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hey team and welcome to another episode
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of Runners only with dom Harvey thank
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you very much for downloading it um
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thank you very much for listening thank
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you very much for all your messages of
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support this is coming up to the one
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month anniversary it was one month ago
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that I launched the podcast full of
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trepidation and fear and nerves and
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anxiety and my imposter syndrome it was
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flaring up thinking what if this sucks
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what if it's panned and so far
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everything's going really well it's been
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quite humbling if I'm being honest my
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measure of success in these early stages
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like the first three to six months I
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guess
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um was not going to be based on like the
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number of downloads or anything but more
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on the sort of feedback I get as I am
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gauge to let us know whether we're on
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the right track or not but I'm pleased
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to say um the feedback's been humbling
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quite frankly but also the download
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numbers have blown my socks off and
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exceeded my expectations and to think
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that this is the starting point and
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we've still got a lot of learning to do
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and a lot of growing to do I'm just
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humbled um I do need to think the
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sponsors of this episode of Runners only
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with dom Harvey my good friends at
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Triumph and disaster they do men's skin
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care I've been using them for a very
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long time I love them fellas if you
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don't have a skincare regime or maybe
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you're like I was before I was on to
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triumphant disaster and just grabbing
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some Nivea or whatever other [ __ ] I
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could find at the supermarket pamper
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yourself treat yourself or ladies um if
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there's a man in your life that doesn't
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do that pamper himself will treat
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himself get him one of their travel
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packs it's got like a little bit of
00:01:28
everything on it's like a little sort of
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Tapas version of the triumphant disaster
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range and I swear once you get your
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fella onto this he's not going to be
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turning back it makes me feel so good
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when I put it on my face so up to you
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guys no pressure but it'd be really cool
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if you would support the people that
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support the podcast and that's
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triumphant disaster this week oh I might
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add as well because I did say a few
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weeks ago I was looking for sponsors on
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the show and um uh triumphant disaster
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came forward and uh so did a bunch of
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other people and there's some meetings
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going on behind the scenes so thank you
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very much and if you do want to be
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involved by all means email Dom Harvey
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NZ gmail.com but this was really
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humbling a few individuals like maybe
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four or five sent me messages asking if
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they could make donations and I I I'm
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overwhelmed by that but it's it's you
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know it's not a charity and I I do want
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this to be free for you guys to listen
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to so hopefully whatever position you're
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in you can get something out of it free
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of charge but there was the that was the
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nicest thing and there is an option to
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do like a patron account I think it's
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called or patreon but I'd really rather
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not go down that route I'd rather just
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align with some businesses so that you
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guys don't have to pay a cent anyway
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here we go into the podcast this is
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episode eight myself with Dave latelli
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you may know him as the brown butter
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bean from back when he was a boxer or
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now as Butterbean motivation uh or maybe
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you don't know the name at all but it's
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a remarkable story do need to warn you
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not a lot of running chat on this one
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but what we do have here is an
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inspirational story about a guy that was
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um up against the ropes or at Rock
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Bottom however you want a phrase that
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eight years ago and has turned his life
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around and the most dramatic way
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imaginable and I feel like the the
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takeaway that any of us can get from
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this is maybe you're in a slump at the
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moment maybe you're you're Rock Bottom
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whatever that may look like just goes to
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show that just by making a few small
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changes and then doing them day after
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day after day uh you can turn your life
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around and it'll be amazing how
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different your life could look seven or
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eight years from now to how it looks
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today anyway I hope you enjoyed this I
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certainly enjoyed sitting down with Dave
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latelli and I hope you get as much
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listening to it thank you
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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Runners only with dom Harvey and Dave
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latelli AKA
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BBM butter bean motivation g'day mate
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how's it going it's AKA The Mighty brown
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butter
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when I first met you that's that's who
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you were I was uh doing the breakfast
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radio show on the edge and uh we had
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quite a good relationship with David
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Higgins and Duco events and you came in
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and I I loved you immediately like I I
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know it was stick and it was an act you
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were putting on but you came in and you
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were big and you were Brash and you were
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loud and you were friendly
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um how how much did you weigh then that
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was at your Peak yeah yeah so when I
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started I was 210 kilos uh I think when
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I had my first flight going in there I
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was would have been about 170. right
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what are you weighing now you're sitting
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in front of me you you're a tank like a
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the best possible way yeah yeah yeah
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yeah lucky you put in the best possible
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way
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I'm about 120 kilos at the moment yes
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yeah you're looking like Sunny bloody
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Williams oh thank you very much yeah so
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now it's a it's a hell of a story and uh
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from when I first met you in 2014 as um
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the what was it the brown the brown bad
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I mean yeah like like basically a
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fighting comedy act uh to where you are
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now it's been uh phenomenal eight years
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so we're gonna unpack all that get into
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that but first of all the podcast is
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called Runners only and I'm guessing
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like you have some sort of association
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with running like uh and I just I
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suppose I want to know running for you
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is it um something that you enjoy or is
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it like a necessary evil something that
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you know is a fast track to losing
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weight yeah no um me and running
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like skipping don't go too well together
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but you know for me it was getting up
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and going for a walk you know you know
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just with my the size I was
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um and the injuries I've had you know
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having nine knee operations I just have
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to be really careful so I just walked
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and I walked for long distances and I
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you know go to One Tree Hill and
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different mountains around you know
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Auckland and so walking was really good
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for me and I found it good because
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it just gave me time to think about life
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and it also gave my brain a risk so
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anytime I'm exercising in general it
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just is a great form of therapy because
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it gives my brain a rest from everything
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that's going on I'm just thinking I'm
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not thinking about lockdowns or a food
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bank I'm thinking about oh man this is
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hard how many more reps man this is a
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steep hill you know where's the top so
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so afterwards I'm tired but I'm mentally
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refreshed if that makes sense it makes
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perfect sense yeah for me um I mean the
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podcast is about running and running is
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where I think I found um your physical
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health and also mental peace as well but
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I I say to anyone like it's about
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movement and uh like for me it's running
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for you maybe it's something else but um
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there is just so much that anyone can
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get out of any sort of movement or
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exercise 100 you just got to get up and
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move you know that's the name of our
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charity just move yeah so you do you do
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your boot camp so we're going to get
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into that because uh become like an
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institution they're super famous do you
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make your people run have you given your
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people an unhealthy relationship with
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running no no so it's just different you
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know we have different levels of people
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and that come into our classes most of
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the stuff we do in uh you know in our
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regular boot camps we just warm up on
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you know in inside doing body weight
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stuff but when we have boxing classes
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and we have fight camps you know there's
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a lot of running in that
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um you know just because you've got to
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get get your your legs nice and strong
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yeah a lot of running and a lot of
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skipping different stuff that we do for
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different people because a lot of our
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people got to remember are really just
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starting so I'm not going to make
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someone that's 300 kilos uh run you know
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but I make them you know like for
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instance a guy called Tassie who started
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320 kilos uh and I just got him sorry
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can you repeat that 320 kilos 120 kilos
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uh was near dead
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and thankfully he he came and got three
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weeks with me before getting covered
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because I believe that if he hadn't got
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those three weeks of basin he would have
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died he went to hospital uh with covert
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they're worried about his breathing but
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when I first met him he couldn't walk
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for a minute
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you know and by the time we went to
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hospital he was up walking over five
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minutes you know so just gave him a good
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base you know to fight covert wow how
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much weight did you drop in that three
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weeks because I feel like a few if you
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wait if you're at a starting point of
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that high it's got to be real easy to
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drive he's lost uh uh 24 kilos so far
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yeah yeah we just started back this week
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24 kilos but the most important thing
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with him is because weight loss just
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happens like it's there to lose for
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someone that size but it's more about
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the confidence uh it's more about you
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know he's you know living life more now
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and like just we the other day we
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trained and he he got down on onto his
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knees after a set and it shocked me I
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said because when I started he couldn't
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there's no way in the world he'd get
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down to the ground and back up again so
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you know
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um so it was just amazing really why not
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why couldn't he get down to his knees at
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320 kilos you fall down you need someone
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to help you get up okay it's just you
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can imagine that's a lot of weight you
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know
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um you know you're strapped you see
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people strapping those 20 kilo vests on
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them and it's a struggle imagine having
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you know an extra 250 kilos or something
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like you it's just it's an insane so you
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know that's why our program from the
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couch it's about
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the whole idea of it is getting people
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to be able to get down to the ground and
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back up again on their own uh for for a
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lot of people that sounds like that's
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silly but it's the reality sometimes
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there's some people that I've been there
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uh if they fall over we have to call an
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ambulance because even we can't help
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them you know so it's a serious thing so
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and it's something that's liberating for
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them once they're able to get down and
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up on their own people listen to you
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because you've got proven results now
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but also if you've been there
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yeah like you know
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but I was I was big yeah and and I was
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in really bad shape physically but worse
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mentally you know I
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I really hated my life uh you know
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having not having my children going
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through a relationship breakup losing
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all of my money
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um you know in 2014 I had a gun at my
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head you know that's how
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how bad my life was I was just living a
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really bad lifestyle
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and I moved back here but I worked you
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know and here we are yeah there's I mean
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there's so much to your story can we can
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we wind it right back and yeah just head
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through an order okay so you're five
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years old and your dad David he's the
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president of the mob he gets jailed
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um for uh I'm robbery right right do you
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remember much about that at the time
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were you too young to sort of comprehend
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it all I remember and I remember it
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vividly was uh my mum coming home
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panicked
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and
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and just like packing stuff and and
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cursing my father and she had a friend
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there with her and they're just just
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panicked just pure panic that's all I
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remember and I was I remember as a kid I
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was trying to do stuff to make her laugh
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to make her um to cheer her up make her
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happy and um
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so I like you know they had those
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remember those slime containers yeah I
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do I do yeah I put the slime in my hair
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I don't know why I thought that would
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make her happy but
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added to the stress but yeah that's all
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I remember bro right when you hear that
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you grew up and your dad was the more
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president you sort of uh the immediate
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Vision you get well I suppose the
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immediate Vision I get it's like it's a
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Once We Warrior's house but it wasn't
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quite like that was it was better than
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that yeah no I was very lucky still I
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had it we had a good family you know so
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when the other people that we work with
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they're coming from generations of am I
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allowed to swear on this thing from
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generations of [ __ ] upness you know
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just uh
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that generation of the generation of
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generation and it's so hard to break
00:11:32
those Cycles you know because they've
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just constantly been around [ __ ] that
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hadn't they've never had any role models
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or anyone being successful so they don't
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even know what success looks like yeah
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just it's normalized to be
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um you know uh a criminal or be on the
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Dole and you know all these types of
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things but you know at least with us we
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had a good family apart it was my father
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and my uncle that went off track they
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were the ones that were always in prison
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and joined the mob you know
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um
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but you know we saw a lot you know we
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did see a lot we were around that we're
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around a lot of more parties and you
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know we were really growing up with my
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parents you know my parents aren't a
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young when they had us yeah my father
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what you know he he come from a good
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family but he was just a naughty kid you
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know he burnt down his school when he
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was nine years old and then was made a
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state award awarded the state line you
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know for a few years yeah when he came
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back he never went back to school my mum
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was a street kid you know her um coming
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from an abusive background
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um you know moved up here and my dad
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when I think they were now like 12 or
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13. yeah but it sounds like you were a
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good kid though and then you you
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finished school you went to University
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started doing an accountant's degree
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yeah I went to UNI I think that's the
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key thing I went there
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but you I mean you're obviously like
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smart enough to to get through High
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School known from right from wrong and
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getting the necessary qualifications to
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make it to UNI I was driven yeah because
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I uh
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I hated being poor man you know I've
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never met anyone that likes it but man I
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just I really hated not having anything
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but I didn't go down the route of um you
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know wanting to be a criminal and my
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parents done well in in my teen years to
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keep us away from it yeah and we didn't
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really have any idea in my teams
00:13:17
um in my early teens
00:13:19
so I studied really hard you know I went
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and you know I was friends with Dave
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Higgins where I met him at school him
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and his brother and we you know we're a
00:13:25
bit a bit uh geeky you know we're just
00:13:27
that surprises me I want to get to that
00:13:29
later so David Higgins he's um he's like
00:13:32
the boss of um Joe Parker let's play
00:13:34
what he's most famous for now but he's
00:13:35
he's an incredible guy but he's super
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new like you too they're very unlikely
00:13:40
Duo yeah yeah I mean we're a Motley Crew
00:13:43
we had me Dave his brother his brother
00:13:46
who works here with us and he thought
00:13:48
Dave was out there wait till you meet
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his brother and then and then we've got
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um you know we had an Australian guy
00:13:55
that moved back here and and an Indian
00:13:57
so we're that was us that was our crew
00:13:59
we're all still friends to stay
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okay so yes so okay so you're at
00:14:04
University studying to be an accountant
00:14:06
um and that's sort of where you go how
00:14:09
do you go off the rails what happens
00:14:10
there yeah you think the high I would
00:14:12
have thought like for you the high risk
00:14:13
age would have been like secondary
00:14:14
school that's what you can do with the
00:14:16
bad crowd you're a grown-ass man yeah
00:14:18
and I found that I was in uni did really
00:14:20
well in school you know and you know we
00:14:22
went to UNI and we were actually
00:14:24
everything come unstuck when my father
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uh he went he got done for cultivating
00:14:29
marijuana and he had warehouses all over
00:14:31
Auckland in one particular Warehouse in
00:14:34
South Auckland where I was actually
00:14:35
working
00:14:36
part-time but you know had a couple of
00:14:38
part-time jobs one one was at a video
00:14:40
shot with Dave Higgins and the other one
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was minding our Plantation and mangere
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and
00:14:47
that's where it come unstuck and you
00:14:49
know I talked to a lot of at-risk Youth
00:14:51
and at this glamorous the this gangster
00:14:54
life is it's just glamorized too much
00:14:56
and it's because it's not glamorous and
00:14:58
the feeling that I got when my mum when
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my mum called me and said don't go to
00:15:02
work today because we've been raided
00:15:04
uh it was it was a hard feeling I was
00:15:08
really scared really super angry
00:15:11
um worried for my mum and really just
00:15:13
really pissed off at my dad
00:15:15
and I was just thinking [ __ ] yeah really
00:15:17
I thought what man we're just about to
00:15:19
harvest let's go get some money
00:15:24
you know I was coming up to that
00:15:26
exciting time you know laying in bed
00:15:28
thinking man what am I going to buy what
00:15:29
kind of car am I going to buy so
00:15:31
um and then yeah then that happened and
00:15:34
I just went off track I quit uni I quit
00:15:36
my job and um I ended up living in a in
00:15:40
a tiny house in mangere on Plumley Chris
00:15:42
with my cousins and it was a [ __ ]
00:15:44
it was like a halfway home it was just
00:15:47
you know we'd opened up to whoever
00:15:49
wanted to stay there with our friends
00:15:51
um half the time had no power it was I
00:15:54
was filthy you know like it was it was
00:15:56
yeah and um I was selling drugs to
00:15:59
survive you know and what I thought was
00:16:02
this is my whole reasoning behind it was
00:16:03
uh in boxing I played this character of
00:16:06
a bad guy but and this was real life and
00:16:08
I thought my dad's gone he's going he's
00:16:11
gone back to prison yeah my uncle's
00:16:12
already in prison serving 15 years so
00:16:16
the men are gone it's only me there and
00:16:18
my mum and my two younger sisters so I
00:16:20
thought to myself of in that life which
00:16:22
they never tell you about when the man's
00:16:25
gone you know you're open you're open
00:16:28
there's no one stopping you no one's
00:16:29
stopping anyone for coming if you want
00:16:31
picking taking your car you know you
00:16:34
just did it you just don't no I didn't
00:16:35
know so I thought okay I'm just going to
00:16:38
go off and be this bad guy and try and
00:16:40
build up this reputation as fast as I
00:16:42
can by doing Outlander [ __ ] and that's
00:16:46
what it was you know I was living in a
00:16:48
mountain and I was just you know people
00:16:49
would
00:16:50
come on say can you kidnap this person
00:16:52
for if we give you this money
00:16:55
um and
00:16:57
you know repossessing cars off people
00:17:00
that owe money
00:17:01
and just you know just living a really
00:17:04
[ __ ] life a thug life just yeah just
00:17:07
just a loser but at the time I didn't
00:17:10
think at the time I thought it was cool
00:17:11
you know and it must have been quite I
00:17:14
suppose it was quite a cool feeling like
00:17:15
being intimidating well yeah seeing
00:17:17
people seeing people's fear in their eye
00:17:19
when you turn up there must have been
00:17:20
like good for the ego at the time I
00:17:22
don't know I didn't have an ego back
00:17:23
then man I was just it's hard to explain
00:17:25
I wasn't I was still the same person now
00:17:28
as I as I was back then I was raised
00:17:31
right right because you get a good hat
00:17:32
like you've got one of the biggest hats
00:17:34
out of anyone like yeah and it was the
00:17:36
same back then I just
00:17:38
in my mind it was you know I just didn't
00:17:41
want anyone to [ __ ] with my mum right
00:17:42
the part of it stemmed from a place of
00:17:44
anger like you were angry yeah it's
00:17:46
super angry yeah you know
00:17:48
um
00:17:49
in the yeah like you know
00:17:51
just even talking about it now it uh
00:17:54
brings back bad memories you know I I
00:17:55
there's one
00:17:57
thing that you know that I a guy
00:18:00
sold us a card it didn't work so I went
00:18:02
around to his house and it was around
00:18:03
Christmas time and I talked to his car
00:18:06
and then I got him the the crisco's just
00:18:08
got delivered so I got him and I want
00:18:10
all that criscoes you know and I just
00:18:13
now thinking about it
00:18:14
Scott kids and it's just um oh just
00:18:17
doing stupid stupid [ __ ] you know and
00:18:19
then then that guy ended up going to
00:18:21
jail for um for assisting with a murder
00:18:23
and then I thought
00:18:26
lucky he didn't do that to me you know
00:18:28
what I mean
00:18:30
um yeah so yeah I was just doing a lot
00:18:32
of a lot of bad stuff too yeah okay so
00:18:34
after that you ended to us why did you
00:18:36
end up in Australia was that a like a
00:18:38
family intervention where they sent you
00:18:39
there because yeah are you going down
00:18:40
there yeah wow
00:18:43
what had happened was you know and if
00:18:45
you can imagine where me Dave Higgins
00:18:48
his brother Anthony all my group Anna
00:18:51
and hitesh were
00:18:53
um at a party in the in the middle of
00:18:55
mangere around the town center somewhere
00:18:58
and so we just did not fit you know and
00:19:00
it was a mob party
00:19:02
and uh
00:19:03
they wouldn't let me in you know at this
00:19:05
time I was getting banned from a lot of
00:19:07
like there was a mongrel mob nightclub
00:19:08
in public I got banned from
00:19:12
all the time uh and then they wouldn't
00:19:15
let me into this party so I ended up
00:19:17
having a punch-up with them there
00:19:20
and then someone that gone back to where
00:19:23
I was living and that smashed up the
00:19:24
cars
00:19:25
one of those casts was David Higgins
00:19:27
Mum's Car and it just sent me into
00:19:29
really
00:19:30
it was a bad spiral that night and then
00:19:33
I went home and I I ended up stabbing
00:19:36
myself
00:19:38
um and I just remember waking up in
00:19:40
hospital and that was the point with my
00:19:42
family what do you mean like how many
00:19:43
times oh just into my chest right yeah
00:19:45
just here it's like that intentionally
00:19:47
yeah do you think like was it like a
00:19:49
suicide attempt I don't know if I was a
00:19:51
suicide attempt who knows like I was
00:19:53
just [ __ ] angry I hated My Life
00:19:56
um yes and I was just really drunk
00:20:00
and uh and that's what I did and then I
00:20:02
woke up in middlemore and my mum's there
00:20:04
she's crying
00:20:06
and I was just trying to console her you
00:20:07
know saying don't worry man it's just
00:20:09
drunk you know don't worry it's all
00:20:10
right and then they had my day broke my
00:20:12
dad in with two prison guards and I
00:20:14
didn't want to see my dad I was really
00:20:15
angry and still now to this day my me
00:20:17
and my dad's relationship's not the not
00:20:19
the best how old is he now uh 60 16
00:20:22
early 60s you have mum and that's all
00:20:25
together yeah you know what you want to
00:20:26
fix it or uh well he's usually working
00:20:29
here most days yeah he comes in and does
00:20:31
his work here well you know I love him
00:20:33
he loves me but it's not like a real
00:20:35
close relationship you know yeah you and
00:20:38
me from very different backgrounds and
00:20:40
very different upbringings but I can
00:20:41
resonate with everything you say I feel
00:20:43
like this my mum and dad they sort of
00:20:44
broke up and they got back together and
00:20:46
he was a bit of a rat bag and it still
00:20:47
feels now there's this like wall between
00:20:49
us this divider and he knows I'm there
00:20:52
for Herman and I know he's there for me
00:20:54
but it's just we just don't have that
00:20:55
connection there a lot of other people
00:20:56
have yeah yeah that's it that's it yeah
00:20:59
but then part of me feels guilty like
00:21:00
I've got to try harder because I know
00:21:02
he's he's like 73 and I know he's not
00:21:03
going to be around forever and yeah I
00:21:05
don't want to be carrying the burden of
00:21:06
guilt when he dies that I haven't done
00:21:07
my bit I think yeah we both have maybe
00:21:09
that's a deal we both have to make us
00:21:11
try hard and yeah that's you know I do I
00:21:13
have to I have to have to fix that yeah
00:21:16
I mean you're still angry at him now or
00:21:17
do you sort of understand like how he
00:21:19
was or not he can't get your head around
00:21:21
it now no I get it yeah
00:21:23
yeah I get it and we're both now he's
00:21:25
turned his life around and he runs a
00:21:27
foundation called Grace which my sister
00:21:29
who died of cancer she started looking
00:21:31
after prisoners and battered women so I
00:21:35
get it because you know when you're
00:21:36
doing this type of work
00:21:38
um you know your family time suffers and
00:21:41
so that's where me and him have
00:21:43
arguments because we lost them to prison
00:21:45
yeah for many years yeah and now you
00:21:48
know because of the work he does he's
00:21:50
not really around my children right as
00:21:52
much as I I'd like him to be
00:21:54
um so that's that's where we Clash but
00:21:56
then I'm the same like you know I'm
00:21:58
always working too so yeah yeah yeah oh
00:22:01
my God you must annoy the [ __ ] out of
00:22:03
you when you can see like aspects of
00:22:04
your dad in you
00:22:06
you know I love and I learned one thing
00:22:09
about for my parents I learned you know
00:22:11
my heart from them uh and and work ethic
00:22:14
you know it's because they've always
00:22:16
been always been very very hard workers
00:22:18
whether it was legal or illegal yeah
00:22:20
okay so so there's there's the stabbing
00:22:23
thing where you stab yourself and end up
00:22:24
in a hospital you think that like that
00:22:25
could be a pivotal moment in your life
00:22:27
like a turning point oh there was more
00:22:28
to come
00:22:30
like you think they would be um they
00:22:32
would be like rock bottom but uh it was
00:22:34
still a long way from Rock but so you
00:22:35
end up in Australia after that yes I
00:22:37
went to Australia after that that and um
00:22:40
got my life back together you know I
00:22:41
ended up roofing for my uncle and lost
00:22:44
heaps of weight and came back to New
00:22:47
Zealand where my father got you know he
00:22:48
ended up Lucky getting a good lawyer
00:22:51
and I said a bit of time then got home
00:22:54
detention uh so I moved back when that
00:22:57
happened and started playing League
00:22:59
again you know and then went and went
00:23:00
back to UNI uh doing the becom started
00:23:03
playing League again that's when the
00:23:04
whole league dream start restarting oh
00:23:06
mate I saw if you Google there's a photo
00:23:08
of you playing for I think County's
00:23:09
Manukau and the maybe the batter car
00:23:11
about a couple something uh yeah you're
00:23:13
a you're a fat looking bugger yeah no I
00:23:15
was um I really loved League yeah yeah
00:23:18
you're good yeah I mean I made School
00:23:21
Board kiwis
00:23:22
um you know I play for North Sydney
00:23:24
Bears I played in France chasing it you
00:23:26
know I was contracted to manly I really
00:23:28
chased the dream but I could never just
00:23:30
quite quite get there but um you know
00:23:33
for a few years it was everything yeah
00:23:35
quite a few my early late my whole 20s
00:23:38
basically right so so what went wrong in
00:23:41
Australia so I read you you doing really
00:23:43
well you had never having a business so
00:23:45
a couple of grocery stores or something
00:23:46
yeah yeah I don't really go into it too
00:23:48
much okay I was
00:23:51
I ended up playing in a little country
00:23:53
town and uh
00:23:55
they they you get good money playing in
00:23:57
country footy more than being a signed
00:24:01
NRL player you can make more money the
00:24:03
only time how so how does that when
00:24:04
you're when you're on the French souls
00:24:06
in a part-time squad for manly right so
00:24:08
it's good money if you play NRL
00:24:10
if you don't if you're a fringe
00:24:12
part-timer there's no money you've got
00:24:15
to work so I thought okay I'll just go I
00:24:17
can make good money playing in the
00:24:18
country in cudamundra is where I played
00:24:19
and I got a job at a supermarket and I
00:24:22
just was working there I had my two
00:24:24
younger kids and just working as a
00:24:26
storeman uh ended up going into the
00:24:28
office because I've done accounting you
00:24:30
know I did some accounting not doing
00:24:31
payroll and went to bit to be floor
00:24:34
manager then store manager done really
00:24:36
well in that store
00:24:37
got an opportunity to to be financed
00:24:40
into my own and that's where things went
00:24:43
unstuck because
00:24:44
you know you always see these athletes
00:24:46
and
00:24:47
um
00:24:48
celebrities who make all this money and
00:24:50
then they lose it and you go how the
00:24:52
hell did that happen it's so easy
00:24:54
because if you're not educated how to
00:24:56
handle money and most of my people and
00:24:59
my generation people that I was with we
00:25:01
just weren't we didn't have any money
00:25:03
we're never told you know things because
00:25:06
you know no one expects us to be
00:25:07
anything either yeah you know and so we
00:25:10
just I just wasn't prepared I had no
00:25:11
idea what the hell GST was or
00:25:13
maybe I should have listened more in
00:25:15
accounting
00:25:16
and just skip that class and uh you know
00:25:20
and income tax and all these things so
00:25:23
I ended up you know
00:25:25
I went hard at whatever I was doing and
00:25:27
I was just doing his stuff and not I was
00:25:29
no longer worried about training or my
00:25:31
house I was getting heaps of weight and
00:25:32
owning a few different things and always
00:25:35
had a good heart and just supporting
00:25:37
everything
00:25:38
but then it just all come unstuck and
00:25:40
and that's why I say to parents you know
00:25:42
we've got to be careful what our kids
00:25:43
see because although I never wanted to
00:25:45
be like my parents and my uncle I saw it
00:25:47
and when I lost my businesses I could
00:25:52
finally see what my dad would say I did
00:25:55
everything I all the stuff I did I did
00:25:56
it for you because that's exactly what I
00:25:58
was thinking about my children yes okay
00:25:59
I'm not going to have any of my kids
00:26:01
want for nothing
00:26:02
material that's always we're driven by
00:26:05
these material things you know I want to
00:26:07
give them all the best of everything uh
00:26:09
whereas I should have just been happy to
00:26:11
go broke
00:26:12
again but still have my family you know
00:26:14
but I wasn't
00:26:16
so I ended up living just going and
00:26:18
Diving head first into this criminal
00:26:20
lifestyle right right yeah I've I've
00:26:22
seen you I've read a few interviews with
00:26:24
you I've seen a few interviews and you
00:26:25
sort of you do just sort of touch upon
00:26:27
the surface of this and you don't really
00:26:28
go deep into it is it still too painful
00:26:29
it's one of those things that with the
00:26:31
passenger time you're about to talk
00:26:32
about it but just not now yeah it's
00:26:34
painful and it's um
00:26:37
you know you some things you can't talk
00:26:39
about because yeah you know affects
00:26:41
other people fix other people sure and
00:26:43
so it's something that uh I just want to
00:26:45
I'll talk I'll talk about it when I do
00:26:47
like you know
00:26:49
if I'm talking to people off air but
00:26:52
when I'm online yeah I just got to be
00:26:54
careful but look I was a
00:26:56
just doing really bad uh stupid things
00:26:59
in the name of my children that's how if
00:27:02
you speak to a lot of gangsters you know
00:27:04
with children it's all the same I'm
00:27:06
doing this for my family you know and
00:27:07
really it's not it's selfish because all
00:27:10
it does is take you away from your
00:27:11
family yeah exactly what it did for me
00:27:13
you know I wasn't even living with my
00:27:14
family anymore because
00:27:16
you know I was afraid of so I was afraid
00:27:18
someone would come to try and do
00:27:19
something to try and hit me and I didn't
00:27:21
want my family around I suppose by
00:27:23
anyone that says that you can sort of
00:27:25
use it as a tool to justify what you're
00:27:27
doing yeah it's exactly what else you're
00:27:28
just justifying yeah I'm doing all of
00:27:30
this stuff but it's for a good reason
00:27:31
yeah yeah
00:27:33
um and it's just not you know and it all
00:27:36
it ended up I got held up at gunpoint
00:27:38
you know
00:27:39
uh and that's where that life led me
00:27:41
right yeah it was [ __ ] yeah it was crazy
00:27:44
what happens when you heard about
00:27:45
gunpoint like do you I I think I'd look
00:27:47
like legit
00:27:48
um probably like piss myself with [ __ ]
00:27:50
myself or something well yeah well I was
00:27:51
just lucky I'd just go on toilet
00:27:54
but are you I mean you're you're a
00:27:57
you're an imposing guy like a in the
00:28:00
face of a gun are you are you scared or
00:28:02
were you it's not like the movies you
00:28:04
know where you you know game guy pull
00:28:05
the trigger I I literally I was on the
00:28:08
toilet and I heard this um
00:28:11
and I heard um I heard all the scuffling
00:28:14
going on outs and yelling outside I [ __ ]
00:28:17
got up opened the door and there was a
00:28:19
gun right there and I'm like [ __ ] that's
00:28:23
just like and it's like um things were
00:28:25
happening in slow motion I was
00:28:27
you know I obviously I didn't want to
00:28:29
die you know so I'm just doing what they
00:28:31
say and the person I was with was
00:28:33
trying to um push back and I just told
00:28:36
them don't just leave it so they were um
00:28:39
you know just searching our house I
00:28:42
think there's three of them and then
00:28:43
once they found what they wanted they
00:28:44
ran out and I chased them
00:28:47
I chase them and
00:28:48
and um I ended up being on the roof of
00:28:51
their car and I could just hear them say
00:28:52
shoot them shoot them
00:28:54
and for me that's like a sign you know
00:28:56
uh
00:28:58
they're not meant to be here doing what
00:29:00
I'm doing now because how I'm not dead
00:29:02
or in jail it's uh the only one reason
00:29:04
is because it was God's plan and I'm not
00:29:07
religious but I do believe in God
00:29:09
you know I believe that um you know
00:29:12
that's the reason I'm here doing what
00:29:13
I'm doing now yeah there's so many
00:29:15
chances uh times in my life like there
00:29:17
was fights that I've been in where
00:29:19
that's why I was never worried about
00:29:21
boxing because you know there's in terms
00:29:23
of like being heard or being beaten
00:29:24
because there's fights that I've been in
00:29:26
uh when I've gone through these bad
00:29:28
times where you didn't know if you're
00:29:29
going to make it out it was some real
00:29:31
heavy stuff
00:29:33
um where you thought she's fine you know
00:29:34
I could die so
00:29:37
I never really worried about about the
00:29:39
boxing thing oh I suppose yeah boxing's
00:29:42
not a matter of life and death is it
00:29:44
it's you might be humiliated or
00:29:46
embarrassed yeah it can be you've got to
00:29:47
be that's why you gotta take it
00:29:49
seriously yeah people die in the ring
00:29:50
but it's it's it's it's different you
00:29:52
know you've got you got a ref there to
00:29:54
pull someone off
00:29:56
yeah wow so so then when does David is
00:30:01
that the end of your time in Australia
00:30:02
like when the shooting is how much how
00:30:05
much longer after that was did you get
00:30:06
the lifeline yeah it was much longer so
00:30:08
that was it that was pretty much Rock
00:30:09
Bottom that was rock bottom and I was
00:30:11
okay I was sitting in a place and it was
00:30:12
Pitch Black
00:30:13
later that night and that's why I say
00:30:15
you know everyone again this life that
00:30:18
life
00:30:19
where they're talking about Brotherhood
00:30:20
and all this stuff and you know I just
00:30:22
was alone I had no one I was around you
00:30:24
know and I just was thinking to me I was
00:30:27
thinking about retribution that's what I
00:30:28
was thinking
00:30:29
I'm thinking I'm gonna go I'm gonna go
00:30:31
shoot this guy you know
00:30:34
um who I thought it was
00:30:36
and uh but I had a moment and Just A
00:30:39
Moment of clarity where again I believe
00:30:42
it was God coming in
00:30:43
and just put planted the seed and it was
00:30:46
funny because the way I Justified was
00:30:48
it's not his kid's fault he's a dick
00:30:52
yeah you know and that's what stopped me
00:30:55
from doing something yeah because you
00:30:57
know I'm still a good person yeah just
00:30:58
doing bad stuff and I just thought it's
00:31:00
not his kids fault so that's sort of
00:31:03
stopped there and then I but I'd already
00:31:04
rang my parents and I told them to I
00:31:06
need you to come get my family because
00:31:07
I'm gonna
00:31:09
um you know and they they were shocked
00:31:11
because I didn't know anything was going
00:31:12
down and then that you know and they
00:31:14
thought I was still own the supermarkets
00:31:16
and then uh Dave Higgins found out
00:31:19
and then he rang me and it was around
00:31:20
the time of the NRL Knights and he just
00:31:23
you know he said look why don't you come
00:31:25
back I'm going to get the boys together
00:31:27
you know we haven't seen each other in a
00:31:28
while and I'm doing this big event so
00:31:30
let's come back and I said okay that
00:31:32
sounds good but I've got no money I've
00:31:34
got no passport and I can't fit an
00:31:36
economy
00:31:37
and so uh
00:31:39
he he sent one of our other mates that
00:31:41
lived in Sydney sent him some money to
00:31:43
get me a 24-hour passport
00:31:45
so I went up to Sydney went to the
00:31:47
passport office got it done they paid
00:31:49
for it
00:31:50
um got me a business class trip but was
00:31:53
it was that a line or were you actually
00:31:55
too big for an economy seat that's a
00:31:57
great life it worked so it was a great
00:31:58
line I thought I was um he thought I was
00:32:00
lying because he knew that ah man he
00:32:02
just thinks I'm cracking it now so he's
00:32:03
going to try and get a position but when
00:32:06
he saw me he um he understood and it's
00:32:09
crazy because I mean I was sweating just
00:32:10
walking five meters you know and I was
00:32:12
sweating Bricks by the time I got to his
00:32:14
car and he was he just got his new Audi
00:32:16
RS7 and he's he's got rid of that car
00:32:20
now because he said it represented years
00:32:21
of hedonism
00:32:24
and he's going don't get in don't get in
00:32:26
I've got to put my seat back I don't
00:32:28
want you on it when I have to put it
00:32:30
back so um and sort of then you know and
00:32:33
then we spent that weekend sort of
00:32:36
gee he was just really sussing me out I
00:32:38
guess you know just trying to find out
00:32:39
uh what was going on the whole time he's
00:32:42
running this event and you know we're
00:32:43
getting wasted ahead and it's funny
00:32:46
because you know that was at Eden Park
00:32:48
and there was a very successful event
00:32:50
too it was massive the 15 Euro nines
00:32:52
phenomenal wow such a and I was so proud
00:32:54
of him and but my life was a mess and I
00:32:57
I didn't even watch games outside
00:32:58
because I was sweating too hot so I just
00:33:00
sat inside on VIP and just got drunk
00:33:03
um and I was it's funny now because I'm
00:33:05
friends with Nick uh who's the boss of
00:33:07
Eden Park and I said to him when because
00:33:09
if you see that of that poster behind
00:33:10
you that's at Eden Park you know yeah
00:33:13
that's right the world's biggest boot
00:33:14
camp that you did so good I'm friends
00:33:16
with Mick and I said to him when we're
00:33:17
doing awesome man I've done so much
00:33:20
drugs in your toilets
00:33:22
and he goes oh don't tell me that
00:33:25
because he's like a real real nice guy
00:33:27
real straight that real straight guy and
00:33:29
I said man I've done some drugs on these
00:33:30
toilets because that's what I was doing
00:33:32
at then you know because I didn't I'd
00:33:34
take anything I snort anything because I
00:33:36
I didn't care about my life right yeah
00:33:38
what were you on with your speed Coke
00:33:40
whatever
00:33:40
um anything yeah you know they said it
00:33:42
Coke and it's Coke but who knows
00:33:45
probably fake cocaine
00:33:47
um yeah I mean it's it's not good for
00:33:49
anyone but if you're a big dude it's
00:33:51
dangerous on the old ticker yeah yeah
00:33:52
and you know and
00:33:54
you know I'll just never I was just
00:33:55
sweating
00:33:57
and you know I I took some uh I took
00:34:01
some pills that were really bad they
00:34:03
were no good and I was and it was just
00:34:05
sent me I was you know causing fights
00:34:07
and um it just looked like a maniac yeah
00:34:11
and um but at the end of the nines at
00:34:13
the after party
00:34:15
and that's when Dave said to me look I
00:34:17
think you need to move back
00:34:19
um I'll sort everything
00:34:20
but uh
00:34:22
you know I'm not sorting nothing until
00:34:24
you're back here so I came back and that
00:34:26
and that's when I came back and and
00:34:28
started to
00:34:29
um on this journey you know that is such
00:34:31
a good thing to do I mean you know
00:34:33
there's that saying you can lead a horse
00:34:34
to water but you can't make them drink
00:34:36
he could have flown you back and then
00:34:38
you just completely [ __ ] it up over here
00:34:40
yeah that's the thing you know he gave
00:34:42
me this opportunity and he's given that
00:34:43
you know he's helped a lot of people but
00:34:46
uh you know I re I didn't want to let
00:34:49
him down I said okay if you're going to
00:34:51
help me like this and and um yes that
00:34:53
was accountability of being part of it
00:34:55
yeah you know and and he really helped
00:34:56
me it wasn't just getting me back here
00:34:58
he looked after some stuff for me and um
00:35:00
so I you know I thought okay I'm gonna
00:35:02
give him my all we didn't know what we
00:35:03
were going to do we still didn't know
00:35:04
about boxing the whole boxing stuff came
00:35:06
about in Germany you know um Dave was
00:35:09
worried about me because I was very
00:35:11
depressed and so he he never really
00:35:14
leave me alone much you know he'd always
00:35:16
take me to different stuff and um he'd
00:35:18
check in on me all the time I had a few
00:35:19
friends like that that were here
00:35:21
um so you know it's just I stayed in a
00:35:24
community home uh on a mattress and you
00:35:27
know I was staying with rapists Henry
00:35:29
the rapist and uh some robbers that were
00:35:31
just out of prison that's where I was
00:35:33
living and he'd come and stay over them
00:35:34
sometimes I have real bad sleep apnea so
00:35:37
he didn't sleep much because he thought
00:35:38
I was going to die in my sleep and um
00:35:40
then he said okay we're going to Germany
00:35:42
Joe's fighting over there do you want to
00:35:44
come yeah of course
00:35:45
said well you better train hard because
00:35:47
you're not coming business
00:35:48
[Laughter]
00:35:52
it's been like a one-way business class
00:35:54
from Sydney to return flights to Europe
00:35:56
is this class and uh I say sweet so I
00:35:59
started walking twice a day and um you
00:36:01
know that was that motivation and over
00:36:03
there over in Germany they were really
00:36:05
fascinated this was at Joe's weigh-in
00:36:07
they had the undercut way and the head
00:36:08
of German boxing
00:36:10
they were like man fascinated with this
00:36:12
massive Islander with tattoos everywhere
00:36:14
and a shaved head so they wanted to see
00:36:16
what I weighed I did too so because you
00:36:19
know they were whenever I jumped on a
00:36:21
scout back home it always said error so
00:36:23
I was like okay did it actually wow so I
00:36:26
jumped on and I was 178 kilos and I was
00:36:29
like pumped oh because you had lost
00:36:34
there is a photo somewhere I'll try and
00:36:36
find out where everyone else was so
00:36:38
shocked that who's this fat bastard and
00:36:40
I was so happy so I was like yeah
00:36:44
on the man on the style like and all his
00:36:48
people are laughing at me and you're
00:36:50
just doing you know doing what you see
00:36:51
on YouTube like a stereotypical arrogant
00:36:54
boxer I was like I'll beat anyone I'm
00:36:56
the man I'm the man I can't no one beat
00:36:57
me and um that's when that light bulb
00:37:00
went off in Dave's headset man this is
00:37:02
what you're gonna do because he saw the
00:37:04
reaction because that's what you're
00:37:05
going to do when you go back to New
00:37:06
Zealand we're going to roll you out and
00:37:09
you're going to be our next circus act
00:37:11
because you know they've had I think
00:37:12
dwarves yeah there was at the time that
00:37:13
Duke were doing um
00:37:15
reality stars yeah basically anyone that
00:37:18
anyone you know sell some tickets if if
00:37:20
they could give us the SPCA they
00:37:22
probably would have had a human foreign
00:37:25
and so that was me I was their next
00:37:27
circus act We're Gonna Roll you out he
00:37:29
said we're gonna roll you up oh hurtful
00:37:31
Praise by the way and uh I said sweet
00:37:34
how much I'm gonna get paid and it
00:37:35
wasn't much what was it at five grand
00:37:37
five grand five grand okay
00:37:39
um you know they must have seemed like a
00:37:41
decent amount if I had no other ways and
00:37:45
I was on the edge of Sinai you know to
00:37:47
my sister Vicky rest in peace she'd be
00:37:50
like because that's how looks this I
00:37:51
can't do this I'm going to scroll out
00:37:53
and and um get back into that life uh
00:37:56
over here
00:37:58
and make money
00:37:59
and um
00:38:01
but she'd always say to me you know just
00:38:02
down this path I can see something
00:38:03
coming out to see something just stay on
00:38:05
and just keep exercising I can see
00:38:06
something and this was long before
00:38:07
anything you know and then so we we did
00:38:10
it I did the same thing I did in Germany
00:38:12
and people uh laughed at me and then
00:38:16
they put it on a Crowd Goes Wild and in
00:38:19
the paper
00:38:20
and then the hate started it was crazy
00:38:22
you know
00:38:24
um because back then there was no real
00:38:25
boxes like like mainstream doing over
00:38:28
here in New Zealand talking like that
00:38:30
and especially not Islanders you know so
00:38:32
I was like yeah I'm the man I'll beat
00:38:33
anyone I'm toughest man can't no one
00:38:35
beat me the Mighty brown butter bean you
00:38:36
know and the whole way they got that
00:38:38
name was it was Dave's brother Andrew
00:38:39
when I told Andrew I said oh they're
00:38:41
going to put me on a card I was excited
00:38:43
because and Andrew's got the [ __ ] what
00:38:45
are they gonna call you the black butter
00:38:47
bean because his their famous American
00:38:49
white guys
00:38:51
right so they cut so Dave said I like it
00:38:54
but we can't say black we're gonna say
00:38:56
brown you are the brown butter pean
00:38:58
we're gonna spell it with a a instead of
00:39:00
a butter and the whole premise was
00:39:02
you're gonna be the baddest do whatever
00:39:04
you want there's no rules you do
00:39:06
whatever you want cause as much chaos as
00:39:09
you can you only talk about yourself in
00:39:11
the third person
00:39:12
um and just cause trouble and the
00:39:14
Butterbean does whatever he wants you
00:39:16
know that's that's so that was the
00:39:18
character and I had Craig stand away
00:39:23
for many years yeah and he he loved
00:39:25
wrestling yeah so yeah he was here he'll
00:39:28
always funny story about Craig
00:39:30
um hopefully he hears this but uh he was
00:39:32
funny we're over in Samoa and he's quite
00:39:34
a uh interesting character Craig and
00:39:38
um I'm you know he's so he's
00:39:40
he's really into like he's he's the man
00:39:42
you know and we're over in Australia uh
00:39:44
sorry Samoa promo promoting Joe's
00:39:47
fighting because you know Butterbean
00:39:49
because I've uh
00:39:52
of commentated x amount of Commonwealth
00:39:54
Games I've done x amount of Olympics on
00:39:58
the most one of the most highly
00:40:00
decorated uh New Zealand uh what do you
00:40:03
call it media personalities yeah because
00:40:06
but you know what my my proudest
00:40:07
achievement is I said what's that
00:40:09
crackers you
00:40:11
creating you is my proudest achievement
00:40:13
so well done
00:40:16
unbelievable that's great yeah if you
00:40:18
know Craig you'll be laughing now listen
00:40:20
it's good and but he you know to his
00:40:23
credit you know we I listened to what he
00:40:24
said he loved wrestling so he turned me
00:40:26
into a wrestling heel
00:40:28
you know and uh and that's what but no
00:40:31
one could take it you know over here you
00:40:33
know I was getting you know you're a
00:40:34
disgrace to all our people some of my
00:40:37
workers here were also my haters yeah
00:40:39
not not here in this room oh well
00:40:41
because it's just not there except like
00:40:43
what what you were doing it's yeah as
00:40:45
you said it's an American thing it's
00:40:46
been done in wrestling for years
00:40:47
um I think one of the best in the game
00:40:49
now is probably Tyson Fury had it yeah
00:40:50
he does it better than is it just done
00:40:52
Samoan I think it's yeah it's just not
00:40:55
in our culture we're you know we are
00:40:57
taught from a young age to be humble and
00:40:59
um you know but
00:41:01
that's what the thing was the common
00:41:03
most common message was
00:41:04
humble yourself be humble and I have my
00:41:07
most my reply humble's not paying my
00:41:09
bills yeah yeah
00:41:10
um so you know I know the kind I am a
00:41:13
humble person but I'm having to play
00:41:15
this character because feeding it's it's
00:41:18
feeding my children I'm sending money
00:41:19
back it's keeping that's what I'm doing
00:41:21
and every fight I was on I kept losing
00:41:24
away and that's how we started building
00:41:25
him and as I said it was around this
00:41:27
time through your association with David
00:41:28
higginson doco that um that I meet on my
00:41:30
radio show and we we loved having you
00:41:33
and you were great chat every time yeah
00:41:35
um do you you look back I mean obviously
00:41:37
that was that was that was a step in the
00:41:39
journey to where you are now so it was a
00:41:41
necessary step but do you look back now
00:41:42
and you're embarrassed about it or
00:41:44
you're like no that was you've got to
00:41:45
own it that's part of yeah some of the
00:41:48
stuff I watch and like ah but you did it
00:41:50
so well but you know to me it's like
00:41:52
part yeah like part of the journey
00:41:54
because you know it got me used to
00:41:55
speaking in front of people and um you
00:41:58
know now I do a lot you know I get paid
00:41:59
to speak to companies and at corporate
00:42:01
events you know so it was all training
00:42:03
for me everything it was that happened
00:42:06
to me was there was a reason and the
00:42:08
reason is is because it's prepared me
00:42:10
for now and these media people that I
00:42:12
had to meet you know I've used them now
00:42:14
in the context that I made to do what
00:42:16
I'm doing now to help me now yeah so
00:42:18
none of it would have none of this would
00:42:20
have happened without any of that yeah
00:42:22
so yeah so that so the boxing thing
00:42:24
which is long behind you now that led
00:42:25
you to um Butterbean motivation BBM
00:42:28
t-shirts everywhere you've done so much
00:42:30
good stuff how did that happen like are
00:42:32
you much like a goal seter or is it just
00:42:34
sort of just sort of like
00:42:36
Bumble your way through these things and
00:42:38
it happens and it seems like a good idea
00:42:39
and then yeah I think uh yeah there's
00:42:41
not much planned with my stuff pretty
00:42:43
organic but the way the thing happened
00:42:46
was so on every show was fighting on
00:42:48
because Duco kept me on because of the
00:42:50
you know the stir that I was causing uh
00:42:53
yeah you sold tickets yeah sold tickets
00:42:54
and I was just like man so I was having
00:42:57
I was doing more and more outlandish
00:42:58
things
00:42:59
one thing I understood was I understood
00:43:02
that Joe Parker is the main event yeah
00:43:04
and if I'm to make the news I had to do
00:43:06
real stupid stuff but each fight I was
00:43:10
losing weight and so people amongst the
00:43:11
hate mail I was getting I was getting
00:43:13
messages like how are you doing this
00:43:15
what's the secret everyone thinks
00:43:17
there's a secret to losing weight
00:43:20
um so I just tell them well you know
00:43:21
you've got to stop drinking fizzy drinks
00:43:22
and stop going to KFC every day and go
00:43:25
for a walk but everyone was expecting me
00:43:27
to say just take this pill drink this
00:43:28
drink and stand on a machine that shakes
00:43:31
you and you're going to lose the weight
00:43:32
you know
00:43:33
um so I started on Fire Bridge right so
00:43:35
I started group BBM it's not a group BBM
00:43:38
motivation just on Facebook as a place
00:43:40
where I could send people to where I
00:43:42
could be myself so I was Private what
00:43:44
year was this oh I would have started
00:43:46
that group maybe 2015 15 7 years old
00:43:49
[ __ ] has come a long way in seven years
00:43:50
yep and uh just as I started off as a
00:43:53
person or like a Blog yeah and then I
00:43:55
would send people too because everywhere
00:43:56
else on all other all of my other
00:43:59
socials I was being this dick but in the
00:44:01
group I was myself you know sharing and
00:44:04
just saying that's what I'm doing and
00:44:06
the boot camp started with my I was
00:44:08
living in at my father-in-law's my
00:44:10
parents in-laws and they he had a friend
00:44:14
that needed to lose some weight
00:44:16
so he asked Mel can you come and help
00:44:17
him so I helped him down at trust
00:44:19
Stadium there was like five of us there
00:44:21
and then I just thought to myself geez I
00:44:23
wonder if anyone else in our online
00:44:25
group would want to come put that so
00:44:27
start and then out South where I started
00:44:29
with helping one person in a driveway
00:44:31
and papa tell you
00:44:33
I wonder if anyone else wants to come
00:44:34
and that's how this has started from
00:44:36
that you know we just moved from going
00:44:39
from training people in driveways and
00:44:40
Fields and car Parks anywhere we could
00:44:43
you know to now having you know uh one
00:44:46
two three gems uh all free everything
00:44:49
free
00:44:50
um you know this food share and a
00:44:53
Community Kitchen you know we're opening
00:44:55
up and took it all so it's pretty yeah
00:44:57
yeah amazing realistically
00:44:59
um how many lives do you think you've
00:45:00
saved we're helped saved oh man
00:45:02
obviously people have got to do the work
00:45:04
themselves but without you arguably they
00:45:06
wouldn't have done it I don't know man
00:45:08
like we're talking hundreds thousands
00:45:10
I'll be thousands we've had a massive
00:45:12
impact you know when you think about you
00:45:13
know
00:45:14
um
00:45:15
you know there's at least pre-covered
00:45:18
before this we've only just opened back
00:45:19
up but you know there was you know a
00:45:21
thousand people a week coming you know
00:45:23
and then you've got their families their
00:45:25
kids and you know then you think about
00:45:27
through this since only since August
00:45:29
last year we're fed over um you know be
00:45:31
close to 200 000 people
00:45:34
um just since August last year so the
00:45:36
impact that and I took I had a talk
00:45:38
today about to someone about creating a
00:45:40
course
00:45:41
to certify people to train them how to
00:45:44
how to do what we do
00:45:46
um and he put it really well you know
00:45:48
because just that that Pebble you threw
00:45:50
out which was a free boot camp for some
00:45:52
one person you know the ripples it's
00:45:54
caused you know and uh something I do
00:45:57
I'm gonna that I need to do is
00:46:00
just go back and look look at that and
00:46:01
unpack it you know and put it all down
00:46:03
you know so we know look you know this
00:46:05
is what all these things that have
00:46:06
happened you know for that one Pebble
00:46:08
yeah so okay so from um Butterbean
00:46:10
motivation how did how did the food bank
00:46:12
thing start by the way to I'm upstairs
00:46:14
with you in your office and to to get
00:46:16
here
00:46:17
um I had to like squeeze my way through
00:46:19
like pallets of food it's a whole
00:46:21
operation downstairs there's a whole lot
00:46:23
going on yeah it's full on yeah it's
00:46:25
full-on and it's yeah it's
00:46:28
it's tough we started we started the
00:46:30
food bank it was really you know our
00:46:33
attitude is and the way I live my life
00:46:34
is if I can't help I will that's the way
00:46:37
I live in this way that's our BBM value
00:46:40
and we had um the first ever level four
00:46:43
I got asked by a social worker out west
00:46:45
if I could help a family out South now
00:46:48
keep in mind that I was only really
00:46:50
running our boot camps we do little bits
00:46:53
and pieces of help we're known to help
00:46:55
if we could but we had no food plan
00:46:57
there were nothing
00:46:58
we'd always done bits and pieces but
00:47:00
then I said okay because the bureaucracy
00:47:01
of the system is so messed up and also
00:47:03
this family had nothing and they're
00:47:05
going into lockdown no one could help
00:47:06
them
00:47:07
so I went out we done the shopping and
00:47:10
then I as we took it out the kids come
00:47:11
running said mom Mom we've got food now
00:47:13
and I understood then right there at
00:47:16
that moment that anyone who only had
00:47:18
just had their head above water
00:47:20
pre-covered is gonna be [ __ ] now
00:47:21
they're going to be [ __ ] yeah um so
00:47:24
right there that day we started the food
00:47:26
bank and it was just me reaching out
00:47:27
here I only just started using LinkedIn
00:47:29
then yeah
00:47:31
I started someone told me a young guy
00:47:33
was telling me you know man are you on
00:47:35
LinkedIn so I am but I never use it
00:47:37
because that's where you need to be yeah
00:47:38
that's where all the you know the CEOs
00:47:40
and the and the people with money on us
00:47:43
really so I started posting there and
00:47:46
then I started searching who's the bot
00:47:47
and the first person I reached out to
00:47:48
was uh Chris Quinn oh he and he's the
00:47:51
boss of uh foodstuffs North Island
00:47:53
who's one of our biggest supporters now
00:47:55
yeah great the first person I reached
00:47:56
out to and it's just snowballed from
00:47:58
there to you know we
00:48:00
but I never wanted to do it I didn't
00:48:02
want to do a food bank it was me mainly
00:48:04
that's why I call it a food share now
00:48:05
but I mainly just had it there while in
00:48:08
lockdowns and then when we went to that
00:48:10
real good period of being out for ages
00:48:11
we only had it operating in the
00:48:13
background it wasn't really doing much
00:48:15
just not advertising it was just in the
00:48:17
background and I started the community
00:48:18
kitchen and that was with Leo Malloy who
00:48:21
helped me to raise the funds and outlaid
00:48:24
the initial money to build it
00:48:27
and that was I wanted to educate and
00:48:29
give my people a hand up yeah teach my
00:48:31
people how to shop healthy how to cook
00:48:33
healthy how to prepare all the stuff
00:48:34
which we still do now
00:48:37
um but then we opened that maybe a few
00:48:39
weeks later the long lockdown happened
00:48:41
and we just scaled straight up because
00:48:43
we're so we're very agile we're not like
00:48:46
a you know lots of other large
00:48:47
organizations that take ages to do it
00:48:49
the next day we've done a couple of
00:48:51
thousand lunches the next day the food
00:48:53
so the first day of lockdown and then we
00:48:55
just got all the start of getting all so
00:48:57
he turned my gym into a food bank got
00:48:59
started getting all the stocking it was
00:49:01
just massive like our whole gym in
00:49:03
Monaco was filled with food and um
00:49:06
and then as we're going because it was
00:49:07
gone for so long I thought there's no
00:49:09
way we can just stop you know once this
00:49:11
lockdown so yeah so I just went out and
00:49:13
and we cut a lease on this no funding we
00:49:16
didn't have any funding to do this
00:49:17
there's no way of paying for it apart
00:49:19
from us me paying for it myself and but
00:49:22
I always you know just gotta make the
00:49:24
moves and and do it for the right
00:49:26
reasons and you always get support
00:49:28
and that's so now that we're here you
00:49:29
know it's a purpose-built you know food
00:49:32
share a food distribution center and
00:49:34
it's massive are you I I do worry about
00:49:37
you taking it you're taking too much on
00:49:39
and spreading yourself too thin is there
00:49:40
enough is there enough Dave time you
00:49:42
know what I mean how's your time
00:49:44
management you get enough time for
00:49:46
yourself enough time for your family no
00:49:49
uh and that's what do you recognize is
00:49:52
that a problem do you recognize it I do
00:49:54
recognize it and people say to me how
00:49:56
can it why do you have to try to spend
00:49:59
time with a family
00:50:00
I said it's not that I don't want to I
00:50:02
said but you know it's hard because
00:50:05
I try like now I'm trying to have at
00:50:07
least one of the weekend days yeah for
00:50:09
my family but it's hard because I mean
00:50:12
you know if you're getting a message
00:50:13
that's why I now I don't go into my
00:50:16
messages
00:50:17
um the team look after but if you get a
00:50:19
message from a mum who's got nothing on
00:50:21
the weekend ignore that how am I gonna
00:50:23
just leave that you know so
00:50:25
but like I'm lucky I've got an
00:50:27
understanding wife and I bring my kids
00:50:29
here because I want my kids to
00:50:30
understand how lucky they are and how
00:50:32
blessed they are and there's lots of
00:50:33
people out there doing it really tough
00:50:35
somewhere my kids come in here and help
00:50:37
us Pack Box on the weekend and you know
00:50:39
we'll do deliveries to people
00:50:41
sometimes it's easier just to give the
00:50:43
money you know if I can't come back out
00:50:45
here and pack a box yeah
00:50:47
um yeah no there's not much me time and
00:50:50
there's even less family time you must
00:50:53
sleep well at night though when your
00:50:54
head goes down on the pillow you must
00:50:55
sleep well yeah yeah the hard thing Bros
00:50:58
I'm focused on so much different stuff
00:50:59
because we've got all the community
00:51:01
stuff then I've got you know my the
00:51:03
corporate stuff I do with Wellness
00:51:04
programs and speeches and then I've got
00:51:06
the thing that makes me money is my
00:51:08
online fitness app so I've got to focus
00:51:10
on that which and then I've then I've
00:51:12
got all the Social Media stuff I've got
00:51:13
to keep keep on top of you know because
00:51:15
that's how people know and that's our
00:51:17
profile of social media you know so
00:51:18
there's heaps of different stuff I've
00:51:20
got to focus on that's the hard thing so
00:51:21
when I get home then I've got to do all
00:51:23
my app stuff
00:51:24
you know so it's not when I get home
00:51:26
it's not just time that's okay I can
00:51:27
relax I've got to do I still do all my
00:51:29
work right well if that's if that's
00:51:31
where you make money how can we promote
00:51:32
that app how do you promote that how can
00:51:33
if people want to have a look at it and
00:51:34
see if it's for them to sign up what are
00:51:36
you just go to bbm.fit you know and so
00:51:39
not only are you will you be supporting
00:51:40
us like a dollar twenty a day you
00:51:42
support us but it's also you know you'll
00:51:44
get fit and healthy yeah because it's
00:51:45
got meal plans and workouts stuff like
00:51:46
that so that's I've had that since 2016.
00:51:48
and that's been that's that's how
00:51:50
because I only started getting funding
00:51:53
like last year you know for my health
00:51:55
stuff late last year for the health
00:51:57
programs the way I've been able to keep
00:51:59
it free for so long and still have my
00:52:01
family fed and still do well is from the
00:52:04
app it's the only way okay so that's not
00:52:06
your income that's my income okay plug
00:52:08
it again what's the BBM dot fit yeah
00:52:10
guys please I'd urge you check it out um
00:52:13
have a look at the different pricing
00:52:14
plans or whatever if there's something
00:52:15
there that interests you
00:52:17
um definitely consider it how even if
00:52:19
you're not going to do anything so
00:52:22
enough and forget about it cancel that
00:52:25
in a year okay if you had to write down
00:52:27
Dave latelli from BB like two lists all
00:52:29
the all the good things you've done in
00:52:30
your life and all the bad [ __ ] I feel
00:52:32
like the good would weigh outweigh the
00:52:33
bad now would that be a fear to say now
00:52:35
yeah definitely feel the same way yeah
00:52:36
definitely yeah yeah and you know
00:52:38
everything bad I went through it's
00:52:40
really it was for a reason you know it
00:52:42
was so I could be prepared now to do you
00:52:45
know because we we help so many
00:52:46
different people from businesses
00:52:48
business people chairman CEOs
00:52:51
um you know to people struggling to get
00:52:53
off the couch the people struggling with
00:52:55
work and I can relate to all of them
00:52:56
because I've been in all of their
00:52:57
positions you know
00:52:59
um and so definitely the good outweighs
00:53:02
the bad now and you know we're going to
00:53:05
keep going yeah well that's great and
00:53:07
you're you're um your ex in Australia
00:53:09
who we've just sort of touched upon
00:53:11
briefly before is she proud of you now
00:53:12
is she proud of the man you've become uh
00:53:15
I'd say so yeah yeah you know you know I
00:53:18
know it sounds like you let her down and
00:53:19
it sounds like you still beat yourself
00:53:21
up about that but um yeah I mean you've
00:53:22
done some great stuff yeah you know
00:53:25
I let a lot of people down she was one
00:53:27
of them
00:53:28
um and you know my children you know it
00:53:30
was
00:53:31
the
00:53:33
what I would use
00:53:35
because you know when I was getting all
00:53:37
this hate and I was
00:53:38
living in the sleepout and I was so
00:53:41
depressed and I you know all the hate
00:53:43
from the boxing from the boxing yeah
00:53:44
yeah and I wanted to um you know there
00:53:46
were most days I wanted to kill myself
00:53:49
you know I would I drive to One Tree
00:53:51
Hill and then driving home I think [ __ ]
00:53:52
I should just drive into a pole
00:53:55
that would be running through my mind
00:53:56
all the time and what would stop me was
00:53:58
my children and then what would get me
00:54:00
up to go and train again and to stop
00:54:02
eating rubbish was my children I just I
00:54:04
talk about why and purpose and maybe you
00:54:07
know my wife was getting my kids back
00:54:08
and it took me a couple of years but
00:54:09
I've got all my kids back
00:54:11
um
00:54:12
and a new wife and son but I'd picture
00:54:15
the look that my son Savita gave me as a
00:54:18
walking away going to the train station
00:54:20
I was at a hotel
00:54:22
he looked back at me like it was the he
00:54:24
knew it would be the last time he'd see
00:54:26
me for a while
00:54:28
and I just broke my heart you know and I
00:54:31
had some still had some clothes
00:54:34
um I still had some clothes
00:54:36
of theirs in my suitcase that's all I
00:54:37
had a suitcase
00:54:39
and I'd be at night I just smell their
00:54:40
clothes you know smell their clothes and
00:54:42
just but then that look it would haunt
00:54:45
me
00:54:46
because it was and you know I still get
00:54:48
sad thing about now what's up with me
00:54:51
that look
00:54:52
and you know I was eyes and his face
00:54:56
and I just think man [ __ ] I let them
00:54:58
down but I'd used it I wouldn't use it
00:55:01
as an excuse to stop me I used it as
00:55:03
fuel that's the the important thing and
00:55:07
it's my why and I that's you know
00:55:09
that's what drove me and it still does
00:55:12
to you know to do what I did and to do
00:55:15
what I do now and it's just now that my
00:55:17
why is
00:55:19
um helping others you know because
00:55:22
there's so many people that
00:55:24
that helped me I didn't get here on my
00:55:25
own I did all the work yeah but so many
00:55:27
people just gave me opportunities people
00:55:30
like um that would train me for nothing
00:55:32
and with no expectations just to purely
00:55:35
to help me there was nothing I had no I
00:55:36
had no money I had no following I you
00:55:38
know they were just helping me to get my
00:55:39
life back and that's why we do what we
00:55:42
do now we're just paying it forward yeah
00:55:44
um momentum's a powerful thing is you'd
00:55:45
know only too well like once you get it
00:55:47
snowball rolling and how's your mental
00:55:48
health now you're not having those
00:55:49
thoughts anymore
00:55:50
uh I feel like you're too busy to have
00:55:52
those bloody thoughts you know I think
00:55:54
you know with depression it's I think
00:55:56
it's always there it's our thoroughing
00:55:58
degrees some days I feel good
00:56:00
um you know and then there'll be some
00:56:01
days that I don't feel good you know I I
00:56:03
don't I don't think about suicide but
00:56:06
there's days where I just feel like oh
00:56:07
[ __ ] you know
00:56:09
because look I could very easily just
00:56:12
um survive off my app and just put all
00:56:15
my attention to that that happens the
00:56:17
only thing that makes us good money
00:56:19
and it's the thing I pay less than the
00:56:21
least amount of attention to yeah I
00:56:23
could just purely do that everyone here
00:56:25
that's working for me now can focus on
00:56:27
that too
00:56:28
um and I think about sometimes when it's
00:56:30
because it does get so tough and and you
00:56:32
get down and you got the weight of
00:56:34
everyone
00:56:35
um on your shoulders you read messages
00:56:37
it's so sad it makes you sad
00:56:39
um and then your family's suffering so
00:56:41
that makes you sadder then you know your
00:56:42
wife's upset with you because you're
00:56:43
never home that makes you sad and makes
00:56:45
you aim then you just say [ __ ]
00:56:47
your family being pulled in all these
00:56:48
different directions oh man why am I you
00:56:50
know why why am I doing this
00:56:52
um so there's days like that and I just
00:56:53
you know but you know I've got a good
00:56:54
network of friends now yeah and I just
00:56:56
you know I'm I talk you know I talk to
00:56:59
her I've got one particular friend
00:57:00
called Rob Campbell who's at you know 71
00:57:03
but we're very close oh this guy said he
00:57:06
does yeah right yeah yeah he's the
00:57:07
chairman of our charity right we're very
00:57:09
close friends and I help them to lose 40
00:57:11
kilos and really regain his so fit now
00:57:14
yeah and so we talk a lot you know and
00:57:16
that that helps I always advise people
00:57:18
to not be shy about you know talking and
00:57:20
reaching out for help especially with us
00:57:22
we our people especially men we think
00:57:25
it's a sign of weakness you know to ask
00:57:26
for help but really it's a it's such a
00:57:28
great sign of strength
00:57:30
to show vulnerability and to reach out
00:57:32
and ask for help absolutely I couldn't
00:57:34
agree more I'm bottling it up it's just
00:57:36
going to get worse and worse yeah yeah
00:57:37
man thank you so much I feel bad now I
00:57:40
feel like you should be at home with
00:57:41
your family no no no no it's not meant
00:57:43
I've got a shout out to my wife Karine
00:57:46
very blessed very blessed and like you
00:57:49
know and I've talked to her about it
00:57:51
you've you know we look around what you
00:57:53
know I mean you know we live a great
00:57:55
life
00:57:56
and it's it's you can't get any better
00:57:58
than living a great life and it's all
00:58:00
come from helping people yeah you know
00:58:02
it's man this is not a job this is just
00:58:04
being a good person yeah it's good for
00:58:06
the soul like yeah and you're a good man
00:58:08
Dave latelli thank you so much for your
00:58:09
time today really appreciate it thanks
00:58:11
for being so raw and vulnerable and open
00:58:13
and uh I I hope that everyone that
00:58:16
listens to this gets something out of it
00:58:17
because I've got a ton out of it as well
00:58:18
ah thanks bro thanks for coming in yes
00:58:20
appreciate it we've got boxes to pack
00:58:22
let's go
00:58:24
thanks very much for your time today
00:58:26
hope you enjoyed that that's Dave
00:58:27
latelli what a champion a absolute
00:58:29
golden human being massive massive heart
00:58:31
and we're going to hear so much more
00:58:33
from him in 2022. got any feedback about
00:58:35
the podcast feel free to let me know
00:58:37
domharvey NZ gmail.com or message me on
00:58:41
Instagram I do get back to as many as I
00:58:43
can I can't get back to everyone but um
00:58:44
I do read every message and I appreciate
00:58:46
it thank you so much for listening and
00:58:48
thanks again to the sponsors of this
00:58:50
episode Triumph and disaster check them
00:58:52
out online check them out in department
00:58:54
stores or if you're in Auckland visiting
00:58:57
or you live there they have a store on
00:58:58
ponsonby road um thanks very much guys
00:59:00
couldn't do this podcast without you
