Too Hot To Handle Star Kori Sampson On Sobriety, Mental Health, & Ultra-Running Journey

0:00What do you do when your image becomes your identity and then you decide to tear it all down? For Kori Sampson, fame came fast. A model, a reality star, a walking billboard of aesthetics. But behind the abs in the Instagram, he knew something was missing. The mirror said he looked great, but he didn't feel strong. Not really. This is Untapped with me, Spencer Matthews, the podcast where we learn from elite athletes and extraordinary individuals who've broken through limits, rebuilt from setbacks, and uncovered what they're truly capable of. In this episode, we explore Corey's transformation from training for appearance to training for performance, the dangers of chasing validation over real health, and how he's redefining masculinity, discipline, and strength.

0:41If you haven't already, hit subscribe or follow Untappd wherever you're listening. Your support means a lot to me, and it ensures that you don't miss the incredible stories that we've got coming your way. Let's get Untappd with Corey Sampson.

0:56Corey, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. If you don't mind me saying, there's quite a lot of synergy between you and me. There's some similarity there with regard to some pretty significant change in your life. And we'll start with that, I suppose. You were a bodybuilder initially and then rose to fame on reality television, too hot to handle. and quickly realized that you were finding the fame element of that experience to be detrimental to your health. Yeah. How did that come about? Yeah. Take me through how it felt. Do you know what? I went through some like waves of periods of time.

1:39So when I first turned 18, I moved to London and from Little Plymouth down in Devon. And that was when I started like partying. So I did like a little bit of a period at uni, which I didn't do for very long. very heavy partying. And then I went back, started bodybuilding because I just really loved training. So since like a young age, I was in the gym every day and it was a big part of my life growing up. And I think a bit of a trend at the time, obviously as a young lad, you kind of look at people and aspire to look a certain way. But then, yeah, stopped bodybuilding and then started partying again and then went on to TV and then the partying got worse because all of a sudden, like you've got this opportunity to go anywhere and do these like really cool things.

2:24And you go to events all the time and like at the time you think it's like really fun. And now I look back, I'm kind of like, oh, like I wouldn't want to do that. Do you know what I mean?

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4:55But yeah, that was tough. So I got into drinking drugs and to be honest, from uni and then like obviously went through periods without it. But it definitely got a lot worse after coming off TV. and then I also had something to lose so then I was like even more conflicted inside because I was like I was acting in a certain way but kind of trying to like hide it a little bit on social media I was going to places but I wasn't posting like the late nights and the after parties obviously and all of that stuff um and then I started I started to run and that's when I really found like just a positive way of living and like just started prioritizing not just the way I looked because I still went to the gym still looked good when I was partying and stuff but then I started to prioritize like actually like I want to be fit and healthy and then I did quite well in my first marathon I was like okay maybe I can do even better I want to see what I can do I need to go sober I need to sort myself out how long have you are you still sober yeah nearly three years oh wow yeah Congratulations.

6:02Thanks. Well, that's incredible, isn't it? And, you know, I wasn't expecting this conversation to go here, but what are your views on black and white drinking? So just, you know, like all on or all off? Or do you believe that a kind of moderate relationship with alcohol is possible? How do you view it? Obviously, you have decided that turning the tap off completely works for you. But do you ever see yourself having the odd beer here and there in the future? Do you know what? I think I'm just quite black and white in general with the stuff that I do. And I think if I started to let in a little bit of a like, oh, for certain events, maybe I can have a drink.

6:43And then it's like just a drink because I wouldn't ever go back to doing drugs. But I think like if I started drinking all the time or like once every three or four months, maybe it would then be like once a month. And then it's like maybe I'll get so drunk one time that someone will offer me something. And then, do you know what I mean? It's just like a little bit of a spiral effect that could happen because I know the way that I am. And I think that's why I've been really heavy on just T-Total. And I just think I've come to a place where I'm pretty happy with how things are going and how things have progressed in the last couple of years with training and life, in my career and everything.

7:21And I think all of it has come from that decision and completely stopping. Because I did a period of time where I'd do three months at a time. And it took me a year to actually go, nah, I need to knock it on the head and then stick to it. So then I just went from September to the following New Year's, as in like a year and a bit. And then I was like, actually, do you know what? I'm just going to do another one. And then now I'm just like, it's kind of my thing now. I don't know. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, no, absolutely. Because I know that you've kind of gone back to having a drink at a wedding and stuff, right?

7:52Yeah, it depends on the wedding. But yeah, to your point… I remember you talking at that. Yeah, I was sober, teetotal I mean, for a good couple of years, like two and a half years, in which time I already reframed my relationship with alcohol. And then I would have the occasional drink, but to your point, felt like a bit of a slippery slide. It started to feel unsafe again, started to feel like there certainly were lapses in control, or you'd allow yourself you know the Friday night with your mates drinking and then you know you wouldn't quite be yourself for a few days and then you know all of a sudden you feel fine again and then it's Friday again so well you know that was fun last Friday let's just do it and it's just Slippery Slide for me as well Slippery Slide?

8:38Slippery Slope Slippery Slide works as well I suppose but yeah for me I you know I haven't drank at the time of recording this now I haven't drank for it's just coming up on nine weeks only reason I'm counting at the moment because I wouldn't ordinarily count is just because I am enjoying that process of just being completely alcohol free. I don't really like the idea that I'm powerless over my ability to choose whether or not I drink. Do you know what I mean? So I like the idea that I can control if I want to have a drink or not. You know, I went to AA for a few meetings and that whole concept of and AA helps millions of people around the world, saves lives.

9:20no problem at all with AA. It just, I found that it didn't really work for me in the sense that it's kind of, you are powerless over your actions. You have a disease. You know, God is going to fix it for you. It was a bit like, I actually don't feel sick. I just feel like I have bad habits that keep creeping into my life. And if I had more willpower, I would be able to control it better. You know, I choose not to. That's what it is as well. It is, it's a habit. And once you do break the habit, like I started to, in the beginning, I had to kind of like remove myself from situations because I didn't want to be around it.

9:51But then after like a certain amount of time, I realized I could still go back to them situations and not drink and not be like peer pressured or like persuaded or even have like ideas of it. Do you know what I mean? It'd be interesting to take this mindset and apply it to the things that we do now, you know, the endurance space. I think I personally, you know, I have referred to myself as an addict in the past. I think it's a bit of a filthy word that people don't really understand fully. By addicts, all I'm referring to is, you know, I go hard at stuff and when I like something, I like it, you know.

10:28Like good and bad. Yeah, it goes for drink. That's what I'm the same. I feel like I'm an addict and I was never addicted to like one thing, but it was a whole lifestyle of things that was making me a certain way that I didn't want to be anymore. So then I had to shift my lifestyle to a different addiction. But it fuels the kind of success, if you want to call it that, of certain challenges, certain things that we put ourselves through. And actually, it's something that becomes quite valuable. Being able to just hook into some 24-hour run or something is not something that an ordinary mindset might find attractive.

11:08Even just signing up for something like that. Do you know what I mean? Even just thinking about it. I think pretty much part of the point of this podcast is that I believe that, you know, all listeners and everyone has a huge bank of untapped potential. It's that ability to dream big, push through that initial bit of pain and break down the kind of barrier, right, to what your perception might be that you can achieve. You know, I hear every single day, like, I could never run a marathon. That's just bullshit. It's just total bollocks. Like, I could have anyone running a marathon in a few weeks.

11:41It is. Easy. It's perception, right? Yeah. So I think, but that is helpful as well. I think if you have an addictive mindset and you're somebody that, you know, can drink every single day and go out late every single night, if you can channel that into something healthy, then you are immediately almost at an advantage with that way of looking at life. There's a really good book called Driven. We've seen that. I've not. It's a bit about ADHD tendencies and like a gene basically says like we're wired up like hunters. Yeah. So we would have been the people that was hunting for food because you would have had to go for a certain amount of time and you see danger and you think about stuff like more than one thing at the same time.

12:22And I found that's what I'm very much like with ADHD. And that's why I can get into this like process of training really hard for something. And I think that's also why you get into a process of like trying to enjoy life too much or letting it slip a little bit too much. It's a similar, it's a battle between both. I find it really fascinating just how different people are as well just kind of like you know some things that I find beautiful fascinating interesting you know would be my wife's worst nightmare yeah you know like the idea the idea of like going to the track for example and hammering out a 24 hour thing out of curiosity would be her idea of hell yeah or I go to Bali with my missus and I'm like I want to climb this volcano and run around top of it and she's like I just want to sit on a beach and sunbathe I'm like, okay, cool.

13:11I'll go do that, you do that. But it's nice though that it's kind of that people are different. If we were all the same, it would be, well, difficult to operate for one. Let's talk about your kind of darkest moments and what made you want to change in the first place. I think there's always, you know, most people that have undergone serious transformation that I have spoken to, and speaking from personal experience, It comes from not necessarily an event or a single moment, but it comes from a real deep burning internal desire to make a change. You know, and ordinarily that comes from within yourself.

13:49Just wondering, you know, what that was like for you. Yeah, definitely. It wasn't one thing. It wasn't one moment. There wasn't like a, just like a, yeah, I need to, this is it. I need to change. But the biggest thing that kind of happened was when I was going through this, like period of trying to get sober for like two three months at a time I wouldn't drink and then I'd go out and it would be like almost twice as bad as it was the time before and it kept kind of getting worse and worse I went to Ibiza two weeks before London Marathon before I first ran a marathon or a race or anything and um I've trained really hard I was like I could be on for a good time did all this work and then I went to Ibiza and did five days of just getting on it and was just awful and I was said I wouldn't even drink and I just lied to myself and I felt so guilty and I was like okay I've just wasted that time that I just committed to do this thing and then I did it and I did quite well I did like three hours 18 on the first one I was like okay I was like what happens if like instead of going I could have shifted two ways I could have been like oh I can get away with going IB for a week before a marathon and still like smash it or what happens if I don't and I do commit to it properly and I don't go and do that and I think that was the biggest turning point but I had some really like tough times like mentally because of it and I think I was getting like anxiety and I used to go to like events and I kind of would be like I need to have a drink to talk to people especially like public events and stuff after tv and I think it just made a lot of things worse but I think I think it was it was maybe a bit of confidence but also just like the drinking like feeling like shit for three days and then having three days to recover and then I was just getting anxiety day to day and it was just a bit of a weird headspace and I had some really tough times mentally and I was just like just very conflicting because I was doing all this self-development stuff all this like reading and in training and all of this stuff and then I was acting in a completely different way to how I wanted to be yeah I relate to that a lot by the way like I completely understand what you're talking about even uh in kind of granular detail with the marathon thing like I just ran my first London Marathon.

15:56It's the first marathon I've ever raced. You know, I've never ran a, you know, a proper balloted marathon event with a watch even. Like, you know, I've never paid attention to my pace or anything like that. And we were on holiday in St. Bart's, family holiday, just before that for three weeks. We were away for, you know, the holidays with the kids. Good training because it was hot when it was London Marathon. Well, yeah. You know, I went out there saying to myself, you know, I'm going to run, I'm going to run loads. I'm going to do loads of hill stuff. I'm going to get myself in serious physical condition for this London Marathon.

16:28And we drank most days. It wasn't turbulent like it used to be. Obviously, it wasn't partying like it used to be. It was there with my family. But I would consume alcohol on a daily basis for three weeks. And training suffered. And I relaxed a lot and went to bed late-ish and got up early because we have three kids. And I nearly pulled out of London because I was just like, still have some niggles from the 24-hour thing. and even the desert last year, I'm still feeling certain things. And then like four days before it, three days before it, I thought, actually, I'm going to really be like embarrassed of myself.

17:07Like, you know, I'm going to feel - Even if no one knows. I feel shame if I don't just go and do this. And if it hurts because I haven't really put everything into my training, then that's on me. And I should just do it anyway. and you know I pulled out a 306 and I reckon I could have gone sub 3 had I not done you know not had that relaxed holiday but then again you know I think it is important to relax it was a tough day I collapsed at 35k did you? quite a few people did Joel Domit was out as well yeah I was running I was running 250 pace and I just blew up 250? I was just cooking yeah so I was on track for 30?

17:45yeah so I did 30k I was about on track for 250 then by like 35 I was on track for 252 what can you run a marathon in? I did 258 so I wanted sub 3 but I ended up finishing about do you mean 352? pace oh sorry yeah yeah no no no no 2 hour yeah oh okay sorry not kilometers I was trying to yeah so I was on track I thought you were on track for a world record no 250 marathon and then and then yeah and then it all went oh wow sorry that's my bad but it's fine you know I think I think like a lot of people had problems with that day and that race I know loads of really good runners like sub 3 hour marathoners who didn't make it to the end and like genuinely I actually know quite a few people I had to do some limping and I was glad like I pissed myself I threw up collapsed and then I was like right I'm just gonna cramp my way back so I just limped I did alright I did it for 3 or 8 I think I had it well we would have been near each other then I was going to assume I did 3.06.25 I think yeah you might have ran past me because I was in a bad way.

18:50Although my watch was clocking 303. Apparently, you should run the racing line. Yeah, so I was on. So the last time I did a marathon, it fucked me up because of that. So I was trying to do that. I literally was going left, right, waving at me, high-fiving people, like pretending to be an airplane going around the side of it. Like, you know, I need to stop doing that. Yeah, I think it's a blue line. I've never noticed it until this race. I don't know why. I didn't know it was there. So at the end, like, because my data clocked me running 43.3 kilometers instead of 42.2. Yeah. So a whole extra K, basically.

19:24So tell me about the journey from, so where you were to what you're doing now. Like, why the super long distance stuff? Like, what is it about that style of event that does it for you? Yeah. Because again, not to sound like I know everything, but I talk to a lot of people that do this kind of stuff and it's always a personal thing. I think, you know, the people that do this style of thing for show almost or for reassurance or validation get kind of weeded out pretty quickly. You know, like these style of events are normally quite a personal thing. What is it for you? And can you, just for people who perhaps don't know some of the awesome stuff that you've achieved, can you lay out, you know, your top three?

20:11Yeah, your top three events that you've achieved, you know the things that you're proudest of maybe yeah do you know what it's it's quite it's quite mad because i went from my first ever marathon did a trail marathon straight after and i really enjoyed it in in the alps and i was like okay trail running is actually quite nice like running a marathon is pretty miserable like it is and unless you're competing at like the top level you're never going to be competing with anyone at a good good level so i was like maybe i should do do trail races instead and i wanted to do sub three so i did that straight after and then i was like right what's next and i got injured and i had two months of injury so i didn't run and during that time i signed up for a race that was 250k 220k maybe i think they changed it that year um through africa over five days um no it wasn't it was uh ultra x1 but i'm i'm i'm gonna do i do want to hear that's i seen um and that was like three months away from coming back from the and I was like, I want to give it a go.

21:12I hadn't ran more than 50k in one day and I had to do 50, 60, 50 on the last three days of that race. And I think like it's the, when I finished that, that really solidified like, okay, I want to keep pushing and finding where the ceiling is and doing something like that most people were a bit like, fuck that. Like, why would you do that? And I'm sorry if I'm not allowed to say that. That's all right. You can say whatever you like. You're going to bleep me out. And I think it's like the bigger the challenge, like the better story. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a bit of validation in a way.

21:45I feel like I've got a bit of a point to prove just in life. I think a lot of people do. And I think one, it's to myself, but also just to... I use it as fuel. During any of the long stuff I've done, the last couple of K, the last 5K usually, I did it pretty fast. And in that Africa race, I was pretty injured on day two. And on the fifth day, I was running like four-minute kilometers near the end for the last couple of K. And in my head, I was imagining all the people that I knew were thinking I couldn't have done it when I post a photo of me, like, just done it. And then just them being like, fuck, he did it.

22:18Do you know what I mean? It's weird. I think that might come from the alcohol and drugs background as well, right? But like that sense of like people assuming that you can't do this kind of stuff because, you know, they're used to seeing you. And like, oh, he's just on TV and he's just this like pretty boy or party boy that just does this. And I don't know. Oh yeah, I think it was a little bit of a few different things and maybe just some childhood stuff. And I was never that good at sport. So I played football for years and I hardly got picked. And my dad used to argue with the ref, the coach, because he'd always pick other people to have a better team, obviously, because I was a bit useless.

22:52I needed glasses at the time, didn't realize. So I used to miss the ball every time someone kicked it to me. That'll do it. Yeah, so that didn't help. And I was never that fit. And then I remember I went away for Christmas one time and I come back and I was like running around the pitch. I used to hate the running. and my coach at the time was like oh mate you've overdone it Christmas and you like you're looking a bit you're sluggish like moving a bit slow and I was like do you know what yeah you're right like I need to sort my shit out and then I just started to like I started doing sit-ups every day and training and just like I ended up with a six-pack about a year later by the time I was 16 I was in the gym every day it just kind of become a bit of an obsession and I think like maybe it's a little bit of that like led on to this and when I when I was like bodybuilding I I was just like really in this process that I enjoyed just being dedicated to something.

23:38And that's what I kind of transfer into stuff now. And then, yeah, so I did the 250, the 220. And I've done a few other races in between. I did a 100K race where I come top 10 in and I ran 100 miles to celebrate being sober two years. I ran around Ibiza, so I did the whole island all in one go. Drug free. Yeah, drug free. I took some codeine. But kind of drug free. But yeah, that was cool. that took like 36 hours I think without moving time 33 hours moving 36 total nice oh wow so so 36 hours 33 movies so only three hours off I'd like yeah I think I sat down for like 30 minutes a couple times sat down for dinner before we started the night in like San Antonio like literally went to like Skinny Kitchen whatever it is or one of them restaurants and then uh went through the night had a 20 minute nap and then the next morning stopped for a little bit and just kept plowing through it.

24:34Mate, that's awesome. I bet that was such an adventure. It was so cool. Such a beautiful place to go if you're not doing certain things. Do you know what I mean? There's so much to see in Ibiza. The trails aren't very runnable because not many people use them. So in the night, we was going over the edge of a cliff. You could just hear the water and it was all overgrown and you're kind of like shimmying across this cliff face. It was a little bit sketchy. And no one knew we were doing it. I was just out in the middle of nowhere, but yeah, it was cool.

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27:11That's one of my kind of biggest whys probably is the adventure element of it. Like seeing certain things and seeing part of the world and also like, sounds a bit cliche, but just like understanding stuff about yourself as well. Just, you know, coming from, you know, where we've been, I suppose, the changing of the self-loathing to pride is mega. You know, like that feeling of feeling proud of yourself is pretty awesome when it's deserved. You know, to your point, when you finished your Africa race, I remember finishing the Marathon de Sable and I didn't really, like a guy died there on day three when I was there and it was the hottest one ever on record.

27:51It was in October for the first time. Usually earlier in the year. This is October 21. And yeah, it was barbaric. It was like, it was 49, 50 degrees during the day. People were very ill as well. Like, you know, there was a lot of dehydration. There was also a bug that was going on. And if you put on a drip, you get a time penalty, so no one wants to do it. Mate, I accepted, so on the second day, I was incredibly ill. So like, you know, both ends, not to get too graphic on it. You know, people might be listening to this on their way to, you know, breakfast or something. but you know I was I was in a really really really bad way the kind of way that if you were you know at home in London you wouldn't even leave your bed right like it was just like proper aggressive vomiting a lot of people had it weak weak weak like you know like struggling to walk type thing and I had a I had a you know I think it was a 38k day through June's or whatever and it was just slow slow slow and if you drink water outside of a checkpoint so you carry all your stuff right self-sufficient if you take additional water it's a half hour penalty I took three additional water bottles hour and a half penalty which feels like I wrote to them during the thing you can go and complain and I was just like it seems a little bit unfair I understand if I need extra water when I'm racing but I can't keep the water down I'm vomiting and whatever else the water so obviously I can't I need to hydrate in order to survive so penalizing me for drinking water is not what I was expecting but yeah I remember that feeling as well I did really well in that I had a bunch of really cathartic experiences a bunch of real spiritual experiences in the desert at night stars you just feel I just loved it, it's awesome in the depletion as well like when you're just when you are on the verge of what like of discomfort that it's like the overcoming as well yeah most people will never feel you know and you're lying there just feeling this like extreme discomfort but there's something really kind of gripping about it and then knowing that you've got to go again the next day and kind of trying to turn that into um like something funny almost like you're like trying to have a laugh with it right and it's like and all of a sudden you begin to feel like things that might ordinarily stress you out are just total bullshit yeah literally yeah yeah i had a i had a mad one because on that that race the five days my fourth day was my birthday yeah that's why i signed up for it i was like it's my actual i'm born on a leap year so it was my first birthday in like four years like proper birthday so i was like this is pretty cool like to be in camping in africa like do you know i mean just the whole experience in I woke up like in such a bad way.

30:46My knee was gone. It was 2 a.m. And then I had to do the longest I've ever ran. Three days, four days into like the longest thing I've ever done in general. And when I completed that, it was that moment because I nearly quit. That moment of actually being like, now come on, let's just like try get to the next checkpoint. I remember sitting down, I was crying. I was like, I can't, I'm going to pull out. It's okay because of this and making these excuses. overcoming that was like my one of the proudest moments not just finishing like the races it's weird like sometimes i don't give myself that much credit when i finish i build up to be a thing and then do it and it's like oh i've done it now what's next and then it's almost like what i find which is kind of counterintuitive to progress is is that the more you prepare for something and the essentially the easier it becomes and therefore kind of the less proud you feel of yourself so i i had that i mean i had feelings of extreme pride in jordan when we finished the 30 marathons obviously but you know there were there was a considerable amount of people messaging us saying like oh well this just looks like a jolly yeah and it's like i'm running a marathon every day consecutively through a desert you know for 30 days so it's obviously not a jolly but made it but we have had fun yeah of course we're trying to enjoy it's a really fun process it's the best It's the best way of looking at it as well.

32:04If you are overwhelmed by what you're doing and you're fearful of your task, it's going to feel big and scary. Worse, yeah. And if you admit how much, almost ignore how much pain you're in and you're like, it's not that bad. Do you know what I mean? You have to kind of do that. Well, particularly if you're raising money for people who are in actual pain. Yeah, exactly. I think back to that anyway because I've had one of my best mates broke his back last year. And every time now when I put myself in one of these situations and I'm like, I've put myself there and things get hard and I start to think like, this is miserable.

32:36Why have I chose to do this? I just think back to him and like, he'll message me like, mate, like you've just climbed a mountain. Like you never climbed a mountain before and like, it's just like, that's so cool. I wish I could do that. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Now I'm like, every time it gets hard, I think back to him and all the other people that even like, just struggle with their mental health that can't get through life without it being so painful and they only see one way out. which is why the next thing I'm doing, I want to raise some money for a mental health charity as well. Great.

33:06What is that? Can you say? The next thing? Yeah, so I'm running across the UK. In less than two months from this moment, I don't know, it's the 1st of August, so I'm not sure when it's come out, but it's going to be, yeah, like the longest I've ran in kind of like two days is 160k or 100 miles. I've got to do 80k a day for 10 days. Oh, wow. but we're actually calling it the journey which is quite mad because you said about my journey and that's what it is it's to do with representing from where I'm from I'm going to run through Devon which is where I grew up and get everyone from there down to come and run with me there and then run up through London and then across to Suffolk which is like the widest points of mainline Britain Yeah mate 80k a day 10 days is no joke which is going to be fun which is why the reason I want to do it as well is because I always struggle two days into something even like when I've done a race that was 100k it was two days first day i smashed it sixth place second day i was like struggling to to walk let alone run so i think like this is going to really put me into some like uncomfortable situations and find out even more about what i'm kind of made of yeah i think i think that's that's a nice way of putting it you know and and kind of pushing the boundaries and like i've i've recently become quite fascinated with with just human potential like and the thing the main thing that was going through my mind in Jordan was like, honestly, if I can do this, then like I genuinely believe that anyone can do anything.

34:36Like, you know, and of course, there are elements of my mind and character that suits ultra running, obviously. But, you know, just, it's just, I don't know. I think life is, this is quite a nice deep interview. I do find life extraordinary though. Like if you can pinpoint moments in your life and times in your life and chart them somehow, put them on a graph, it's just like it is wild to like the experience of change and what becomes possible if you believe it can be possible is an incredible realization. I remember nights back when I used to drink really turbulently where I was so drunk, like, at home, like, on my own.

35:26And, like, you'd just be in a pool of shame. Yep. Literally sat there, just, like, lights dimmed, three quarters of a bottle of whiskey gone, no friends around you at all because you've got fuck all to say. Yeah. And, like, you just, like, you can't even get to bed properly. Like, you're bumping into walls and don't even bother cleaning your teeth. Like, serious shit. And when it happened, like, even if it was only, like, one out of five times, and it happened like that, and you go home from somewhere, and you end up keep going on your own and whatever, and you're there till, like, Sunday evening, which happened a lot for me as well.

36:00I think, like, even if it was only one out of five times, now I look back, I'm like, why did I risk going and doing any of the situations? Because five times, one time out of five, that's where I'll end up. and I just forget about it like you do it and then you sober up you feel like shit for three days and you like someone invites you out the following week and you just like let it happen again which is why I wanted to share my story in general really is because like there's a lot of young lads as well that are in that situation that kind of don't really think it's much of a problem because all of the people around them are doing it and it's like it's almost like normalized and then they just think like oh it's like it's just part of me or like my trajectory and then they see other people coming off the back of it like you and me and doing this stuff and then going okay maybe there is actually like something else that I can do have a bit of purpose like work towards something and do something really cool yeah well it's inspiring I think anybody who pushes themselves to try and achieve difficult things is inspiring I've been inspired by loads of people you know when taking stuff on it is interesting the environment that you're in you know I say they when I refer to scientists because I don't know anything else about them.

37:12But they ran a test with rats to do with trying to understand addiction, like specifically cocaine addiction. And there's cocaine water and regular water and they'd plonk a rat in a cage with the two waters, right? And the rat would just absolutely drain the cocaine water, never touch the normal water. and that rat would become intoxicated and eventually die because it wouldn't have any control over how often it would take the cocaine water, right? And then they put the same cocaine water and water in a much larger cage with lots of other rats with other things to do. So like a rat park, if you will, loads of fun things to distract yourself.

37:56No rats touch the cocaine water. So like when given the choice, when they have things to do. So in other words, the environment that the rats are in, surrounded by friends with activities to do. Yeah, so the lonely rat, the rat that had nothing else on, essentially, just was left with no option, became a drug addict and died, essentially. And the other rats chose to not ingest the cocaine water when they had any other choice, basically, which I think is interesting. And again, I've done some work over addiction, alcohol, and it does come back to who you spend your time with, what the norm in your society is, your culture, which is a problem for Britain, obviously.

38:45So what else is on the agenda for you in terms of where you think this might go? Are you still in love with ultra events? Do you see yourself doing these on an annual basis? Do you ever look at it from afar? Or do you ever kind of get inside your own head and go like, you know, what's the point to all of this? You know, because actually I find it really interesting when I chat to some people, we just had Russ Cook in, who of course famously ran Africa and it was incredible. Was he just like, no, I'm going to keep doing it? Yeah, but he, you know, I wouldn't say, I thought he thought it was a relatively interesting question.

39:25You know, I asked him about him just running across New Zealand and whether or not it was the same. And he was like, well, of course it wasn't the same and didn't feel as big or as good. and it's kind of like I think when you go out of your way and you surprise yourself and you do something that is just like you know you're Mount Rushmore that's four things you know but like you're Everest right and you do it you climb one mountain and once you get to the top you look down you're not going to keep just climbing smaller ones you want to go where's the next mountain what's bigger yeah but I suppose as well when it like I've certainly found that when it becomes almost a part of your identity where people just think you can do it it's kind of like less defeats the object There's less to prove.

40:04Like, I wouldn't say that I do these things to prove a point to people. It is very much just a personal desire to push my own boundaries. I think people are getting desensitized because, and it's mad because there is only a fraction of people doing it. But you see it so easily with social media. You see so many people doing like this, that, and the other. Marathon's not as big a deal as it was back in the day. And I think like people are pushing boundaries more and more, but you also get into like be involved in it because people were doing that anyway but you didn't really see about like it would be in the newspaper once like and if you knew someone that knew them like you'd hear about it but that's kind of it like running like the length of England for example but I think now it's ever more so like you can see it so people are a bit like oh it's just another thing like someone's running this oh someone else ran because every time I told people about running the five days in Africa it was the same time Ross was doing Africa they'd be like oh have you seen the guy running the whole length of it?

41:01It's like, yeah, cool. But like, I'll just run five days. Like, this is a big deal for me. Do you know what I mean? And I remember when I ran my first marathon and I remember JP speaking to him in the gym and he'd run like the Sri Lanka race similar to what I did. And he was talking about that and how good it was. I was like, oh, that seems like, I don't know if I'll be able to do that. Like, I'm only running a marathon. My marathon's going to be hard. Like, imagine doing five in somewhere like that. And then within six months, I kind of signed up and done one. Do you know what I mean? And it's, I think it's mad that people are like, oh it's just another thing when it's like yeah but like only 1 % of the 1 % of the 1 % are doing it at this level it's like people like 1 % are running a marathon 1 % are running at a certain time 1 % are running 5 back to back do you know what I mean it's also it's no longer oh you're running a marathon it's how fast you're running the marathon yeah and it's kind of time is something that not many people pay too much attention to when it comes to something like the marathon of sab for example like it's my personal opinion that anyone whether or not you're a good runner or not will have an extraordinary experience doing the marathon I think I'm doing it next year I've been talking to them you'd love it mate I want to try I want to try be first Brit home if I do it that's the you want to be I want to try yeah we'll see yeah no I think I think you'd be I think I think if I went back and did that I'd be I'd be quietly confident to come kind of top top 10 yeah in the whole thing because it's like quietly confident that's not a no I know it depends on loads of different things but like I think it's almost like a before when I'd done these things it was like a bit of a survival like oh I'm gonna do it because I've never done that distance yeah I'm gonna see how well I do I want to push it I want to do well but it's almost like oh I'll just give it my best and land where I land and then the last race that I'd done that was pretty big like come in top 10 I was a bit like okay maybe like I could do one a bit more competitive and try do that that's the and I think that's what happens naturally like you progress through, you get more experience and do you know what I mean?

43:01Yeah, absolutely. Also just, you know, if somebody's listening to this thinking like you thought, and I thought at one point, by the way, I watched my brother do the marathon to sub, I went to the finish line and everything, and I just thought he was absolutely insane. I was just like, why would you want to do that? You know, now obviously, you know, the recent challenge in Jordan was five back-to-back marathon to sub, you know, essentially. But like, but it's kind of, it's relative and it's, I look at But I look at that and just, if you can enjoy the experience and not hammer yourself to death, right?

43:32If you cannot, like, put your clog down and try and race the whole thing, you know, it's a long, slow thing, right? Like, I came 69th out of 820 and I didn't hammer it at all. Like, it was a hare and tortoise thing. Well, you're also a much faster runner than I was at the time, so hammer it if you feel like it. It can just suddenly get the better of you. No, I know what you mean. it's like London like it cooked me because I wasn't used to running that high heart rate did Ibiza did two days in the sun running slow but like high heart rate is completely different well I think racing a fast marathon is in many ways kind of can be harder than a multi-day thing depends obviously yeah yeah yeah it can I mean it can mess you up like physically like I felt worse I think after London for a couple days than I did after maybe maybe not Ibiza but the the 100k the IB4 and the 100 miles messed me up a little bit but I was I was just like the first marathon I actually did was worse than running 100 miles yeah first time I ran a marathon that was 100 % it took me 4 days to get back to anything and then when I did 100 miles a day later I was kind of like I'm a bit bit sore but we must get running together yeah do you feel that we're in a male mental health crisis I think yeah I think definitely I think we're actually almost talking more about it.

44:57So maybe it's just being, which is a good thing because that was the issue is people wouldn't talk about their issues and maybe not just like share them publicly like for no reason, but actually like get help and talk to someone and try to unpack stuff. And I think we're actually going through a period of time where like health is actually a priority for a lot of people. And your mental health comes into that, right? And you can do a lot of work on yourself physically, but you need to do the work on it mentally as well. And I think people are getting to that. More people are going sober. More people are finding alcohol alternatives just to slow down a little bit.

45:39And people care more. But I do think it's a massive issue. I think it's fair to say that I'm sure many young men probably follow you and are inspired by your journey. I imagine, although I don't know, but I imagine you gained a lot of following from reality television. And, you know, so it's safe to say that your followers will have seen you on your journey, right? They will have seen you kind of drunk out, you know, with women, and then they will have seen the kind of Corey that you've become today. What are the kind of morals that you put out there that you think can be helpful to young men nowadays?

46:23I think like integrity is a massive thing and kind of being authentically you but also just sticking to like your word and if you say you're going to do something then to do it because it's that like you know back in the day when you'd go out all the time and you'd feel like shit and you'd go I'm never drinking again give it a week and then you're out again three days on a bender and I think that's a massive issue with it which is actually probably more of the problem than the drinking the drug itself to some individuals. Because I've got friends that like still now do it and they can function.

46:59They can go out on a Thursday. They can call it at night pretty at a reasonable time and go to work the next day. I couldn't do that. I was like all or nothing. But I think there's a lot of people like that. However, if you then go like, oh, I'm a bit sick of it and I don't want to do this. And you start to like create this conversation internally or even externally. And you're like, I don't want to drink anymore or I'm going to have a month off. And all you try to do dry jam, for example, and you only last like a week. That's when you start to like doubt yourself because you're not sticking true to your word.

47:31And then that will then transfer across into other aspects of your life, your relationships or work or anything and just how you are as a person. And I think that's what I try to get across now. And it kind of goes back to what you said earlier about like me, would I have a drink or go back to like a little bit here and there. And I think now that I've just kind of created this image, but like shared my story and then everyone kind of looks at me to be like that person. Now I feel like I'd be letting people down if I just went back to a certain way. And I feel like I have like a bit of responsibility now, especially with the younger lads that are a bit more impressionable.

48:11If they then see me go, oh, actually like he's done all this, but then after like three years he's like oh fuck it I'm just gonna go back to how I was it didn't really matter that much then they won't even think it kind of holds any value so it's almost like integrity with with myself but also with everyone else now that's the biggest kind of thing that I'm trying to hold up I think yeah I think you know lying to yourself is something that I certainly used to do and it's just yeah you're right it's kind of you know, if you can get used to fulfilling to yourself the things that you say you're going to do for yourself, then obviously that is just daily progress, isn't it?

48:54Being who you set out to be regularly and making small changes consistently. You know, I think consistency is the main thing, right? Like if you can consistently show up and be consistently level-headed, kind, you know a good father a good husband sober you know consistently trained consistently get good sleep like you are one day gonna wake up and just be like i am who i've always wanted to be yeah i've done it this is it's mad because i think people ask me all the time as well like oh how how do you look like that or like just replying to like one thing like a photo of me it's like how do you look like that and it's like there's like they're asking for this one secret thing that made it happen and it's like i've just been doing this for like 10 years consistently like training gym every single day like working on myself the food everything it all kind of adds up to this one end product and then it's the same as like oh how come you still look a certain way when you run so much it's like because i've just been so consistent going into it and i still am with the gym and eating and in training a certain way and i think that's that's the most important part is just to be able to stack the days.

50:09I mean, compound and it all adds up healthy habits and it just becomes this thing. I ask all my guests for a bit of kind of wisdom that they might be able to impart on the listeners, just, you know, for anyone who is on their way or wanting to begin a healthier journey to perhaps untap some of their potential, you know, what are the top tips from you to get started today? I think it's almost like a goal setting thing, like having somewhere to aim for, to go towards, because you can be doing so many things but going in the wrong direction and you're not going to end up anywhere, right? I think set a goal, even if it's quite audacious or like a big goal, even if it's like with your health and it's just like, I want to run a 5K and I want to do it in this time, not just I want to run a 5K.

51:03it's like okay I want to run it in 30 minutes for example for like a lot of people that's like quite a big thing right and then set a time and then work towards that give yourself even if it's six months and it's it's a long time to do it work towards that and even if you get to like 31 minutes and you run the 5k you've still got way closer than you would have if you didn't set any goals whatsoever and it's like it's like shoot for the moon but you still end up amongst the stars right It's like, that's how I go about it. And it's not like set unrealistic goals that you're just going to demotivate yourself by not achieving anything.

51:37But I think like setting like these big targets and then working towards that, even if you set some like stepping stones to head there, just to like give yourself a bit of confidence. And that can be with anything in your health and day-to-day life. It could just be to do with like losing a bit of weight or trying to look a certain way. It's like you kind of need something to actually like work towards and also give you like the evidence that you're getting there. So it has to be something that can show you that you've done something. Because if you just say, I want to look a certain way, then it's almost like, okay, but like, how would you measure that?

52:13It's all on perception. And then you're going to end up in a bad way, probably. Set good goals with high bars. Yeah. Corey, thanks so much for joining us today. Very kind of you to come in. Really enjoyed it. Thanks. And yeah, let's get that track. Thanks so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed that episode. And if you want to hear more incredible conversations with extraordinary people to help unlock the potential within all of us, then please subscribe, follow and review the show wherever you're listening or watching. Thanks again. And we'll catch you next week right here on Untappd.

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