Turning Trauma into Strength

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Aleksandra King: Ian Stringer.

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Okay.

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This interview started
off a little bit fiery.

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Okay.

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Ian wasn't giving me what
I wanted deliberately.

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He was one wording me,
one word answering me.

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Uh, so it was a bit tough.

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We had a bit of a scrape.

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However he delivers.

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Okay.

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He delivers, he tells me a
lot of interesting stuff.

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He gets down about, apprentice
down, about addiction.

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Down about abuse.

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We get into it all.

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This one is a fiery bomb.

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Hello, Ian.

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Hello.
Welcome.

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Welcome to Be on the Boardroom.

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How are you today?

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I'm

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Ian Stringer: okay.

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Yeah, I'm all right.

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Aleksandra King: What was the overall
apprentice experience like for you?

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Ian Stringer: The overall apprentice
experience was I. A bit of fun.

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It was in many ways life changing
because of what came after.

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It was something I reflect on and I
don't visit a great deal or talk about.

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It was a moment in time in my life
that is, has been and gone, and

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I've learned from, to be honest.

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Has

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Aleksandra King: your apprentice
experience generally do you think

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helped or hindered your overall
reputation or had no impact?

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Ian Stringer: My overall reputation.

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In what context?

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Aleksandra King: Your
professional reputation.

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Ian Stringer: Uh, I think initially
it helped the kind of sweep of

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8 million people are watching.

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The television show that
you're involved in is

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seen as a positive and kinda have
a positive influence for your.

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Profile.

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I hate that word.

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Yes.

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But then what comes with
it is can be a challenge.

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But again, I was pretty ready
for that and was aware of that.

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So

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Aleksandra King: when you say what comes
after that, what are you, what is that?

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Ian Stringer: Media scrutiny?

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Mm-hmm.

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Aleksandra King: In what way?

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Ian Stringer: In the
salacious red top newspapers.

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Trying to find information on
individuals that that can be a challenge.

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And was a challenge, but
again, it wasn't unexpected.

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Aleksandra King: And on the more
positive side, what's the most valuable

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lesson that you learned from your
experience on The Apprentice that

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you then took into broadcasting?

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'cause you've had a, have a pretty
good career in broadcasting.

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Ian Stringer: Thank you.

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I would say probably resilience
building actually, I think would

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probably be to have been able to build
up resilience of failure, building up

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resilience of not achieving, building
up resilience of dealing with the

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media spotlight, building up resilience
of kind of what comes with it.

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I think that was probably the biggest
positive that came from it for me,

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but also actually it put me at a, a
career crossroads really, whether I

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wanted to carry on with my business
career and use what the apprentice

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had generated in terms of a. Profile.

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Again, I hate the word, but
I've used it twice or whether I

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wanted to go into broadcasting
more, which I was already doing.

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Aleksandra King: Had you
considered that media field

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before going into The Apprentice?

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Ian Stringer: I was already a
football reporter when I applied,

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so I was working Monday to Friday,
nine to five in software sales.

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Aleksandra King: Mm-hmm.

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Ian Stringer: And then at the weekend,
on a Saturday, I was football reporting,

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so I was reporting on relatively low.

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Level League teams with the utmost
respect to MK Dons and Wickham Wanderers.

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I was reporting on those on a
Saturday, and I had been for a while.

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I'd, it is a, it is an industry I'd
always taken huge interest in and

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really enjoyed, and so I was already
doing that and when the apprentice

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finished, I had an opportunity to
maybe double down on that, which I did.

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And as you kindly say, I've done okay more

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Aleksandra King: than, okay.

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You've won the highly commended.

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The commentator of the year award.

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That's pretty cool.

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Mm. You've been doing it a while.

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You Google, you can, you've got
a very good presence on Google.

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Would you say?

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I do it.

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You've been quite successful or you?

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Ian Stringer: I've done.

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You've been?

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I've done.

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Okay.

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I, humility is the most attractive
trait that I've seen in anybody

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winning A an SJAA Sports Journalist
Association Award is our equivalent

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of the Oscars, and I was lucky to.

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Look talent, let's say fortune.

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Fortune favors a braver, right?

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I was fortunate enough to be
rewarded for some good work at

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the SGAs and amongst my peers.

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That was great, but it's not for me.

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It's not necessarily about that.

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It's about getting experience and
commentating on a thousand professional

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games of football in my career and
commentating on football in la and.

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And in Hong Kong and in
Thailand and around Europe.

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And that's, I got very lucky with
the Lester City story in 2016

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when they won the Premier League.

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Aleksandra King: So what drove you to
pursue a tribunal case against the BBC?

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Ian Stringer: Because I believed
I was wrongfully dismissed.

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Aleksandra King: And why were
you wrongfully dismissed?

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Ian Stringer: Why an interesting question.

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My lawyer in the first week of dealing
with him advised that I never try and.

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Understand the why because
you'll never get to it.

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He said, if there's one thing you can
do, never try and focus on the why.

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You'll never understand the why.

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Nobody will ever know the why.

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Nobody will ever admit to the why.

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So get that outta your head now and let's
try and prove that you are wrongfully

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dismissed, which we failed in doing.

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And so we draw a line and we move on.

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Aleksandra King: So you open
up this case against the BB.

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C. Your lawyer, you wanna know
why this has happened to you?

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Your lawyer's saying we
can't talk about the why.

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Ian Stringer: No.
You'll never understand the why.

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You'll never get the why.

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The why will, you'll never get the why.

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So don't focus on the why.

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Aleksandra King: Yeah.

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And you're still gonna, not
gonna talk about the why or you,

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Ian Stringer: you can't.

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I dunno.
Talk about

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Aleksandra King: the why.

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I
Ian Stringer: don't know.

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I don't know why.

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That's the thing.

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You'll never understand.

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Why you just try and prove
one way or the other.

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And so that's what,
ultimately, that's what.

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We attempted to do.

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Aleksandra King: Are there any regrets
about the BBC's tribunal outcome

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and how it played out publicly?

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Ian Stringer: No.

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Aleksandra King: No
regrets whatsoever on that?

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None.

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So from the research that I was
doing online, some said that it

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wasn't about whistle blowing, but
about freebies and misconduct.

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I don't know.

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If you wanna comment on that or
not, but if you do wanna give your

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side of story, that'll be great.

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Ian Stringer: So what's the question?

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Aleksandra King: Some have said it's
about freebies and not about misconduct.

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So the COVID-19 breaches, what
are your thoughts on that?

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Ian Stringer: My thoughts are I've
drawn a line under what's happened

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and I moved on with my life.

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Freelance football
reporter and commentator.

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Now I'm working for Sky Sports.

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I'm working for Talk Sport.

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I'm working for ITV.

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I'm working for international
companies and I'm overjoyed.

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I thoroughly enjoyed the 20 years
I had with the BBC and had some

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of the best moments of my career.

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Aleksandra King: This will probably be
a difficult question for you, but do you

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think the BBC handled your case fairly?

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Ian Stringer: No.

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Aleksandra King: It's quite
tough when you're coming up

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against a big organization.

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Yeah.
Like that.

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And you feel this way.

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Ian Stringer: Yeah, I agree.

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Aleksandra King: How
does it make you feel?

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Ian Stringer: Which bit?

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Aleksandra King: The bit that you
feel you've been treated unfairly.

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Ian Stringer: How's it made me feel?

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It makes me,

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it's difficult because

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I don't feel I was treated
particularly fairly,

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but also again, it, again, it's
built resilience in me and my career.

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It's allowed me to experience
lows and suffering and to.

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Price a bit of that into my future.

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What's in the past is
in the past, isn't it?

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You can't change that.

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You can't alter that.

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You can reflect on it.

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You can try and learn on it and from it,
and ultimately that's what I've tried

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to do and with a degree of success.

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Aleksandra King: Yeah.
So that is all you can do really.

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Yeah.

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Is learn from it and,
and grow and move on.

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You can't, yeah, you can't sit
in that, but it must be tough.

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Ian Stringer: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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It is tough and it was challenging
and it remains challenging, but

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nobody's gonna change anything.

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The court case isn't all of a sudden
gonna change when I wake up one morning,

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things that have happened in my life,
whatever they are, good, bad, or

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indifferent, they're not gonna be gone.

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Nobody can take away the fact that I
called some of the biggest moments in

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the Premier League history in my career.

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So they happened.

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Yeah, the good and the bad, the in-between
the average stuff, it's all been and gone.

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So as long as in that moment, at that
time, I gave my all, I tried my best.

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I left no stone unturned

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in a personal capacity, a professional
capacity, then I don't see the

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value in wallowing in my own misery.

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I think you've gotta, you've gotta pick
yourself back up and try and learn.

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Aleksandra King: I think anyone listening
to that, to this, to what you're saying,

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and obviously you've had huge things
happen to you, and it's a big deal

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when you're going up against the B, B,
C, and it's also a big deal when you

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respond to it in the way that you have
and you just, you soldier your own.

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Ian Stringer: Yeah, I don't, yeah, and
you, but context is king though, isn't it?

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Because

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I say this to my kids all the time.

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There's a doctor somewhere,
20 miles from my home that's

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operating on a child with cancer.

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There are parents in a waiting room not
knowing if that operation's gonna go.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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And they, if they are of a religious
persuasion, they are, they're asking,

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they're almighty to help if they're not,
and they wanna put all their faith in the

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medical people and professionals, and we
all hope that everything's gonna be okay.

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And they're in a waiting room, wondering
about the health of their child.

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Uh, went up against a Goliath
in court and a lost Okay.

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Those kids are contextually
that significant.

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That's important what we are talking
about with the utmost respect.

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It's, yeah,

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Aleksandra King: it's not
a matter of life and death.

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It's

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Ian Stringer: not, and actually a
lot's happened in my life that has.

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Really narrowed my focus and allowed me to
have a level of context with that in mind.

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And I know that doesn't fit into the
apprentice lifestyle, the apprentice

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view, and maybe what initially you
wanted to talk to me about with that

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polar opposite, you Lord, sugar was
X, Y, Z, or he wasn't, and you're

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at one end of that extreme spectrum.

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I'm not.

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I'm one of these people in the middle.

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That 2024 doesn't allow for.

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Context, I think and nuance.

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I think the fear of missing out generation
and the can we skip to the good part

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generation are everything that's wrong.

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I think actually if you're somewhere in
the middle and you can reflect, and you

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can have context with things in your
life, then I think that allows you to

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keep a level head on when things are going
well and when things aren't going well.

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I didn't use that when I tried to get
through the auditions to get on the show,

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of course, but I knew what I was doing.

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Aleksandra King: Yeah, just to give you
context to what I'm doing here, this is

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not an opportunity to catch you out, and
it's not an opportunity to sensationalize.

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It's an opportunity to

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allow others to learn something
from what you've been through

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to add value in that way.

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Sometimes when people have gone
through something and you hear about

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it, you can relate to it and you
can learn from it, and you can also

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try and avoid making that mistake.

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You know how these things work.

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Of course, it's a, it's entertainment.

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Someone will put it on a goal.

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Let's hear about the apprentice
candidates, whatever.

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But it's also showing a deeper level
than the shallow sort of cannon fodder.

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Being displayed and ridiculed.

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It's humanizing.

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Let's get to know the person a little bit.

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Let's get to understand the story.

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Some might like it, some
might relate, some might not.

0:13:12.885,0:13:13.905
I actually don't know.

0:13:14.175,0:13:17.295
This is the first time I'm doing
this, so I'll just be frank, but

0:13:17.295,0:13:20.055
I feel like it's interesting.

0:13:20.055,0:13:23.564
It's a human story, and just because it's
not a matter of life and death doesn't

0:13:23.564,0:13:25.275
mean it's less of an important story.

0:13:25.334,0:13:26.295
It's your story.

0:13:26.715,0:13:27.975
Ian Stringer: Everyone's
got a story to tell.

0:13:28.814,0:13:33.270
That's my view as a. As a journalist,
that's my view as a human being and

0:13:33.270,0:13:37.680
everybody has a story to tell and that
story can be of interest and I get that.

0:13:37.680,0:13:39.000
I understand that I do.

0:13:39.240,0:13:42.900
But I also think context is key and
context is important, and context

0:13:42.900,0:13:44.460
can get lost in the edit room,

0:13:49.365,0:13:52.290
Aleksandra King: like I say to
everyone, and which is why I like to

0:13:52.290,0:13:57.630
have the questions reviewed is because
I feel that if there's something

0:13:57.630,0:13:59.160
you don't wanna talk about or say.

0:14:00.180,0:14:05.130
Don't say or talk about it in the
first place because once you do

0:14:05.219,0:14:08.160
and it's out there, it's out there.

0:14:08.219,0:14:12.089
So everyone has to take responsibility
for their own brands, and I feel

0:14:12.089,0:14:14.250
you're extremely aware of that.

0:14:14.310,0:14:18.449
And I think that in answering
these questions, you're very

0:14:18.449,0:14:20.160
much controlling the narrative.

0:14:20.250,0:14:24.314
I would say your narrative, which is fair.

0:14:25.470,0:14:26.310
You agree with that?

0:14:27.480,0:14:27.900
Ian Stringer: Yeah.

0:14:27.900,0:14:33.120
I can control what I say and
I can only give you my truth.

0:14:33.209,0:14:34.650
That's honestly how I feel.

0:14:34.650,0:14:39.089
I've, I have no vested interest
in portraying myself in one

0:14:39.089,0:14:40.350
way or the other because I.

0:14:42.580,0:14:44.115
I don't understand the value in that.

0:14:44.115,0:14:44.505
I don't understand.

0:14:44.505,0:14:45.280
There is
Aleksandra King: no value.

0:14:45.435,0:14:46.605
There is no value in that.

0:14:46.605,0:14:47.105
There ly

0:14:47.740,0:14:48.080
Ian Stringer: isn't.

0:14:48.080,0:14:52.095
So I have answered your questions in
an honest manner, and again, with the

0:14:52.095,0:14:57.315
utmost respect I've been spoken to
about every incident that you and I have

0:14:57.315,0:15:00.345
discussed by a lot of different people.

0:15:00.345,0:15:05.655
And that can be, you know, a cold
call reporter knocking on your door.

0:15:05.955,0:15:10.245
It can be, it can be emails
into your inbox that.

0:15:11.220,0:15:12.930
You know, you need to reply
to, and they're difficult.

0:15:12.930,0:15:18.000
So I'm more than happy to talk about
what I'm happy to talk about, but if

0:15:18.000,0:15:21.810
I don't want to discuss something in
detail that is my, yeah, that is my

0:15:21.810,0:15:27.060
prerogative, and if I choose to do that
for me, for my mental health, for my

0:15:27.060,0:15:32.700
ability to test my resilience and move
on, then again that that's up to me.

0:15:33.000,0:15:36.030
I have my views on every
question that you've had.

0:15:36.030,0:15:39.090
I've given my views, honestly, and.

0:15:40.320,0:15:44.550
But it may not make interesting
sound bites, but that's how I feel.

0:15:44.550,0:15:46.320
That's the place I'm in and I'm good.

0:15:46.680,0:15:47.310
I'm good with that.

0:15:47.970,0:15:50.070
Aleksandra King: That's all
we could ever ask of anyone.

0:15:50.490,0:15:54.660
What's the hardest part of
balancing your media life with

0:15:54.660,0:15:56.460
your family responsibilities?

0:15:58.530,0:15:59.100
Ian Stringer: Media life?

0:15:59.105,0:16:00.750
You mean in terms of
my job, my profession?

0:16:01.170,0:16:01.560
Aleksandra King: Yeah.

0:16:01.560,0:16:02.940
Being public.

0:16:02.940,0:16:04.170
What's the hardest?

0:16:05.130,0:16:06.270
Ian Stringer: Probably Google.

0:16:08.370,0:16:08.870
Aleksandra King: Why?

0:16:09.540,0:16:16.500
Ian Stringer: Just because in
2024 things are, there used

0:16:16.500,0:16:17.400
to be a saying, didn't there?

0:16:17.400,0:16:19.560
That newspaper is tomorrow's chip paper.

0:16:19.560,0:16:21.420
Today's newspaper is
tomorrow's chip paper.

0:16:21.900,0:16:22.590
And that was fine.

0:16:22.590,0:16:25.140
That was okay in the eighties
and nineties, but now it's not.

0:16:25.170,0:16:26.460
'cause it stays there forever.

0:16:27.450,0:16:29.910
And that's probably the
most difficult part.

0:16:30.584,0:16:34.185
And managing publicly what
you say and how you say it.

0:16:34.275,0:16:36.974
I think social media is
a juggernaut, isn't it?

0:16:37.275,0:16:40.665
And you need to be acutely aware of

0:16:42.675,0:16:46.875
what you say and how you say it,
because you need to make sure

0:16:46.875,0:16:48.550
that your kids, when go to school,

0:16:50.640,0:16:51.140
may.

0:16:52.125,0:16:54.255
Be asked about it may find out about it.

0:16:54.255,0:16:56.954
So you just gotta furnish them
with a bit of detail in between.

0:16:57.015,0:16:59.985
It's something that may resonate
with you and anybody else that's been

0:16:59.985,0:17:01.094
through the process that we have.

0:17:01.094,0:17:05.835
So that's probably, that's probably,
yeah, I think that's probably

0:17:05.835,0:17:06.734
the biggest challenge, actually.

0:17:06.885,0:17:09.855
Obviously working weekends, but I've
worked weekends for 20 plus years.

0:17:09.855,0:17:13.575
My days of work are Saturday and Sunday,
so balancing that with family life is.

0:17:14.760,0:17:15.629
Is a challenge,

0:17:15.899,0:17:19.079
Aleksandra King: something you have
spoken about publicly online, and it is.

0:17:19.079,0:17:25.619
Then there's several articles about it,
is your mom struggles with alcoholism.

0:17:27.179,0:17:31.830
Do you wanna comment on that at all
today and how that experience was, what

0:17:31.830,0:17:36.389
you went through, what your mom went
through, and how that impacted you?

0:17:38.970,0:17:39.480
Ian Stringer: Yes.

0:17:40.590,0:17:41.490
I'm happy to do that.

0:17:41.490,0:17:42.540
I'm happy to talk about it.

0:17:42.629,0:17:43.345
What would you like to know?

0:17:44.040,0:17:45.629
Just one clarification on the question.

0:17:47.159,0:17:48.300
Aleksandra King: What was it like for you?

0:17:48.389,0:17:49.649
What was it like for your mom?

0:17:50.040,0:17:51.120
How did it impact you?

0:17:51.510,0:17:52.050
Ian Stringer: Which bit?

0:17:52.995,0:17:55.919
The alcohol, the death, the disease,
the alcohol, the alcoholism.

0:17:56.100,0:17:56.669
Aleksandra King: Yes,

0:17:56.939,0:17:57.720
Ian Stringer: it was.

0:18:05.190,0:18:07.950
Initially, when you're a
child, you don't know when.

0:18:08.430,0:18:12.930
I often, I'm a big fan of Oasis and Noel
Gallagher's kind of a hero of mine, and

0:18:12.960,0:18:16.380
you hear Noel talk about, people say
to him, oh, you were brought up on a

0:18:16.380,0:18:18.480
counselor state, rough life and all that.

0:18:18.480,0:18:21.451
And Noel will always say, or
will often say, yeah, but.

0:18:22.095,0:18:24.915
The guys next door were having the
same, and the rest of the estate

0:18:24.915,0:18:26.265
was suffering the same things.

0:18:26.535,0:18:27.345
Nobody had any money.

0:18:27.345,0:18:31.005
There was alcohol, there was sometimes
violence, there was sometimes crime

0:18:31.005,0:18:34.875
in different, we all had the same
around us, and I very much feel

0:18:35.235,0:18:38.385
similar to that in that at the time
as a child, you don't know different.

0:18:39.465,0:18:46.665
How alcoholism affected me was I had
a warped sense of what was normal.

0:18:47.055,0:18:51.225
Had a warped sense of how a
drug changes a personality.

0:18:52.710,0:18:58.140
At the time when you're 6, 7, 8 and
you're making toys out of log cans,

0:18:58.140,0:19:01.470
you're making pyramids outta log
cans, and you and your baby brother

0:19:01.470,0:19:02.820
and sister are knocking them down.

0:19:02.820,0:19:06.300
And I, I remember speaking to my
counselor about that and I spoke

0:19:06.300,0:19:09.450
about it with a smile on my face and
she looked at me and said, do you

0:19:09.450,0:19:12.840
understand the significance of that,
that you see that as a happy memory?

0:19:12.840,0:19:17.220
And building pyramids with empty
lager cans isn't great parenting.

0:19:17.220,0:19:20.550
That that speaks to the fact
there's kind of problems in there.

0:19:22.290,0:19:24.300
To me, I was making pyramids
and me and my little brother and

0:19:24.300,0:19:25.229
sister were whacking them down.

0:19:25.229,0:19:28.199
It was great, but it clearly
wasn't great, was it?

0:19:28.199,0:19:28.649
And

0:19:28.649,0:19:29.149
Aleksandra King: yeah,

0:19:29.580,0:19:33.510
Ian Stringer: it's a disease and
it's took me a while and counseling

0:19:33.510,0:19:35.790
helped to understand it was a disease.

0:19:35.790,0:19:41.939
I was very angry when I lost my mom and
I wear her engagement ring around my neck

0:19:41.939,0:19:45.030
every day to remind me of a happy person.

0:19:46.439,0:19:48.629
Aleksandra King: How old were
you when you lost your mum?

0:19:49.380,0:19:51.780
Ian Stringer: I lost
my mom two days after.

0:19:52.500,0:19:54.510
That's the city won the Premier
League, so the biggest day of

0:19:54.510,0:20:00.865
my career was on the 2nd of May,
and I lost my mom on the, sorry.

0:20:00.865,0:20:01.445
Yeah.
So

0:20:01.445,0:20:02.025
Aleksandra King: how old were you?

0:20:02.025,0:20:02.525
Sorry.

0:20:02.970,0:20:06.690
Ian Stringer: I was in 2016.

0:20:06.840,0:20:09.600
I was 35.

0:20:10.560,0:20:11.820
My birthday was on the 1st of May.

0:20:12.240,0:20:13.560
Lester with the Premier
League on the second.

0:20:13.560,0:20:17.130
She died on the fourth, but she wasn't
discovered until the 27th of June.

0:20:18.450,0:20:18.900
Aleksandra King: Why?

0:20:18.900,0:20:19.590
Why was that?

0:20:20.940,0:20:22.320
Ian Stringer: Because
nobody discovered her body.

0:20:23.430,0:20:23.930
Oh my God.

0:20:25.260,0:20:29.280
I had stopped speaking with my
late mother about two years before

0:20:30.150,0:20:32.070
Alcoholics Anonymous advised.

0:20:32.625,0:20:37.785
Children of alcoholics to, when you get to
the point and anybody watching this, and

0:20:37.785,0:20:41.775
I'm sorry if you are, and this resonates,
you get to a point and everyone knows

0:20:41.775,0:20:43.815
that point where you just go, I'm done.

0:20:44.445,0:20:48.405
And I've described that point as it's like
a hundred meter track and me and all her

0:20:48.405,0:20:50.205
siblings, grandchildren are at the finish.

0:20:50.415,0:20:54.555
She's at the start and the blocks and
all we're asking, I say all is for to

0:20:54.555,0:20:55.845
get out the blocks and run a meter.

0:20:56.535,0:21:01.455
We'll run the 99, we'll sprint, the 99,
but if you don't want to get out of the

0:21:01.455,0:21:05.415
meter and accept it's a disease and want
help, there's only so much we can do.

0:21:05.415,0:21:06.615
So we stopped speaking to her.

0:21:06.825,0:21:11.415
I stopped speaking to her because
I was just, I found it impossible.

0:21:12.165,0:21:14.175
I didn't wanna speak to my kids
about why their nana had died

0:21:14.205,0:21:15.345
'cause I could see the inevitable.

0:21:16.245,0:21:21.705
And I check in with my uncle and text him
'cause he lived relatively close and just

0:21:21.705,0:21:24.705
make sure she was frankly still alive.

0:21:25.995,0:21:30.794
And we got a call from the coroner
that in the sheltered home that she

0:21:30.794,0:21:35.504
had lived in, there'd been concerns
raised that nobody had seen her for

0:21:35.504,0:21:40.575
a while, and the police forced entry
and found her on the bathroom floor.

0:21:40.815,0:21:43.575
She, she had to be identified
by her dental records.

0:21:43.815,0:21:44.445
Aleksandra King: Oh my word.

0:21:44.774,0:21:45.495
That's awful.

0:21:45.495,0:21:46.845
I'm, it's.

0:21:47.820,0:21:48.870
I'm so sorry.

0:21:49.585,0:21:53.220
That's context like to just to
say that, just to hear you saying,

0:21:53.280,0:21:57.360
repeating that I'm so sorry that's,
it's incomprehendible like your mom

0:21:58.230,0:22:05.370
is just, it just is so odd, isn't it?

0:22:05.370,0:22:11.669
To understand why when something's so bad
for someone that they can't just stop it.

0:22:11.730,0:22:12.230
Just.

0:22:12.554,0:22:13.875
Stop that thing.

0:22:13.935,0:22:15.284
It's really bad for you.

0:22:15.284,0:22:16.365
Can you just not stop it?

0:22:16.455,0:22:20.895
What is it in alcohol, in addiction
that grips someone's soul?

0:22:20.895,0:22:21.825
To that extent,

0:22:22.395,0:22:23.534
Ian Stringer: it's a disease, isn't it?

0:22:23.534,0:22:26.024
And I've come to learn that, and
counseling's really helped me with that

0:22:26.024,0:22:28.125
to understand that it is a disease.

0:22:28.125,0:22:31.429
And just again, to put into context what
we've spoken about earlier, when you've

0:22:31.429,0:22:35.745
had to call the dentist to get your
mom's dental records to identify her

0:22:35.745,0:22:38.325
gold tooth that will identify it's her.

0:22:38.325,0:22:42.000
I. Again, I hate to point out the
obvious, but there wasn't enough of

0:22:42.000,0:22:44.580
her flesh to identify who she was.

0:22:44.820,0:22:48.030
When you understand it is a disease
when you understand ultimately, and

0:22:48.030,0:22:51.030
this is how I can be at peace in it
with it, and this is how I can realize

0:22:51.240,0:22:57.120
that I have and still and had love
for my mom, is that she didn't intend.

0:22:57.780,0:22:58.680
To be hooked.

0:22:59.070,0:23:00.840
An addict doesn't intend

0:23:00.930,0:23:01.530
Aleksandra King: right to

0:23:01.530,0:23:02.100
Ian Stringer: be hooked.

0:23:02.100,0:23:03.210
It's a disease.

0:23:03.210,0:23:05.400
It is no longer a choice.

0:23:05.610,0:23:10.080
They don't say, I'm gonna take that
drink that due, that it's involuntary.

0:23:10.080,0:23:11.520
They can't control it anymore.

0:23:11.520,0:23:13.260
They lose control.

0:23:13.530,0:23:16.800
And when you identify that as a
child of an alcoholic, which I am.

0:23:18.120,0:23:21.900
You can then start to accept that the
blame isn't necessarily with the person.

0:23:22.410,0:23:25.320
And that's the hard bit because
she raised me when she was sober.

0:23:25.320,0:23:26.430
She was a dotting mum.

0:23:26.820,0:23:27.660
She'd do anything.

0:23:27.660,0:23:28.980
She once came home.

0:23:29.640,0:23:31.260
We were living in a
cancer house in Leicester.

0:23:31.290,0:23:32.070
I don't want a badge.

0:23:32.130,0:23:33.240
We lived in a cancer house.

0:23:33.300,0:23:35.010
I loved it the best years of my childhood.

0:23:35.730,0:23:39.300
She came home with a black eye
and she'd been in a fight in the

0:23:39.300,0:23:41.160
morning and she had some milk.

0:23:41.850,0:23:42.960
And I said, what happened?

0:23:43.950,0:23:45.780
And she said, I stole the milk
from the next door neighbor.

0:23:45.780,0:23:46.440
And she heard me.

0:23:47.625,0:23:48.524
Why did you steal milk?

0:23:48.524,0:23:49.935
She said, 'cause you've
not got any breakfast.

0:23:50.475,0:23:51.465
She couldn't afford any milk.

0:23:51.645,0:23:52.814
She couldn't afford breakfast.

0:23:53.324,0:23:55.875
And she walked in and she'd
gotten a fight with a neighbor.

0:23:56.745,0:23:57.254
Aleksandra King: Oh.
But

0:23:57.254,0:24:02.264
Ian Stringer: she had the milk and
so her son ate, and that goes back

0:24:02.264,0:24:06.524
to the fundamentals, who without the
disease, she was, and that's not great.

0:24:06.524,0:24:07.215
Stealing is bad.

0:24:07.215,0:24:08.415
Kids don't steal.

0:24:08.774,0:24:12.345
But she was in a position
whereby it was her or the food.

0:24:13.155,0:24:15.855
She tried to feed her son,
and ultimately she did.

0:24:16.274,0:24:18.524
And if I could find my neighbor
ever again, I would, I'd pay

0:24:18.524,0:24:20.445
her back for, for the lost milk.

0:24:20.655,0:24:24.165
But when she wasn't gripped by the
disease, she was a good person.

0:24:24.225,0:24:26.865
And when you understand it's a
disease, you can understand that.

0:24:27.045,0:24:28.665
And when you understand
that you can forgive.

0:24:28.875,0:24:30.165
I have forgiven my mother.

0:24:30.435,0:24:34.635
I have not forgiven the drug, which
is legal, but it's highly addictive.

0:24:34.845,0:24:35.655
Highly addictive.

0:24:35.865,0:24:38.355
It's legal and it gets taxed for
the government and all of that.

0:24:38.865,0:24:39.675
But it's addictive.

0:24:39.675,0:24:41.895
Alcohol kills more people than
every class A drug put together.

0:24:43.004,0:24:45.585
But it's okay 'cause it's legal
tobacco is okay 'cause it's legal.

0:24:46.065,0:24:49.395
And once you've realized
that it's a disease, you can

0:24:49.395,0:24:50.625
start to forgive the person.

0:24:50.625,0:24:52.125
And that's been the
important thing for me.

0:24:52.754,0:24:54.675
Aleksandra King: There'll be
a lot of people watching that,

0:24:54.735,0:24:58.065
that have that drink, I think
probably more than they should.

0:24:58.260,0:24:58.760
And, and,

0:24:59.115,0:25:00.014
Ian Stringer: but that's okay.

0:25:00.435,0:25:04.784
But there is then an addiction and there
is a gap between drinking and being.

0:25:04.784,0:25:05.264
Okay.

0:25:05.264,0:25:08.925
Can you stop, can you have four and stop.

0:25:08.925,0:25:09.495
Can you have five?

0:25:09.495,0:25:10.004
And stop.

0:25:10.215,0:25:11.325
Can you have seven And stop.

0:25:11.400,0:25:13.260
If you could stop then okay.

0:25:13.500,0:25:16.110
But there is then an area you
venture into where you can't.

0:25:16.470,0:25:18.240
And if you can't, then
you might have a problem.

0:25:18.420,0:25:21.210
And I would implore anybody that's
watching or anybody that knows

0:25:21.210,0:25:24.240
somebody that has a problem,
just to try enough for help.

0:25:24.240,0:25:28.530
If you can use services like Alcoholics
Anonymous, do the test services.

0:25:28.890,0:25:29.390
Yeah.

0:25:29.760,0:25:30.360
Aleksandra King: Can you stop?
Can you stop?

0:25:30.360,0:25:31.020
Full stop.

0:25:31.200,0:25:32.100
Do the test.

0:25:32.160,0:25:33.240
I think that's the question.

0:25:33.240,0:25:35.550
'cause probably a lot of people watching
will think I can definitely stop,

0:25:36.000,0:25:39.720
but can they for two days, for three
days, for one week, for one month.

0:25:40.754,0:25:41.715
How long can you stop for?

0:25:41.715,0:25:42.764
It's a huge thing.

0:25:42.764,0:25:44.145
It's a huge problem in this country.

0:25:44.355,0:25:45.524
Ian Stringer: Yep, I agree.

0:25:45.615,0:25:49.065
And it's actually helped me deal
with trauma in a different way.

0:25:50.535,0:25:51.375
'cause I don't drink at all.

0:25:51.645,0:25:53.295
Aleksandra King: Something
else that you've spoken openly

0:25:53.295,0:25:55.514
about is domestic violence.

0:25:56.895,0:25:58.035
What did that look like?

0:25:59.325,0:26:03.375
Ian Stringer: Domestic violence
within my life looked like

0:26:03.705,0:26:08.055
my late mother being beaten.

0:26:10.695,0:26:11.325
In front of me.

0:26:12.285,0:26:13.065
Aleksandra King: In front of you.

0:26:13.695,0:26:17.235
Ian Stringer: I remember dialing
9, 9, 9 from my neighbor's house.

0:26:18.255,0:26:19.935
There was, alcohol was always involved.

0:26:20.595,0:26:24.375
My brother and sister were very young
and there was an altercation downstairs

0:26:24.375,0:26:28.515
and I heard it and my brother was
asleep, but my sister was on the sofa.

0:26:28.515,0:26:32.505
It was early hours in the morning and it
was shouting, throwing things, violence.

0:26:32.505,0:26:36.075
I could hear it and I went downstairs and
grabbed my sister and ran out the front

0:26:36.075,0:26:37.305
door and my mom was at the front door.

0:26:39.220,0:26:40.845
And I saw my mum be headbutted.

0:26:40.980,0:26:41.480
Aleksandra King: By whom?

0:26:43.815,0:26:45.585
Ian Stringer: By her partner at the time.

0:26:47.145,0:26:48.030
So not your dad.

0:26:48.645,0:26:49.545
Not my dad, no.

0:26:49.545,0:26:51.585
Categorically not my dad, no.

0:26:51.645,0:26:52.605
To place on the record.

0:26:52.605,0:26:55.365
My mom and dad never had any
violent problems or issues at all.

0:26:56.055,0:26:57.465
It was her partner at the time.

0:26:57.915,0:26:59.775
Aleksandra King: So this
partner's doing that to her.

0:26:59.775,0:27:01.515
And how was he living with you?

0:27:02.175,0:27:04.005
Ian Stringer: Yeah, he was a
father of my brother and sister.

0:27:04.365,0:27:07.755
And I ran next door and I mis dialed
9, 9, 9 'cause I was shaking so much.

0:27:07.755,0:27:09.075
I picked up the phone of my neighbor.

0:27:09.315,0:27:13.065
My neighbor was out, half the street
was out, and I picked up the receiver.

0:27:14.220,0:27:16.175
And I went to, done 9, 9, 9.

0:27:16.175,0:27:17.405
And I hit the first two nines.

0:27:17.435,0:27:20.615
Okay?
I was only 10.

0:27:21.185,0:27:23.315
I hit the first two nines
and I missed the nine.

0:27:24.095,0:27:24.575
Aleksandra King: Oh,
Ian Stringer: the last one.

0:27:24.575,0:27:26.570
'cause I was shaking so
bad and oh, oh my God.

0:27:26.570,0:27:29.195
Eventually I hit it and the
police turned up and they arrested

0:27:29.195,0:27:32.435
him and he was charged and he
plead guilty to common assaults.

0:27:32.435,0:27:34.445
That's not, it's not great.

0:27:34.445,0:27:37.775
It's not much fun and domestic violence.

0:27:39.375,0:27:42.915
Domestic violence is horrible to
witness, and particularly when it's

0:27:42.915,0:27:45.550
somebody that you love, thank love.

0:27:45.550,0:27:46.155
That's
Aleksandra King: impossible.

0:27:46.155,0:27:48.255
That's impossible to even,
especially as a child.

0:27:48.315,0:27:48.825
As a kid.

0:27:48.825,0:27:49.065
Yeah.

0:27:49.065,0:27:53.655
To see your mom being headbutted
by her partner, that's gonna

0:27:53.925,0:27:56.775
rip through every emotion.

0:27:56.775,0:28:02.115
I don't even, the scars, the trying
to come back from that, you'll never

0:28:02.115,0:28:03.615
forget something like that, I think.

0:28:03.675,0:28:04.905
Ian Stringer: No.
And I can see it now.

0:28:05.775,0:28:06.165
Yeah.

0:28:06.165,0:28:07.155
Now, right now.

0:28:07.635,0:28:13.875
I can see the second of
impact and counseling helps.

0:28:13.875,0:28:19.605
Honestly, I've seen a counselor
for five, six years and we've

0:28:19.605,0:28:20.745
gone through a lot of trauma.

0:28:20.805,0:28:22.245
We've gone through dealing with trauma.

0:28:23.085,0:28:27.345
We've gone through dealing with
other people as their addictions and

0:28:30.555,0:28:34.485
they, it leaves scars, it leaves pretty
big scars, and they're not very nice and.

0:28:36.929,0:28:39.360
There's different wounds on
my body that are opened at

0:28:39.360,0:28:41.129
different times of the year, and

0:28:43.439,0:28:45.120
domestic violence is horrible.

0:28:45.990,0:28:49.949
I remember one night when there was
so much drink involved, the night,

0:28:49.949,0:28:51.389
ultimately I left my mom's care.

0:28:51.419,0:28:55.050
'cause I took the decision when I
was 13 to leave living with my mom.

0:28:55.050,0:28:57.480
I went and lived with my dad and.

0:28:58.785,0:29:00.495
What breaks my heart is I
couldn't take my brother and

0:29:00.495,0:29:02.895
sister with me, so that was hard.

0:29:02.895,0:29:04.665
But there was a night in particular where

0:29:07.275,0:29:10.065
there was violence, there
was alcohol, always alcohol.

0:29:10.635,0:29:13.575
It's meant to be really cool, but
I never saw a good side to it.

0:29:13.905,0:29:16.995
Would you believe when I moved in with
my dad was a Republican, so I lived in

0:29:16.995,0:29:18.525
pubs for the next four years of my life.

0:29:19.485,0:29:22.725
So I'm certainly not an
advocate for, uh, for drink.

0:29:22.725,0:29:23.505
I've gotta say that.

0:29:23.505,0:29:26.235
But that night was horrible
and it was around Halloween.

0:29:26.235,0:29:28.335
So around this time of year it
comes back to me a little bit.

0:29:28.335,0:29:32.325
But ultimately as a 13-year-old boy,
I dealt with it as best I could.

0:29:32.325,0:29:35.745
I got my brother and sister out of
the car when a heavily intoxicated

0:29:35.745,0:29:38.865
person that had just been violent
towards my mom was gonna drive us home.

0:29:39.705,0:29:42.015
And had he done so, that'd have
been an accident, undoubtedly.

0:29:42.045,0:29:43.095
'cause he was so drunk.

0:29:43.545,0:29:45.405
And I did my best to protect
my brother and sister.

0:29:45.405,0:29:48.345
And then in some ways, if she can.

0:29:48.750,0:29:49.920
Hear me or see me now.

0:29:49.920,0:29:51.630
I hope that she looks down and thinks

0:29:54.180,0:30:02.400
that he's learn from some of the
traumatic things that he was put through

0:30:02.400,0:30:07.170
when he was a boy, and that's made him
a better person and a better parent.

0:30:07.410,0:30:14.370
I, when I get to life T Junctions, I often
run away or in the opposite direction too.

0:30:15.975,0:30:19.095
To where I've seen other people make
mistakes as parents who want our

0:30:19.095,0:30:20.385
kids to learn from our mistakes.

0:30:20.385,0:30:20.885
Right.

0:30:21.254,0:30:25.034
I think God lover, I think I've learned
from some of hers and hopefully made

0:30:25.034,0:30:30.585
better decisions for it because one
thing's for sure, I'm a bloody good dad.

0:30:32.685,0:30:34.155
Aleksandra King: It's good
to be able to say that

0:30:34.605,0:30:38.595
Ian Stringer: I am a, I'm an
incredible father and I would

0:30:38.595,0:30:39.885
do anything for my children.

0:30:39.885,0:30:44.010
Mm. And I have an incredible
relationship with them.

0:30:44.070,0:30:48.600
And actually that sometimes can be scary
because as a parent, when you've lost

0:30:48.600,0:30:52.620
a parent, you know that ultimately one
day that will happen to them as well.

0:30:52.620,0:30:55.320
And the stronger your bond, the
harder it might be for them.

0:30:55.320,0:30:58.440
But, but yeah, I've got a great
relationship with my kids.

0:30:58.500,0:31:01.889
Aleksandra King: Better to have loved
and lost than never to have loved at all.

0:31:02.340,0:31:02.940
Ian Stringer: Amen, sister.

0:31:03.090,0:31:04.320
Aleksandra King: That's
what I would say to that.

0:31:05.010,0:31:09.750
Speaking to you and meeting you
initially, you can feel that.

0:31:10.395,0:31:16.785
Guard up, backup, protective
sort of air that you have.

0:31:16.785,0:31:20.415
I would say, if I may, that you have
around you, you definitely have that.

0:31:20.415,0:31:22.815
You can understand why you've got that.

0:31:23.325,0:31:25.815
You can understand that it's
there to protect you because of

0:31:25.815,0:31:28.365
the things that have happened.

0:31:28.365,0:31:32.085
You've lived through these things
and it's made you more careful,

0:31:32.085,0:31:34.245
obviously, your childhood.

0:31:34.245,0:31:37.635
What happened with your mom,
the way her partner treated her?

0:31:38.235,0:31:39.225
The media.

0:31:39.885,0:31:42.975
All these sorts of things,
and it does come across.

0:31:42.975,0:31:50.145
I can feel that some things, that there is
something more, let's say, if I may say it

0:31:50.145,0:31:54.285
at all, something more heavy and a little
bit difficult that's happened there.

0:31:54.705,0:31:58.875
I think that I can certainly
feel that coming from you.

0:31:59.325,0:32:04.275
It's nice to hear you open up
and it's nice to understand

0:32:05.355,0:32:07.935
why really from you directly.

0:32:08.475,0:32:12.705
And I think it's quite something
to be vulnerable and open about it.

0:32:12.705,0:32:13.545
It really is.

0:32:13.965,0:32:17.625
It's, I know that you say the
counseling has helped you.

0:32:17.625,0:32:18.855
Ian Stringer: I find it helpful, actually.

0:32:18.855,0:32:22.005
I will speak about my late
mother on a semi-regular basis.

0:32:22.005,0:32:26.325
I'm ironically, I'm actually in Canary
Wharf next week doing a, a keynote

0:32:26.325,0:32:31.395
speech about dealing with mental health
and dealing with kind of adversity

0:32:31.395,0:32:35.835
that we've discussed today, and some
of the coping mechanisms that I have.

0:32:36.645,0:32:37.845
Found and dealt with.

0:32:38.085,0:32:41.595
And I find it's helpful actually
because I really hope, and I know this

0:32:41.595,0:32:45.645
is true, 'cause people, individuals
can and do contact me, I just really

0:32:45.645,0:32:49.095
hope that it can have helped if you've
helped somebody, if you've helped

0:32:49.095,0:32:53.595
one person, if one person reaches out
and says, do you know I'm not okay?

0:32:53.925,0:32:58.665
And what we discussed today, I'm gonna
do this, or What do you think I could do?

0:32:58.725,0:32:59.625
I'm not an oracle.

0:32:59.715,0:33:01.575
I can just tell what's helped me.

0:33:02.025,0:33:02.985
And if I may say.

0:33:05.760,0:33:12.810
What we've discussed today honestly does
just offer context into my life, and it

0:33:12.810,0:33:16.380
would be easy to sit here and throw mud
at the apprentice and what happened and to

0:33:16.380,0:33:19.440
throw mud about anything that's happened
with my employment in between times.

0:33:19.440,0:33:24.810
And I understand why people are interested
because salacious newspapers can and

0:33:24.810,0:33:26.400
have reported things and that's okay.

0:33:26.400,0:33:29.400
Just be careful what you read would
be my advice to a lot of people, and

0:33:29.400,0:33:30.660
certainly be careful what you believe.

0:33:31.560,0:33:34.770
But the context in my life of some of the
things that I've experienced mean that.

0:33:36.045,0:33:37.185
More potatoes, really.

0:33:37.785,0:33:41.865
Aleksandra King: Let's go to another
addiction that a lot of people have

0:33:41.865,0:33:45.675
that isn't so sinister, but is it sugar?

0:33:46.245,0:33:46.695
Not Lord.

0:33:46.695,0:33:47.145
Sugar.

0:33:47.145,0:33:47.985
Sugar itself.

0:33:50.024,0:33:50.324
Yeah.

0:33:50.324,0:33:53.385
So you and I were speaking about this
earlier because I think let's just

0:33:53.385,0:33:54.554
speak, we've got a few minutes left.

0:33:54.554,0:33:56.475
So it's like recovery positive.

0:33:56.564,0:33:59.445
You're into exercise, you've
run five marathons, you know

0:33:59.445,0:34:01.845
you're doing well in your career,
you're into all the health stuff.

0:34:02.415,0:34:04.004
You're into not eating sugar.

0:34:04.034,0:34:08.775
So talk to me about, and you talk
about controlling your chimp, let's

0:34:08.775,0:34:10.275
talk about controlling your chimp.

0:34:10.275,0:34:12.344
Let's talk about the right track sports.

0:34:13.064,0:34:14.205
No sugar, all that stuff.

0:34:15.225,0:34:15.689
Ian Stringer: Yeah.

0:34:15.689,0:34:18.975
I, I believe I have my late mother's
trait of addiction, but I think

0:34:18.975,0:34:20.685
that mine manifests itself in sugar.

0:34:20.929,0:34:23.955
I, I am really good at binging.

0:34:24.989,0:34:31.904
I, I can go, I'm good at
abstinence, as you said earlier on.

0:34:31.904,0:34:35.955
Can you go without, the challenge is
to go with, but monitor what you do

0:34:35.955,0:34:37.455
and that's what I can't do with sugar.

0:34:37.455,0:34:37.955
Mm-hmm.

0:34:38.169,0:34:40.544
So I have, I've been.

0:34:42.569,0:34:46.170
Three weeks now, I think, without
consuming any sugar, which I'll go

0:34:46.170,0:34:47.880
in, in waves and that's not good.

0:34:48.359,0:34:49.049
It's not good for me.

0:34:49.049,0:34:50.880
I think I'm, I've accepted that.

0:34:50.940,0:34:52.589
I've, I'm an all or nothing.

0:34:52.589,0:34:53.699
Okay.
Where do I get that from?

0:34:53.699,0:34:54.199
I wonder

0:34:54.239,0:34:57.089
Aleksandra King: for those that dunno,
you and I had a bit of a deal when

0:34:57.089,0:34:58.500
we were on our pre podcast call.

0:34:58.620,0:34:59.940
Can you give up sugar?

0:34:59.970,0:35:03.720
From the time we had this call, which is
about that time until now, I'm a really

0:35:03.720,0:35:05.310
bad liar, so I'm just gonna tell you now.

0:35:06.404,0:35:10.904
I have been good except for
birthdays, which we've had.

0:35:10.904,0:35:12.585
So on birthdays I've had cake.

0:35:12.585,0:35:16.785
I've had the biscuits for the birthday
and possibly some chocolate for

0:35:16.785,0:35:18.674
the only related to the birthdays.

0:35:19.665,0:35:20.835
Okay.
But there've been a few birthdays.

0:35:20.924,0:35:21.075
Yeah.

0:35:21.075,0:35:24.615
And when the cake was left over
for the next day, because it was

0:35:24.615,0:35:28.545
connected to the birthday and it's my
child, I can't be like, oh, I'm not.

0:35:28.545,0:35:31.319
I'm such a. Sugar, anti-sugar person.

0:35:31.319,0:35:32.640
I can't have cake, so that's rude.

0:35:32.640,0:35:37.200
So I might have had some of that cake.

0:35:37.290,0:35:37.859
What about you?

0:35:37.859,0:35:38.220
Go on.

0:35:38.220,0:35:38.850
What about you?

0:35:39.089,0:35:40.200
Ian Stringer: Yeah, I find it hard.

0:35:40.200,0:35:44.580
I find it a challenge and I've come to the
conclusion that actually my body really

0:35:44.580,0:35:47.759
enjoys not having refined sugar in it.

0:35:48.540,0:35:49.470
Aleksandra King: Enjoys it.

0:35:50.370,0:35:51.270
Ian Stringer: How is that enjoyable?

0:35:51.270,0:35:52.770
It enjoys, enjoys not having it.

0:35:53.220,0:35:53.640
Aleksandra King: Right?
So my

0:35:53.640,0:35:57.030
Ian Stringer: body is healthier
and tells me, gives me cues that

0:35:57.030,0:35:58.890
when you don't put this into me,

0:35:59.130,0:35:59.630
Aleksandra King: yeah,

0:35:59.910,0:36:01.110
Ian Stringer: I feel better.

0:36:01.350,0:36:02.220
Aleksandra King: You do?

0:36:02.550,0:36:02.970
Ian Stringer: Yeah.

0:36:02.970,0:36:05.640
Replace sugar with anything, by the
way, replace what I've just said

0:36:05.640,0:36:08.670
with alcohol, with tobacco, with.

0:36:09.105,0:36:10.545
Cocaine, I don't know, whatever.

0:36:10.545,0:36:13.995
But my, for me it's sugar re Pure
White and Deadly by John Jukin.

0:36:13.995,0:36:16.694
And you'll see the power
and the extent of pure

0:36:16.694,0:36:17.520
Aleksandra King: white and deadly,

0:36:17.835,0:36:19.634
Ian Stringer: pure white and
deadly, re pure white and deadly.

0:36:20.205,0:36:22.605
It's not talking about cocaine,
it's talking about sugar.

0:36:23.325,0:36:26.984
And what I also try to do is try and
keep fit and keep healthy if I can.

0:36:26.984,0:36:28.725
I've run 20 marathons in my life.

0:36:29.265,0:36:31.605
I ran five in five days for a charity.

0:36:31.605,0:36:32.565
That means a lot to me.

0:36:33.315,0:36:33.815
Aleksandra King: Mad and

0:36:34.575,0:36:34.995
Ian Stringer: yeah.

0:36:34.995,0:36:35.355
Yeah.

0:36:35.355,0:36:38.234
But it was interesting running in Bangkok.

0:36:39.135,0:36:44.955
On Tuesday, Hawaii, Wednesday, Alaska,
Thursday, New York, Friday, Leicester

0:36:44.955,0:36:48.795
on Saturday, and doing a marathon
in every one of those destinations.

0:36:48.795,0:36:52.725
Every day, sleeping on economy
flights and just doing it again with

0:36:52.725,0:36:54.105
a good friend and managing to do it.

0:36:54.105,0:36:55.635
So I, I thoroughly enjoy running.

0:36:55.635,0:36:57.975
Running is my release, running is my drug.

0:36:58.620,0:36:58.970
Yeah.

0:36:58.970,0:37:00.555
And yeah, I love it.

0:37:00.555,0:37:00.885
I love it.

0:37:00.885,0:37:01.385
It's.

0:37:01.950,0:37:02.609
Aleksandra King: I'm with you.

0:37:02.609,0:37:04.620
I think that's incredible,
by the way, to do that.

0:37:04.620,0:37:06.540
What an, what A life experience.

0:37:06.540,0:37:07.350
Who can say that?

0:37:07.410,0:37:08.069
Not many people.

0:37:08.069,0:37:08.460
Thank you.

0:37:08.460,0:37:12.960
Um, I've, I feel like marathons
probably aren't that healthy, so

0:37:12.960,0:37:14.700
I wouldn't push my body like that.

0:37:14.700,0:37:15.600
I love running.

0:37:15.600,0:37:19.920
I'll, I'll run eight and a half k
comfortably on trails every day.

0:37:19.980,0:37:20.700
No problem.

0:37:21.240,0:37:23.904
But if you're talking
about 42 kilometers mm-hmm.

0:37:23.990,0:37:25.560
It's 42 and a bit or something.

0:37:25.560,0:37:26.009
Is it?
Ian Stringer: Yeah.

0:37:26.009,0:37:26.944
42.1, I think.

0:37:27.029,0:37:27.509
Aleksandra King: Yeah.

0:37:27.509,0:37:29.160
I just, how is that healthy?

0:37:29.160,0:37:30.569
Ian Stringer: I just
think it's a real test.

0:37:30.569,0:37:31.259
'cause it's only you.

0:37:32.145,0:37:33.615
But it's also you against your head.

0:37:33.944,0:37:35.535
You can read a little
bit into that as well.

0:37:35.595,0:37:36.095
Aleksandra King: Yeah.

0:37:36.104,0:37:42.915
On that, I, I had a bit of a health scare
and, and it turned out, and that exercise,

0:37:42.944,0:37:47.654
'cause I, I am quite obsessive with
things, so I became obsessive with the

0:37:47.654,0:37:50.805
whole exercise thing and I will do, I'll.

0:37:51.210,0:37:52.620
Push myself is like what you're saying.

0:37:52.650,0:37:55.290
'cause I'm like, come on,
don't be a wimp and keep going.

0:37:55.290,0:37:55.650
Keep going.

0:37:55.650,0:37:58.170
Even though your body is
saying maybe don't do that.

0:37:58.680,0:38:03.360
So I'm now through this health
thing a bit more cautious.

0:38:03.750,0:38:06.870
What I do with exercise, I
obviously, I'm still obsessed.

0:38:06.900,0:38:09.450
That will never change, but
I'm a bit more mindful of.

0:38:11.100,0:38:14.370
The signals my body's sending
me and be like, just watch that.

0:38:14.549,0:38:16.410
The whole David Goggins
thing, I love that stuff.

0:38:16.410,0:38:17.160
Come on man.

0:38:17.640,0:38:18.180
I love that.

0:38:18.180,0:38:21.000
I love that whole control your mind
thing, but at the same time, watch

0:38:21.000,0:38:24.569
out because your body could be sending
you some little red flags there and

0:38:24.569,0:38:28.604
maybe you just need to also be a.
Little bit, kind of maybe look into it.

0:38:29.055,0:38:31.694
Maybe don't completely
go nuts with exercise.

0:38:31.694,0:38:32.895
That's just a personal lesson.

0:38:32.924,0:38:33.705
Ian Stringer: No, I agree.

0:38:33.705,0:38:35.955
I think listening to your body's
really important, and I think that's

0:38:35.955,0:38:40.785
an important message to ensure anybody
that's exercising or is the other

0:38:40.785,0:38:44.384
end of the scale and isn't, and is
needs to exercise and should or is

0:38:44.384,0:38:46.035
consuming too much of something.

0:38:46.035,0:38:50.444
Again, it goes back to fundamentally
what I wish my mom would've done,

0:38:50.444,0:38:51.495
which is listen to her body.

0:38:51.495,0:38:52.634
Her body was saying, stop.

0:38:53.235,0:38:53.685
She didn't.

0:38:53.685,0:38:53.865
Yeah.

0:38:53.865,0:38:56.475
Your body when you're exercising
might be saying, stop, and you

0:38:56.475,0:38:59.085
might need medical attention 'cause
there might be an issue somewhere.

0:38:59.085,0:39:00.915
Exactly.
I would always say, listen to your body.

0:39:00.915,0:39:05.805
You we're all blessed with this
incredible biological feat of engineering.

0:39:05.810,0:39:06.550
It will.
That's awesome.

0:39:06.550,0:39:07.050
Give you cue.

0:39:07.330,0:39:08.775
It will give you messages.

0:39:09.015,0:39:11.685
Listen to them, don't
let them go unnoticed.

0:39:12.435,0:39:15.195
Aleksandra King: Oh, Ian, it's
been fantastic having you on.

0:39:15.195,0:39:16.785
Thank you so much for your honesty.

0:39:16.785,0:39:18.165
Thank you for being open with us.

0:39:18.165,0:39:19.485
Thank you for sharing your stories.

0:39:19.485,0:39:20.055
Thank you for.

0:39:20.700,0:39:24.060
Swerving around the stories that
were crazy, didn't wanna approach.

0:39:24.060,0:39:28.680
I thank you for coming on and I'm
sure that people will find meaning

0:39:28.680,0:39:30.045
in what we've discussed today.

0:39:30.255,0:39:30.755
Thank you.

0:39:31.325,0:39:31.845
Ian Stringer: I hope so.