#330. Dangerous SAS Legend & Special Forces Selection - Ollie Ollerton

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1:46Initially I went off to Northern Ireland. I wanted to be at war and that's why I joined. Were you buzzing to get there? Yeah. Absolutely fired up. As soon as I come back from Northern Ireland, we then got recalled to go out to Iraq, the first Iraq war. I wanted more of that. I wanted to be there. I wanted to be at danger every single day. But I realized in that moment that the war that I'd been looking for was in here. Internal, yeah. It wasn't out there. And then I ended up back in Iraq. I went there as a contractor. I'm living in Saddam Hussein's villas. It was just mayhem, you know. And I was in a shootout with a militia on the highway at 110 k's an hour.

2:21And I had my arm crossed here, the window up. I had an MP5 Kurtz on my lap. Popped it straight up here. and just straight through my closed window into the vehicle. And this firefight that I'd been dreaming of, this battle, it happened. And it was the worst experience of my life.

2:38Ollie Ollerton: Let's roll all the way back. What's been your most dangerous mission that you've ever been on? My most dangerous mission, you know what? It wasn't in the Special Forces. It was when I was 10 years old. And that is my first memory of life on this planet when I was attacked by a fully grown chimpanzee at the circus that was ripping me to bits. I live in a place called Burn-on-Trent in Staffordshire. And this particular day we were, it was a beautiful hot summer's day. We were at this big top, went to the first bloke. We saw this massive big bloke setting up with a big hammer and he's, you know, knocking in the pegs.

3:11Can we have a look around? He's like, lads, help yourself. We're just setting up. It's 1980. You've got no health and safety or anything. It's brilliant. You can walk around a circus with wild animals. Perfect. So anyway, went into the big top. didn't see anything that really excited me i was with my brother and his best mates three of us and then i was drawn to this crack in the side of the canvas don't know why i was just inquisitive we all are at that age got to the crack in the canvas and i just pulled it to one side the sunlight hit me straight in the eyes for a second blurred my vision but as soon as that cleared i saw something in front of me that was far better than anything i'd seen ever it was a baby chimp now for me i was absolutely infatuated with tarzan at that age yeah you know i've actually watched it that morning yeah that came a bit later and uh for me to see that chimp there in front of me it was like a little piece of hollywood you know i mean it was like a woman seeing tom hardy naked on the grass nothing sexual by the way but you get the you get the idea yeah but i was drawn to this creature i was like whoa i was brought up with cats and dogs but this was a real live baby chimp in this open expanse although it was enclosed with trailers and tents and everything else and I made my way over, cautious obviously and then as I got to it I stood over it, wasn't much bigger than it, I was only 10 years old and this beautiful little creature looked up at me with these big massive brown eyes and for a moment, sounds really weird but there was this stillness this serenity, this we were transfixed, the both of us he was probably looking at me thinking I was dad but anyway it was this moment, I can't even described this stillness time stood still and then all of a sudden the chimp looked down to the floor and started picking something from the floor started passing me whatever it was i was like i realized it was food this thing was now feeding me and i was like this baby david attenborough in this moment that was just unbelievable and we're going through the motions you know i wasn't going to eat that shit because it's disgusting right but i didn't want to break the serenity of the moment so i was just letting the uh you know the food go down the side of my face and just thrown it over my shoulder.

5:13It was just incredible again, again, again. But then almost that serenity was broken as severe as a fighter jet cutting through the sky as I heard this roar that I'll never forget to the day I die. And in the background, in the shadows underneath the trailer, that roar was something moving under there. That shadow quickly became mummy or daddy that was clearly not happy that I was a threat to its young and was coming at me at Mac 10, 50 kilograms worth of chimp. I didn't get a chance to wear it, but it was fucking big. And it's heading to me. I'm like a deer in the headlights, not knowing what the fuck to do.

5:49And all of a sudden, at the moment I thought I need to get out of here. This thing pounced through the air. It must've been about 24. Straight over the chimp in front of me. The blue sky turned to black as this thing landed, pinned me to the floor, landed on my chest. And that's when the first fist came down, smashed the shit out of me. I can remember that moment because I can remember I had nothing left. Nothing. I hadn't been hit like that in my life ever. and then came this barrage of fists coming down smashing down i was trying to protect myself and then i could start to feel the the flesh on my arms being ripped off and this thing was obviously just attacking me just going in this frenzied attack and i can remember looking through the cracks in my hands and seeing the blood from this chimp's teeth and everything it was a moment of mayhem where i just thought i'm going to die i'm going to die and i just wanted to curl down and just wrap up and hope for the best.

6:37But then something happened, something monumental. And that was, I went to a place that never knew existed. I went into this inner potential that I'd never experienced before. And this message that said, you don't die today. And in that moment, it gave me enough courage to retaliate. I retaliated. I managed to dislodge the chimp, knock it to the floor. And that's when I got my knee up to my chest and smashed out as hard as I could into this chimp chest, knocked it again further down. It was my moment of escape. and I was scurrying across the floor backwards in a mess. And I realized it was pointless.

7:08This thing was rising to its feet. It was angrier than ever. I'd upped the ante and this thing was coming up and being on the final attack. And I just lay there waiting for this to happen. And it got about an inch before the chain caught it. And if it wasn't for that chain, I won't be here today, which my fucking ex-wife would be elated. But the chain was there and I am here today. And that story was the first moment in my life and the scariest moment of my life to that point. And going back to your question, or before we cover that, I'd like to say in that moment, I didn't give myself a debrief on the ground at the time.

7:42You know, hindsight's a wonderful thing, but it didn't win any wars, but it's great for reflection. I'm still unpicking stuff of the past to really pave the way for the future. But I do look at this in a positive light. I learned three things from this experience. First of all, this was Breakpoint. This was why my business is called Breakpoint. Breakpoint is the moment you step into short-term discomfort for long-term gain. Short-term discomfort was fighting a 50 kilogram chimp. The long-term gain of that was the fact I'm here to tell the story today. Secondly, it taught me that regardless of where you are, what's happening to you in life, you always have a choice.

8:18You always have a choice. You've just got to keep mending, keep moving, no matter how small those steps are. Inches, millimeters, whatever it might be, seconds, milliseconds, just keep on moving. the pain will be temporary as long as you keep on moving forward and then thirdly it was that stepping into that infinite potential i'll call it that then would help me get through special forces selection twice and then also from the brink of i'm not going to say that word because i don't want to but at a moment in my life when i thought it was time to end it you know i mean so it was in that moment when i heard messages again saying it doesn't end like this yeah but But it was that inner potential that really uncovered something in me to know we have got far more in the tank than we're led to believe.

9:03Powerful story. I grew up with a pet monkey. No way.

9:06Ollie Ollerton: Yeah, in the 80s. I hope it wasn't that one. No, in the 80s. We lived above a pub. We lived above a pub and we had an old man loved animals. We had two Alsatians and a Doberman. We had budgie regards flying around. We had a cockatoo, a big cockatoo bird. There was a squirt. I'm forever blowing bubbles. I'm forever blowing. We're all West Ham fans. And we had a pet monkey. You're a sister? No, mate. Is your dad Dr. Doolittle or what? Mate, he thought he was. We had a pet monkey as a pet. No way. Little spider monkey. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Beautiful. I love monkeys, mate. Unbelievable. Spider monkey, squirrel monkey.

9:37Ollie Ollerton: Yeah, squirrel monkey. I think it was a squirrel monkey. Yeah. Mitzi, his name was. Yeah, nice, mate. Unreal, just jumping on your shoulder, running around. Amazing. Amazing. Anyway, what's your second most dangerous mission you've been on then? Well, let's talk about the Special Forces. Yeah. Because I actually, you know, looking back now. How long were you in the Special Forces for? for six years. I was in the Royal Marines for five years before that. 11 years total. Yes. But the thing is, from that experience as a kid, right, and I've unpicked like this time and time again and gone through.

10:07I've done ayahuasca to uncover stuff and everything. Yeah, yeah. Go into that. I met the chimp again. Love off it, you did. Yeah, yeah. And that was, that's an interesting one we'll cover. But, so I joined, right, because I was looking for this fight. After that 10-year-old experience, I was looking for this battle, this something that was going to make me happy, make me feel satisfied. So as soon as I got to that ripe old age of about 14, I was like, what am I going to do? And I was so infatuated with the military. I was like that danger, that, you know, being on death's door and, you know, knocking on it and being at the edge of that.

10:40Ollie Ollerton: Yeah. That adrenaline, you know what I mean? That real adrenaline. That's what I wanted. I wanted that so, so much. So I looked for the hardest military unit. The powers will hate me saying that was the Royal Marines. And, you know, that's where I headed. and although I couldn't actually do that initially because that experience, I'm blaming a lot on the chimp, by the way. That experience, yeah, yeah. I got into a lot of trouble with the police and crazy stuff. Well, before you went into the military? Before I went into the military, I went off the rails a bit of time. Like what? Give me a couple of times.

11:08Well, I was, I had a sawn-off shotgun. Yeah. I was causing mayhem with that. To be honest, it sounds severe. Yeah. And it, you know, it could have been severe, but it wasn't. But I had a sawn-off shotgun. It wasn't sawn-off when it got to me, but I got it in a vice and shot the end off. police said they did a really good job but um yeah i just i was just causing mayhem absolute

11:28Ollie Ollerton: mayhem what a nuisance to local people or just a nuisance to the lads around you or just just a nuisance to everyone you know i mean i was in my local area i was going out at night with a shotgun hunting think i just watched rambo fucking hell you know i mean that didn't do me any good i had like a bandolier across here i had a big massive knife i was 14 years old with this sawn off flames came out the end it was brilliant um but uh yeah it could have been a lot worse it could have been quite severe but um luckily i got caught and uh you know i came close and i went on remand for a small amount of time before i went to court i skimmed a custodial sentence i don't know how that happened but i didn't get a custodial sentence um and had two years conditional discharge the bottom line is the fact if i'd have joined at 16 the raw marines i'd have had to take the record into the military yeah okay so it was a choice like do you want to do that or do you want to wait till you're 18 then you don't have to take your criminal record in so i made the choice not to go till i was 18 is that the only anything else on a criminal record is that the only thing that was that was it i mean there was there was stealing and all kinds of stuff motorbike all kinds loads of bits and bobs it was just like a ridiculous i was waiting to be stopped someone had to grab me and stop me you know i mean slow you down slow me down and uh it was energy at the end of the day you know i had all this pent-up energy i was like like this coiled spring my mom and my dad were splitting up my mom's focus was all around her life and you know i was the one at the bottom of the pile the the the youngest out of the lot who just went off that that energy needs challenging it does in everyone you know i mean to be honest i know it sounds bizarre but i didn't even know i was actually doing anything wrong and that sounds crazy but well it's the norm yeah it's the environment you're in it's the norm yeah exactly exactly so anyway i did that then I actually joined the Royal Marines and I was looking for that war.

13:16I wanted to be at war every single day. And that's where I was going to find it, right? The Royal Marines. But initially I went off to Northern Ireland and there was some dodgy times then. It's a real grow up. How old were you? I was 18, 18 years old. It is young. You're not even a man at 18. I can't believe people joined at 16. I know, but you look back. Yeah. No. But you think you're a man, don't you? You know what I mean? You think you're no better. You think you're no better. But really you just. What were you doing in Northern Ireland? We were at Besbrook Mill. So basically we were on a QRF, quick reaction force.

13:45And, you know, when anything happened in that region, South Amar, we would be on the helicopters out to it as quickly as possible. So I can remember the first night we got there and there's a big price on the Royal Marines, on the heads, you know, and also the Paris. So if you wear a green beret or a red beret, there's a higher price on getting a kill for the enemy. So as soon as we got out there, they got the dates kind of mixed up. Bless the Irish.

14:15And luckily, but unluckily for the Coldstream guards, they had sent a 500-pound truck bomb into one of the checkpoints. I think they strapped a guy into the seat of this thing, said, we'll kill your family unless you drive it into the checkpoint. 500-pound bomb, massive mayhem, straight on the helicopters out there, and it was just mayhem. You know, there's like, I can always remember on the ground, and there was like a guy who'd been to Northern Ireland a few times who kicked something on the floor and said, look, we've got to see if we can find any more of these. And you're like, you know, you're a young lad.

14:49You don't know what's going on. This is your first experience. This was not in the brochure. Yeah. When I looked in the fucking brochure, it was a picture of a lad on the beach in the Bahamas. He was on a windsurf. His beautiful essence girlfriend. Blondaire was on the beach looking at him like fucking goggly eyes. You know what I mean? He's on R &R doing this shit. That wasn't in the brochure. You know what I mean? You know, I was like, ah, I love that. You get chicks and you get to windsurf and shit like that. And you look cool in that uniform. You know what I mean? But here, the reality of war, you fucking sat there and you start to grow very quickly, mature very quickly.

15:22And that thingy kicks on the floor was actually a head in a helmet. You know, someone, body parts everywhere. And it was just mayhem. And it was just like, that was the start of the tour. How long was that tour for? Six months. Okay. Six months. So that's your initiation to war. And people call it a conflict. and I call it, when people are shooting at me, I call it a war. Okay. You know what I mean? Not a conflict, it's a war. People are trying to kill you. It's a war, isn't it? How do you react? How are the Irish reacting to you and how are you personally reacting back? Well, to be honest, I mean, we're an aggressive force.

15:55You know what I mean? That obviously, someone on the ground wants to kill you. You're going to do whatever you can to get the shots in first or second, following the Geneva Convention, obviously. But, you know, you're on the ground, you're a court-wantiped and you're waiting for stuff to kick off you know you're meeting you know no you've got a hit list of people that you you know are known terrorists you're meeting them on a daily basis there's you know it's it's high pressured stressful and it's yeah it's a volatile environment so you know this what i did realize so something happened to me on the ground that day on one day that was out i can remember the particular day and i don't know why it happened And it was like this epiphany again for me.

16:35And I was like on the ground, I was watching one of the lads going across the open ground. And we were given these missions every day to go on, you know, every day, go and do this. You go and check this area out here. We think there's probably a bomb hidden in the drawer. What, there's terrorist activity down there. And we're given these jobs. And for some reason, I don't know, no one told me, I just thought, this is bullshit. This is like, there are no missions per se, or there might've been missions. It hums on the ground and everything else. But we were bait. I started thinking, we're not on a mission.

17:08We're bait. You know, because as soon as something kicks off, if there's no activity, there's no intelligence. But when there's activity, you know, that's when, in the heat of that, that's where they gather the intelligence. And I just realized we're bait for that to happen. And it made me realize in that moment that, you know, although the Royal Marines were quite high, you know, high regard in the military, I thought we're just cannon fodder. and that's really you know that i think whether whether that was the sort of seed for me to start

17:36Ollie Ollerton: losing interest or the seed for me to think push on i'm going up okay well what was the point when you were like okay royal marines there for what five years was it royal marines five years five years what was the point after year one two three four five said you know what i want to go for sbs special boat service and i want to be part of the special forces when did that trigger well you know what's interesting for me because the first two years of me being in i was enthusiastic wanted to join the SBS. I can remember when I first went to the careers office, right, when I was 16 years old and I was there with my mum.

18:06She spent most weekends or went there on a regular basis because I was so keen to get in. And I can remember her saying to me, she said, so if you did get into the Royal Marines, what do you want to do then? And I'd had the brochure, you know, the next page on from the windsurfing, the nice blonde chick was I opened the center pages and there was this mini sub in this open ocean and there was this fucking hard as fuck combat swimmer going up to it and i opened it i went i want that yeah and she she looked up and she laughed she said everyone wants that and that was almost like a red flag to a ball to me you know i mean so i joined with that i want i want that you know it was although it wasn't a conscious thought it was a subconscious plant that she you know she because people telling me i can't do something that gives me all the fire to do it not so much these days but definitely back then when i'm driven by ego and everything else so really um first two years mega keen i came away from that experience as soon as i come back from northern ireland with them got recalled to go out to iraq the first iraq war desert storm although it's kind of like the aftermath that was in two that was in 1999 okay yeah 99 um and we went out to that again you know it was on the brim I was so pumped up to get there you know in this fucking the battle's gonna happen were you buzzing to get there yeah absolutely fired up and you know I can always remember that first time we were gonna step we were gonna go into this village to like and it was a high chance it's the first time ever we're like I was on the just on the edge of going in we're like and they started doing medical I'm like I think fucking hell you know what I mean I didn't join to be a fucking nurse I wanted to go and fucking shoot people so anyway but the fact they were doing that made it really real you know putting in drips you know and all that stuff before we went in it was like that was nerve-wracking mate it didn't actually kick off again which is the story of my military career but it was that moment where it was like again it was like fucking hell i could die here yeah you know i mean so that happened um the point i'm trying to make though coming back to your question is the fact i came back from there came back from iraq i wanted more of that i wanted to be there i wanted to be at danger every single day.

20:18I wasn't good at being this shiny boot fucking soldier on the ground in camp. I did, I had the shiny boots and everything, but that to me was boring as anything. I wanted to beat war and that's why I joined. And a lot of people joined for that reason. You know, you wouldn't join the Royal Marines or any other fighting union otherwise. So anyway, I became disillusioned. I lost all interest, got distracted, and I just wanted to leave. So I then spent another three years kind of doing not real soldiering, doing sort of B-class duties kind of thing down at Poole. It's the first time I went down to Poole.

20:54Ollie Ollerton: When did you move down to Poole after year three of your... Yeah, it's year three. It's year three, but they sent me down there because they were like, I know you want to join the special forces, you know, you may as well go down, get on the ground, do your training and put them for selection. I got down there and I thought, I don't want to do anything. I started partying down in Bournemouth. It was brilliant. As you did. Great times, wasn't it? Early 2000. Make the best. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. So I got into that world. Were you single all the time? Yes. Oh, no. I was when I was down in Poole.

21:21For that period, honestly, the ex-missives don't look at that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's all. She's an ex now. So anyway, I got down there and I was like, I just want to be a civvy. I want to, I don't. Oh, really? Yeah. This whole conflict about being in the military, I was just so disillusioned with it all. And I was like, this whole dream about being in the special forces was gone. And then just as I had my noticing to leave and I was waiting for that TX date to leave, my brother then joined the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot, as an officer. He was down at Dartmouth. Yeah. And I can remember I went to his pass out parade.

21:59and funnily enough i went to the pass out parade and my officer that i served with in northern ireland and in iraq his girlfriend was also in the same batch as my brothers okay as my brother okay and i bumped into him i was like no way you're blah chat chat chat and he's like what you're doing i said well to be honest boss i'm leaving i've got no interest and he was like I was shocked because he was shocked because I was like, I can't understand this, why he's so, you know, he couldn't understand that because I'd lost all interest as a soldier, but he was like, mate, I thought you wanted to go for the special forces.

22:36And the words he said to me, Dodge, are the reason my life changed. And those words were, Ollie, if you don't go for the special forces, you'll regret that for the rest of your life. And the second thing he says, which was something that really did shock me, was I believe you've got what it takes to pass the special forces selection. I didn't believe. I had no faith in myself. Nothing. I think it was really because I built up such an image of me doing special forces, this, that, and the other. That had all fallen apart and I lacked then confidence and self-worth. And I didn't have the belief to go and do that selection.

23:17but I respected that man so much and the words he said to me that I borrowed confidence and belief off him wonderful what's his name? his name is Bagsy Baker amazing yeah yeah is he still with us? yeah yeah he's actually he actually came to see me not a few years ago did he? yeah it was amazing it was amazing he's actually I'm not sure if he's still there but he works for a bank in Papua New Guinea security wise and stuff so yeah amazing bloke but because I respected him so much I felt I had a duty to go and do this also those words in my head you'll regret that for the rest of your life you know i mean that was echoing no no exactly knowing that no because i meet so many people that oh wish i'd done this anyway the bottom line was and i want to make a point in saying this because everyone out there social media all this stuff you know it's all oh you must have belief you must have belief if you're waiting for belief you'll be waiting for the rest of your life you don't need belief you need a passion about the outcome you need to have that vision with clarity about the outcome and sometimes when you don't have belief you just got to lean in anyway and you'll grow into belief and i turned up first air selection uh back in 1993 selection selection 93 yeah okay yeah 1993 when i first did selection uh which was the first combined it wasn't combined sorry the sbs used to do their selection and then the sas used to do theirs we used to merge for the jungle and then merge on the escape and event you merged back then did you yeah we merged for the jungle but okay we sorry sorry the first time i did the selection in 1993 it was sbs only yeah so you did your selection down at pool and then you went to the jungle and merged for the jungle came away from that and then you did the selection uh with pool and then you merged again for various modules throughout especially the combat and survival the last thing so the first one i'm listen when i when i went through that honestly it was absolutely the sbs selection i'm not taking away anything from anyone but it was hideous mate and the fact you had no idea what was coming next the total sleep deprivation and everything it was just like nothing i'd ever experienced before so anyway i went through that past which was incredible for me i was like for someone that didn't believe in themselves like self-worth and it was incredible but what did you have i i had the inner grit the strength and i had that knowledge that we have far more than we're led to believe and this was a thing for me you know because all the time i'm thinking who the fuck is that in there yeah telling me i can't do this when i can when i clearly have got something and all the other people super fit mentally fit were you getting stronger i was getting stronger and stronger as i went along you know but i was mentally fit you know you have to be mentally fit you can't do that without that you know i mean it's it always starts here but anyway so i got through that and i got through to the end we we did there we um went out to the jungle merged with the sas brunei it's

26:07Ollie Ollerton: Was that more brutal than doing down in pool, which was tougher? No. The pool was, I mean, the jungle was tough. Yeah. Because at the end of the day, you know, the environment is trying to kill you. Yes. You know what I mean? And that in itself, and the personal admin, then you've got to apply your soldiering skills on top of that. So mentally, you know, it is, when it comes to the jungle, it's mentally draining because you have to focus on, it's physical and mental, Whereas the start of every selection is just really, it's really physical. They're making sure you've got the physical robustness to be able to get through, you know, the hardest things in life.

26:44And that is a pure test. But when you go to the jungle, you start really engaging the mind on top of that because you've got so much to square away. You've got so much to think about. And then the final bit was then the escape and invasion across the mountains in Wales. And, you know, by this time, the names are on the lockers down at Poole. you know you're pretty much badged you just got to get through that final hurdle so anyway i went down there and it's the cold it was pretty it was it was pretty cold and brecon beacons the brecon beacons yeah you're in world war one fatigues you've got pretty much nothing boots no socks you know it's hideous um and the thing is it's like you know there's three rules no civilian contact no vehicles and no buildings you know you've got to move at night sleep in the day you don't sleep in the day and you've got minimal amount of food every time you get to a checkpoint and it's it's it's horrendous now and what what people are chasing you while people are chasing the whole like battalion of men you know helicopters dogs yeah yeah yeah

27:44Ollie Ollerton: it's it's full on so what have you got to do then you've got to stay out of the way you've got to hide and get to the checkpoint you've got you've got to get to meet you you're simulating capture behind enemy lines so you've got to get your way uh to across enemy lines back into safety that's the simulation you know so every night you've got a certain amount of distance to cover you've got a small button compass you're using the stars you know to navigate it's hideous and then you've got the dog you can hear the dogs in the background you've got search lights helicopters everything you know it's it's full on um and you know a lot of people say well it's just an exercise you are absolutely fucked you know i mean you are at your lowest you're tired you're hungry and the fact of the matter is you could fail yeah you know i mean so the last hurdle the last hurdle oh mate so anyway so doing after doing the pool and doing the brunei you then coming back home to do that as the last the last hurdle yeah so there's a lot of pressure and then you find what finally happens when you've done all that you actually uh then get go into what's known as the bag everyone's seen that on tv i'm not letting any secrets out the back here so you've got the hoods on interrogation simulate simulating capture yeah um and before i got to that stage um we broke every rule that was applied so everyone does and you call it initiative right and this is the beauty of the special forces just get the fucking job done you know i mean however you have to do it just get the job done um so anyway the majority of people cheat call it cheat i call it initiative yeah um but you know we ended up going to this farmhouse um first of all it was just going to the barn and then we're like next thing we could hear the fucking roast being cooked we could smell it sorry we could smell this pork you know like the old bistro is going to crush your nose isn't there oh you know at that moment in time i was laid there and me and me had this weirdly sexual looking thing going on because we had each other's feet under our armpits trying to warm my feet up it was that cold and then you got the bistro coming in you're like next me like fuck it let's get to the house went down there she like because the welsh are brilliant they like the resistance they know that it's going on so they buy they stock up on everything waiting for that door to knock and they let the lads in and feed them all and it's brilliant uh so we went in there lay by the fire massive open fire got fed and everything it was just brilliant and then it came to to actually leaving and going back on the on on the run we're like, you know, you leave it to the very last minute.

30:11You know, it's like, anyway, the farm owner who we met initially and not seen all day came bursting through the door, shit face, fell through the door. And he's like, lads, just jump in my car. I'll fucking take you to the next door. We're like, we are not going in the vehicles. Fuck it. Let's get in the vehicles. You're not driving. Yeah. You're not driving. So anyway, we jump in the back of this vehicle. There's about six lads in there. and there's the Glenn and his farmhand who's driving. Anyway, we get to this checkpoint area. You can see the helicopters, everything looking around and we're not far from the checkpoint and we're on this slant like this and we can't get out the back.

30:49We're like trying to kick the back doors of this van open. We're like, he's like, I'll help you lads. And all you heard was this door open. Then you hear this, smash. What the fuck? Anyway, bang, smash the doors open, get out the vehicle, run into the woods. Fucking hell. Anyway, we go off. we go down to the checkpoint the next day, meet the, go to meet the agent. And the agent is always someone you've not seen before. Simulate being behind, you know, being behind enemy lines. And it's the DS, you know, the instructors are like that. You lot with us. We're like, fuck. So anyway, we then get field interrogation.

31:23It's like, right, where the fuck have you been for the last 24 hours? You know, doing the old escape and evasion stuff. So fuck off. So you don't know Glenn. He named the fucking dog, the cat, the wife, everything. And he said, if you don't tell us, there's going to be fucking consequences. And you're like, oh shit. All right. Yeah, we did. Right. You're off the fucking course. Finished. That's it. Gone. It's like two days. It's two days till we've badged. So anyway, that was it. Well, you got kicked off completely. Yeah. Selection finished all over. All over. And what had happened, what had happened, it's like the farmer Glenn got out of the vehicle, went onto this slanted road, fell over, smashed his head, gone to hospital and told the police that he'd been beaten up by the SAS.

32:07Oh, mate. But anyway, I don't blame you because it created a few chapters in that book.

32:12Ollie Ollerton: Yeah, yeah. And that book is Breakpoint, everyone. Go and check it out. I've heard amazing stuff about this book, by the way. Oh, good. Yeah, amazing stuff. Yeah, nice. Congratulations. Yeah, thank you, mate. Congratulations. What number book is that for you? Well, I've done six books. You've done six books? Six books, yes. Yes, that was the very first Times bestseller. Yeah. Then I did Battle Ready, which came in number two Times bestseller. So this is the bestseller? That's the bestseller. Okay. Yeah, that's the story. That paints the picture of who I am. Yeah. Then we went into Battle Ready, which was the period I'll talk about in a bit, which was the, it's more of a call to action.

32:52But that laid the foundation for me to have the credibility as a mentor to be able to stand up and say, this is the passion you should follow. And then I did two fiction books. Yeah. uh scar tissue all or nothing which was although it was fiction it was based on the framework of my life with a lot of elaboration on top of it and then i did how to survive almost anything but before we did any of these books we did the joint one for the lads on sas so the sas who does win yeah sas who does win so me actually colin at the time not billy me colin ant and foxy did a joint book brilliant cool yeah so six six total so who are you serving with them you serve them with foxy yeah so with foxy for stas oh no no no no i'm fucking like stas's dad yeah yeah but no i the only connection and really the connection i have with with foxy and when i was when i was uh in the sbs me and foxy were like how old are you today i'm 55 and foxy must be late 40s yes no he's foxes just hit 50 the bullseye yeah yeah yeah yeah so uh when i was in foxy was a he was a supporting rank to the sbs so he was in in the comms sort of area and it was shortly after i left then foxy went forward for selection and his story began how many months was that now well you're talking with the well it was sixth month of the course and this is the second to last day yeah yeah that was the hardest moment of my life to actually get the resilience or or the uh the mental sort of motivation to come back and do it all again how long was it until you six months you had to wait another six months before you can come again yeah six months so i went back to four five commando which is the place i initially escaped to go to pool yeah which is the place that like i'm not it was it was quite brutal being up there in in scotland and itself quite remote um didn't particularly enjoy it greatly but i was back there you know i was back to to square one i was like do i leave do i leave and i was like i'm leaving this is it that was my chance and that's it so you were afterwards you're like i've had enough no no it was i was a crossroads okay i was like going so that's one place i can go and i thought hold on you got so close yeah and you only you know it's not like part of my body malfunctioned or my mental robustness went or whatever it was because of glenn getting shit faced and telling the police he'd been beaten up by the have you seen this glenn since no no i'd love to meet him i wonder what if you still have glenn if you're out there mate he won't be for fucking long no but um but no um so anyway the bottom line was i was at a crossroads yeah and it was because the fires or the embers of that fire was still burning and it was like again those echoing words if you don't do this you'll regret it for the rest of your life so you imagine that amplified by the fact knowing i could do it and then leaving the story didn't it couldn't end there so i went back on selection did all those other six lads seven lads come and do it again No, there's only one other that went back.

35:50Is that right? Yeah. There's only one other that went back and did it. There's only two of us. Next time I went back, it was the combined special forces selection. Okay.

35:58Ollie Ollerton: So SAS and SBS. Yeah, all together. Was that more fun? I wouldn't call it fun. But was it more camaraderie? Was it more like, we are one? No. Not back then. Was it like, we're still the SBS and we're the SBS? Yeah, yeah. No, it's very... How did you look at each other? Were you like, yeah, you're SS, we're SBS? Was there a bit of niggle? Say like back in the day, the Man United boys and the Liverpool boys went to an england training camp they should sit in there they should sit together yeah yeah for lunch or whatever was it like that right not so much on selection okay because at the end of the day you're all equals you know i mean you've all come from your different units and everything there was a little bit of uh the thing is with the raw marines we come from a tight unit anyway so what you usually find is the raw marines all know there's there's you'll know everyone you know or you'll know someone that knows someone you so you're already a tight group whereas the army lads they're from all aspects of the army you know you could get a chef you who get a mechanic.

36:47So they'd probably not even known each other. But the Royal Marines, we were like thick as thieves, you know what I mean? We were tired. So it caused a bit of friction in that respect because we were all tight and all close where the others were a bit fragmented. Yeah. Do you find it easier the second time? No, because it was new. It was the first time. It was the second time, but it was... A new version. It was a new version, but it was probably helped me that I'd been on it before. And I knew... It's like, look, look in business, right? Like someone that's made a million knows how to get back there.

37:17You know, and that's relative to that. I knew I'd done it. I knew I'd been there before. So it's almost like that confidence is such a massive part of that, isn't it? You know, so I knew I'd done it. And then going through that, but then after passing that Hills phase, and on that Hills phase, I can remember like four days in or something like that. It's a two-week Hills phase. It's brutal. Just break down briefly what Hills phase is. Hills phase is like across the Brecon Beacon. So you've got different weights on your back. You carry a weapon. like the first time is the penny van so it's across the penny van in a very short amount of time with weapon fighting order 35 pound thereabouts a kit boiling hot day when i did it um and you've got to do i think under four hours to the two which is about 24 kg so 20 what's that

37:58Ollie Ollerton: 20 kg on your back at 35 kg altogether if a kg is a 35 pounds okay yes but 24 kg at 24 uh k's yes um distance okay so you've got to go there turn around point come back it's brutal so 35 kg on your bike yeah that's a weight yeah it is a weight isn't it and you're doing 24 kilometers 24 kilometers yeah and under under four hours yeah it's hideous so and you lose a lot of people at that moment you lose loads of people you know that's the that is the the um that is the mechanics or that is how why it's engineered that way because you want to get rid of everyone who haven't got the mental of robustness i mean i saw people on there like they were waiting for that excuse you know as soon as they can get an excuse where they can go oh i've hurt my ankle a little bit that's it i'm off you know it's not you know i'm gonna have to come back another time and all this and what happened like a week into that i can't remember which number of march it was like and and the the ds knew me they were like holly's coming back on i did get some respect for the fact i was coming back you know some of the ds were very pro me being there and i can remember i was coming down on this march it was the final bit i was screaming in i had quite a heavy bergen on i think it was like 45 pound that day or whatever it was of kit um and as i was coming down the slate track to the finish at the bottom my ankle went over and it honestly dodged it went a full 45 degrees i could actually feel the tendons yeah fucking stretching snapping whatever and i got down to the bottom went straight to the med uh truck because i was hanging out you know it's like hobbling along they took the boot off and the ankle just went and i can remember seeing the ds one of the sbs guys uh walking past and i saw him do this he went gone to the other ds you know i mean saying allerton gone he's gone i was like no fucking way no chance and then that night the training officer had me in because i'd not gone up and said i'm off i was like give me a load of brufin i'm going to strap it up i'm going to go and the training officer had me in that night he says i want you off the course i want you to come off on a medical withdrawal which means you can come back again bearing in mind i've done it already once and he says if you don't do that and you fail because you've got an injury you'll never be able to come back again and i said no never i'm not it's either now or never i said i'm going to strap it up i'm going to do whatever and it almost got heated and in the end he went you're going to fail just just go you know i've tried my best anyway the next day i did exactly that i strapped it so much strapping on it so much brufing in me i was like floating i was in tears and he was going across the elan valley with these baby's heads it's notorious say that game with baby's heads what they're called baby's heads it's like you know when you go across the the um marshland and stuff and you got like oh okay yeah they call them baby's heads um and basically i was going across there mate i was in tears i was literally in tears but i had this song in my head remember nina cherry go on seven seconds away i I don't know why.

40:54I can always remember that. Seven seconds away. Just going in my head. I was just distracting myself with that. And I made the checkpoints. And then each day as that went on, that ankle started to come a little bit right. You know, and I was like, anyway, bottom line is I got through. Got through and managed to get through to the end. Escape and evasion again. And cheated even more this time. But I got away with it. Got away with it. It's brilliant. It was brilliant. I was actually disguised at one point. And I can remember we were in this house, right? We got to this house. and uh we'd actually got condoms we put like wrapped up money inside of them and put it into a condom and all swallowed it so 20 pound notes yeah yeah yeah so anyway good to tell you yeah the uh nature had done its bit it all come out we were like 60 quid or whatever and we're like right we need to go and get some food yeah let's go and get some food so anyway we found this abandoned house that was being worked on we went in there and in there we found this workman's clothes so i took all my rig off put on these workers clothes that's this kawasaki chainsaw jacket on and these trousers and these boots.

41:54And off I went down to the local town, managed to get a lift down, hitchhike to lift down. I had all this money on me. And I go into this shop, right? Bearing in mind there's a hunter force on the ground looking for us. I go into this shop and I'm like, I've got fucking Mars Mars in there. Fucking big bag full of shit. And as I get to the counter and I'm paying for it, honestly, mate, this is the scene. You've got the windows there. I'm like that. And suddenly, fucking truck pulls up. Troop carrier with all the lads looking for us. So I've got these two fucking bags. full of food all shit in there i've got like a face like and they walk in you know hard as fuck with a cam cream on and all this shit and i was like all right boys walked straight past and walked out the shop and went up and managed to get back to the house i was like fucking hell that's a fucking nearly got caught i was down there anyway eating all this food next minute one of the lads goes fuck they're coming up the road so these lads are now patrolling all the weapons and everything coming up the road like a proper military patrol we're like shit so anyway the lads went up hit upstairs and the five or six of them there was five of them i was the sixth one and i went downstairs by this time the workers had turned up so i was outside putting stuff into the cement mixer like a laborer chucking it in as these lads came walking past those all right boys and they were like oh it's fucking brilliant yeah so uh yeah that was my second time when when you passed what was your first tour you went on when i first passed i was i passed in 94 by the time i got through the second selection i got through 94 and basically my tours were basically back to back i was on the counterterrorism maritime counterterrorism wing you know what the you know the year i got bit by the chimp was 1980 which is the same year that the sas stormed the iranian embassy that was like in my head i wanted that back that that to me was like that was the thing That was a big year for me, you know what I mean?

43:46The chimp and the SS, big year for me, 1980. So for me, dressed in black, that's how I envisaged being in the special forces, all in black with balaclavas and everything else. So I joined that troop straight away, which was, you know, all dressed in black. And it was all the maritime commitment, all the counterterrorism and everything else. And I was waiting for that moment. I was waiting for that moment to happen. now the stuff we did was more um on the narcotics based stuff so the jobs and we didn't do loads of jobs we did a few jobs um i can always remember that first time when we got the call to go in you know and it was always we had pages on us yeah sometimes you'd be called for an exercise and usually nothing would happen and sometimes you get called and you go in and nothing would happen and then this one time i was leaving uh leaving the camp it's friday evening i was looking forward to that weekend in bournemouth you know when you're going to the clubs and all that stuff just i was actually gonna i was djing at a party at this girl's house party so i was dj i was into my decks and all that this is the whole fucking um conflict of life between me and the sbs you know i mean i was like this party boy but um yeah and i was like gonna go around these uh girl's house i was going to be the dj there and everything else all of a sudden the page goes off and there's a code that comes up on the page when it's not an exercise and it was like a real code and i was like you're fucking kidding me i was like one side wanted to go to the party the other side wanted to go and do an operation and next thing we like back into camp next thing we're this this operation was different you know i mean it was different everything was happening like bang bang bang this was like where were you real well we called into camp and then we're just flown up to Anglesey in the Chinooks, giving a briefing, got on the ground, giving briefings about the ship coming in.

45:31And then long story short, I was then, you know, sometimes you go to a hangar and just wait and wait and wait and nothing happens. But this time, bang, it just rolled, rolled, rolled. And this was when the first time I went, fuck, I'm in the Special Forces. You know what I mean? So anyway, we went in, I was in the helicopter team. We had boats coming up from behind onto this boat. And I can remember on that helicopter, two minutes, like two minute call, your balaclavas come down, it's all red light in there you've got your weapon systems and everything you're ready to go fast ropes go out the helo um and i can remember looking down it was like going onto the like the rough seas it was only a small boat but this thing was going and basically the fast rope came down the fast rope means that you just use your fingers your hands to like is your friction you know you're not attached to anything it's just a way of getting the troops down onto the ground as quickly as possible and i can remember looking down you had to time it it's shit coming over if you hit the middle yeah if you hit the bridge mate it was horrendous you know i mean so this was like anyway we all did it all came down i can remember get down on the ground and then you all have your objectives to go to as was like going through getting through the the hold area um some lads went you know their objective was the bridge stopping the ship and taking down the enemy and i can remember getting down on the ground it was so funny mate because um we got on the ground now bearing in mind when you first two minutes in you put your balaclavas on right there's two types of balaclavas one where you wear it without the respirator yeah so it's close fitting and then there's another one that you have which is for the respirator so it's a bigger one quite baggy with big eye holes for the respirator so anyway it's funny we get down on the ground right we go through this fucking door smash through this door open up as soon as we open the door this fucking smell marijuana was it weed was it weed i like the place is covered 100 000 pound blocks of fucking weed.

47:20We're clambering, but as soon as we get in there, like this smell, and we're in there fucking anywhere, like lads, we're crawling across it. And then all of a sudden, one of the lads starts laughing, you know what I mean? And next to me, fuck it. It starts this fucking contagious laugh everywhere. And then the next thing, the fucking stripy, the sergeant in charge of us came flying through the door. He put on the wrong respirator cover. It was the one for the respirator. You know what I mean? So it had these big eye holes. His nose was through one of them and his eye was on the other. And as soon as we saw him, mate, we were fucking laughing our heads off.

47:53He was like, lads, get fucking serious. We were like, shit, put it together. But it was the weed, mate. He'd been there for fucking weeks. It was so pungent. You know what I mean? Did they come up with a price? What it was worth? Street value? Well, it was millions, mate. Each block was 100 grand. Was it? So it was a lot of money to open. So that was really the first way you went. And I can always remember after that, we took the shipping and everything. There was no rounds fired, but there was hostiles on board. And we took the ship and I can always remember that moment that the Chinooks came in, helicopters came in and we were in the boats.

48:28We went off from that ship onto the boats, handed the thing over to customs, went off on the boat. Chinooks came under, hooked onto the boats and lifted these off into the fucking sunrise. And oh mate, it was just like... And that was your first proper mission. That was my first proper mission. And then I phoned the girls up and said I can DJ at the park. Well, you come back to DJ at the park. quality it was brilliant my officer was actually at the party that is proper bond isn't it yeah yeah it was it was like it was it was amazing and like my my officer was actually there as well at the party yeah it was fucking great unreal so that was my first sort of intro to and that i just wanted that more and more but the thing is this was back in you know 94 stuff wasn't going on yeah you know not the stuff of recent days and things like that and that would be the recurring theme throughout my whole career really you know there was there was stuff bits and bobs we did there was you know a stansett airport you know when terrorist incident there what happened there well there was a terrorist incident we got called to it then got sort of negotiated out so again it was on the it was on the tip all the time is that more frustrating for you you're on the pager you're

49:35Ollie Ollerton: waiting because of all our friends who we know are all in yeah sbs and they're saying they're waiting on the pager and then if nothing happens it's so frustrating yeah or they're waiting on the pager they get to the mission waiting to open the doors to do something and it gets diffused yeah that must be more frustrating right oh absolutely you're just waiting for that go go go no you want to be tested you want to do the job that you were trained to do yeah you know i mean and when you're not and i think there was a lot where i look back at my career about you know that frustration of not actually finding the war i was looking for but i've got a different theory on that because the fact of the matter was and i would uncover this later when i sort of had my breakdown i call it a breakthrough it wasn't a breakdown um that i actually realized since that attack 10 years older i've been looking for this war i've been wanting to be in the forefront of mayhem battle and everything i was looking for this war and i went from the special forces to being a mercenary and all this stuff taking me all over the world doing some pretty dangerous shit yeah mercenary out in iraq so i mean you call it once you left once i left the special forces and i you know in the end it got to a point where I was like in the special forces I spent all my tours six years in there six years in there six years I did all my tours basically on the counter-terrorism wing a few bits and bobs here and there but not not the war that I wanted and the all you wanted was that more 2003 2000 yeah yeah so you'd left it I'd left in 2000 from 2000 and it just happened off yeah just happened how do you feel about that I wasn't bothered me because I was like I left I was like you're done to me I'm done you know it's like and for me like a big thing for me and the reason I like the money's shit yeah what was it like 40 grand it wasn't even that mate i was like 1500 pound a month it was ridiculous you know i mean pay such little i just didn't understand how people you know how can i pay for my champagne bill yeah and all the girls can i be a fucking bond guy you know i mean when i'm fucking borrowing money to buy a bottle of champagne yeah so um you know for that reason i was like there's more there's got to be more to life than this you know and for me is well it was like the fact that i got then to the special forces because the raw marines wasn't enough of me i wanted the special forces i thought that's where it's at i got to that and it wasn't there either but then i would find this to be a recurring pattern throughout my life i then got and you know ended up in you know i was always being dragged back into that world you know and that's the path of least resistance really isn't it you know it's like you know that's the thing i knew that's the how would you explain you yeah in the five years in the special forces a civilian looking in going ollie great guy but he's fucking mad careful how do you think people would explain you exactly like that yeah yeah no exactly in some respects you know but the thing is your view from your inner self is different to what you know your perception is very different to what people think so but really you know i dragged a fucking shitload of trauma into the into the military with me and i think a lot of lads do you know they want to do it because they they they want to feel like part of that tight unit they want that brotherhood and everything else but we're dragging in a lot of shit not everyone but i was definitely from that 10 year old boy and i realized when i did break down you know break through all i came crashing down it was not not a pretty moment by any stretch of the imagination but i realized in that moment that the war that i'd been looking for was in here internal yeah it it wasn't out there you know what i mean and this is what a lot of us are all doing through life we're looking for something out there that's really a reflection of what we are inside you know it's like the outside is a mirror of what's going on inside and that for me i realized in that moment that the work i had to do was here okay you know i mean so so that after after go bouncing around all over the place still looking for this thing that was going to be this external fix that was going to make me happy it wasn't there and it would take me to the point of absolute breakdown that i would actually realize that you know it was the gateway to my higher self i call it and that was my real break point in life but you know i left the military after 11 years said i was never going back to a war zone i tried to really you know reshape myself i wanted to get into sales i wanted to be in business or this and the other which is very difficult for all our friends who have been in the military to jump in to be an entrepreneur, run a business, very, very different.

53:51Ollie Ollerton: Yeah, yeah. Very, very different. Yeah. But you've got the skills there to become a successful entrepreneur or a business owner. The skills are there. They just need molding. Exactly. But the thing is though, Dodge, we think this is a lot of the problem with people is we end up becoming fixed. And once you label yourself, you limit yourself, don't you? You know, so you've got to look beyond the skill set that you've built and look at the fundamentals of the qualities, your characteristics. that's what you need to benchmark on because i came out the last thing i actually did i worked with the u.s navy seals to be a mini subpilot what the fuck that was going to help me without so i was going to do me i'm fucking disneyland is a fucking you know welcome on board guys so really you know you've got to look beyond the skill set yeah you know and that that's that's really the characteristics of who you are as a person the source code who you are is someone that's determined is someone that um you know has a great amount of mental robustness and determining good morals and all that kind of stuff but we look past that stuff a lot of the time thinking well you know where can i go and this is why so many lads end up on the circuit yeah you know i mean oh the circuit because that's what everyone else does circuit security around the world you know for me at that time it was going to iraq um was that the first time you how many times you've been to iraq before i went desert storm there's a storm as a raw marine okay so i went there and then i ended up back in iraq doing security doing security why because the money that was how much what was the difference between the money you were earning 1500 quid a month compared to going leaving the special forces to go right i'm going private yeah double mate i was on 15 grand a month jesus tax-free tax you're going for 1500 quid 15 grand a month yeah My God.

55:40Yeah. And it was a spin out because the last time I was in Iraq, I was like, you know, in the mountains and that, you know, we're doing all kinds of stuff. I was there because of Saddam Hussein. I went there as a contractor. I'm living in fucking Saddam Hussein's villas. You know, we rented his villas. We had his cars, Saddam Hussein's cars that we basically acquired. And we had a rental business, car rental business for armored vehicles. You know, it was just a fucking crazy world. oh, do you know, I'm in this villa. I can remember the first time we got there, right? I'm in this villa.

56:12Ollie Ollerton: It was Saddam Hussein's villa. Yeah. Well, it's his henchmen. He's always in everything. It was one of his villas. So we went in, we were working with a telecoms company. So we were doing all the military contracts in front of us. We had a massive army of locals that we were training to be their security and everything else. And I can always remember this first party. I'd only just got into country. And the lads on the ground were like, we'll go to a party tonight. it's Thursday, Friday's the day off and the people we're looking after always party on a, on a Thursday. We go to one of the villas, they're absolutely shit-faced and you guys, you know, we couldn't get absolutely shit-faced.

56:49Well, you kind of could, but you know, our job was to look after the guys and I can always remember sat there in this party, right? You came in this lounge and it was a sunken lounge and I sat there, took my body armour off, put my MP5 down by the side and I'm like, just lads are like, just chill out and I'm like, fucking people smoking weed and I'm like, I'm, you know, like the contrast from fucking desert storm and here i am you're like what the fuck is going on so i'm sat there like people smoking weed and all this stuff going on and then all of a sudden the fucking door opens mate and i fucking reach them i've went on because these fucking all i see was this black fucking shadows come in it was it was i counted it was these women in burkas 13 of them came through and they got into the center next thing the burkas come off european porn gear on yeah in the center and i'm like oh what is going on then they took him off and it was like all sorts going on with the people were looking after it was just a spin out wow it was a real spin out um and it was just mayhem you know and i got so wrapped up in i was in this world you know initially when we first got there the first couple of weeks i was in a shootout with the militia on the highway at 110 k's an hour i'm driving the vehicle and this firefight that i've been dreaming of this battle it happened straight away and it was the worst experience of my life i won't say the worst experience it was horrendous because i was at the edge of dying at the edge of dying you know i had a car behind me shooting at me by yourself no there was me and one other looking after three other vehicles escorting him to baghdad and in this moment you know it's it's it's a crazy crazy story which goes on a long time but basically it was at the end when the statue of ferdus square came down you know iraq was safe and which was the biggest um illusion ever um we knew it was the start of the war um and there was this

58:45It's a misconceived threat. You know what I mean? It's like the threat level had come down. Everything's safe. Everything's good. So for people like us being paid a fortune, it was time to offload those people. Because, you know, when you're in security doing a job like that as a contractor, your value is only tested when it's, or your value is only appreciated when you're. There's one place for the newest drops in wellness and performance and the biggest sale of the year. It's the drop by GNC. curating the best of what's new, handpicked by the pros who know what works. And right now, get it all, buy one, get one 50 % off during the semi-annual LiveWell sale.

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59:58Download the Jerry app or head to jerry.ai.acast. Tested. You know, I mean, we're in a job where we're paying for our job is to make sure nothing happens. So it's a hard thing to justify. So anyway, you know, they want to offload. And, you know, I just started earning money for the first time in my life, like a massive amount of money. And I was like, I don't want to, this can't end, you know. So the next day I was like, I made it my job to go and pick up the bureau chief that was coming in to assess the need for security. And before I got there, I was thinking, what are those words that I say to him to stop him from like offloading the security?

1:00:32It's like, I couldn't think of the words. What are the words? Especially when there's money, you know, in the mix. so anyway i um i started to think well that's pointless what about all the things that could happen i visualize coming back down the same road the next day and there's getting attacked this massive attack going in and i'm sat there you know getting all creative i could smell the cordite from the gunpowder i'm driving it's a 14 hour trip i've just got time to think i'm smiling to myself just get so lost in that happening because i thought if that happens it stumps us in absolute it's meant didn't know if it was ever going to happen anyway the next day coming back when we had got all those people the abc bureau chief the exact attack happened that i'd visualized in that spot the day before everything the timings the location the smell of the cordite this big fucking shootout it was happen it was over quickly but it was this shootout and after that i walked away and i can remember you know i'd even gone into detail that when we get back to the camp the doors will open there'll be champagne we're going to sign a contract that's happened yeah you know so when i got back to the thing and you know all my windows are shot out because the fucking bullets flying through them and everything and i got out the vehicle you know bullet cases falling on the floor and then as soon as i look up glass of champagne in my hand bubbles going down my throat which i'd felt the day before yeah then we signed the contract for another fucking uh x amount of years or 12 months or whatever and it all happened it all happened so So I'm spinning out, thinking fucking hell.

1:02:04That's like deja vu. Yes. Absolutely. And that would be the catalyst for me using that later, years later, a few years later, before the TV show, which I then visualised as a bit of a spin out. But anyway, I was so lost in getting absolutely shit-faced. Every time we weren't working, I didn't even appreciate that experience then for what it was giving me. Okay. And, you know, I was like - Why was there a shootout? And how were you shooting? Were you driving and just - Mate, I was - One thing on the car behind me, right? central reservation to my left yeah they were coming up from behind well militia whether they because it was a massive price on her militia is like the the um terrorism yes yeah basically you know it's people they're fighting for local fighting forces out there local okay so there's two things is it true militia or is it opportunity opportunists getting us so they can sell us yep you know i mean because there was a big price on our heads so regardless of what it was they wanted to shoot there was stories about people being drawn taken over side of the road looting i mean we had a lot of money in the vehicle we had camera equipment all this kind of stuff there was stories about people getting beheaded all kinds of horrible stuff going on so anyway as this vehicle came up from behind they then started shooting at us um and then i realized in that moment there's two of us and there was like eight of them two cars and this the bullets going down and i was shitting myself mate absolutely driving head i was driving low i I was driving.

1:03:26I was just driving. I was like thinking, fuck, you know, this is happening. This is happening. And for the first time, I was like, you know, I was starting to think of all the things that could go wrong. I was starting to think of the responsibility of the 12 people in front of me that I was there to protect. And I started to then, you know, I hadn't breathed. And this is what we did because we were in stress. Such a shallow breathing. But as soon as I heard that gunfire, bang, it clicked me into something. I took a breath. Clarity straightened my head. Forget them in front. Forget the things that could happen.

1:03:54You need to deal with this shit. and that gave me I said stand by to the guy that was sat behind me fucking aggressively took the vehicle over didn't even think about what I was doing took the vehicle over to the next lane over they fell for the trap came in alongside me I can remember looking to my left mate and it was so slow but it was so going so fast but it was so slow I can remember looking at this guy I could touch him his AK-47 was coming down onto my head I could see his eyes he looked like a young lad and I didn't want to do what I was going to have to do and I had my arm across here the window up and all of a sudden when i realized that weapon was coming down and the other guys to the guy behind me i went uh open fire had an mp5 curts on my lap popped it straight up here and just straight through my closed window into the vehicle he did the same with his ak-47 and desired effect the vehicle went off into the central reservation smoke coming out the bonnet i was like fucking foot on the gas let's go and that was it you know but you know all of a sudden this thing that i've been dreaming about happening it never really happened in the special forces to that degree at all happened in that moment on that yeah and it was it was not you know that

1:05:00Ollie Ollerton: training has come to your yeah advantage right there yeah right there because in that moment i was shitting myself all of a sudden it was like going from boy to man in a second like all of a sudden the gunfire hearing the gunfire turned something in me yeah you know it's like bang switch on you gotta deal with this but then that after that you know it was like i didn't think i was going to come out of iraq alive i just thought this is fucking i didn't at having it i didn't i didn't care i became complacent i was drinking every night i slept with the pistol under my pillow every single night shit face not on a use i'd be because i was that yeah faced we drank every night but i was lay there in my villa you know the pistol was there and i just waiting for it to kick off um and that went on and then i started taking valium to deal with the stress alcohol valium being shot at not the best recipe for this is it um and then in the end i went i've got to get out of here and then all of a sudden i went off i was living in australia at the time went across to australia right i'm going to get into property i'm not doing this military shit anymore i need to create some equilibrium in my life all of a sudden i hear about something else that's going on in southeast asia and that's rescuing kids from child trafficking before i knew it i'm fucking out there yeah i'm there yeah and it's like i had no intention to go back to wars where about in thailand thailand okay so i work for an organization um called the gray man and basically they were sending in operatives to to get the kids out uh and basically i was there and to initially we're going across to make a tv show about all that stuff a documentary um and then it all fell apart because we're in um right in the in the sticks in um not in the stick sorry in the urban mass of phuket and like going to the brothels it was all so corrupt we're never going to achieve anything so in the end like the tv crews went home and then i went into the foothills um with the team and then we found the kids all in satellite camps that were being brought into this central place where they'd be recruited and it was like it was it was heartbreaking but it was also the most empowering thing that i've ever done because for the first time in my life something more powerful than money sat in the driving seat you know all my life i've been you know i've been so desperate to earn money even when i was in iraq you know i sort of wanted more more more and when you just are focused on money you'll never be happy yeah you know there needs to be something a lot more it's bigger than money bigger than money you know i mean and the first time ever i saw the power of helping these kids i can remember the image of these kids going you know we rescued them and they were from the orphanage going down the street with their mate in a little school uniform satchel across the thing into the sunrise you know i just thinking this is fucking incredible i almost felt selfish because it was giving me so much yeah and this would be another another epiphany in my life because first of all the money went to one side i wasn't even being paid i was using my money from iraq to pay for this and um but it was the best return on investment i'd ever had and this would be a turning point for me so did that all of a sudden this thing came crashing down the um local authorities got involved you know there's a big manhunt to arrest us get us off get us off the ground there was a there was a newspaper article that went viral across the world.

1:08:11Did they know your background or not? Possibly, I'm not sure. But I just got a message saying, get the fuck out now. So I had to escape out of country. We all got the team out and I managed to get back to Australia. And that's when I came crashing down. I finally found something in my life that meant so much to me. All the dots connected while I'd been in the military. I couldn't have done that without doing the Special Forces. And all the dots connected. I was like, I'm going to do this for the rest of my life. And all of a sudden, everything i found it it went i came back to australia and i i can kicked it big time you know drink drugs smoke just this path of self-destruction how old were you when you went to australia i went to australia i mean i left i got there 2004 okay so around about 42 okay yeah yeah two no 44 44 um hold on let's say 1970 what was it 2000 2004 roughly 20 years yeah yeah yeah yeah sorry so it'd be 35 35 yeah yeah so thanks for doing the maths mate i was never there's never a strong point um so anyway he got back there and then yes i got back to australia and then it was in those moments in that really dark moments i started thinking i don't want to be here anymore it's just easier yeah it's just be easier if i just checked out now you know i felt like a burden to everyone i felt like a burden to myself i was in a fucking dark place what sort of coke party drugs and everything else but it was the alcohol that was the biggest problem yeah you know i mean alcohol was the first thing that comes along before cocaine well it makes you make the bad choices doesn't it you know i mean so um but just you know i was smoking like i didn't care

1:09:48Ollie Ollerton: i had no respect for this were you still loose were you loose as i was 35 you come out of the military were you loose yeah you were partying and you were losers yeah yeah you know what when i was looking for tear-ups were you looking were you an aggressive no no not really not that not Not that level, but I was just fucking mayhem. You know what I mean? I wasn't aggressive or anything like that, unless I needed to be. But then, you know, when I look back now, you know, the fucking, the tight confines of the fucking SBS wetsuit kept me in check. You know what I mean? You know, it's like the safest, it sounds mad, but it's the safest part of my career because I was a fucking nightmare leading up to getting in the special forces and the military in general.

1:10:29and then when i came out and i'm under my own discipline that's when it went loose again but when you look at it because everyone expects the fucking horror stories to come from this bit in

1:10:39Ollie Ollerton: the middle in the military no no that was my safest safe safe yeah although i you know i was a bit fucking got some stories with that as well but you know the the bottom line was you know i then went on this journey trying to find this external fix that was going to make me happy going off to war zones thinking that was going to be it and i came back and i had that the operation thought i was going to do that for the rest of my life that came crashing down and all of a sudden the reason i was in that dark place because everything you touched turns to shit so everything i've done in the past you know the military was loaded shit all this wasted time in the past you know it's just another thing where you start to think you're fucking you're a loser and then before you know it that thought adds another thought you know before you know oh let's have a drink let's numb it out and that's the road to nowhere kicks in and then you're not training and then you're feeling sorry for yourself and then you're looking around what am i doing in my life and how low did you get i didn't actually attempt taking my own life but it was that fact you know so it run through your mind yeah yeah too often and the more we focus on anything the bigger it becomes right the more we focus on we feed it and i realized that and it's like for the first time in my life i actually sat there and i went you need to take responsibility you know which was another empowering thing for me take responsibility and ownership for where you are stop blaming the external world stop blaming the chimp stop blaming your ex-girlfriends wives military you are there because of your choices regardless of what's happened to you you're there because of your choices and you can do something about it so taking responsibility and ownership was massive for me and in that moment i realized that if i want to change the outside world i have to change the energy of who i am it's an inside job and that again that's why i call it my breakthrough not breakdown because once i got over that initial mayhem and those thoughts i started to realize based on the fact that i'd just come off that operation in thailand knowing that how empowering it is to change someone's life especially when they've got a lot less than you have that was incredible but then actually into that moment where i went from that darkness and very quickly once once i started to identify all the things that were no longer serving me like the alcohol i was still drinking but i started the awareness is the first step i started to realize i could start shaping my destiny it was almost like i was in this dark hole but i got a stone and threw it out and i slowly made my way to the stone and threw it again and threw it again it was a very small jump and those two things combined then gave me the dna for breakpoint yeah breakpoint is a globally identified brand recognized for the positive growth and development of others knowing that we can change we're not fixed in stone we're not a leopard never changes his spots you are what you decide to be as long as you're passionate about it and you are determined in that as you know you get to where you need to be and that really became the basis of me then spending a couple of years in australia get myself right i got myself a decent job i had a beautiful flat overlooking the brisbane river but i was in this job that was mundane you know i mean i was like i was working i was like more ripped than i am today actually and i was like for the best shape good nick today mate no thank you it's been it's been hard work but you lost a lot of 10 kilos in six weeks in six weeks yeah yeah yeah real so yeah i'm just on food or food and training food and i mean i train every day yeah um i'm working with a local gym here called raw and doing a transformation with them they've been incredible but it's your food discipline mate you know i mean you can't train a bad diet yeah i can't train a bad diet it's impossible no exactly so so yeah it's um i then came back and i was in uh i can remember i was in this flat in uh in my flat in i was single you know i had a great life i had chicks coming around all the time it was awesome brilliant and then all of a sudden i woke up one morning on thursday morning and it was like i heard this message in my head going go back to the uk everything around me was starting to fall apart and i didn't realize that my old world was falling apart because it was the birth of something new and sometimes we get so attached to that don't we because we want to turn around give it a hug and give it a stop the crying stop the pain but if you do that you're never actually growing into what you where you need to go and for the first time i woke up three o 'clock in the morning i don't know what it was and i just woke up and i was like go back to the uk straight away battling no fucking way never going back there i've got the blue skies i've got the sand go back to the uk just drop it surrender to this thought surrender to the thought as soon as i did it was like a gateway of thinking all these things started connecting in my head just do it go back to the uk something's calling you back within two weeks i'd sold everything fucking on a plane ended up back in the uk 2014 bumped into foxy on the on the services not seen him for 13 years got absolutely shit-faced with him that night and we talked about all the dreams about starting breakpoint this out and the other blah blah blah and then i got lost in the world of of london started to work in you know doing a few surveillance jobs and then i realized that i was gonna i was too busy and living if i didn't break away and do what i was focused on doing i'd never do it so i ended up going down to Cornwall.

1:15:35I locked myself away in my brother's house because he'd gone out to Malaysia to work for Shell. He was a helicopter pilot. And luckily there was a house there coincidentally, which I don't associate with that word, but the house was there. I locked myself away. I focused on three things, mind, body, and nutrition. I started getting into stuff that I never even believed in. The old only would have kicked the fuck out of the new Ollie. You know what I mean? Because it was meditation. It was visualization. It was goal setting. I didn't even believe it but i couldn't get any money it was the only thing i had and i don't know why it tripped me onto that but then that experience of that i had on the highway in iraq where i went i thought that one day it happened the next maybe there's something that's the key that gave me the key it's the key yeah it's the key so in that house you saw woo woo and stuff but visualization is

1:16:21Ollie Ollerton: the key it is the key you can visualize something you you're allowed to paint it yeah it's the same business if i visualize something you can paint what you're about to get it's our inner state that creates our outer world. And the more people start to understand that, stop thinking we're lumps of meat and gravy, eat, sleep, work, repeat. There's so much more to us than we're led to believe. And that was the model that I used, mate, that model from Iraq on that highway that day. And I started to visualize Breakpoint then. It looks different now, but Breakpoint then was about having a course for the corporates that was based on special forces selection that we really got under the skin of who they were so that they could connect with themselves.

1:16:58Ollie Ollerton: The corporates would pay you to go and do a day's work. The corporates would pay me. I'd bring in the lads to actually come and work for us, which would connect them back to the source of who they were. It was this model. And I visualised every single day, mate. I put myself there as if I was expert, like I did in the car that day with the smell of the cord out, the champagne bubbles. Every day I did that. Three months in, my family had a bit of an intervention, said, you need to go back to Iraq because you've got no money. Nothing's happening. They didn't know what went on in Iraq because they never told them.

1:17:24Have you got kids? I've got one, Luke. Yeah, yeah. He was 24. i think i've got this okay yeah 24 now um and um mate i did this every single day i finally had an intervention say you know you fucking you need to sort yourself out go back to iraq get some money come back and then when you've got the money you can start this business i was like no no i can't go back there i can't go back so i was visualizing this model every day in my head and then all of a sudden when i started thinking this seed of self-doubt came in again i thought this is this woo-woo's a load of shit doesn't work that thing in iraq was a coincidence and i can remember shouting in my at the top of my voice in this house just give me something i wanted something to justify the shit i was doing you want to land on your plate yeah i wanted it like okay assign some purpose to the things i'm doing every day yeah nothing happened all right shouting at the top of my voice give me something nothing happened two days later foxy called me up you know that idea you've got the break point yeah would you do that on national tv yeah the fucking hairs on the back of my neck stood up and i'm like you are kidding me mate i thought he was trying to get me down the pub he wasn't he says look i'm with the production company do you want

1:18:31Ollie Ollerton: to chat with him that was the start amazing that was it's funny you say that you say oh when i met fox we got shit faced when i met fox i got shit on the on the other england rugby in a box on the plane on the way out here lucky enough we had business class but there's a bar at the back of business class got chatting to craig david was on there got chance craig david but craig david's bodyguard security was ex-SBS down in Paul. His name's Joe. I think he might be about your age. Yeah, yeah. 53, 54, 55. I know. I know what you mean. Anyway, we've got to chat in with the airman. He goes, oh, Dodge.

1:19:04Ollie Ollerton: Blonde hair? He's grey now. Right, yeah. It's grey now. Was blonde. Got chatting to him. Yeah, I know Joe. He knows my mates. I know his mates. I'm talking about Foxy. He went, oh, I was on this plane two years ago. You're getting married. Guess what? Foxy was on the back of the plane. We met up at the bar. I haven't seen each other for years. We got absolutely shitted. So every time everyone meets Fox, you get shitted. Yeah, yeah. And you know what? When he went over to our booth to get married, Craig David was on the plane then. Oh, there you go. There you go. So tell me about the TV programme, SES Who Dares Wins.

1:19:34Yeah. Well, that was an amazing thing for me. It was like - What year? It was 2015, the first one came out. Was it 15? Yeah, 2015. And yeah, I mean, initially, you know, that what was what basically happened is the production company come up with this concept about sas who does wins and then they were looking at that time for former special forces no one wanted to do it because it was non-pixelated you had to show your full identity which for a lot of lads on the ground you know you couldn't go back to your old jobs and people couldn't see past you know these things that happened before and just one series so everyone was like no i don't want to do it anyway came across my desk with foxy and i was like fuck you i mean this is what i fucking need to start my business you know i would been going how the fuck do i get exposure when i've got no money or anything bang that model landed there

1:20:25Ollie Ollerton: pre-social media that yeah pre-instagram yeah wasn't it it was yeah yeah so that was the platform you know and i was like i'm going to use that to elevate my business you know it's like i'd come up with this goal 12 months time about starting breakpoint everything else and um how was that for you though like all the boys we know who are like ah some boys like they shouldn't have gone on there they shouldn't have shown their face why they opened themselves up for me i'm thinking well you're on 1500 quid a month get yourself on telly you're not giving anything away you're not being like even doing podcasts podcast is very fresh and new to the world but all the boys are jumping on podcasts why would you not promote yourself i know was that difficult did anyone look at you and go you're a cop out you've let you've let boys down yeah how did you do that that was the underlying the underlying um the underlying energy of that though was jealousy yes do you know because at the end of the day you know we've signed official secrets acts there's nothing on that show that you can't find anywhere you know it's like you go on youtube you can find everything about the special forces so um you know for us there was a lot of people that were sort of disgruntled that we'd gone on there and how did you deal with that i don't i just fucking smile because i was always of fucking gnaws anyway to everyone that was in the military.

1:21:37I was like, this was like, I was on steroids. Yeah. So for me, I was like, fucking people haven't, you know, I've disappeared for years and all of a sudden I was laughing in my head. Oh my, there must have been, oh my God. You know, and. So you'd have disappeared. What'd you finish in 99, do you say? No, 2000 I finished. You finished in 2000.

1:21:56Ollie Ollerton: So like 15 years later, you pop up again. Yeah. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. So a lot of people would have been like, oh my. Yeah. Oh my God. what's he going to say? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the thing is, you know, there would have been a lot of people, right, that have, you know, and I have that little bit of imposter syndrome because I left, I was like, I don't want nothing to do with the military. You know, I didn't really, I didn't get anything from the experience. It wasn't for me. So for me, I was a bit, I felt like a bit of an imposter because there was a lot of lads, you know, being in Afghan, Iraq and all that while they were serving with SF that probably would have suited that bit.

1:22:25Ollie Ollerton: In the real naughty war. Yeah, yeah. In that time. So maybe that, And there would have been a lot of people saying, he shouldn't be there doing that. But the thing is, the way I look at that is like, what have I done with the experience, right? And what I've done with the experience is I've used my voice, I've used my exposure to help as many people as possible. And I feel I've got a duty to do that. And I feel after that experience, helping those kids, I feel empowered by doing that. There's no greater gift than helping someone that's lost their way and then seeing them send you an email a few months later, whether it's from a book or a course or just a podcast they've listened to, going, I changed my life.

1:23:04You'll know that, won't you? Because messages every day. It's beautiful for you. That's the best paycheck in the world, isn't it? There's no better than that. So really, you know, yes, there would have been other people that were better suited to that role to be on TV and everything else. But what would you have done with the opportunity?

1:23:17Ollie Ollerton: How long were you on that series for? I did the first tool. 2019 was my last one in the UK. So you're four years. Four years, yeah. And then when you finished that one in the UK, why did you finish? Well, it wasn't my choice. But the thing is, you've got to understand, like, I was like, just give me something. Just give me something. All right? Give me a leg up somewhere. So I'm getting lost in this TV world, which is taking me away from Breakpoint. Okay? So I've got that. Next thing I know, before I got axed from Channel 4, is we're starting a TV show in Australia. so in my head i'm starting to think two shows wow further and further away from what i set out to do then all of a sudden i can remember getting that phone call when i got offloaded all around this time where it was all about this diversity and they got four alpha males white on uh who's it you and me and billy and foxy yeah four alpha male alpha males on channel four they wanted they didn't want that you know what i mean because it was too powerful yep and um anyway so i got offloaded they brought someone else in um who did they bring in mel mel downs yeah yeah yeah mel downs yes he is a good lad nice lad um so they brought him in and i can remember getting that phone call right and when i'm hearing it they're saying oh you know we're not going to use you for the next one i was like okay and i'm laughing to myself right my ego is upset yeah because i'm thinking how do you know how this is how this is going to look to the outside world i then went across and did the tv show in australia so did the australia's get in contact to you before you got the job.

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1:25:58Ollie Ollerton: So they're going to take the format and take it to Australia. But that one there, when you said, oh, they're not with you anymore. Did you know you'd guaranteed that job before they gave you the... Yeah. So you could have got two jobs. I could have got two jobs. But they said, okay, take the Australia one. Take the Australia one. Okay. Yeah. So basically, then we went across to australia and started doing the show there right okay which was incredible and how was that and how many years you do australia for we did i think it was a few it was about over three years spanned over three years three years yeah so we did a similar amount of episodes and it was brilliant but it was all across those times you know covid times and everything you know where australians can't get in the country but if you're on the idiot box you can get straight into the country you know what i mean and that we had to do we had to do uh quarantine and all that yeah um but yeah it's such a breath of fresh air working what led to work from australia one uh me and and initially it was billy and foxy yep but then there was there was a um there was a conflict in timing uh sort of windows of filming so we then took on another two guys okay so it was me and and two other guys okay which did you prefer the british version australian Australian.

1:27:08Really? Yeah. Why? Because it's warmer. End of. Where was it filmed in us? You know what? It was filmed. We did the snowy mountains. We did what else did we do? We did the snowies. We did the blue mountains. And there was one just outside Sydney. Yeah. So, I mean, it was, we kind of got all formats. You know, it's like we got the snow up in the mountains. And we got the kind of desert effect. You know, you can go from one place to another, you get the desert, and then you get the snow and everything else, all in the same region. Was there more investment put into the Australia one or the UK? I don't know about investment, but there was certainly a big budget.

1:27:46It was a big budget. Yeah. But the fact was, it was like going back to day one of SAS in the UK before they started to engineer it and take away the...

1:27:55Ollie Ollerton: How was it for you when you have been in the shadows for 15 years, when we talk about from 2000 to 2015, and all of a sudden you're on a TV programme and you become a celebrity. How was that for you? How did you deal with that? Yeah, that transition to being that, to that was a, it's probably the best way to deal with it because it's like, you are, it's short, sharp, shock. You know what I mean? It's like straight from that world. It's transitioned from the shadows to the spotlight. But it was - Did you enjoy it? No, I didn't enjoy the transition of it, but it happened really quickly when I started to bring it round.

1:28:31You know, I can always remember, like i'd gone and i was terrible like doing public speaking anything like that now you can't shut me the fuck up you know what i mean so but now i i love getting on stage yeah but it was that trend if i'd have always never been pushed into that forced into that world i'd be a very different person that wouldn't you know wouldn't feel comfortable standing up in front of people and but now i love it so what was it was it more like oh my god it's ollie it's ollie it's ollie

1:28:57Ollie Ollerton: ollie can have a chat have an autograph what was it yeah i mean it's kind of that but but To be honest, I mean, initial stages of that show, I found it really hard. And I was kind of in the shadows even on the TV program. Behind Foxy and Ant? Yeah, behind Foxy and Ant. And I was happy with that. Okay. You know what I mean? I was happy just blending into the background initially. But, you know, I started to sort of come out of a shell a bit when we did the show in Morocco, three series in, when I started to really start to shine a bit. And then over a period of time, then going to Australia, I changed altogether, which was incredible.

1:29:29But people, yeah, it was always, you know, everyone recognised Ant, everyone recognised Foxy. And it wasn't really until I got recognised more after I was on TV.

1:29:41Ollie Ollerton: Is that right? Yeah. And it's probably because of six books with my face in people's, you know, everyone. Hello, everyone. I'm here. You know what I mean? But I think it was the fact a lot of people watching podcasts, a lot, you know, you become a lot denser. Your face is everywhere. Yeah, your face is everywhere. Some places you'd be recognised, some places you wouldn't. ollie this has been a really good conversation yeah i loved it mate we could keep going we can keep going i'm really enjoying this yeah where are you at today on a scale of one to ten how happy are you and there's no sevens man i'm a 10 i am a 10 every single day i just feel like i'm getting better and better and better one thing i like you know i'm in the best shape of my life i'm 55 this year i wear that like a badge of honor you know and we're having a conversation before you know I just want to appeal to the people that, you know, think there's a sort of maturity is demonized, right?

1:30:29Especially in modern society. But really, you know, you've got to look at, I hear people saying, I wish I was 21 again. I can't imagine anything worse than that. You know, and I think every day that you should be growing, evolving with wisdom and maturity and everything else. And not just accepting, look, I'm 50 years old. So this thing's allowed to grow. That's a poor excuse when you see.

1:30:51Ollie Ollerton: I see a fat people who are mates of mine. That's a poor excuse. And you say, I haven't got enough time. That's a poor excuse. I work from home. If you work from home and you're working in a job, you can go out for an hour and the boss won't even know. If you're saying, I've got a desk from eight till six, I kind of get it. You might have to get up at seven and train. Or after a day at six, seven hours, to go and train's hard. It's not hard to go and do 10 ,000 steps or a last walk or eat correctly. Yeah, yeah. Eat more responsibly. But the thing is, you know what? The operating system wants two things, right?

1:31:19and that is first of all is programmed you can take us back to our really early years it's programmed to do two things really well hunt and eat right and sleep as much as possible this the mechanism wants to do those two things now in a world where you've got a fucking pret every five meters and the fact yeah and we don't have to really do anything but push a button for stuff to arrive to our door through amazon or whatever it can create is being extremely lazy but you know once you start to get into that mode of knowing that resistance is growth and the more that we can push into that resistance we are the operating system needs to feel that progress every day doesn't matter if you're wealthy if you've got loads of money you know if you're plateauing in this flat sort of not not elevating then you are going to go through some issues and i really do think think you know looking after yourself looking at this machine right that we've got dodge as you know this is our transport system for experience through life so if you're going allow this thing to get so fat that you can't even manoeuvre around you are inhibiting the experience of this short life what i say before i said my dad's just gone viral and he looks no wonder he does because i've seen the picture 72 wow ripped like i'm real is he still with your

1:32:32Ollie Ollerton: mum no no no i bet he's not no mate i'm not being funny i promise you it's gone viral go on facebook i think it's up to half a million people have looked at it commented there are so many women and going, I would, I would, I would, I said it's my old man, I can't believe it. A dill. Yeah, a proper dill. It's in the dill, dill, dill quality. Oli, I've absolutely loved this, mate. Me too. I really appreciate your time. Yeah, likewise. Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed your honesty. I've enjoyed, I didn't know where, because like, you know, I just freestyle everything. I didn't know where we were going to go, but that was a really, really powerful conversation on many levels.

1:33:07Ollie Ollerton: I loved it. Yeah. And we'll do another. I'm sure we'll do a part two.

1:33:14Ollie Ollerton: Thank you, mate. Cheers, Al. Take care, mate. I still did that headphone thing, didn't I? I've always wear headphones. And I go, mate, that was wicked. Yeah, I enjoyed that, mate. It's really good. If you'd like to see someone on the show, leave a comment below. And if you haven't already, do us a favour, show us a bit of love, press the subscribe button, and it allows us to grow the show even bigger and bigger each week. Nice one.

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