00:00:06
Daniel Ranken, man can cook Cook.
00:00:08
Welcome to my podcast. Thanks for having
00:00:10
me, mate. It's um an honor to have you
00:00:12
here. Um I only discovered you a couple
00:00:15
of weeks ago. Uh JJ sent me a message
00:00:17
saying, "Oh my god, this guy's content
00:00:19
is hilarious. You should get him on the
00:00:20
podcast." Thanks. Yeah, great. Um
00:00:23
surprised you only found me. I don't
00:00:25
have a big following in New Zealand. So
00:00:27
yeah. Yeah. Where where is your
00:00:29
following? So, you've got um uh 400,000
00:00:32
Tik Tok followers, 641,000 Instagram
00:00:34
followers, which is a massive community
00:00:37
you built. Where are they from? Uh
00:00:39
they're mostly dispersed between the US,
00:00:41
Australia, and then the UK, and then New
00:00:43
Zealand would probably be bit down the
00:00:45
list, maybe fourth or fifth. Yeah. So,
00:00:48
for anyone else that is just um
00:00:49
discovering um Daniel Rankin, aka Manin
00:00:52
Cook right here, right now, how would
00:00:55
you describe your content and what you
00:00:56
do? Um, can I get you to move your mic
00:00:59
closer? Yeah, sure. Thank you, Mie. All
00:01:01
right.
00:01:03
Um, how would I describe my content? I'd
00:01:05
say fun, creative, um,
00:01:10
maybe a little bit sexy. I don't know.
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Yeah. But I guess we don't we don't
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phrase her. When I say we, Fraser and I,
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um, yeah, we just try and have fun and
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bake and have a good time and not really
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care about what other people kind of
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think about our content. So, yeah. Why?
00:01:26
Why were you reluctant to say um say
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it's sexy? Come on. You You're
00:01:31
definitely leaning into the sex. I'm so
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sorry. So sorry. We just started. Oh,
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yeah. We need to start again.
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Oh, it's all right. Oh, it's Well,
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better it happens one minute in then.
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Nice. Nice little warm up. Yeah. Also,
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how would you describe your content? My
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last button
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[Laughter]
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start
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is um is Dan all right or do you need
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him to be leaning in a bit? Just a
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little bit. Yeah, sure. I'll move up.
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Thank you. Okay, cool. That's better.
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Uh one, two, three, four, five, six,
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seven, eight, nine, 10. Much better.
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Thank you guys. All right, I'm sorry
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about that.
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Dan Ranken aka Man can cook Cook.
00:02:20
Welcome to my podcast. Thanks for having
00:02:22
me, mate. It's so good to have you here.
00:02:24
Um, you are What would you describe
00:02:26
yourself as? A social media. Um,
00:02:29
probably a baker. No, content creator is
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what I content creator. Yeah. Well, you
00:02:34
have many hats, right? You're like
00:02:35
you're a you're a gym trainer. Um, a
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baker. Uh, a dog dad. A content creator.
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Yeah, I guess I I wear all those hats.
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Um I guess at the moment it's mainly a
00:02:47
content creator and a dog dad. Yeah, I I
00:02:50
just stumbled across you a couple of
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weeks ago with the Man Can Cook account.
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Um and I was thinking where where has
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this been my entire life? So you've got
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400,000 Tik Tok followers, 641,000
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Instagram followers, and the content is
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fire. Thanks. Appreciate it. Yeah, it's
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so so good. Um so how would you describe
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what you do?
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Um, I'd say what we do. Fraser and I, we
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we bake. We We have fun. And, you know,
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I'd say maybe a little bit sexy, but um,
00:03:21
yeah. I mean, mostly we just try and
00:03:22
bake and have fun. Yeah. Yeah. I I love
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how you say we, like Fraser and I. Um,
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Fraser is your dog who is sitting next
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to you at the moment. He can't be seen
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on camera for those of you watching it.
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He's sitting on a stool just below table
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level. What is he, a pug? A pug. Yeah.
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Yeah. Yeah. So, you're doing all the
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heavy lifting. He's just sort of sitting
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on a stool behind you just sort of um
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being a good boy watching you really.
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Yeah, I think he's probably the main
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attraction. Um yeah, he's really chill
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out. He he just likes to watch what I do
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and he gets a little little treats
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throughout. So, yeah, he he has a good
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time. I'm I'm a dog guy as well, so
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yeah, you've got Freys sitting next to
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you just staring at you uncomfortably,
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by the way. Is that Does it freak you
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out the uh the insane level of eye
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contact? No, no. I think I guess we're
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in a new space. He's probably just Yeah.
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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I've got um my
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little Sydney Silky Kanye um just
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sleeping on the floor next to me. Um
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have you always been a a dog guy? What's
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your relationship with dogs? No, I
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haven't to be honest. I grew up in
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Samura and in Samo we have a lot of
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dogs, you know, five to six dogs. And
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you don't really form that relationship
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that you do, I guess, in New Zealand or
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in Western culture if you're dogs. They
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kind of just there to kind of protect
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the household. Um so I grew up having
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dogs, but not this way. And then um I
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had a black pug. His name was Marvin.
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And then with my exartner and uh when we
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split she took Marvin and I was
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devastated. And that's how Fraser came
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about. So yeah, got Fraser after that.
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And yeah, we've been hanging out ever
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since. Cuz I've got um I've got a
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terrible confession to make. I I was
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never a dog person. I was even anti dog,
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I'd say. Yeah. And then um JJ and I we
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were still together and she wanted a dog
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and it was her 40th birthday. So I got
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Kanye for her. Um you know how dogs sort
00:05:08
of decide who who their master is?
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Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. He's just sort
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of he decided I was the one. Oh, really?
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Um so now I'm obsessed with him. And um
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not long after having him like he must
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have just been a couple of weeks or a
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couple of months old, I um realized
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there was such an attachment there. I
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started googling like how long does
00:05:24
Sydney Silkies live for? Yeah. Cuz I I
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immediately knew back then just how
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painful it was going to be when he died.
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Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I think
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about that. But I Yeah. Try and just
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regulate those those thoughts. Yeah. I'm
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I'm going to be a [ __ ] mess. I'm
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going to be I'm going to be like
00:05:40
bedridden for a week when he goes. It's
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going to leave such a gap in my life.
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Yeah. Oh, same for me. He's he's about
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seven at the moment, so he's got a few
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more years. A lot a lot more years, I'd
00:05:51
say. Yeah. Yeah. Um so, we've only been
00:05:55
talking like five minutes now, but the
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um the impression I already gather about
00:05:58
uh you, Daniel Rankin, is you're quite
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shy, quite reserved. Um, I probably
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wouldn't say shy, but maybe,
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yeah, maybe a little reserved. Yeah. Do
00:06:07
you think that's like a a Samoan
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cultural thing or Yeah, absolutely. I
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think um humility and and respect and
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the
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which is quite big in Samour. What's
00:06:19
that? It's kind of just respect
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basically. Okay. Yeah. And um yeah,
00:06:24
humility is a big big part of Son
00:06:26
culture as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, some
00:06:29
friends I've got, they're always talking
00:06:30
like, "Humble yourself. Humble
00:06:32
yourself."
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Yeah. Well, I suppose it just um surp
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I'm really, you know, I suppose I'm just
00:06:38
surprised because the um the content you
00:06:39
do on Man Can Cook, it's generally like
00:06:42
one minute long videos um just with some
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snappy music behind, snappy edits, and
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it's um no speaking um and you just look
00:06:49
supremely confident. Yeah. Um so then
00:06:51
it's like, "Oh, this guy's actually
00:06:52
quite quite lowkey." Yeah. I think um
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people mistaken or mistake being
00:06:58
introverted with confidence. I think you
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can still be or being bit shy um or
00:07:03
being a bit quiet like you can still be
00:07:04
quiet and be confident on the inside. Um
00:07:07
I think you know it's it's important not
00:07:09
to puff yourself up but it's also
00:07:11
equally important you know not to shrink
00:07:13
yourself and you got to just Yeah. be
00:07:15
yourself and don't care what other
00:07:17
people think of you. Yeah. Yeah. I'm
00:07:18
really really looking to um Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:21
to explore the Daniel Ranken story. So,
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uh, the Instagram evolution, I I went
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back all the way through your feed.
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Really? So, your first post is, um, 2017
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and it's, uh, you lifting weights while
00:07:32
Fraser watches. Yeah. And, um, your
00:07:34
second post is a dog poo in the shape of
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a love heart. And then as you scroll up,
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um, it gets like more and more curated.
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In the last couple of years, it's been
00:07:43
like you've definitely got an aesthetic
00:07:45
now, which is very different to 2017.
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So, the whole man can cook Cook thing.
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Yeah. How did it sort of begin? How did
00:07:51
it start? Uh, cooking's always been, you
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know, a big part of my life, but I guess
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it it's never been the thing. Um, which
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I'm grateful now. It is, you know, kind
00:07:59
of the thing, but I started off filming
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cooking videos in 2014. They were on
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YouTube, landscape, a lot more dialogue,
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a lot more talking. Um, but really hard
00:08:08
to be consistent with that. I I didn't
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know how to use a camera. My mate was
00:08:12
filming it. So, that kind of stopped.
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And then when I owned my own gym, I
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learned how to use a camera. I learned
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how to film. I learned how to edit. All
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that type of stuff. And then lockdown
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came around and I wanted to teach my
00:08:23
members how to make healthy meals. So we
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started off with healthier meals. Um and
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it was a tough time co and I thought oh
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I'll chuck Fraser in there give give
00:08:33
people a good laugh and seem to worked
00:08:35
really well. Got into baking in lockdown
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and decided just just to keep it kind of
00:08:39
baking related. Yeah. And then when did
00:08:42
when did like the uh the costumes get
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introduced because it's um yeah we'll
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drill down on this later on but I
00:08:49
suppose like was was there a moment that
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you can remember where you sort of blew
00:08:52
up like a tipping point? Um the costumes
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came in and when I got Fraser I was like
00:08:58
man I'm not going to be that crazy
00:08:59
costume dog person. And it was really
00:09:02
cold one winter so I got him a jacket
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and I put the jacket on and I just it
00:09:06
looked so funny and cute and I was like
00:09:07
oh this is it. I just went down the
00:09:09
rabbit hole of getting costumes. Um, but
00:09:14
the we started off with about two three
00:09:17
videos that man can cook style that you
00:09:20
now see. And after the third one, it
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kind of went off and I was like, "Oh,
00:09:24
okay, cool. This is um Fraser and I
00:09:26
really enjoy doing this and other people
00:09:28
seem to enjoy it. So, let's um let's
00:09:30
keep doing it." I love how you say
00:09:32
Fraser and I enjoy doing it. How do you
00:09:33
know he enjoys it? He does. So when when
00:09:35
I'm sitting, he knows when we're about
00:09:36
to film cuz I'll grab his chair and I'll
00:09:38
grab the camera and he'll just do zooies
00:09:40
around and he'll just wait by his seat
00:09:42
until I lift him up. So I know he enjoys
00:09:44
it. Yeah. If he didn't, I'd probably I'd
00:09:47
probably take a step back from it or
00:09:48
something. Yeah. Yeah. What about um
00:09:50
your most popular video? Is there like
00:09:51
one that's um Yeah. completely spiked
00:09:53
and eclipses all the others in terms of
00:09:55
viewership? Yeah. So uh there's two
00:09:58
actually and they're quite similar in
00:09:59
views. They're about 10 million views.
00:10:01
Uh, one we made a cookie dough
00:10:04
cheesecake to ABA's um, give me giveimme
00:10:07
gimme and then the other one was bad
00:10:10
touch um by blood gang. Blood hound
00:10:13
gang. Yeah. So those were we made a
00:10:15
chocolate caramel t. Yeah. Yeah. Why do
00:10:18
you think they were so successful? I
00:10:20
suppose every content creator wants to
00:10:21
know this and think, okay, why did this
00:10:23
one what was it? Was it the song? Was it
00:10:26
the editing? I think it was it was the
00:10:28
editing. I got a little bit more
00:10:30
creative with angles. Um whereas in the
00:10:32
past it was kind of just front on. It
00:10:34
was the same angle but I do different
00:10:36
actions. Um and also I um I was kind of
00:10:41
topless. I got you'd see in my past
00:10:43
videos I'd wear a white singlet. So I
00:10:45
think once I got rid of the white
00:10:46
singlet
00:10:49
doing that. Okay. But I'd like to not
00:10:51
put it to that. I'd like to put it to
00:10:53
the creativity aspect. Yeah. Yeah. What
00:10:55
do you what do your family make of it?
00:10:57
Um yeah they love it. They approve.
00:10:59
Yeah, absolutely. Um I do a lot of
00:11:01
videos with my nephews. There's three of
00:11:03
them and they they love it as well. Um
00:11:06
but yeah, they they all love it. Yeah,
00:11:08
all supportive. And in terms of um like
00:11:11
celebrity followers or you know
00:11:13
followers with blue text, who have you
00:11:14
got? Drop some names here. Um off top of
00:11:18
my head, Neil Patrick Harris. Yeah. No
00:11:21
way. Yeah. Yeah. Um he's thirsty ass,
00:11:24
isn't he? Oh, he's a great guy. He's
00:11:27
He's not there for Fraser. Just saying.
00:11:32
Anyone else that springs to mind? Um
00:11:34
there's a few other actors, but not
00:11:37
doesn't spring to mind. Sorry. Um that's
00:11:39
all right. And um sort of like blowing
00:11:41
up and and going viral. Has it changed
00:11:43
your life at all? And if so, how so? I
00:11:45
guess it's changed my life in a way
00:11:47
where I get to do what brings me joy,
00:11:50
cooking. Um, and other than that, I
00:11:54
mean, I'm able to do it full-time now,
00:11:55
so I'm really grateful for that. You
00:11:56
know, I've sold my business and just
00:11:59
creating content full-time. Um, other
00:12:01
than that, I like to think it I'm kind
00:12:04
of just still myself, you know, Dan.
00:12:06
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How is it a full-time
00:12:09
thing? Is it just is it brand deals?
00:12:11
Yeah, mostly mostly brand deals. So, how
00:12:13
how does that work? Explain that for
00:12:14
someone that has no idea about that.
00:12:16
Yeah, sure. So when you're a content
00:12:17
creator on Instagram and Tik Tok in New
00:12:20
Zealand, so Tik Tok, you don't get paid,
00:12:22
but I think in the US and the UK, you
00:12:24
get paid per view. So I guess how
00:12:26
content creators make money is through
00:12:28
brand deals. So brands will approach you
00:12:30
and you know, you negotiate a deal to
00:12:31
use the product in the video and then
00:12:33
you'd create the video and then um yeah,
00:12:36
that's that's how it works. So So if we
00:12:38
see you see you wearing like an apron
00:12:40
with New World on or something like you
00:12:41
might might paid for that or Yeah. you
00:12:44
would have um we would have got paid for
00:12:45
that or um maybe some product for it,
00:12:48
but yeah, mostly it would be uh in
00:12:51
payment terms, right? And the money's
00:12:53
all right. Yeah, it's pretty good. Yeah.
00:12:55
I mean, you you you deserve it. Like
00:12:57
some some people would say it's like
00:12:58
easy money. You just like doing social
00:12:59
media and you're getting paid, but um
00:13:01
yeah, we'll drill down later on into the
00:13:03
work that goes into creating each clip
00:13:04
because you can tell a lot of work goes
00:13:06
into it. So, is it a full-time job or
00:13:09
does it feel feel like a a side hustle?
00:13:11
It does feel like a full-time job. Um,
00:13:14
you know, we kind of get ready for
00:13:16
filming on Monday. We usually film on a
00:13:18
Tuesday, Wednesday. Uh, we'll edit on a
00:13:21
Thursday and then we'll post on Friday.
00:13:23
So, you know, five days a week and then
00:13:25
that's for one piece of content. Um,
00:13:27
I've tried to push to a week out, but
00:13:30
it's just bit overwhelming. And um, I
00:13:32
think if you see two videos of me a
00:13:34
week, it'll be a bit cringier. I don't
00:13:37
know. I know the girls in the control
00:13:39
room, I think they're like, "Not enough.
00:13:41
Not enough daily.
00:13:43
Um, do you get recognized in public
00:13:45
much? A little bit in New Zealand. I was
00:13:48
in New York recently for Christmas and
00:13:49
New Year's and I got recognized a lot
00:13:51
over there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I've got
00:13:53
that on my notes. I want to talk about
00:13:54
that later. Um, some guy stopped you on
00:13:56
the street from a very popular Instagram
00:13:58
account called the confidence confidence
00:14:00
heist. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:01
We'll get to that later. So, that I
00:14:03
always wondered about those things like
00:14:05
um if it was arranged in advance or he
00:14:07
just actually stopped you and it looked
00:14:09
genuine like he just stopped you. Yeah.
00:14:10
He just actually Yeah. Yeah. That was um
00:14:13
But I can see how people think it's it's
00:14:15
staged. Yeah. Yeah. Um
00:14:18
have you ever had a moment where you
00:14:19
felt sort of overwhelmed by the
00:14:21
attention? Um
00:14:23
nah. No. I think um like I don't get
00:14:26
much attention in New Zealand. Like I
00:14:28
said, I don't have a big New Zealand
00:14:29
following and I live in New Zealand, so
00:14:31
you know, I don't, you know, I'm not
00:14:32
around a lot of attention anyway. M um
00:14:35
but uh yeah, I just try and and be kind
00:14:38
to people that come up to me and and
00:14:40
spend a bit of time chatting to them.
00:14:42
Yeah. And how much thought do you put
00:14:44
into um the back end of it? Like social
00:14:46
media algorithms, you know, how the
00:14:47
algorithms are changing all the time.
00:14:49
Like how do you do you put much thought
00:14:50
into that? Like I've seen documentaries
00:14:52
with Mr. Beast, who's the biggest
00:14:53
YouTuber in the world. Yeah. And just
00:14:55
how much thought he puts into
00:14:56
everything, like the caption, the
00:14:57
thumbnail. Yeah. Everything. Like do you
00:14:59
spend much time losing sleep over that?
00:15:02
Not really. I think YouTube's a
00:15:03
different beast. I think, you know, with
00:15:04
Tik Tok and and Instagram, like I do
00:15:08
spend a bit of time on insights and see,
00:15:09
you know, if my following is growing, uh
00:15:11
what posts are doing well. But I try not
00:15:13
to spend too much time on it and kind of
00:15:15
just focus on creating like any time I
00:15:17
spend on
00:15:19
on putting attention into that kind of
00:15:21
takes attention away coming up with
00:15:23
ideas and and being creative. So, I just
00:15:25
try and focus on that rather than that.
00:15:27
Yeah. Yeah. If if you spent your whole
00:15:29
life obsessing over that and chasing the
00:15:30
numbers, you'd just you'd never wear an
00:15:32
apron again. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You'd
00:15:34
be nude, I reckon.
00:15:36
Uh, okay. Let's talk let's um we'll take
00:15:39
a break from the man can cook stuff and
00:15:40
we'll go back to your early years and um
00:15:42
paint a picture about who Daniel Rankin
00:15:43
is and then we'll get back to some of
00:15:44
the content stuff. Sure. So um you're
00:15:47
Saman, but you're born in New Zealand.
00:15:49
Yeah. So I was born in New Zealand. My
00:15:51
parents um were half Kiwi, half Saman.
00:15:54
So I was born here and then went back to
00:15:56
Sour and and spent most of my life
00:15:58
there. So I spent about 16 17 years
00:16:01
there before moving back um to
00:16:03
Oakuckland. Yeah. Yeah. I think I read
00:16:06
this I read an article about you um and
00:16:08
I I never knew this was a thing but
00:16:10
apparently yeah a lot of sins they'll
00:16:11
come to New Zealand to give birth just
00:16:13
so so that you can like claim the New
00:16:15
Zealand passport. I think so. In that
00:16:17
case, mo most of those situations, they
00:16:20
have Kiwi parents or their parents
00:16:22
already have New Zealand passports, but
00:16:24
they'll come over to New Zealand just
00:16:26
because it'd be easier, I imagine, to I
00:16:29
guess apply for the New Zealand
00:16:30
passport. Yeah. But a lot of the the
00:16:32
parents would already have New Zealand
00:16:33
passports. Yeah. You know, I suppose
00:16:35
there's medical advantages as well.
00:16:36
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So, um yeah,
00:16:38
what are you what are your memories of
00:16:40
like growing up as a kid in Samo? I love
00:16:43
that. Um I love growing up in Samoa.
00:16:44
very outdoorsy, beautiful beaches. My
00:16:48
dad has uh six brothers and sisters, so
00:16:50
you know, I've got heaps of cousins in
00:16:52
Samour and we all lived on this plot of
00:16:55
land. So there'd be, you know, three
00:16:56
different houses and it would be my
00:16:57
uncle's houses and we would all me and
00:16:59
my cousins would catch up, you know, in
00:17:01
the evenings and, you know, go for bike
00:17:02
rides or just hang out outdoors, climb
00:17:04
trees and and stuff like that. So it was
00:17:06
a it was a really cool upbringing. I
00:17:08
really enjoyed it. Can Can you swim?
00:17:10
Yeah, I can swim. Not not great, though.
00:17:12
Like I can I can tread water but you
00:17:15
know ask me to do you know 50 m sprint
00:17:17
in a pool. Shocking. It always amazes me
00:17:20
like how many how few Samans can can
00:17:22
swim cuz you're a relatively small
00:17:24
island nation. You're surrounded by
00:17:25
water. Um not many swimmers. Eh no n.
00:17:28
That's a common misconception I guess
00:17:30
like that people think islanders can
00:17:32
swim because we're surrounded by water
00:17:34
but no it's the opposite. Yeah. Oh god I
00:17:36
love Samar. I've been there a couple of
00:17:38
times. It always every time I go it
00:17:39
always surprises me that some doesn't
00:17:41
win like gold at the Olympics for the
00:17:43
volleyball because there's so you you go
00:17:45
past these um your family villages and
00:17:47
every afternoon everyone's playing like
00:17:49
touch or volleyball. Yeah, absolutely.
00:17:51
You know, usually around 5 5:30 you can
00:17:54
walk down to the local field and
00:17:55
there'll be a volleyball net up and you
00:17:57
know whole bunch of people playing and
00:17:58
then on the other side you'll have a
00:18:00
whole bunch of people playing touch
00:18:01
rugby and just hanging out and stuff.
00:18:03
Yeah, we had I grew up like that as
00:18:06
well. So 5:00 I'd walk down from my
00:18:08
house. There'd be this big field.
00:18:10
There'd literally be a mango tree in the
00:18:12
middle of the field, rocks. It would be
00:18:13
steep. And we'll just be playing touch
00:18:15
rugby. And you know, you kind of use the
00:18:17
tree to kind of dodge and sneak around.
00:18:19
Some people climb up the tree and go
00:18:20
over and score a try. Yeah. And And um
00:18:24
what did you want to be when you were a
00:18:25
kid? Um
00:18:27
aspirations? Yeah. I wanted to be a
00:18:29
fireman when I Yeah. When I was a kid, I
00:18:32
got into sports a lot and then kind of
00:18:34
just, you know, you think that you enjoy
00:18:36
sports, you want to do that as a career.
00:18:38
So that's kind of where I went towards I
00:18:40
I studied marketing and then like sport
00:18:42
marketing. Um, and yeah, but I guess as
00:18:46
a kid I wanted to be a fireman, but I
00:18:48
think like most kids probably want to be
00:18:50
something like that. A fireman or a cop.
00:18:52
Yeah. I mean, you don't know what you
00:18:53
want to be. You're a kid, you know.
00:18:55
Yeah. And and um religious family? Uh my
00:18:59
grandma. I was raised mostly by my
00:19:01
grandma. Yeah. She was very religious.
00:19:03
So we would say a prayer every 6 p.m. in
00:19:06
Sour and would go to church on Sundays.
00:19:09
Yeah. What would she make of all this?
00:19:12
She loves it. She Oh, does she? Yeah.
00:19:14
Yeah. She she really enjoys it and she
00:19:15
will send send me messages or, you know,
00:19:18
reply to videos and Yeah, she she loves
00:19:20
it. Oh, that's cute. Yeah. And um Yeah.
00:19:22
What about discipline growing up? Was it
00:19:24
like a strict household?
00:19:26
Um
00:19:27
yeah, it was strict like you know smon
00:19:29
grammarss
00:19:31
they aren't very emotionally available
00:19:35
but they're there to make sure that you
00:19:37
stay in line. There's a roof over your
00:19:38
head. There's food on your table. So um
00:19:41
but my grandma was was lovely. She she
00:19:43
probably let me get away with with a lot
00:19:45
growing up. Yeah.
00:19:47
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting you
00:19:49
say like um emotionally available.
00:19:52
I don't I I thought Yeah. Simone would
00:19:54
have been quite sort of expressive
00:19:55
expressive like that. I'm just I suppose
00:19:57
I'm just thinking from the people I
00:19:58
know. Um yeah. Yeah. What are Simone men
00:20:01
like? Uh they sort of emotionally
00:20:03
available and quite expressive. They're
00:20:04
quite romantic. A generally like they
00:20:06
wear their heart on their sleeve. Yeah.
00:20:07
I think they're they're romantic. Um
00:20:11
but I do think that there's a lot of
00:20:14
suppress sorry suppression of emotions
00:20:17
um growing up. Yeah. Like in terms of
00:20:20
Yeah. the vulnerability piece and Yeah.
00:20:21
I think I think it probably like
00:20:24
culturally in s more if you speak up to
00:20:27
an elderly or your parents it can come
00:20:30
across as being disrespectful even if
00:20:32
you're just trying to express your
00:20:33
express your emotions it could come
00:20:35
across as being disrespectful so I mean
00:20:37
for myself as a child I already didn't
00:20:40
have emotionally available parents
00:20:42
around but with that cultural aspect of
00:20:45
you know speaking up
00:20:47
crossing that line of disrespect you
00:20:49
kind of double suppress so Yeah, it was
00:20:51
a I mean there was I'd say it was tough
00:20:56
in some ways growing up like that. Yeah.
00:20:58
And it definitely led to a lot of you
00:20:59
know I guess trauma growing up that I
00:21:03
needed to to address. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:06
How did how did that look? When did you
00:21:07
realize you needed to like address the
00:21:09
trauma? Um probably 20 maybe 2021. Yeah.
00:21:15
2021 years old. Oh, sorry. Or the year.
00:21:19
The year 21. Yeah. Right. I would
00:21:21
probably would have been maybe 27 or
00:21:25
something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz I
00:21:28
um Yes. So you move moved back to New
00:21:30
Zealand at 15 and finish your high
00:21:32
school at um Mount Helbert Grammar. I I
00:21:34
can't imagine that would have been easy
00:21:35
as well. That was tough. It was a a
00:21:37
massive culture shock, you know. Yeah.
00:21:39
Why why why move so late in your
00:21:41
secondary school education? Um, I moved
00:21:44
over a little bit earlier, but um, I
00:21:49
didn't want to stay, so I, you know, I
00:21:52
really pushed towards my my dad and my
00:21:54
grandmother to take me back to Smore.
00:21:56
So, I went back to Sur for a little bit.
00:21:57
Oh, you were homesick or Yeah, I was
00:21:59
homesick for sure. So, I went back
00:22:01
probably for another year, year and a
00:22:02
half and then I I had to come over, I
00:22:06
guess. You know, my older brothers came
00:22:07
over first and, you know, it was time.
00:22:10
Um but it was it was tough like my my
00:22:13
first day of school in at Manobic
00:22:16
Grammar um one of the students made the
00:22:18
teacher cry the first class you know in
00:22:21
the morning and I was just waiting there
00:22:24
like a this kid's going to get a hiding
00:22:26
um but nothing happened and I was like
00:22:29
what is going on this is you know I'm in
00:22:31
a I'm in a different world that's when I
00:22:32
knew I was in a different world you know
00:22:34
like schools and s were a little bit
00:22:35
different oh in terms of the strictness
00:22:38
yeah Right. Right. In New Zealand, you
00:22:40
can get away with murder. Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:42
So, did you did you lean into that or
00:22:44
are you just like a good kid and No, I
00:22:46
was always a good kid. You know, I just
00:22:47
sat at the back of the class and Yeah.
00:22:49
Let other people get away with murder.
00:22:51
Well, you watched the murder again.
00:22:53
Yeah. Um Yeah. I've heard you say that
00:22:55
um that move to New Zealand, that's when
00:22:57
you first sort of experienced like
00:22:59
anxiety. Yeah, probably. I mean, it was
00:23:01
a different environment. Um must have
00:23:03
been terrifying. Like you're wondering
00:23:04
what the hell's going on. Yeah, it was.
00:23:06
I mean in sour I had you know my family
00:23:08
like my cousins my grandma was there I
00:23:11
moved over to New Zealand and my dad was
00:23:15
away he was a pilot my mom wasn't around
00:23:17
so I had two brothers here and they were
00:23:21
they had kind of their lives as well so
00:23:24
I was you know 16 going to school at
00:23:26
Manaba grandma but I was like you know
00:23:28
living on my own as a as a 16 year old
00:23:30
were you pretty much I stayed with my
00:23:32
brothers for a bit but um you know they
00:23:35
moved out with their partners and then
00:23:38
eventually it was um yeah I just just on
00:23:40
my own. Yeah. At 16 Yeah. about 16 17
00:23:44
some people would would um see that as
00:23:46
like a dream scenario. Yeah. You throw
00:23:50
parties and whatever. Yeah. I probably
00:23:52
had one party at my house but even that
00:23:54
even then I was you know just bit
00:23:56
cautious of the house and being
00:23:58
respectful of the house and stuff. Um
00:24:02
but I guess I had to become independent
00:24:04
at a really young age. Yeah. So, you
00:24:06
know, 16, 17, I that's I guess how my
00:24:09
love for cooking came. Like I didn't
00:24:11
have parents around to make me
00:24:12
breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I had to
00:24:14
figure that out myself. So, first
00:24:15
cookbook I bought was a Gordon Ramsay
00:24:17
cookbook and just watched a lot of
00:24:20
YouTube cooking videos and yeah. Was
00:24:23
that incredibly lonely like being 16
00:24:25
and, you know, going home from school
00:24:26
and there being no one there?
00:24:29
I guess so. I think
00:24:32
I mean, yeah, probably. I mean, back
00:24:34
then, you know, you're young, you don't
00:24:36
really think about that stuff, but when
00:24:37
I think about it now, like, I wouldn't
00:24:39
want my kids or any kids. I don't have
00:24:41
kids, but any kids to kind of go through
00:24:43
that. Yeah. So, um yeah. So, you said
00:24:48
like 2021 um that that's when you know,
00:24:52
your mental health sort of reached like
00:24:53
um like a trough or you know, however
00:24:55
you want to phrase it. Um and I suppose
00:24:58
that's when that's a time when everyone
00:24:59
was going through a lot like that was
00:25:01
sort of like peak co very confusing
00:25:03
time. So um how did how did that look
00:25:05
for you? Um it was tough like I was I
00:25:08
owned a business then with uh at next
00:25:10
partner and you know I felt like a lot
00:25:14
of responsibility to kind of keep the
00:25:15
business going through co and you know
00:25:18
provide income for both me and my
00:25:20
business partner back then. And then we
00:25:23
I went through a relationship breakup
00:25:25
then and you know I kind of knew like
00:25:27
okay this not feeling myself. I know I
00:25:31
need to get some help. My brother
00:25:34
actually encouraged me to you know go to
00:25:36
therapy. I think I probably wouldn't
00:25:37
have if he didn't and you know I'm very
00:25:39
grateful he did. Yeah. So kind of got
00:25:42
worked on myself, you know, went to
00:25:44
therapy for a couple reasons to
00:25:47
one to, you know, process the the
00:25:49
breakup, but two to we me and my partner
00:25:52
back then, we weren't in a position to
00:25:54
sell the business or neither of us
00:25:56
wanted to leave the business. So we were
00:26:00
separated, but we knew that we had to
00:26:02
work together. So, you know, I I sought
00:26:04
help on processing that and then getting
00:26:06
some tools and some guidance on how I'm
00:26:09
going to manage, you know, working in
00:26:10
this business while separated, you know,
00:26:12
with a partner and Yeah. Yeah. How did
00:26:15
you find therapy? Were you nervous the
00:26:17
first time you went? Um, yeah, I was
00:26:19
nervous. Yeah. Yeah. It was first time I
00:26:21
went, you know, what probably a two-hour
00:26:24
session and afterwards I'm like, yes,
00:26:26
I'm fixed.
00:26:29
But then it doesn't happen. And you
00:26:31
know, you think you're fixed after one
00:26:32
session and then, you know, other
00:26:35
thoughts and emotions creep up and
00:26:36
you're like, damn. Okay, I got to I got
00:26:38
to keep keep working at this. Yeah.
00:26:41
Yeah. Yeah. It's not a qu It's an
00:26:43
ongoing thing, isn't it? When was the
00:26:45
last time you went? Are you still going?
00:26:47
Uh at the moment. Yeah. No, I I probably
00:26:49
went maybe 3 weeks ago. Yeah. At the
00:26:51
moment, I kind of go when there's when
00:26:53
there's, you know, chaos in life, but
00:26:55
I'm trying to be more I'm trying to go
00:26:57
more just to prevent that stuff from
00:26:58
happening. Yeah.
00:27:01
Yeah, I should be. Yeah, I probably went
00:27:03
about the same time as you during during
00:27:05
co and then um yeah, then one of the
00:27:08
lockdowns happened and it was going to
00:27:09
be remote and I couldn't think of
00:27:10
anything worse than sitting at home on a
00:27:11
Zoom call with the door shut. Yeah. It
00:27:14
just felt too inpersonal or
00:27:16
transactional so I stopped going but but
00:27:18
I felt it really good and you being a
00:27:19
personal trainer, you'd relate to this.
00:27:20
I feel like it's um it's like a personal
00:27:22
trainer for the neck up. Absolutely. Um,
00:27:24
so you shouldn't just go when you're
00:27:26
when you're about to have a heart
00:27:27
attack, you know, you should be going
00:27:29
all the time as a preventative sort of
00:27:31
thing if you can afford to. Yeah,
00:27:32
exactly. It is it is quite pricey, but I
00:27:34
I definitely agree. You know, it's it's
00:27:36
like work working on your physical
00:27:37
health, you know, you got to work on
00:27:38
your mental health. Um, but there are
00:27:40
other cheaper ways to work on your
00:27:41
mental health, you know, if you can't
00:27:42
afford therapy. I mean, there's
00:27:44
counseling out there and I think that
00:27:46
New Zealand provides, you know, free
00:27:48
counseling as well. So, yeah. Yeah, for
00:27:51
sure. Um, yeah. Is therapy much of a
00:27:54
thing in some are? Uh, no, not that I
00:27:57
not that I know of. Yeah.
00:27:59
Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting how like
00:28:01
different countries and their
00:28:02
relationship to it. Like if you're in um
00:28:04
America or even um Yeah. I went to um
00:28:08
Argentina and South America a few years
00:28:10
ago and everyone over there's got a
00:28:11
therapist. Yeah, that's the thing. They
00:28:12
go all the time. Yeah. I've got um quite
00:28:14
a few Brazilian Argentinian mates and
00:28:16
they're like Yeah. They they love
00:28:18
therapy. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like um your
00:28:20
therapists in South America are probably
00:28:22
like personal trainers here. A lot of
00:28:24
people have them and you know go a
00:28:25
couple of times a week, cancel it at the
00:28:27
last minute if you got a hangover or
00:28:28
whatever. Exactly. Yeah. How's your
00:28:31
mental health now? I feel it's it's
00:28:32
pretty steady. Um you know, obviously
00:28:34
I'm always working on it, you know,
00:28:35
trying to trying to improve, but yeah,
00:28:37
I'm I'm in a good place right now. Yeah.
00:28:40
Yeah. Fantastic. So um Oh, yeah. We
00:28:42
alluded earlier to the um Confidence
00:28:44
Heist Instagram page, which is a very
00:28:46
popular Instagram page, New York-based.
00:28:49
So, how did you end up on that page?
00:28:50
Your answer was great, by the way. Oh,
00:28:52
thank you. Yeah. How did how did that
00:28:53
happen? So, you just wandering down the
00:28:54
street? Yeah, I was just wandering back
00:28:57
to um to the hotel and and David, I'm
00:29:00
pretty sure that's his name, uh stopped
00:29:01
me and yeah, we had a chat. That's it.
00:29:04
Yeah. Just as organic as that? It was
00:29:06
organic. Yeah. There was no planning. I
00:29:10
had never seen his content before. Um
00:29:12
and then bumped into him. Yeah. So you
00:29:14
pulled your earpods out and he asked you
00:29:16
the question, "What makes you
00:29:18
confident?" Yeah. And your answer was
00:29:19
amazing. What did you say? Um for me
00:29:22
it's it's vulnerability, you know, just
00:29:24
being able to express myself and and be
00:29:27
myself. I think that that makes me
00:29:28
confident. Yeah. Whether that's, you
00:29:31
know, lip syncing to Whitney Houston in
00:29:34
my videos or just have be on a podcast
00:29:36
chill out with you. Yeah. Yeah. When
00:29:38
when did you um Yeah. When did you
00:29:40
realize like vulnerability was um like
00:29:42
something to lean into and almost like a
00:29:44
superpower? I think I mean growing up I
00:29:47
I suppressed a lot of emotions. You know
00:29:49
I had a emotionally unstable childhood.
00:29:50
So I wasn't being I didn't really have
00:29:52
my parents around to kind of talk about
00:29:54
feelings and emotions. So you know
00:29:57
throughout my whole life I ended up
00:29:59
holding a lot in and then when you hold
00:30:01
stuff in I think they resurface in more
00:30:03
um unhealthy ways. And for me, they
00:30:07
probably resurfaced in, you know, uh,
00:30:10
anxiety,
00:30:12
um, insecuress, lack of confidence, um,
00:30:15
stress, all of that. And I guess, you
00:30:19
know, when I started working on myself,
00:30:20
I, um,
00:30:23
bought a few books and, you know, got
00:30:24
into Bnee Brown and, you know, started
00:30:26
reading all that type of stuff. Bnee
00:30:28
Brown. You and me, I reckon we maybe
00:30:30
we're the only two guys in Oakuckland
00:30:32
that read Bnee Brown. Oh, really? I
00:30:34
don't know. Yeah. I just feel like it's
00:30:36
not a not a huge male readership, but
00:30:37
yeah, I love Bnee Brown. Mel Robins.
00:30:40
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, how good. Um
00:30:43
Yeah, cuz I'm um I'm I'm considerably
00:30:46
older than you, but um yeah, it just
00:30:48
wasn't really a thing when I was growing
00:30:50
up and then not necessarily how I was
00:30:52
raised in my family home, but just
00:30:53
wasn't sort of a thing to express or
00:30:55
show any emotion. Then I went to an all
00:30:57
boy school and the last thing you'd want
00:30:58
to do is show any sort of vulnerability
00:31:00
because if you did that, it would just
00:31:01
be weaponized against you. Yeah. Um, so
00:31:03
you end up just like putting on this
00:31:05
this hard exterior shell and not letting
00:31:08
anyone in. And then it's um, yeah, it's
00:31:10
hard to unpack and unpack all that
00:31:12
stuff, isn't it? It is. I think that's
00:31:13
quite common, you know, among um, men in
00:31:17
general, maybe. Yeah.
00:31:20
Yeah. You you you've mentioned a couple
00:31:22
of times your your relationship failing,
00:31:24
and that was sort of like part of the
00:31:25
catalyst for you to um, you go on this
00:31:27
um, sort of self-discovery journey. um
00:31:30
you was part of the reason the
00:31:31
relationship failed because you you had
00:31:33
walls up and were unable to open up at
00:31:35
the time or not. Yeah, I think so. I
00:31:36
think that would be a big part. Um and I
00:31:39
think the stress of the business kind of
00:31:41
just amplified a lot of that as well. Um
00:31:45
yeah.
00:31:46
Are you seeing anyone now? A lot of
00:31:48
people want to know. Uh no, I'm not. Do
00:31:51
you do you have a a preference? Do you
00:31:53
like do you do you prefer to date men or
00:31:54
women? Uh women. Women. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,
00:31:58
there's gonna be a lot of dudes that are
00:32:00
Yeah. What do you get in your DMs? Like,
00:32:02
um, a lot. Yeah. Uh, I get a lot of of
00:32:05
stuff in my DMs. Um, like guys, guys and
00:32:08
girls. Yeah, both. Guys, uh, I get a lot
00:32:11
of, uh, I don't know if I'm allowed to
00:32:13
say it, but like dpicks or Oh, you can
00:32:16
say it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Dickpicks. Yeah,
00:32:18
I get a lot of dickpicks. And um, and I
00:32:20
know when when you say a lot, what do
00:32:22
you mean? Usually maybe twice a week.
00:32:26
Yeah. Oh my god.
00:32:28
But you know when it when it's a
00:32:29
dickpick because like you see the
00:32:31
profile photo and you're like, "Oh." And
00:32:33
then you just there's no there's no um
00:32:36
message. It's just photo. And I'm like,
00:32:38
"Okay, yep. I know what this is." Yeah.
00:32:42
That must be quite alarming. The Yeah.
00:32:43
The first couple of times you you you
00:32:45
know, you get that without without
00:32:47
asking for them. It is. Yeah. Um, but
00:32:50
then I get a lot of really lovely
00:32:51
messages as well on, you know, how
00:32:53
phrasera nice content, you know, makes
00:32:54
them happy and and brings joy to their
00:32:56
lives and and stuff like that. So, try
00:32:58
to focus more on those. Yeah. What about
00:33:02
thirsty thirsty ladies? Yeah, I got a
00:33:04
you know, I get a lot of date requests
00:33:06
and and stuff like that on um on
00:33:09
Instagram. Um Yeah. M
00:33:13
so are you just happy being on your own
00:33:16
at the moment and just working on
00:33:18
yourself or are you sort of you know
00:33:20
looking for someone or you just open if
00:33:21
the right person comes along? Yeah, I
00:33:23
guess I'm I'm open if the right person
00:33:24
comes along. I think at the moment I I'm
00:33:26
I'm quite happy you know working on
00:33:28
myself and hanging out with Fraser and
00:33:30
and you know working out and coaching at
00:33:33
the gym and hanging out with friends.
00:33:35
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. Oh,
00:33:37
something else just like a just a random
00:33:39
sidebar thing. Um, I think I read this
00:33:41
about you somewhere. You you were
00:33:42
learning to ride a bike as an adult.
00:33:45
Yeah, it was a Where did you read? I
00:33:48
don't know. Maybe it's on Instagram or
00:33:50
an article somewhere. So, yeah. Did you
00:33:53
Are there not many bikes in Samoa? There
00:33:55
are a lot of bikes. I was um extremely
00:33:57
overweight as a kid and um I'll send you
00:33:59
I'll send you a photo. But I I just
00:34:02
couldn't I couldn't balance on a two
00:34:04
wheel bike as a kid because, you know, I
00:34:06
was I was heavy. So
00:34:08
me and, you know, my three main cousins
00:34:11
would hang out. We go for bike rides
00:34:13
that have their bikes, but my one would
00:34:14
have training training wheels on it. Oh,
00:34:17
what age? Oh, I know, maybe 8 to 10
00:34:21
around. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, Dan, that's
00:34:23
really sad. Oh, it's okay. Thanks.
00:34:28
Oh, like how how overweight are you
00:34:30
talking? Uh, pretty big. I mean,
00:34:34
probably heavier than I am now as a kid.
00:34:36
Yeah. Wow. How did you get overweight?
00:34:39
There's not a lot of like processed food
00:34:40
over there. Like everything's pretty
00:34:41
clean in summer, isn't it? I mean,
00:34:44
there's a lot of bread, sugar, um, stuff
00:34:46
like that. And I think I just I have a
00:34:49
big appetite. I I eat a lot. Yeah. Yeah.
00:34:52
I ate a lot as a kid. And
00:34:55
I mean, in time, I mean, we weren't
00:34:57
allowed to kind of leave the table
00:34:57
unless we finished our plate. And the
00:34:59
plates were massive. So, Oh, right.
00:35:02
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I had a similar sort
00:35:05
of upbringing, I guess, in the respect
00:35:06
that it was almost like a famine. I
00:35:08
don't know, maybe it's just discipline
00:35:09
at the time, but it feels like like I
00:35:11
look back now and it's sort of like a
00:35:12
famine mentality where you're not sure
00:35:13
where the next meal is coming from and
00:35:14
it's like, yeah, we'd have to sit at the
00:35:16
table until everything was gone. Yeah,
00:35:18
exactly. It was like like a
00:35:19
disrespectful to the cook if you didn't
00:35:22
eat everything on your plate. Um, but
00:35:24
that's how I started losing weight
00:35:25
around 12 to 13. You know, you're saying
00:35:28
that you you saw a lot of people play
00:35:29
volleyball in Smore and when I was 12
00:35:32
and 13, I just started walking down, you
00:35:34
know, and started playing volleyball,
00:35:35
playing touch every evening and slowly
00:35:38
slowly started losing weight from then
00:35:39
on. Mhm.
00:35:41
Yeah. And and now you're you're like a a
00:35:44
picture of health. Oh, thanks. Yeah.
00:35:46
Aren't you? Yeah. I mean, you you
00:35:48
exercise obviously plays a big part in
00:35:49
your life. Like it's well, it's part of
00:35:51
your career for starters, but you Yeah.
00:35:53
How many times a day? How many times a
00:35:54
week do you work out? Um, I try and work
00:35:56
out every day. Um, not, you know,
00:35:59
aggressively or or high intensity. So,
00:36:01
Thursday I'll go to the track or just go
00:36:04
for a run. Um, and then Sunday I'll just
00:36:08
bike for 45 minutes or run for 45
00:36:10
minutes. But, you know, the days in
00:36:12
between that would be uh combination of
00:36:15
strength and conditioning. Yeah.
00:36:17
[Music]
00:36:19
Yeah. Yeah. You can tell it's a big part
00:36:20
of your life now. Like, it's a
00:36:21
cornerstone really of who you are. Yeah.
00:36:24
I mean it it makes me feel good. I
00:36:26
always feel good after exercise and um
00:36:29
Yeah, I love it. I think um more people
00:36:31
should should get into it. Yeah.
00:36:34
How does that work with the sort of It
00:36:37
seems like you do a lot of baking. Yeah.
00:36:39
Um baking baking doesn't seem to be, you
00:36:43
know, aligned with um you know, I don't
00:36:46
know, like exercise and fitness and
00:36:48
health. How how does that work? You just
00:36:50
bake and then pass the goods on or No, I
00:36:52
eat it balance. Yeah, I get asked a lot
00:36:54
if I eat my baking. Um I do eat it and
00:36:57
not obviously not the whole thing. Like
00:36:58
usually I I'll give it to the neighbors
00:37:00
or I'll take it to the gym um or give it
00:37:02
to a mate that lives down the road. But
00:37:04
um I think you know
00:37:08
being exercising, um working on
00:37:10
yourself, you know, having treats, I
00:37:12
think that's all important to kind of
00:37:14
incorporate all of that into a a well
00:37:16
balanced lifestyle. Yeah. Yeah. All in
00:37:18
moderation. Yeah. And and actually in
00:37:20
saying that, you brought some baking in
00:37:21
this morning. What did you what did you
00:37:22
bring to the team in the office? Um I
00:37:24
baked some chocolate chip and macadamia
00:37:26
nut cookies. Yeah. Oh my god. Yum. Okay.
00:37:30
Let's go back to Man Can Cook. And the
00:37:31
first of all, why did you why did you
00:37:32
call it Man Can?
00:37:35
Um I think cuz I started filming in 2014
00:37:39
and I named it Man Cook back then. And I
00:37:42
think back then there was probably a
00:37:44
stigma that, you know, men can't cook. I
00:37:45
I don't think it's prevalent now. I
00:37:47
think you know back then there was that
00:37:49
stigma so that's why I named it man can
00:37:51
cook because you know man can cook.
00:37:53
Yeah. You you because your name is
00:37:56
Daniel Rank and you could have called it
00:37:57
Dan Ran Canc. Yeah. I should have named
00:37:59
it something like that. Yeah. So what's
00:38:01
the um Yeah. Like I mean you've hit a
00:38:03
real sweet spot now, haven't you? Um I
00:38:06
saw your YouTube page and you you it's
00:38:08
almost like you've neglected that. Like
00:38:09
you and Facebook as well like you've
00:38:11
sort of neglected that but it's um
00:38:13
you've hit a real sweet spot on like Tik
00:38:15
Tok and Instagram. Yeah. I mean, I think
00:38:18
if I had somewhat like an admin person,
00:38:21
I'd probably try and grow Facebook and
00:38:23
and YouTube just because I've got I
00:38:24
still got all my videos, but it can get
00:38:27
quite overwhelming, you know, posting on
00:38:29
every single social media platform and
00:38:31
trying to grow every single one at the
00:38:32
same time. But yeah, I I focus mostly on
00:38:34
Instagram and Tik Tok. Yeah. And what's
00:38:37
the what's the creative process like? Do
00:38:39
you have like a a week schedule? like a
00:38:41
day where you storyboard and a day where
00:38:43
you source the props and the costumes,
00:38:45
the day when you film, a day when you
00:38:46
edit. How does how does it all work? So,
00:38:49
a Monday is when I generally have an
00:38:51
idea on Monday. I don't really
00:38:53
storyboard because as long as I have a
00:38:55
rough idea of music and what I'm baking,
00:38:58
um that's that's enough for me. The
00:39:00
great thing about cooking is it's
00:39:02
storyboarded for you. Like, you have a
00:39:04
recipe and each step is pretty much a
00:39:05
story board from my perspective. Um, but
00:39:08
yeah, Mondays we get the ingredients we
00:39:11
need. Um, and then we'll probably bake
00:39:13
it once on Monday and then we'll film on
00:39:15
Tuesday, Wednesday, edit on a Thursday,
00:39:18
and then post and then kind of engage
00:39:20
with um the audience on a Friday when we
00:39:22
post. Yeah. How do you select the songs?
00:39:25
You you choose some real random songs.
00:39:26
Essentially
00:39:30
work, but somehow they do. Yeah. Um,
00:39:34
mostly when I'm walking Fraser, so I'll
00:39:37
have my earphones in and then kind of
00:39:38
just, you know, play a playlist and then
00:39:41
generally a song will come to me then.
00:39:43
Um, or when I'm driving, but I guess I'm
00:39:46
not actively like searching for music,
00:39:48
you know. It's just as I'm going about
00:39:49
my day, I'm playing music and then if a
00:39:51
song comes to mind, I'll use it. Yeah.
00:39:54
Now, who do you do you live alone or you
00:39:55
live with others? Uh, just Fraser and I,
00:39:57
right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that
00:39:59
that's a good thing cuz it must be um
00:40:01
messy like you're you're tossing, you
00:40:03
know, you you're stirring things and
00:40:04
you're tossing utensils. Where are you
00:40:06
throwing the utensils? There's just a
00:40:08
side like on on the left side there's
00:40:10
like sometimes I put a towel down but
00:40:11
most of the time I'll just keep the door
00:40:13
open and it will just fly under deck and
00:40:15
then I'll um just go and grab it, tidy
00:40:17
it up quickly and then get back to
00:40:19
filming. Yeah. And then you like jump
00:40:20
jumping over the kitchen bar and there's
00:40:23
there's there's there's there's a lot
00:40:24
going on. Is it a is it a bomb site at
00:40:26
the end? Yeah, it is. I've gotten better
00:40:28
at cleaning as we go. Mhm. Uh so, you
00:40:31
know, usually I'll throw something or
00:40:32
make a mess and then I'll clean it up
00:40:34
and then get back to the next shot.
00:40:35
Yeah. But, um I mean it's it's it's a
00:40:39
mess, but we only takes 15 20 minutes to
00:40:41
clean it up. Yeah. Yeah. And what about
00:40:44
the ideas for the props? Like whether
00:40:45
it's like a a gas welder's mask or a
00:40:48
cowboy cowboy hat or where where Yeah.
00:40:52
Where does the idea for them come and
00:40:53
where do you source them? Um, that just
00:40:55
comes with the theme, I guess. Like the
00:40:57
gas mask would have been, you know,
00:40:59
genuine pony magic mic in the scene
00:41:02
where he kind of had a gas like gas mask
00:41:04
on and was welding. So, that's where I
00:41:06
got that. I borrowed it from a mate. Um,
00:41:08
you know, if it's a country song, you
00:41:09
know, we'll wear our cowboy hats or get
00:41:12
our stick pony. Um, what else? Uh, Bad
00:41:15
Touch. So, the music video, they're
00:41:17
wearing monkey outfits in it. And I had
00:41:19
a monkey outfit for Fraser, so I chucked
00:41:21
that on. And then usually uh my favorite
00:41:24
ones are like the slow kind of ' 80s
00:41:27
love songs, you know, Phil Collins um
00:41:29
and Fraser will have a theme outfit for
00:41:31
that. Usually it's a suit or his um his
00:41:34
afro kind of toupe beanie. Sorry, his
00:41:36
his wig. Yeah. Yeah. You do love a 1980s
00:41:40
power ballad, don't you? Yeah, I do.
00:41:41
Yeah. Massively. And what about all
00:41:44
Fraser's outfits? He must have a hell of
00:41:46
a wardrobe. He does. He's got a a lot of
00:41:48
outfits. Where are they from? You get
00:41:50
them from like like Teeu or uh Kmart to
00:41:52
be honest. Kmart Kmart's got a lot of
00:41:54
dog outfits. So unreal. Over the years
00:41:57
I've just gotten them from Kmart. Um and
00:41:59
then some from Amazon.
00:42:01
Yeah. And those are probably the only
00:42:04
two places. Yeah. Actually, I've got
00:42:06
Yeah, I need to go back to Kmart and
00:42:07
have a good look. I got Kanye like a
00:42:09
denim jacket there once. Oh, yeah. Um
00:42:11
which is which is great. Um I didn't
00:42:13
realize there was that they had a huge
00:42:14
range of dog stuff there though. Like
00:42:16
not a massive range. I think every
00:42:18
couple months they'll get new stock in
00:42:20
and I'll just, you know, remember to
00:42:22
kind of check in and see what they've
00:42:23
got and, you know, just keep buying
00:42:24
stuff. Yeah. So, so, so you film what?
00:42:27
How much do you film? Like, are you
00:42:29
filming non-stop for like an hour or a
00:42:31
couple of hours or you just filming
00:42:32
little bits and pieces? Oh, okay. So,
00:42:34
usually we we film non-stop for about 3
00:42:37
to four hours. Oh, yeah. And then the
00:42:41
next day it'll be about the same, maybe
00:42:43
two to three hours because it's quite
00:42:45
the process. Like if you're baking, you
00:42:48
know, you got to mix all the ingredients
00:42:49
and then chuck it in the oven and then
00:42:51
let it cool down and then, you know, ice
00:42:53
it or whatever. If you're making a cake
00:42:54
or, you know, cheesecake, you got to let
00:42:56
it sit overnight. So, it does take a
00:42:57
while. That's so much effort for a one
00:42:59
minute video. Yeah, it is. I mean, it's
00:43:01
hard work for sure. Um, but
00:43:04
we we enjoy it. We We have Yeah, we have
00:43:06
a good time. Yeah. I think the hardest
00:43:08
thing for me is just starting. Once once
00:43:11
we're in the process of baking, it's
00:43:14
actually a lot easier. And you know, we
00:43:16
find joy along the way and yeah. So you
00:43:19
said you said we again like you're
00:43:21
speaking on behalf of family even though
00:43:22
right now like he's got his head turned.
00:43:24
He's like I don't enjoy it as much as
00:43:26
what you think dad. Um so yeah. So for
00:43:30
anyone that hasn't seen the videos to
00:43:32
paint a picture. So yeah you you're
00:43:34
standing there dancing looking sexy in
00:43:36
the kitchen and Fras is just on a stool
00:43:38
just sort of watching you. How does like
00:43:41
Kanye is a very obedient dog but he'd be
00:43:43
trying to jump down. And he he wouldn't
00:43:44
sit still. Are you telling me Fraser
00:43:46
sits there on the stoall for like 4
00:43:47
hours? No, I mean we have breaks so I
00:43:49
bring him down maybe every half an hour
00:43:51
see if he wants some water or if he
00:43:52
needs to go toilet and then back up. But
00:43:55
he does just sit still there. How How
00:43:57
did you train him to do that?
00:43:58
Unintentionally. When I got Fraser, I um
00:44:02
I owned a gym and was coaching a lot of
00:44:04
classes. So I got him and I'd be
00:44:06
coaching a class, he'd be out back and
00:44:07
he'd just be, you know, barking looking
00:44:10
for me. So, I got one of those big 75 cm
00:44:15
like boxes at the gym that you do. Oh,
00:44:17
box jump things. Box jump things. Yeah.
00:44:19
One of those big sort of foam thick foam
00:44:21
boxes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, I just put
00:44:23
him on that and then he just watched me
00:44:24
coach the class and just chill out. And
00:44:27
I think the box is pretty much the same
00:44:29
height as his as his seat. So, I think
00:44:30
he's like, "Oh, cool. Like, I get to
00:44:32
hang out." And Yeah. Oh, that's amazing.
00:44:35
Um, yeah. You must get a lot of DMs
00:44:37
about him. Like, people must love the
00:44:39
dog. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone loves Razer.
00:44:41
Yeah. Um, and what about criticism or
00:44:44
trolling or negative feedback? Yeah. I
00:44:46
mean, you know, like to be fair, sorry
00:44:48
to interrupt you there, but it's like
00:44:50
there's there's absolutely nothing to
00:44:52
criticize about about what you do, but
00:44:54
it's just the nature of I suppose like a
00:44:56
the more popular you get and especially
00:44:59
when you get to like 600,000 followers.
00:45:00
Yeah. You not everyone's going to be on
00:45:02
your side. Some of it may be rooted in
00:45:04
jealousy or whatever, but yeah. What
00:45:05
sort of negativity do you get? I think
00:45:07
when we started, we got a lot. Like
00:45:09
what? Uh probably the worst one, you
00:45:11
know, messages like what are you going
00:45:13
to do when Fraser dies? Are you you know
00:45:15
that kind of really stung a little bit,
00:45:18
but mostly
00:45:21
like not not too much negative stuff
00:45:22
like they'll say comments like that
00:45:24
about Fraser or you know you have the
00:45:26
same your content is very repetitive or
00:45:29
you know it's you're doing the same
00:45:30
thing over and over. Um but I it
00:45:34
probably gets to me for a little bit and
00:45:35
then you know I do my best to kind of
00:45:37
diffuse those thoughts and and move on.
00:45:39
Yeah. You do you um are you quite
00:45:42
liberal with the block button? If
00:45:44
someone's being an [ __ ] or if they're
00:45:46
really be an [ __ ] I'll block them. Um
00:45:49
but most of the time I'll just reply
00:45:50
with kindness and just send them a love
00:45:51
heart and then kind of get on with my
00:45:53
day. I'm not going to spend too much
00:45:54
time letting them occupy my mental
00:45:57
space. Yeah. Oh that's a good way to um
00:45:59
handle it. You don't want to dwell on it
00:46:00
too much. Yeah. And what are your um
00:46:02
what are your goals for Men Can Cook in
00:46:03
the coming years? Like do you want to do
00:46:05
like a a cookbook or anything or uh this
00:46:08
year? I think we just, you know, we want
00:46:09
to crack a million followers on on
00:46:11
Instagram. I think that would be cool.
00:46:13
Um how do you do that? How do you go
00:46:15
from like 600,000 to a million? That's a
00:46:16
massive amount of growth. Yeah. You just
00:46:18
you keep working hard and being
00:46:20
consistent. Um posting videos every
00:46:22
week. Yeah. Without burning up. Yeah. So
00:46:25
that's the plan. I mean, we have got a
00:46:27
cookbook in the works at the moment and
00:46:30
we've got um a few like food festivals
00:46:32
that we're kind of we're attending.
00:46:34
Well, I'm attending this year. Yeah. But
00:46:37
I think, you know, people always ask
00:46:38
like what's what's your goals? I think
00:46:40
we're just going to keep creating and
00:46:41
keep working hard. Yeah. Yeah. Well,
00:46:44
people are enjoying it. You've hit a
00:46:45
real sweet spot. Thanks. Yeah. Um I've
00:46:47
got some general food questions. So, the
00:46:49
passion for cooking, how did that begin?
00:46:52
Um, I think it's I mean, you know, when
00:46:54
I was a kid, I kind of needed to learn
00:46:55
how to cook to be independent and I Oh,
00:46:58
just when you moved to New Zealand on
00:46:59
Well, in sour as well. Okay. Yeah. So,
00:47:01
you know, I'd cook uh feeds for my mates
00:47:04
and then when I came to New Zealand,
00:47:05
obviously living on my own as a kid, I
00:47:06
had to learn how to cook as well. Um,
00:47:08
but I I found joy in it. You know, I
00:47:10
found that it kind of
00:47:13
helps me be present. I think, you know,
00:47:14
it's quite hard to be present in life
00:47:15
these days. And it cooking just helps
00:47:17
you narrow down your focus and Yeah. M
00:47:20
do do you still like um some own foods
00:47:24
like taro and corned beef and stuff? Oh,
00:47:26
absolutely. Do you like corn beef? Yeah,
00:47:27
I love corn beef. Taro, I'm not a big
00:47:30
fan. I mean, it doesn't really have much
00:47:31
taste unless you cook it in like coconut
00:47:33
cream. If it's an umu, it's got so much
00:47:35
flavor from the smoky the smokiness, but
00:47:38
I love corn beef. Um
00:47:41
what else is chopped? Yeah.
00:47:44
What about the um Yeah. One of my
00:47:46
enduring memories of Samar is um just
00:47:49
outside the villages like strands of
00:47:51
fish.
00:47:52
You people selling fish on the street
00:47:54
and there's like flies on them. Road
00:47:56
dust and everything on it. Yeah. The
00:47:59
people selling fish, do they make all
00:48:01
right money? Like I think they do. I
00:48:02
mean they they live off the land. I
00:48:04
think they they wouldn't have many
00:48:05
expenses as well. So yeah, they just
00:48:07
sell their fish. Yeah. Yeah. Oh no. I
00:48:09
love that. What's your go-to meal when
00:48:11
you're short on time?
00:48:13
Um, when I'm short on time, I probably
00:48:15
will just whip up like some scrambled
00:48:16
eggs on toast. Um, otherwise, like I'd
00:48:20
buy one of those pre-made salad mixes
00:48:22
and then a can of tuna and then a bit of
00:48:24
mayo and then that's it. Yeah. Yeah. We
00:48:26
we got together early in the morning,
00:48:28
earlyish in the morning to do this, like
00:48:30
8:30. What did What have you eaten so
00:48:32
far today? Um, in the morning I I have
00:48:36
probably a quarter of a cabbage and some
00:48:38
fried eggs for breakfast. Cabbage for
00:48:41
breakfast. Why? Well, I don't exercise
00:48:43
in the mornings and I don't need a
00:48:44
massive amount of carbs, but like I'm a
00:48:47
big eater. I like to feel full, so
00:48:49
cabbage, it's large in volume, but low
00:48:52
in calories. So, um yeah, I'll just
00:48:55
smash back a whole bunch of cabbage and
00:48:57
three eggs and a few egg whites and some
00:48:59
ketchup. That's that's my breakfast.
00:49:01
Does Does cabbage make your fart stink?
00:49:03
Um I don't think so. No, I don't think
00:49:06
my farts stink. I don't know. I mean,
00:49:07
they stink, but like you've been you've
00:49:09
been living with a dog for a very long
00:49:11
time. Yeah. I never know if it's mine or
00:49:13
Fraser's. Oh, now you know if it's a dog
00:49:16
one, right? When Kanye does one, it's
00:49:18
just like this thick. Yeah.
00:49:20
Surprisingly, Fraser doesn't fart much.
00:49:22
I mean, he doesn't snore much like a
00:49:24
pug. Um Yeah. There was maybe about 20
00:49:27
minutes ago, the microphones probably
00:49:29
didn't pick it up, but um one of the
00:49:30
dogs was snoring. Oh, yeah. I don't know
00:49:32
if it was Fraser or Kanye. Yeah. Um but
00:49:35
they're being very respectful, leaving
00:49:36
each other alone. Yeah. I think they got
00:49:38
their backs turned towards each other.
00:49:41
Yeah. Yeah. Um, what is one underrated
00:49:44
cooking tip that everybody should know?
00:49:48
Um,
00:49:50
good question. I'd say like sharpen your
00:49:54
knives. I think that's that's very
00:49:55
underrated. Get a good knife. I think
00:49:57
that's going to make chopping a lot
00:49:59
easier and it's almost safer in a way as
00:50:00
well. Like, you know, blunt knives can
00:50:02
cause a few accidents. Yeah. M Have you
00:50:05
ever had like an accident in the kitchen
00:50:07
with a knife or anything? Um not not a
00:50:09
big accident. I mean, I've cut my
00:50:10
fingers and stuff like that, but nothing
00:50:12
nothing serious, fortunately. Yeah.
00:50:16
Yeah. Cuz Yeah. Cooking cooking is one
00:50:18
of those things where you have to be
00:50:18
very present or accidents can happen.
00:50:20
I'm thinking if you're if you're
00:50:22
sidetracked because you're thinking
00:50:23
about content and the next shot and
00:50:24
whatever. Exactly. Yeah. It could be
00:50:27
nasty. Um are there any foods that you
00:50:29
absolutely refuse to cook or eat? Um, I
00:50:33
don't like mint. I find, you know, I
00:50:35
find anything with mint in it feels like
00:50:36
I'm just eating toothpaste. Um, but that
00:50:39
that's about it really. Yeah. And if you
00:50:41
could only cook with five ingredients
00:50:43
for the rest of your life, what would
00:50:44
they be? Uh, cabbage. Cabbage. I mean,
00:50:48
probably flour, butter, sugar, and then
00:50:53
um meat. Some type of meat and and rice.
00:50:56
Yeah.
00:50:58
Why? for the health benefits or I think
00:51:01
like flour, butter, sugar could probably
00:51:03
the basis of a lot of baking and if I
00:51:05
wanted to bake stuff. Yeah. Um and then
00:51:07
yeah, I guess rice and meat. I I enjoy
00:51:09
eating rice and meat. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,
00:51:12
that's cool. Hey, thanks for sharing
00:51:13
that. I've just got a couple of um like
00:51:14
random sort of mental health based
00:51:16
related questions to wrap it up. Um
00:51:20
yeah, what's your Yeah, we talked about
00:51:21
um Bnee Brown before. Yeah. And the
00:51:24
importance of vulnerability and stuff
00:51:26
like do you have a good like um network,
00:51:28
a good inner circle of close friends
00:51:29
that you can talk to about stuff? Oh
00:51:32
Frzer, he just jumped down. Did he just
00:51:34
jump down? Yeah. Fraser.
00:51:39
Who's a good boy? Come on. You're a good
00:51:42
boy, too. Come here, Kanye. Come here.
00:51:44
I'll just hold him. Yeah. Here we go.
00:51:46
Uh, do I have a Yeah, a good network of
00:51:50
like close friends that you can talk to.
00:51:52
Yeah, I do. Um, my brothers and yeah, I
00:51:55
got a good group of friends at the gym
00:51:57
that I can talk to. Um, but you know, I
00:52:00
try I mean, I'll chat to them about
00:52:02
stuff I'm going through, but I try not
00:52:03
to emotionally dump on them, you know,
00:52:05
kind of leave that leave that to my
00:52:06
therapist. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's
00:52:09
hard because it's important to um to be
00:52:11
open, but then Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. your
00:52:14
friends your friends aren't you're
00:52:15
therapist aren't trained so they can't
00:52:18
they any advice they give you it's just
00:52:20
it's coming from a good place but it's
00:52:21
not coming from a professional place
00:52:22
exactly yeah um what about um adversity
00:52:25
what's the biggest sort of adversity
00:52:26
you've been through in your life so far
00:52:28
um I I'd imagine that move to New
00:52:30
Zealand was quite unsettling that was
00:52:31
unsettling I I thought I found um
00:52:34
relationship breakups quite quite
00:52:36
challenging how long how long were you
00:52:38
together with your your partner um we
00:52:40
were together for about five five years
00:52:42
Right. Yeah.
00:52:44
Any chance of mending that or is that
00:52:46
ship sailed? I think that ship sailed.
00:52:48
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's
00:52:49
that saying, hey, this may may even be a
00:52:51
Brne Brown thing, but um people come
00:52:53
into your life for a reason.
00:52:55
I mean, despite how difficult it was,
00:52:58
I'm super grateful for it. Like, even
00:53:00
though it was the most challenging
00:53:02
experience, it's the one I've
00:53:03
experienced the most growth from in life
00:53:05
as well. So, yeah, probably wouldn't
00:53:07
have it another way. Yeah. You're a
00:53:10
sensitive fellow, eh? And a deep
00:53:12
thinker. What's your what's your um
00:53:13
inner voice like? Are are you you quite
00:53:15
kind to yourself? I try to be. I mean
00:53:19
I think
00:53:21
yeah I'm kind to myself. I probably more
00:53:23
confident in my my mind like the voices
00:53:26
you know like you know I I tell myself I
00:53:28
can do things and you know when I'm
00:53:30
tired and don't want to go to the gym I
00:53:32
encourage myself just to go anyway or
00:53:34
you know when we don't feel like filming
00:53:37
you know just positive positive thoughts
00:53:39
I guess. Yeah. or just more
00:53:43
regulating or diffusing the negative
00:53:44
thoughts is probably a lot of Yeah, a
00:53:47
lot of it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um what
00:53:49
about um are you are you quite an
00:53:50
emotional guy? I think so. Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:52
I'm quite emotional. Yeah. You you cry
00:53:54
much? Um not really. Like when things
00:53:56
are tough like I'll cry. Yeah. But not
00:54:00
weekly. Yeah. Yeah. But even like happy
00:54:03
tears. Uh yeah. Yeah. Happy tears. Yep.
00:54:07
Um the other week I just kind of
00:54:10
envisioned Fraser and I, you know,
00:54:12
hitting a million followers and just
00:54:13
randomly while we were cooking and, you
00:54:15
know, Yeah, they brought tears of joy.
00:54:17
Yeah. Oh my god, that's some powerful
00:54:19
manifest manifestation, isn't it? Yeah,
00:54:22
I guess so. Yeah. Oh my god. Um, what
00:54:24
about your best and worst habits? What
00:54:25
would they be? Um,
00:54:28
my best habit would probably be
00:54:31
exercise. I think that's a h a habit
00:54:34
I've made for sure. I mean a lot of the
00:54:36
time I don't feel like exercising but
00:54:37
you know I make it a habit to go worst
00:54:40
habit.
00:54:42
What would my worst habit be?
00:54:46
Oh man.
00:54:48
I guess my my desk is my room is kind of
00:54:50
messy. Like I don't mind a messy room
00:54:52
but I mean the house is pretty clean but
00:54:55
yeah my desk is messy. Yeah. Yeah. Well
00:54:58
that um the uh the the overweight little
00:55:01
boy in Samoa that that had to ride a
00:55:04
bike with training wheels. Um, what
00:55:05
would he make of the man sitting in
00:55:07
front of me now? I think he'd be he'd be
00:55:09
super proud. Um, yeah. Yeah. Getting a
00:55:13
little emotional now thinking of it
00:55:14
actually. But yeah, I think he'd be
00:55:16
stoked. I think he'd be be proud of me
00:55:19
and and he'd be happy to kind of see
00:55:22
where he's going to be if he could see.
00:55:24
Yeah. Yeah. Cuz you don't know what the
00:55:26
future brings, eh? Yeah. To to see that
00:55:28
like everything's worked out good and
00:55:30
and you've done well. Yeah. I think
00:55:32
that's really cool. Um, is there a what
00:55:35
if that keeps you up at night?
00:55:38
I guess doesn't really keep me up, but I
00:55:41
mean, you know, what if,
00:55:43
you know, selling the gym or, you know,
00:55:45
I was working social media for an agency
00:55:47
for a bit, quitting that job, you know,
00:55:49
what if what if there was a mistake and
00:55:52
going full-time as a content creator was
00:55:54
a mistake. So, I sometimes that that
00:55:56
scenario plays in mind. Yeah. Those
00:55:58
thoughts play in mind. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,
00:56:00
I suppose everyone wonders that, eh? And
00:56:02
the timing is never right, like to go
00:56:04
all in on your Oh, absolutely. Like when
00:56:06
I went all in, I was I was working I
00:56:08
still owned a gym and I was working in a
00:56:10
social media agency. Um, and they didn't
00:56:13
approve. I went to Hawaii, but they
00:56:15
didn't approve my leave. So, when I, you
00:56:19
know, came back, I ended up kind of
00:56:21
resigning and had to go all in. So, it
00:56:24
wasn't a decision like, oh, okay, I'm
00:56:26
going to go all in. And it was like,
00:56:27
"Okay, they're not going to approve my
00:56:29
leave. Okay, that's all good. I have no
00:56:31
other choice." Yeah. Yeah. So, it's
00:56:33
almost like you're pushed into the
00:56:34
situation. Exactly. Which is probably
00:56:36
quite good because I think everyone's
00:56:37
probably guilty of like taking the safe
00:56:38
road or procrastinating. Yeah. Exactly.
00:56:41
Um, is there a a mistake that you wish
00:56:43
you could go back and correct? Oh, I try
00:56:46
not to think about about that. I mean,
00:56:48
there's a lot of mistakes I've made. For
00:56:50
sure. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Well, I
00:56:52
don't know. Yeah. I find it hard to
00:56:54
believe. Yeah. What was your religion?
00:56:56
Are you Catholic? Um, no. What was So,
00:56:59
we grew up going to a Methodist church
00:57:01
in Samour.
00:57:03
Um, yeah. Cuz I can't imagine that you
00:57:06
you're the man sitting in front of me
00:57:07
doing anything that's too bad, but I I
00:57:09
just wonder if you have a lot of um like
00:57:10
guilt like, you know, I I grew up as a
00:57:13
Catholic and so you have this thing
00:57:14
called Catholic guilt and Oh, okay. you
00:57:16
know, I mean, yeah, I've got I mean,
00:57:18
I've made made mistakes and I've got
00:57:20
guilt and you know, I think a lot of
00:57:23
that I try not to think about it too
00:57:25
much, but when I do think about it, I
00:57:27
think no one's perfect and a lot of the
00:57:28
mistakes I've made doesn't make me, you
00:57:32
know, a bad person and just makes me
00:57:33
human. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have to go
00:57:36
easy on yourself and give yourself a bit
00:57:38
of a pass. Yeah. Um, what are you most
00:57:40
afraid of?
00:57:42
Um, losing this guy. Yeah, that's
00:57:45
probably what I'm most afraid of at the
00:57:47
moment. Yeah, you still got a few years
00:57:49
to go, eh, Fraser? Yeah. Yeah, he's got
00:57:52
a long time to go, but that's probably
00:57:53
what I'm most afraid of. Oh, mate, it's
00:57:55
like we talked about in the beginning of
00:57:56
the podcast, e like Yeah. I think about
00:57:59
it all the time. Yeah. It's amazing how
00:58:02
much of my uh like like brain space it
00:58:04
takes up. Yeah. Just just just the grief
00:58:07
that I'm going to be overwhelmed with
00:58:09
when he dies. It's amazing. It's like
00:58:11
like a child that never does anything to
00:58:12
piss you off. And I think you can have
00:58:14
all the tools and, you know, get all the
00:58:16
training to kind of regulate your
00:58:19
thoughts and feelings, but it's still
00:58:20
going to be tough regardless. Yeah.
00:58:21
Yeah. Well, I suppose that's the thing,
00:58:23
the flip side of like great love is
00:58:24
great loss, isn't it? Exactly. Yeah. Um,
00:58:27
what about regrets? Any regrets?
00:58:30
Um, yeah, I guess regrets and guilt play
00:58:33
in the same place. So, yeah, definitely
00:58:35
I've got regrets. Sure. And what about
00:58:37
future goals? Where do you see yourself
00:58:39
at? Like 50 or 60? Um, I really want to
00:58:42
move to Queenstown. I, you know, I grew
00:58:44
up in the island, so was surrounded by
00:58:45
beaches, but something about just like
00:58:47
the mountains and, you know, the snow I
00:58:50
really love. So, yeah, when I'm 50, I'd
00:58:52
like to see myself living living in
00:58:54
Queenstown. Still creating content. Uh,
00:58:57
probably not the type of content that
00:58:59
I'm creating now, but I'd definitely
00:59:01
love to be, you know, in the cooking
00:59:03
space. Um, you know, cooking TV or TV
00:59:06
shows and stuff like that, for sure.
00:59:08
Yeah. Right. Oh, so you see yourself
00:59:10
like um sort of like pivoting or just
00:59:13
evolving and getting more clothes on as
00:59:15
you get older. Yeah, exactly. Probably I
00:59:17
love I mean I'd love to be in shape when
00:59:19
I'm 50 for sure. I think um but my
00:59:22
content will probably be less theatrical
00:59:23
and more more chilled out. Yeah. Yeah.
00:59:26
But it's a funny journey because you
00:59:28
never know exactly where it's going to
00:59:29
take you or you know where social media
00:59:31
is going to head or Yeah. Exactly. I
00:59:33
mean you know Tik Tok you know got
00:59:34
banned for what you know I don't know a
00:59:36
few minutes or a few hours recently. So,
00:59:38
you know, if you'd make your income off
00:59:40
of that, that's that's turbulent for
00:59:42
sure. Yeah. I just noticed your um your
00:59:45
traditional Son tattoo on your right
00:59:46
arm. Is that um was that done by like a
00:59:49
like a tattoo artist with a with a like
00:59:51
a tattoo gun or is that like a
00:59:52
traditional uh it's a traditional one?
00:59:54
Yeah, it's a lima, right? How painful is
00:59:58
that? Um it's not too bad. I think when
01:00:00
you get under the arm around like the
01:00:02
tricep area, that's when it gets real
01:00:03
painful. So, that's the the tap tap tap
01:00:06
one. Yeah. Yeah.
01:00:08
Oh, that looks Oh, I mean the end
01:00:10
result's amazing, but Oh, sorry. Oh,
01:00:13
that's all right. Um, yeah. No, that
01:00:15
looks excruciating. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
01:00:18
it's painful for sure. Like anyone that
01:00:19
says tattoos don't hurt probably lying,
01:00:22
but they hurt. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and what
01:00:25
three words would family and friends use
01:00:26
to describe you? Um,
01:00:30
oh,
01:00:32
I don't know. I mean,
01:00:35
probably they'd probably describe me as
01:00:37
quiet for sure, but then confident and
01:00:45
probably probably fit in regards to
01:00:47
fitness. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool.
01:00:50
And you proud of yourself? Yeah,
01:00:51
absolutely. I am proud of myself for
01:00:53
sure. Awesome. Yeah. It's been really
01:00:55
cool to connect today. Yeah. Thanks.
01:00:57
Thanks for having me. Yeah. I I get the
01:00:59
feeling um Yeah. Yeah. So even though
01:01:01
you're sort of you've got this sort of
01:01:02
public profile, I get the feeling like
01:01:04
you you you know it it doesn't
01:01:07
necessarily come easy to talk about
01:01:08
yourself. It doesn't. No, for sure. And
01:01:11
that comes from I think Simon culture.
01:01:13
Like even before I started creating
01:01:14
content, I went to job interviews and um
01:01:17
you know, stuff like that. It'd be
01:01:19
really hard for me, you know, they ask
01:01:20
you what your strengths are and I'm like
01:01:22
I mean I don't want to not going to tell
01:01:24
you my strengths. That's that comes off
01:01:26
as being, you know, bigheaded in a way.
01:01:28
But I guess like I said earlier, you
01:01:30
don't want to shrink yourself, but you
01:01:32
don't want to puff yourself up. You
01:01:33
know, you just got to got to stand on on
01:01:35
your ground. Yeah. I feel like that's an
01:01:37
that's a um a Kiwi thing as well, like
01:01:39
just you you not not not being allowed
01:01:41
to sort of talk yourself up. And I feel
01:01:43
like um LinkedIn's probably changing
01:01:45
that a little bit and people are
01:01:46
realizing you have to sort of, you know,
01:01:48
lean into it and sell yourself a little
01:01:49
bit. Yeah. Um, but it's always been seen
01:01:52
as like an anti thing in in New Zealand
01:01:54
where you should wait for other people
01:01:55
to talk you up, but you can't do it
01:01:57
yourself. Yeah, absolutely. I think
01:01:59
there's a difference between, you know,
01:02:00
being cocky and being confident. And I
01:02:03
think you can, you know, talk about
01:02:04
yourself in a positive light and come
01:02:06
across confident. For sure. Well, Daniel
01:02:09
Rankin, you're you're a good man. You're
01:02:11
doing great content. And, um, it seems
01:02:13
like you're a good role model as well.
01:02:15
like um I really appreciate you being so
01:02:17
open to talking about the um you the
01:02:18
mental health stuff and the journey
01:02:19
you've been through and um it's an honor
01:02:22
to meet you and Fraser. Yeah. And I'm
01:02:25
looking forward to continuing to consume
01:02:27
your content. Thanks, Dom. Thanks for
01:02:28
having me. I really appreciate it. You
01:02:30
know, big fan of of you growing up.
01:02:31
Yeah.
01:02:33
Oh, that's Yeah. I don't know. That's
01:02:34
alarming. Is it a big fan of you in
01:02:38
general? Yeah. Yeah. Whenever someone
01:02:39
says that it's like Yeah. We did a lot
01:02:41
of distasteful things on the radio.
01:02:44
You're a good man. Thank you so much.
01:02:45
All right. Thanks, Don. Appreciate it.
