia, Mexico, and Peru will will get you killed. Um, so those are those are two that I was seriously out of my comfort zone on. Um and to you know, on reflection, you know, we got through a lot of it. A lot of people say there's no such thing as luck, but for sure there is. Really? Um that there's definitely luck being in the wrong place at the wrong time or you know, the right place at the right time. Um you know, your skills and everything can only get you so far, and and then sometimes you're just lucky.
SPEAKER_03:And you reckon you were lucky on those ones to sort of come out unscathed. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. 100%. That's crazy. I mean, on this show, we I mean, I always love asking guests to come on with a massive, you know, crazy story that's kind of the most unforgettable pinnacle story of their career. And we were chatting offline before about ours, and it it's really funny that I don't know whether you said it because it's me, or whether this genuinely is sort of your story with uh Nirogongo volcano in DRC. But um it's certainly up there for me, and I think it's just fascinating that we have an opportunity to actually, you know, sort of share the same story but almost from two perspectives.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, that Nero Gongo is um no Nero Gongo is one of the best and most defining points in my career because that was the first job I ever did in television in 2010, and then you and I went back in 2016, um, and then I went back in again in 2017. Um and when we were there in 2016 with you, uh, do you remember it was erupting while we were in there? Um so like I've had quite a few defining moments in that volcano where you know I'm basically asking myself why I I remember being in the volcano on that trip with you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I I I remember when I finished a narcos thing, I thought I will never do a job like this again. And then when I was in the volcano, just about to do you know, the last bit, I thought I'd rather be in the jungle with the narcos than be in a volcano that's erupting.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, let me let me just set the scene for people here because again, I've got a really unusual situation where I can give like a little bit of like the scene setting part of it. But I I get a call, I was on a different project at the time from a director who was on the on One Strange Rock with us and um Nick Stacy. And he knew I was a rock climber and he knew I loved science and they needed someone for the shoot because none of the current team had like you know that mixture of like rock climbing skills and and things. So he dropped my name, I get a call, and I'm like, 100% I'm get me down for that shoot because it just sounds wicked. And not knowing what I was really getting myself in for, but again, like knowing that it's gonna be a great shoot, I've got you know tenacity and motivation. But I remember coming to the office for the first day, it's the first time I met you, was the first kind of meeting that we had, big production meeting in the uh in the conference room there at uh Newtopia. And uh I was just mind-blown. I think I can't remember who was leading the meeting, but I just remember you being there. I was like, oh, is this sort of like bearded Scott? And there's that sort of instant Scottish connection, like, oh you're Scottish, you're Scottish. And uh just going through the plan for the mission, and it was just like my mind was blown because the plan was essentially we're gonna go into this massive volcano, which you can describe in further detail from a sort of technical challenging point of view, to take a live lava sample from the massive lava lake, the largest lava lake in the world at the bottom. And I was like, okay, great, this sounds amazing, and I'm like glad I've got someone someone like you to sort of like figure out how we're gonna do that safely. And yeah, it was just mind-blowing.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you got you know, to get into that volcano, you need to, you know, me and my team, it's my little brother Struan was there. Struin, yeah. Yeah, and um Daz, I think, was there on you know, it was another marine. Um and um, you know, I have to go in and rig like two and a half kilometres of rope down some of the most treacherous terrain I've ever been on. I mean, it's you know, hundreds of meters of vertical descent on Chaucy ash. Um the first time the first time I I saw it, I I felt sick because I was like, I have no idea how I'm gonna get down inside there. Um and um, you know, it takes you know me and my team probably three, four days to get ropes down into down into the the inside the crater there's like three levels of it, different tiers, and you know, you've got to get down to tier one and then down to tier two. Um and you know it's it's just quite a complex rope rigging piece on its own. Then you've got the security piece that we're in the Congo, it's you know it's quite an unstable area in the Vronga National Park. So there's the geopolitical risk there. And then you've got the biggest lava lake on the earth, and then you've got a little vent that's starting to open up over in the the corner of the you know of the the sort of bottom of the crater.
SPEAKER_03:That was it. Like I think because I was told it's fine, it's a stable lava lake, you know, it's just bubbling away, it's not an erupting volcano, which a lot of people think. And then I think it was like the second night, maybe like we were there, we noticed like a little orange glow at the side of the the sort of bottom layer, as it were, and it just grew and grew and grew and grew to something that we didn't even expect or anticipate for that shoot.
SPEAKER_01:And then, you know, in the process of it growing, it started to become effusive or um not effusive, it became strombolic, which basically means it starts firing out lava bombs. Lava bombs, yeah. Um and uh you know, at that point it was still the plan to get down onto the bottom level, and um, you know, to cut a long story short, uh you know, I was down filming right on the last ledge with Johnny. I had an 80-metre abseil to go to get down to the very bottom. My little brother, then Johnny left because it was get the lava bombs were getting too much, yeah. So I was going to continue down to the bottom. Um, and Struan, my little brother, and Johnny Rogers, who were filming from back up in in where the tents were, were calling on the radio, and Struan used my Sunday name, so he was like, Alistair, please don't go down. And um, you know, at that when I was like, he's quite serious, but where he was, he could see that this 60-meter cone that had formed was was doing some funky stuff, and it looked like it was sort of breathing. Um and he was like, Please don't go down, and I kind of at that point thought, Well, I'm only 80 metres on the abseil to get to the bottom, I'll go down, I'll assess it, and then I'll come back up. And so I was just stepping over the edge, I kind of ignored Struan, and then he came back over my little brother, and he was like, Alistair, please don't go down. And at that point, you remember it just started erupting, and and the lava basically bust out the bottom of this cone and and flooded the the entire crater, you know, huge crater, yeah. And and basically came up to uh and along the bottom of the wall that I would have abseiled down. My ropes were already down there. Um and so I like he he did literally in real life terms save my life. Um but what's interesting about that obviously that all kicked off, and then we had you know another amazing night in there while it was erupting and you know the thermal winds, because obviously there's a huge amount of heat released into there, that's all going up, and it's pulling cold air in from the outside of the volcano and creating these like almost hurricane force winds. Yep.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and um tents were going mental. I think I've got a video somewhere of just my tent like flapping like mad.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and so we got you guys out um pretty sharpish after that. The next morning we we got everyone out, and Struan and I ended up staying in there for another night while we were stripping out kit. And um I just remember lying next to Stroon in the tent, and it you know, you just see this orange glow outside the tent, and the tent was getting pushed down on the faces, snapped poles. Um basically, yeah. So basically we um this is the bit that you don't know. So we obviously tapped out of that and we we came out of the volcano, and then a year later I went back on another chute, um, and we got it was with the BBC for um Expedition Volcano. And so we get back in, we go down to tier two where we set up the tents, and then I got round to where I was stewed, just about to absail down onto the the bottom of the lake again. So I had this 80-metre abseil to go. The the cone in the corner had stopped erupting, that was all uh it all calmed down a bit. And so I got on the ropes and I absailed down and I got to the bottom. You know, it's the third time I'd been inside the volcano, and it's I eventually got to the very bottom of it. There's like three people on earth that have done that, and um when I got there, I got up. I mean, it was a very, very scary abseil because when it was 80 metres, sort of not free-hanging, but just enough my toes to touch the the rock and ash, and it was you know, there were blocks the size of minivans that were just teetering on the edge. Oh man. And um I got down to the bottom, I disconnected from the ropes, I did a bit to camera, gave myself a mild panic attack because I could feel my legs getting hot, and that was you know, I'm I'm in the lowest place in the entire volcano. And uh I and I I basically uh when carbon dioxide is obviously heavier than air, so it sinks to the bottom and it will asphyxiate you and kill you instantly. Um but I could feel my legs getting hot, and that that is a sign, obviously, you your legs sort of stop breathing. It's really hard to describe, but if you stand in a CO2 sink, say up to your knees, you can feel it, you can feel the gas around your around your legs.
SPEAKER_03:It's like you're just crazy.
SPEAKER_01:It's like your your skin can't breathe. I'm sure that's not a not a scientific term. Yeah, and and so I then started to get very panicked. You know, I've got the world's biggest lava lake behind me. I'm stood on fresh lava from like seven months ago that would have killed me when I landed there in the exact same spot. And um anyway, so I got back on the ropes and uh there was no rescue, no one was coming to get me if something happened. Um so I got back on the ropes and and June marred up, which took an age because one, I was a bit panicked, and two, I couldn't put my feet on the on the the surface of the you know the free hanging. So I was so I was literally because I didn't want to put my feet on it, it was that unstable. Um anyway, so I got back up, we cancelled that part of the shoot, and then over the next two days we came out. It was much more benign than than we were there, but they wanted to get like two or three people down onto the bottom, and it that wasn't going to happen. So we get out the volcano, and then Benoit, the the scientist, then sent me a picture from like a couple of days after we left. And do you remember that sort of rock garden you had to make your way down to the edge of it? It's like a hundred metres of well, about two hundred metres square surface area of all the rocks slid down onto the very bottom where I was stood. It was like it it came out probably about all the rocks, basically the size of minivans and and you know just trucks had gone. And and so the bottom from the bottom of the rock face out, probably about 60 metres, was fresh rockfall. So um I definitely used up a f a few of my lives there.
SPEAKER_03:You're like a cat using up all your nine lives. That is because I remember it's it's basically as you say, it's a caldera that's constantly crumbling in on itself because you know it's an active volcano. And you know, if you put a time lapse to over years, it's just all those bits are falling in and falling down. Yeah. Yeah. Even the place that we can 'cause we had our camp on this like the second tier or the third tier down, I think. And you even just go and walk around there, these just big, big cracks, you know, all across that entire area. And you know, I remember just going finding I think that's where our toilet was. We would just go find find a crack somewhere and do your business.
SPEAKER_01:Um I mean it's it's like being inside that volcano is you know there is nothing more humbling than than being you know in a i it like you're so connected to earth um in a very visceral way um that that kind of makes you you know every single minute that you're in there is is is survival, you know, everything's working against you, the poisonous gases, the glass, the ash, the pelly's hair. Um you know you remember after two weeks of being in there, you know, all of our throats and lungs were seriously sore and and coughing. Um and and basically all of my fingers were infected, you know, because you get these bits of ash and glass in there.
SPEAKER_03:Glass, microscopic glass, yeah, just cutting everything up. It's yeah, I remember very clearly like you know, just the because it's kind of a chew there's the the deep rumbling feeling of like the volcano, especially when we were there with the Stromboli uh volcano, but also there's there's high-pitched noises like gas, gas erupting, sort of like big pshh. It was just uh it's it's very hard sound to describe, I remember.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah I mean it's it's an attack on all your senses when you're in there, and and you know, you're you know, if for two weeks of working in there, you're hyper vigilant. Yeah. Um and you know, and and then you know, we're we're commuting up and down like two kilometres of ropes once, twice a day, where the rockfall was cutting the ropes, and um, you know, I think you know, each time I've done a job in there and come out, I've had a big crash after it because it's you know, you're you're basically on high alert for the whole time you're in there.
SPEAKER_03:It's physically and mentally exhausting. And you, I think I can't remember where you did like 40 or 60 different um you know, traverse. Yeah, up and down. I I'd I think I I don't know how many I did, maybe like 12 or 15, because you know, being the producer, not as important at that particular moment, I can get set up and down to do runs and stuff, but it probably takes you to go up, it probably took me like an average person like 30 minutes, 40 minutes, but I think you know, you and Stu might be doing it in 20.
SPEAKER_01:Um Yeah, we I think when I when when I stripped it out on the last day, I think I did 14 runs from tier two back up to the summit and then back down again. And each time, you know, you're carrying 20, 30 kilo loads of rigging kit and ropes and all the rubbish back out of there and and tents and all expedition gear. So you know, so obviously we're living down there, so all of our water had to be brought in, all of our food, rations, fuel, generators. Um it's a big old um expedition.
SPEAKER_03:And and it's high altitude as well.
SPEAKER_00:I mean that's like you know, you so you haven't got as much air and um you know, but it's yeah, I think it's about what was that about three I can't remember the height, it's like three or four thousand metres.
SPEAKER_03:I thought it was three five or something like that. So it's good enough to give you a little bit of of air. I remember you know, one of those other memories I have from that shoot is um when we'd all sort of like decamped to the top of the summit. You know, we had another little small camp, I think we were up there. And um but we had so much gear, you know. I think it was something like 70 bags, 73 bags worth of equipment. And you know, our crew is only like six or eight people. Um so we had the local village, you know, of like people coming up to help us carry everything back down. And yeah, it was I remember it being pandemonium because at the top of the summit, like it's freezing. And these guys are I think it's like a six-hour hike from the village where it's pretty warm down the bottom, but they're not well covered. And so we're getting all the gear ready to go down, and these poor guys are like freezing. And at some point, they just started grabbing stuff randomly and saying, we're gonna go from it. And then you sort of like turned on military voice mode. I remember that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean it's you know, you got to remember as well, you know, that's the places that we go to to film, you know, DLC is you know one of the poorest countries in the world. Um you know, maybe number two or something like that, I can't remember. Um but um you know the people there have nothing, and and when you have a film crew coming in and can pay good money for them to to help, you know, with the expedition, whether it's porters or whether it's you know, you know, people working in the the for the catering and cooking, um, you know, all of all of that stuff goes directly back into the community. Um and so, you know, for the people to be involved in the rig and the D-rig um was quite a big deal for that local community, you know, it was a bit of an injection of cash there when normally they wouldn't have anything.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, and and they were amazing, you know, like apart from and they're you know, at the top of that summit, it was absolutely freezing. Um, but we couldn't have done it without them 100%. And I remember I've got a photo of like a guy carrying like one of those Jenny's generators on his head, you know, at some point.
SPEAKER_01:And that was just like I mean ultimately, you know, the you know, these we can't go to any of these places to film without using local knowledge. Um and it's becoming more the way now, which is really good to see, is that we're using local teams, local production companies, local fixers, local uh even training people up how to use you know, how to use the gear, how to use drones, how to use cameras. Um and so that's good that that's happening.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely. And I guess with that story there, you know, you you were going down, we're in the camp of tier two, you're going down to that bottom layer, and there's that moment where you've got that decision to make. And what I'm really interested in is like, you know, learning lessons, you know, from everything we do and you know, pushing ourselves. And there's always this thing with filming, you know, and the safety versus filming, and you're right at the crux of that, of making a decision of like, well, you know, we need to get the story, but we also need to be safe. Like that particular experience uh on our shoot, did that sort of change anything for you, the way that you assess risk or anything like that?
SPEAKER_01:Um I think it's more to do with decision making in the moment when you have got high risk, high consequence um decision making. Um, and for me the way I've always done it is is there's two parts to it. One is intuitively, so when I don't have all the facts, I'm making decisions on gut feelings. When you've been operating in those environments for 30 years, you can make a fairly good estimate uh like of the situation, you know, your situational awareness is is on point. So I'm making decisions in the moment based on intuition while I wait for facts to come in, and when facts do come in, I analyse them and I change my plan accordingly. Yeah, if you wait, generally in in sort of high risk, high consequence areas, if you wait for all the information to come in that you need to make a decision, more often than not you'll come unstuck. So you need to be having a bias to action, and that bias to action gives you some semblance of control back, even though, like I said at the start, we have very little control over anything. But the perception of control is a huge advantage. The perception of control is a force multiplier, really, when you feel like you're in control and you're doing things, and you know, just by taking action and making a decision, you're one step ahead, you're you're taking action, you're not sat there like a you know, a ship or or or a sailboat with the sails down, the rudder up, and you're coming towards rocks and you've just been blown around. Whereas if you start making decisions, it's like putting the sail up, getting the rudder in and making a plan. Um and even if it's the wrong decision, you're still making the decision, and that opens up other doors. Whereas a lot of people get stuck and locked in this denial and deliberation phase. Um, Amanda Ripley writes a book, uh, I think it's called Unthinkable, but she talks about this survival arc of denial, deliberation, then decisive moment, the 3Ds, and you know, in organizations, you know, deliberation and and denial are what you know, people just go round and round in circles and don't make any decisions. Whereas if you can get to the point of making a well-estimated decision in the moment, you know, you're you're either going to fail fast forward um or you're gonna make the right decision, which advances your you know your mission. Um so really that you know that having a bias to action in the moment, making decisions based on your gut and trusting it, trust your gut um until the facts come in, and then you start to analyse the facts, and then I'm never wed to the first plan, I'm never you know married to that first plan. If if something comes in which changes the whole situation, then that's my new baseline, and then I make a plan from there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely. And I remember we didn't, I don't think we actually filmed you going down and doing that particular bit, did we? I think that was more of like a little recce, and then we subsequently brought you back up and then we did like a a you know, because we had to as filmmakers, we can't go to these places and not come back with the story. That's kind of like half of the trouble is that you know you face these challenging situations, but you can't just go, oh, we couldn't get it, we'll just go home. It's like, no, no. Now we've got to find a a different way to tell the story, which is what we all ultimately did. Yeah. Um crazy. That's it's still, in my mind, is one of the craziest shoots I've ever done. And uh it's gonna be hard to find. Definitely up there. I mean, you you've done uh I've worked in a bunch of different environments, but I think you you've you know clearly done way, way more where um Arctic stuff, jungle stuff, desert stuff, you know, and you've worked with crews of different varying levels in all of those different places. Which I'm really curious, which is the sort of one that tends to break people the most?
SPEAKER_01:Uh I think uh it's pretty easy, the jungle. Um you know, we you know, I always say that if you can work in the jungle, you can work anywhere. The cold Arctic is is easy, you know. You can literally dress up in the warmest kit and only come out when the weather's suitable. Um and and you know, if you're moving around in the Arctic as well, you know, you're you're actually warm. You know, the biggest thing with crews when you're working in cold places is they have all this gear on, thousands of pounds worth of down gear on, and they're running around like headless chickens trying to get the shots and they overheat and they get heat exhaustion and heat struggle. Oh wow, um as opposed to you know the cold weather injuries. But interesting, um you know the jungle is there's no escape. Um you're in, you know, when you're in the salad, you're basically 100% um humidity, and you know, it could be 25 degrees, 30 degrees Celsius, it could be more. Um, and you know, there's no escape from it, and you know, heat exhaustion and heat stroke happen very quickly, and when they do happen, um one for the person that it's happening to, it's it's a long-term recovery, it's not just rest up for a day and then get back at it. You're then susceptible to that heat injury for or heat illness, you know, for months afterwards, possibly even for the rest of your life. Um, I do not uh so you so you've got that part of it, um, you know, and uh you know, and then the second part of it, filming in the jungle, is that it's so destructive for kit electronics, you know. We're not there just surviving, you know, whittling spoons and building a shelter and sitting round a fire. You know, you've got to go out with a 30 grand camera and you know maybe a hundred grand lens and shoot stuff. Um, so you know, you you you have to learn to thrive in that environment. Um, so you know, I think the jungle is probably the the hardest environment, and it's the one that requires you to be most on top of your admin. Um you know, you you get a rash between your legs and you leave it on day one, that's going to come back to bite you, and probably Kaziovac you, um, or you get a cut, it it never heals, it's you know, it's getting infected. Um so uh and then on top of that, you've got the objective dangers of you know, everyone thinks going to the jungle, you you know, you're you're worrying about snakes and scorpions and spiders, but you know, you rarely see that because just by being a human, you make so much noise and smell that they they scarper. But if you imagine a you know a big jungle tree, you know, there are multiple tons of dead wood above your head, and they come down all the time. Yeah. Um and Deadfall, we call it Deadfall, but Deadfall kills more people in the jungle than anything else, and that is a very, very real every single minute of every single day risk.
SPEAKER_03:That's crazy. I I I didn't know about that, but I knew I did a jungle shoot in Sumatra, and the cameraman, and this goes back to you know the determination and the resilience and all that kind of stuff. We we were doing a night shoot, and uh he was trying to get this really important shot of like this insect that we were trying to track. And he'd put his knee down, and the shot took a little minute to get, because it was a bit of chatting between the contributors or whatever, and then he just said, I've got to stop. And what had been happening, he'd put his knee into an ant's nest and he was being bitten the whole time. But he's like, as a cameraman, you've got to hold the shot, you know? And I was like, You should have told me sooner. And I've got a photo of like just his leg with just it's just like oh, it's awful.
unknown:Awful.
SPEAKER_01:Fire ants are fire ants are brutal. When you I remember standing in a fire ant's nest with bare feet, and um it is so painful. And you've literally got hundreds of them over your feet and ants.
SPEAKER_03:They go crazy. Oh man. Yeah. Um I want to move on to just you know, the shoots are great and they're you know lifelong memories, super exciting. The adventure is why we do it, the adrenalines why we do it. But you know, there is a there is a flip side to this career, whether it's you know being in TV industry or or the side that you do, um, with being talent or beats up being on expeditions, like it's the sort of toll on your personal life as well. It can be pretty tough industry when it comes to you know managing family versus the job that you're so passionate about. Like, how how have you sort of uh balanced those two things?
SPEAKER_01:Um I I I think at the start I didn't balance them. Um, you know, I was coming back from one shoot, you know, and I'm packing gear for the next shoot, and you know, it was the golden days of adventure TV. We were literally away for seven, eight, nine months a year, bouncing from someone's bucket list trip to another one, to another one, to another one. Um so you get you end up getting a bit frazzled um and a bit burnt out, uh, that's for sure. Um when you come back, there's a the bit that no one talks about is the the come down, the crash. You know, when you're on a shoot, you're in a bubble, you're working with a small team for 18 hours a day, you're doing hard things, you know, you're bonding, you know, you're seeing some of the most incredible sites that are on our tiny little planet, and then you come back home, and then there's a big crash, and you're not part of that team anymore, and you know, you're back to doing the big shop in the supermarket, uh, you know, walking the dog, um working out what to have for dinner, and and you know, when you go to the gym, you've lost all the gains that you had, you know, before you went on the trip, or you're injured, and you know, so it takes a big toll psychologically, and if you don't get on top of that, then that can burn you out. Um, and I'm definitely guilty of that. My wife, I definitely saw it in Anna when you know she was working on One Strange Rock and Welcome to Earth, you know, that it's relentless, you know, you're you're doing huge volumes of work, um, and then it suddenly stops, and then obviously your identity's wrapped up in it. That was your last job, you know, you've got all the memories, and but you're on you're you're either at what's next. Um, and so I guess over the years I've learned to try and compartmentalize and deal with each trip when I finish it. You know, I've got a few circuit breakers I use when I come home to make sure that I'm Aldo Keynes the dad and not Aldo Keyn expedition leader, you know, when I walk in through that front door. Um, so that there's a lot of management in there that you know I've probably only got right in the last five or six years. Um and I think that just comes with experience, and you know, I'm 47 now, so you know, as you get a little bit older, you find better ways of managing things. Um but yeah, it can it can take its toll. I mean, the other thing as well is that it's very difficult to hold down relationships, you know, you're you're hardly ever here. You come back, you're knackered, you're burnt out, you're tired, you're you know, you're you're in a bit of a dark place, you know, and then you're excited again, you're ramping up for the next one, um, and then you're off comms when you're away, you don't yeah, you don't really have access to emails, social media, you know, phone calls.
SPEAKER_03:Um Anna's in Anna's in TV as well, like so it's there's a level of understanding, you know, from people or spouses or partners that are in in the industry, but it doesn't it still doesn't go all the way.
SPEAKER_01:At one point, at one point when I was doing the expeditions with Steve, you know, Anna and I Anna was away filming with Gordon Buchanan, a sort of a series around the equator, and you know, we literally passed in Heathrow, we got a hotel for about five hours together. Uh she went off to Brazil and I went down to film the narcos stuff. Um but you know, we've got kids now, so it's you know, we're a bit more we're a bit more savvy with it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely. I mean we did mention it there, like you know, the times are changing for our industry, and um both of us are in the kind of that position of like yeah, I said our my my identity as a you know documentary filmmaker, your identity is being a television expedition leader. Like how are you wrestling with the sort of current state of the market, which is you know, it's shrunk massively unprecedented levels. Like, have you kind of got a plan for what's next? How are you coping with it?
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, it's it's difficult because you know your your identity is wrapped up in it. I'm Aldo Kane, the guy that does all this stuff, and you know that stuff isn't there anymore, or it's changed, or it's on YouTube, or wherever it is. So, you know, we I feel very fine with it because I had 16 years of literally back-to-back expeditions, um and that I'm very grateful for. Uh so you know, I I'm not one for sort of sitting and waiting to see what happens. So uh the last two years I kind of saw this coming and and started to pivot into using all of the the skills and lessons that I did from you know from all these expeditions to um to basically work in the the corporate world coaching specifically um CEOs and leadership teams um and using the outdoors as a as a medium for that so um I'm kind of you know if I don't work on TV again then you know I'm fine with it. I've literally had a very good run. Good run yeah um yeah and um you know I'm kind of I'm I'm excited to see to see where it's going to go. You know I I had the same feeling when I left the Marines you know I felt lost and I felt sort of you know my identity was gone and it didn't take me long as soon as I started taking action and doing things instead of feeling like I was entitled to you know something as soon as I started getting on with it then then that's really what um what I suppose gives me the motivation to sort of push into something else.
SPEAKER_03:It is really tough. I mean again just to give people a a sense of it like you've got really high-end directors that have done like you know David Attenborough stuff or like you know the highest things that people can imagine. They're not working.
SPEAKER_01:They're having to find people are finding different they're driving delivery vans in Bristol you know the people that have been making Blue Planet and Planet Earth and all these other big BBC productions are working in shops in town driving Amazon vans are working for the post office you know just while things sort themselves out. I mean it's a it's a dire situation really for the industry. But you know change happens you know it's it's just another we were lucky enough to be in there when it was super busy and you know it's it's just changing and we you know you either adapt or you die. You know that's that's the principle right there and you can wait and you know you sort of be expectant for something to happen but it's it's unlikely and you know you may as well row out to your uh row out to the rescue boat than sat waiting for it.
SPEAKER_03:Um so just reflecting back on your entire career and you said you've got two young sons now when they're old enough like what is the sort of like single piece of advice that you're going to impart on them about all the stuff that you've learned kind of across your career that's a good one.
SPEAKER_01:Um I'd probably say that you become what you think about which sounds kind of basic but whether you're thinking about something productively or whether it's a fear that's in the back of your head that you're subconsciously thinking about it kind of always becomes your reality because you're focused on it. So if you can channel that focus into something that you're passionate about and that you're curious about um then you'll find that you you you kind of you will always be successful. I would say the biggest problem that we have especially now with the young ones is that they've had everything very quickly high speed internet social media smartphones it means it means that there is no waiting or no hard work required to get something so I've I I think you know with that you become what you think about but also it it won't be hard to excel in the future if you find something you're passionate about and if you do the hard work if you spend time becoming a you know a a specialist in that subject so yeah that's probably it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah absolutely um it's a very interesting I always ask guests a piece of advice for anyone wanting to follow in your footsteps but given that um you know our industry's in a big change I mean what kind of very briefly would you advise to people who wanted to sort of do what you do because I'm sure you get asked all the time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah I mean uh the the industry is changing um and if you're sort of old and bold like us in it you know pivoting might be you know difficult or impossible for some people that have been doing it for much longer than us. But you know the thing to remember is that the attention commodity is probably the number one commodity on earth that people are trying to capture right now. There is more money than has ever been available before. Yes it's not going into mainstream TV uh the way that it did before but it's going somewhere and people are watching more content than they have ever watched before um so so really it's you know the the new system the new world order is is democratized TV um you know it's no longer the the sort of hallowed halls of someone with a double or triple barreled name that's you know making obscure stories about you know in far off places yeah anyone with a camera with a GoPro with a you know an Osmo or or a phone even who's passionate about a subject can go and film it and get it on YouTube and have millions of people watch it and television struggles now mainstream TV struggles to get millions of people to watch something um you know and that's that's part of the problem whereas you know so the positive side of it is is there's more money than ever before you just need to find a way of tapping it um and people are watching more content than ever before so you literally need to find it what it is that you're passionate about and just saying that you want to be a YouTuber or be famous isn't that's that's extrinsic you know you need to find something that you're curious and passionate about that will drive you on to be successful at you know finding that subject that you want to film and share with the world awesome I think that's great.
SPEAKER_03:Aldo that's I think it's a perfect place to leave it. I always love at the end just to offer guests a chance to plug kind of what they got going on where they can find you you know books or services what what uh what have you got going on?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah um people can find me at Aldo Kane A-L-D-O-K-A-N-E on all the social media gubbins um and I do have a book out called Lessons from the Edge which is you know I suppose inspirational tales from all of the the filming trips that I've done but with clear takeaway that people can you know get stuck into and action on a daily basis that's really good and um obviously the last thing is that um obviously find you on your shows you know the um Wild Ones and Apple uh Ocean Explorers on Nat Geo Disney Plus um Welcome to oh you were welcome to Earth as well yeah so Welcome to Earth is on Disney Nat Geo and um Alex Hornald's Arctic Ascent Arctic Ascent uh that's on um Disney and Nat Geo um yeah I think that's probably it for recent stuff.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah absolutely go check him out fantastic Aldo listen dude it's been absolutely awesome having you on the show and having this uh conversation thank you mate I appreciate that and uh hope the the um listeners get something out of it awesome all right take it easy and that's a wrap on this week's episode a huge thanks again to Aldo for coming on the show I had such a blast reliving that volcano experience it's honestly going to be so hard to top that one. And of course a big thanks to you all for listening as well. If you'd like to learn more about Aldo's work, his expeditions, his book or the projects that we mentioned in this episode, you'll find all the links in the show notes and over at Noordinarymonday.com. And as always you can find extra clips and visuals from this episode across our socials. We're on Instagram, LinkedIn and of course the No Ordinary Monday podcast community over on Facebook where you can join the conversation, ask questions, we've got polls, share reflections on the episode and more. Next week on the show I am joined by Ben Stein. Ben's story starts in documentary filmmaking but it winds its way through television and tech, product management and eventually into coaching and personal transformation. We talk about drifting through your 20s, numbing discomfort instead of addressing it, and the moment where avoiding risk actually becomes more dangerous than taking it. So make sure you're subscribed or following the show wherever you listen or watch. Now if you enjoyed today's episode there are four simple ways that you can support the show. Number one, click five stars on this episode or on the show on your podcast app. Number two, leave a short review. Number three, share the episode with a friend, family member or maybe a colleague and then number four, support the show at buymeacoffee.com slash no ordinary monday. Any one of these things helps us keep the lights on, avoid adverts and generally just keeps us bringing you amazing guests and stories week after week. And that's it for this week's episode. This podcast is independently produced hosted and edited by me Chris Barron. Thank you so much for listening. Take care and we'll see you next Monday
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