← Digital Social Hour
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- [00:01]
A
The wait is over. Dive into Audible's most anticipated collection, the best of 2025. Featuring top audiobooks, podcasts, and originals across all genres, our editors have carefully curated.
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B
This year's must listens.
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A
From brilliant hidden gems to the buzziest new releases, every title in this collection has earned its spot. This is your go to for the absolute best in 2025 audio entertainment. Whether you love thrillers, romance or non, your next favorite listen awaits. Discover why there's more to imagine when you listen@audible.com BestOfTheYear Jeremy after that one, right? Oh, my gosh.
- [00:41]
B
It's crazy.
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A
Crazy. And it's just. I mean, it's just. It's crazy how an episode before lauding him because he turned down a million dollars. Yeah. And there was. I mean, it could have gone up to 2 million, 3 million. Jeremy wouldn't have taken it.
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B
Wow.
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A
Because he's just the kind of guy that if you put your trust in him and you ask him to do something, he's not going to screw you over.
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B
Okay, guys, Beast Games winner here today in Las Vegas. Jeffrey. About to be a fun week for you, man. Thanks for coming.
- [01:12]
A
I know. Glad to be here.
- [01:13]
B
Yeah, you got a lot of fun stuff planned. WrestleMania, right?
- [01:16]
A
Yeah, a little bit of WrestleMania, then David Blaine, and then heading down south to go to. Heading over west to go to Disney.
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B
How fast has your life been changing lately?
- [01:28]
A
Yeah, a lot. A lot different. I mean, sitting here with you is super cool a lot. Still the same, you know, still coaching my son's baseball team, taking the kids to school. But, yeah, it just. I. Every few days, I kind of have these sprints where a podcast recording, sitting down with the TV station, whatever it may be. But life is good, man.
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B
I love it. Does it feel kind of unreal?
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A
Yeah, I know. I was sitting last night with my son in the hotel, and it's just, like, so much to be grateful for it. I mean, it truly is almost a miracle that I won and that I. Actually, we. We get to do other things my wife and I wanted to do for our family.
- [01:59]
B
Yeah. And you got a great head on your shoulders because when you look at the stats on lottery winners, a lot of them end up broke again or they blow the money. But it sounds like you're. You're still doing.
- [02:07]
A
I'm not spending a thing. You know, it's. Yeah, we've. We've spent a little bit, you know, family vacation, got my wife something nice for her birthday. But other than that, it's kind of going. How do we make this work to ultimately achieve our goals.
- [02:19]
B
Yeah. And your goal, your son, is a big part of your goals, right?
- [02:22]
A
Huge part. Yeah. It's with. With a rare disease, it's. That doesn't have a treatment, doesn't have a cure. Just trying to figure out ways. And, you know, and part of me is like, how do I. How do I look at this fresh, you know, forever. You want to throw money to academia to do academic research, but I do think there's other ways to try to help get creatine to his brain, and I think I got to get creative to do it.
- [02:46]
B
Yeah. I'm sure a ton of different people reached out to you with their opinions. Was there anything interesting that caught your eye for that?
- [02:51]
A
I mean, yeah, you get everything. And again, I'm. I'm probably open to too much, but, like, everything from, hey, I'm an expert. I've been studying plant medicine my whole life, to I am a prayer specialist who knows how to connect with people telepathic. Telepathically to a protein researcher at a prestigious academic institution is like, hey, like, I think I can help implant certain cells into the brain to be able to accept creatine. So, like, wow. I got. Part of me is like, I need someone to help kind of make sense of what's. What's reasonable, what's not.
- [03:26]
B
Yeah.
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A
But either way, people want to help, and that's, like, the biggest. One of the biggest takeaways from Beast Games is I don't have a ton of people saying, hey, can I have some money? Can I do this?
- [03:36]
B
Of course.
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A
I get that in my DMs, but these are perfect strangers. I have more people saying, how can I help? Or I'd love to help, or I'd love to pray or I'd love to support.
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B
That's beautiful.
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A
Yeah.
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B
I think Jimmy did a good job painting your story on the show.
- [03:47]
A
Yeah, It's Jimmy Mack. The entire team. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't be more satisfied with the edit.
- [03:54]
B
Yeah. Your character arc was. Was brilliant, man.
- [03:56]
A
It worked out well.
- [03:57]
B
Yeah. Because they waited about halfway to start telling your story, and then it really grew on people, I think.
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A
But. But. And that's probably by design, but also, like, I didn't get to tell my story until you get deeper into the games, because that was my whole aim, was I want to go on the show to tell Lucas's story, but to do that, I need to have a camera in my face and have these questions being asked. But it really didn't happen until. Till we Got to the island, episode five, six. And so I'm like, I just got to keep going. I have to keep going through each challenge to actually make it far enough to share the story.
- [04:29]
B
How tempting was the island? Did you want to be one of the ten on that one?
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A
Not at the time, but once. Like, once we saw the helicopter go by with the Navy seals and we were watching it on a big giant screen like Hunger Games style.
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B
Yeah.
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A
I'm like, oh my gosh, I would love to be hiding from Navy SEALs. But in retrospect, obviously I wouldn't change a thing.
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B
Yeah. Statistically, it didn't seem like the right decision.
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A
It didn't. Especially when you look at the people who went for the island like they were absolute studs.
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B
Athletes, right?
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A
Yeah. And like Mia, who won it is just unbelievable. Like, she is so tough, so resilient and just knows how to get stuff done.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So, like, it was just. Wouldn't have been worth it for me.
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B
Yeah. Shout out to her for winning that. I did not think she would. When I first saw the 10 laid out. She was the only girl, right?
- [05:14]
A
She was the only girl. And they're like, there's just some really amazing athletes. And again, with Mr. Beast, you just don't know, like, what you're getting into. Like, when I trained for Beast Games, like, I was lifting weights, I was sprinting. Like, I thought it was gonna be super physical.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And the only physical challenge in the Amazon Prime Games was episode six, pulling the monster truck and doing the sprints. But you had to choose into it. Everything else was mental, chance, psychological, emotional. Yeah.
- [05:39]
B
Yeah. Shout out to Kinsta, today's sponsor. You know, when we first started building our brand online, I had to teach myself everything from marketing to monetization. But one of the biggest pain points, hosting. It felt like I needed a computer science degree just to keep our site running smoothly. That's why we switched to Kinsta. And honestly, it's been a game changer. Kinsta managed WordPress hosting takes all the stress off your plate. You get blazing speed, enterprise level security, and a dashboard that's actually fun to use. No outdated clutter, just clean, intuitive control. And let me tell you, when things go sideways, I don't want to deal with a chatbot or some copy pasted script. With Kinsta, I get real knowledgeable humans available 247 who actually solve problems fast. We've had sudden traffic spikes and zero downtime. Our SEO's improved with the speed boost and it's a huge relief knowing our site's protected with the best security out there. If you're ready for hosting that works, visit kinsta.comDSH to get your first month free. And yes, they'll migrate your site for free too. That's K-I-N-S-T a.comDSH if I had to pick, I would. I think I would have picked the mental one. Yeah. Because chance is too. I don't want to lose on chance. I want to lose on a skill based game.
- [06:47]
A
But, like, going into that game, like, you just, you. It's like you get sucked into these narratives that people plant and people are planting. Hey, I think chance is going to be like, we're going to get rewarded if we choose chance. And so people start buying into that. Granted, they could have. They spun that wheel and it could have been, hey, we're going to save 16 of you guys. But instead, I think 12 out of 16 had to go home.
- [07:10]
B
I know that was rough.
- [07:11]
A
Super rough. Like, I would have. I'm so glad I didn't choose chance. And there was like, a small part of me that was kind of like, is this my time to let chance take me? And I'm so glad it did.
- [07:21]
B
Yeah. Was there any part of the show where you thought you were going to get out, get out?
- [07:25]
A
100% episode two, when. I mean, we literally got eliminated for an hour on the ball drop.
- [07:32]
B
Oh, yeah, I remember that.
- [07:33]
A
Yeah. And so, like, I was processing, what am I going to do? What is. Today I'll fly home. Tomorrow I'll hang out with the family for a day. Then I'll be back to the grind. I, um. Episode three and the cubes. I thought I was gonna get out after episode four in the helicopter. Like, I didn't realize how much of a kind of a ruckus Jeremy caused with his handing out the tickets.
- [07:57]
B
Right.
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A
Um. So, like, I had to, like, earn trust back with people. Like, so I. There was like three episodes in a row or, you know, three challenges in a row where I go, oh, my gosh, my back's up against the wall. Mm. After the monster truck, I felt, like, super confident and kind of. I don't want to say I sailed, but I was remarkably calm kind of after that.
- [08:15]
B
You saw that on the show too, just with your demeanor.
- [08:17]
A
Yeah. It just. You kind of get into the zone and then you realize, gosh, like, I looked around and I think part of it, part of the thing that helped me win was the people.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And there was just out of the people who were on the island, there were 60 of us. I'd say 90% were really good people who didn't want to screw people over. And that helped.
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B
Yeah. I think that surprised Jimmy. I saw him talking about it on an interview. He thought there'd be more backstabbing. Right.
- [08:43]
A
And I think season two is going to have it. I mean, I think season two, I think people are going to know what kind of game they want to play. And I think season one, like, this was so brand new to everybody that it was like, I don't want it to end. And if you don't want it to end, guess what? Like, you don't step in the shit.
- [09:00]
B
Right.
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A
Like, you don't backstab people. So I think season two, people will know what kind of game they want to play from the get. I think it's going to get. Going to get nasty.
- [09:08]
B
I could see that. Yeah. Because on season one, when someone backstabbed, they were a target for everyone else, like, right away. Like the brothers.
- [09:15]
A
Yeah. And even, like, the slightest backstab, people would get really offended by.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So it's. But I think going into season two, it's going to be cool.
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B
Yeah. How many of the final 10 contestants were you on good terms with?
- [09:28]
A
I'd say all of them.
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B
Really?
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A
Yeah. You know, there was a couple, like, going into the final 10. There's a few I didn't know very well, but I'd say eight out of 10. I was. There was four of us who were part of an alliance that we're on good terms with. The other four I knew really, really well. And the other two I would say I'm neutral with. So, like, for me, when I look at relationships, you're either negative, neutral, or positive.
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B
Right.
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A
And I don't think I was negative with anybody in the top 10, and I don't think there was really anybody who was super negative with each other.
- [09:56]
B
That probably helped you in the phone game, right? Being on good terms with everyone.
- [10:00]
A
Totally. Yeah. And, you know, I think being interested in others, like truly interested in others and getting to know them, it's, you know, people want to help people they know.
- [10:09]
B
Yeah.
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A
And when you are interested in others, you know, they reciprocate and become interested in you, and you kind of form this bond. And the fun game really, really helped me.
- [10:19]
B
I think that was my favorite game to watch because it was all mental.
- [10:22]
A
Psychological game, and you have to. You eventually have to make a move, you know, and, like, I was. Obviously, I was there, but after I get out, like, I have no clue what's going on with the phones. And so when I watched that and I saw yesi947 make her move, which was awesome. So she planned to see it, I think, in round three, to get voted in round four. And then Gage made his move, I think in round five, I'm like, oh, my gosh. These are two people I knew pretty well who made moves that I did not expect them to make.
- [10:52]
B
Gage's move was. No one expected that one. The way they edited, too.
- [10:56]
A
I mean, that. The. That edit was. I have goosebumps thinking about it. It was just brilliant. And Gage is, like, the sweetest guy, a really talented musician, and he would never harm a fly. And then he makes this move.
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B
No one expected it.
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A
Oh, and just him giving the throwaway vote for Mikey. 4, 5, 3. I'm like, that was brilliant.
- [11:16]
B
Yeah. That was an iconic move and it helped you win another 5 million. So.
- [11:20]
A
I know. I mean, again, like, Gage. Gage will become a legend in the creatine transporter deficiency because he, you know, in essence, gifted me more money to invest into a cure. So, like, he's going. Our next conference we have. I'm going to make sure Gage is there to meet the kids.
- [11:37]
B
Oh, I love it.
- [11:37]
A
Yeah. He's an absolute stud. Love the guy.
- [11:40]
B
So you have conferences for this?
- [11:41]
A
Yeah. So every couple years we have conferences where we bring together families and scientists. Because it's one thing for scientists to be in a lab, you know, working in petri dishes under a microscope, but when they can see the families and the kids that they're trying to help, it transforms everything because it actually puts a human being behind the science.
- [12:00]
B
Yeah. That's so cool. How long has this disease been around? Is it a new thing?
- [12:03]
A
It's been around for. For probably forever or. But, like, it hasn't been discovered. It was discovered in the year 2000 at University of Cincinnati. But. But we have people who are in their 60s who got diagnosed recently, so. Meaning they had it and the 50s or 60s or 70s. So I think it just. It's. It got misdiagnosed forever. And it takes. It took us with. We put every ounce of energy into trying to find a diagnosis. It took us almost two years.
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B
Whoa.
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A
Yeah. Yeah.
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B
You probably went to tons of doctors.
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A
And tons of specialists. You know, one doctor would say one thing, another doctor would say another, and usually they just say that, you know, he's developmentally behind, he's developmentally delayed.
- [12:45]
B
Yeah. Like autism or something.
- [12:47]
A
Yeah. And eventually, like, I think a lot of people just kind of throw up their hands kind of go, okay, it is what it is. But for us, we really wanted to see what it was so we could try to try to help.
- [12:57]
B
Yeah.
- [12:58]
A
And then once we got diagnosed, it was kind of bittersweet, like, oh, my gosh, we have a diagnosis. Quit Google search. Oh, no, there's. There's no treatment, there's no cure. So, you know, fortunately there's an association that funds a ton of, ton of research, but they also provide resources to families and just kind of support. And my wife and I are good balance. I'm like the eternal optimist. She's so pragmatic. So I'm like, hey, everything's going to be okay. And she's kind of going, okay, this is what we need to do to make sure our family can move forward.
- [13:28]
B
I love that. It's a good duo though, right? You need both.
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A
It is. And it's like when it's one of these things where, like, you don't know why you find the partner you have and, you know, clearly, you know, Jen and I, you know, have an awesome relationship together, but we were meant to be Lucas and Jack's parents together.
- [13:46]
B
Beautiful. Have you always been optimistic? Like, did you have that growing up?
- [13:50]
A
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I grew up a great childhood and, you know, obviously most people say, you know, grew up at the best time, but a product of the 80s and 90s where I had an analog childhood. So you think about summer when you're 12 years old, like, I get on a bike, I go away with my friends and my mom has no clue where I'm at. I come home for dinner so they can't get a hold of me. There's no phones, there's no pagers, there's nothing.
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And then once I get into high school, we start getting Internet, you know, it's like, okay, now I can get online and have an email and then you get to college and obviously it's full blown. So it's just a neat way to.
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Have a childhood.
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B
Yeah. Last generation with growing up without tech.
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A
I feel like now it's good analog and digital. So I, I'm not too old where I'm like, how does this thing work? But I'm not too young to not have experienced what life was like without a phone.
- [14:44]
B
Yeah. And now you're having to step into the digital world more and more. Right.
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A
It's weird. Yeah, it's, you know, I used to post like twice a year for fundraisers, and now I'm like, oh, I'm creating content okay, how's this work? And it is so much more challenging than I ever thought it would be.
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B
It's a lot of work.
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A
It's a lot of work. And it's like you can, you can literally not turn it off. And you have to like force yourself to turn it off or at least kind of set boundaries.
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B
Yeah, it's definitely addicting.
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A
Yeah. It's crazy.
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B
They call it tick tock brain now. I don't know if you're addicted to tick tock, but just non stop scrolling.
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A
Yeah. And it's like if something doesn't catch your attention literally in a second and a half.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You move on. Yeah.
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B
For real. Wow.
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A
So have you always been interested in kind of social media and tech?
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B
So I grew up not similar to you. I didn't really care about it in high school, in college, but then once I started making money off it, that shifted my perspective.
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A
When was that?
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B
That was probably right. When I dropped out of college, I went to. I grew up in Jersey. I went to Rutgers.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And then I figured out how to make some money off Instagram.
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A
Sweet.
- [15:44]
B
And that to me was like a switch.
- [15:46]
A
Yeah. It's like there's no turning back.
- [15:47]
B
Yeah. Because then I felt like I wasn't wasting my time, I was being productive with it.
- [15:51]
A
And I'm sure you've shared this with people, but like, what is your advice for people who have this kind of entrepreneur spirit, who are junior, senior in high school? Like, how do you assess whether they go to college or not?
- [16:00]
B
Oh, that's tough. Yeah. For me it's, it's passion based. You know, like if they, if they really feel like college isn't the answer, like test some stuff out beforehand too. Don't just drop out. Or like not go with no plan.
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A
Yeah, exactly.
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B
Like I, at least when I dropped out, I had some money that was coming in.
- [16:17]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
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B
I could show my mother, who was pissed obviously at the time, but I showed her I had like this amount of money coming in and I was really passionate about it. Let me take a break.
- [16:25]
A
What's your mother say now?
- [16:26]
B
She loves it. She watches every episode.
- [16:28]
A
No way.
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B
Shout out to my mom.
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A
Hey, mom. Yeah, she's still back New Jersey.
- [16:32]
B
Yeah, she's in Pennsylvania now.
- [16:33]
A
Okay.
- [16:34]
B
You've been out to Jersey ever?
- [16:35]
A
Yeah, I grew up in Ohio.
- [16:36]
B
Oh, nice.
- [16:36]
A
Yeah, I grew up in Ohio, so just spent time all over. It's just a nice. Meet me. It's an hour 15 minute flight from the city. Yeah, I grew and then I lived a little bit In Pennsylvania too.
- [16:45]
B
Where was these games filmed at originally?
- [16:49]
A
The. The episode zero was in Vegas. Oh yeah, at Allegiant Stadium. So the one on YouTube. And that was a trip that was a ton of fun.
- [16:57]
B
That was 2,000 people or 4,000 and.
- [16:59]
A
I had no clue when I signed up, I thought this was Beast Games. I'm be gone. And then a video. Jimmy gives us a video like an hour before we turn our phones. Like, hey, by the way, this is 2,000 people. We're going to cut it down to a thousand and then you'll go to the Amazon Beast Games. I'm like, apparently most people knew, but I just wasn't in the loop. And then the remainder was Amazon prime show was on. Filmed in Toronto, aside from the island which was in Panama. Wow, that's cool.
- [17:28]
B
I didn't know that.
- [17:28]
A
Yeah. And we had all these ideas of oh because in the contract chairs a few countries that you might go to just make sure that you have kind of proper credentials. Yeah. And it's like it said France and Germany and Italy. So we're like, oh, we're going to leave here, then we're going to go to a chateau in Italy. And no, we were just in Toronto the whole time.
- [17:46]
B
I love it. The first few games were a lot of luck based stuff, right? Chance.
- [17:50]
A
Yeah. I mean, I think when you watch it, you think it's chance. But you know, there's this wild cascading effect to be games where things that happen in this challenge impact the next challenge. So for example, like people ask me like, oh, were you just randomly assigned number 831? No, that was the flag I got in the challenge number three in the YouTube episode. So if you look at challenge number three in the YouTube episode, we had to capture these flags. And there's 1100 flags and there's 1400 contestants left. You can either try to go like a free for all, I'm gonna go after my flag. You know, screw everybody else. Or you can try to work together and kind of go, who's getting what flag? We help each other out.
- [18:31]
B
Right.
- [18:31]
A
I was kind of the part of the crew that was helping each other out. So the people who are kind of in the first couple hundred were like, hey, I need to go get this flag. I'm a go getter. I'm gonna get that number one flag. Those were the first two rows that got eliminated in, in the first challenge on these games.
- [18:48]
B
Oh, I didn't know that.
- [18:50]
A
And guess what? Because like you had to like in. In that challenge is like, you have to. Someone in your row and the row is like 80 some deep has to eliminate themselves and in order for the rest of the row to move on.
- [19:02]
B
Yeah.
- [19:03]
A
And if you think about your. How you're a type A charger, like, are you really going to eliminate yourself? No. So, like, the rows that were safe were the ones at the end which were either the helpers or the more altruistic folks who needed help. So it's like, I think on paper it looks like chance, but actually it's the makeup of those rows that is really cool that you chose into.
- [19:25]
B
Yeah. And look how the final two players were similar numbers.
- [19:29]
A
Crazy, right? We were right next to each other for two and a half days on the first episode.
- [19:33]
B
That's nuts. Did you see her at the stadium too?
- [19:36]
A
Yeah, she was kind of a prominent leader at the stadium.
- [19:40]
B
Okay.
- [19:40]
A
Like, for me, like, at the stadium, I was like, what am I doing here? Like, I'm such an old man and obviously I'm not a bit. Like, I was probably in the, you know, the. The top 10% of age.
- [19:52]
B
Yeah. On the show there's a lot of young people.
- [19:53]
A
A lot of young people. Yeah. But. But like, the cool thing is, like, age and everything else, age, color, sex, gender, all disappears. Like, you just connect with people if you want to.
- [20:04]
B
Right.
- [20:04]
A
And so I became great friends with people who literally could be my daughter or son based on age. But yeah, in episode zero, she was. She was a leader. She was a force.
- [20:13]
B
It seemed like throughout the show she sort of had a group she was leading. Right.
- [20:16]
A
It's. It's interesting. She didn't have, like an alliance per se. She didn't have a group. Just she led everybody. Like, if people called on her to lead, she would step up. She was. She's awesome. She's an absolute force. Like, she's super talented, big heart, played hard. But that's. That's who I wanted to. Like, I literally wanted to go against her. At the end, episode one, I told her, like, I want to go against you two at the end.
- [20:41]
B
Yeah.
- [20:41]
A
It's crazy how it happened. Wow.
- [20:43]
B
You manifested it because she turned down a million too, Right.
- [20:45]
A
A couple times for other people. So she turned on a million for 60 people in episode two, episode three, she turned on a million when she could have taken it in the money grab in episode eight and nobody would have got eliminated. And at the end, when it was three of us, me, Gage 974, and Tawana 830, she could have taken a million dollars to Eliminate herself.
- [21:04]
B
Oh, yeah. And she got written down on that one, too. Surprisingly crazy.
- [21:08]
A
I was surprised. I was shocked.
- [21:09]
B
Yeah, I was shocked.
- [21:10]
A
Yeah.
- [21:11]
B
I was watching it with my fiance and I told her there's no way it's her. It's one of the other three.
- [21:15]
A
And I don't know.
- [21:18]
Because for me, I just figured everybody viewed her like me.
- [21:23]
I had a ton of respect for her. She always put herself behind others. Super integrative, integrous. So when I saw that, I was like, I was shocked. And obviously, I think that helped me too. I think that kind of shook her a little bit. It definitely did, you know, and so, like, going into the final episode, I think her, like, her mindset might have been kind of a little shaken.
- [21:45]
B
You felt like you could have read her a little easier.
- [21:48]
A
Yeah. Or I just feel like. I feel like she was not expecting that. And kind of like when you. When you get news that you're not expecting is directly assigned to you, it's like you start questioning things.
- [21:59]
B
Yeah. Were there any decisions you regretted on the show?
- [22:06]
A
You know, I mean.
- [22:09]
I wouldn't know. I'm not.
- [22:10]
B
Regret's a strong word. Maybe, like, felt bad about.
- [22:13]
A
Yeah. So. Because, like, again, I don't like to have regrets. And obviously I was the winner. So, like, I have to thank. Everything that happened happened. Episode four on the helicopter. I wish, like, I didn't, I didn't. I wasn't privy. I didn't realize how much of kind of a hubbub there was about Jeremy and taking girls. Right. Like, I wish he would have whispered my ear like, hey, I really, I really hope he takes somebody. And I would have taken from my friend Maddie852, who's just amazing. She ended up making it to the island anyway. But that was one of the. That was one of the instances where it's like, ah, maybe I would have done something different. But I. I picked my friend 9:30 Patrick, who made it to the top 10.
- [22:52]
B
Yeah.
- [22:52]
A
So, I mean, like, I don't have any regrets, but that's something that, like, I don't say I lost sleep on it, but I thought about a lot.
- [22:58]
B
I could see that. You never know with the way they edit it. So was it really that bad with the girls? Like, they were pissed that it.
- [23:04]
A
I didn't realize it. Like, again, this is. I was naive. So, like, when people were going around kind of saying, hey, we give Jeremy your coin. I was going around telling people the math and kind of going like, it doesn't matter who you give the Coin to. But it does you no good to keep your coin because if someone doesn't get a hundred coins, this helicopter goes off empty. And our chance. Your chances, My chances of getting to the island are less.
- [23:27]
B
Right.
- [23:28]
A
It's just simple math. It's like I didn't hear all the. All the conversations until, I mean, I heard about it afterward. But when we got to the hotel, while we were staging to go to Panama, like, there was definitely some evil eye looking at me and Jeremy, like. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, what happened? Yeah, so it was. I didn't. I didn't realize how bad it was until after.
- [23:47]
B
There was a lot of people after Jeremy after that one.
- [23:48]
A
Right. Oh, my gosh.
- [23:49]
B
It was crazy.
- [23:50]
A
Crazy. And it's just. I mean, it's just. It's crazy how an episode before lauding him because he turned down a million dollars.
- [23:57]
B
Yeah.
- [23:57]
A
And there was. I mean, it could have gone up to 2 million, 3 million. Jeremy wouldn't have taken it.
- [24:01]
B
Wow.
- [24:02]
A
Because he's just the kind of guy that if you put your trust in him and you ask him to do something, he's not going to screw you over.
- [24:08]
B
How shocked were you when all four turned down the million?
- [24:15]
A
I don't want to, because I knew. I knew Harrison251. I sat next to him on a bus for four hours. Awesome guy. Like, super talented content creator Tawan I got to know. And Jeremy I knew really, really well. Only person I didn't know was Dino380. And kind of once I asked around, I'm like, oh, wait, so no one's going to take this? This is crazy. Who was the most shocked was Mac and Jimmy. Like, they were blown away. And this is the crazy thing about Beast Games is if somebody took the Money, I mean, 60 people get eliminated. That changes every episode after that because, like, now you have 25% less people. And it's just, It's. It's weird how they have to have all these plan A, plan B, plan C's.
- [24:59]
B
Yeah.
- [24:59]
A
It's like they were shocked. Nothing happened.
- [25:02]
B
They probably planned for someone to take it, I'd imagine, of course.
- [25:05]
A
But they. But they also kind of went, okay, in the crazy event that no one takes it. What do we do?
- [25:11]
B
Yeah, that's smart. What did you. How did you feel about the hate on Dino? Because that was interesting to me.
- [25:18]
A
It. It was interesting.
- [25:21]
The hate. The. The experience in the game is very different, what people thought we were experiencing. So, like, in the game, you go through these challenges and you bond to people. So, like, for example, the most bonding I had was the physical challenge. So the monster truck, the sprint, and the dead hang. So we had eight of us on our team. It was me, Eric, 990, Gage 974, Patrick 930, Dino 380, Mike 453, Moniece 182, and Jazz, 697. I didn't know Jazz or Moniz until that. I got so close to them. Like, Jazz is one of my favorite players in the game. And so we have this strong bond that we just went through. And then. So for Dino to choose Jazz was just like, what are you doing? Like, we just went through this, and Jazz and Tawana weren't great friends. So, like, we knew that they weren't great friends. And it wasn't like they didn't like each other, but it was just neutral.
- [26:16]
B
Yeah.
- [26:16]
A
We're like, man, like, I. So it. I think in retrospect, what popped Dino was his social game kind of. Kind of got turned off on the island. He kind of went dark and so, like, he didn't know who Tawana was close with. Like, he would have been better off choosing, you know, me or Patrick930, who were kind of close with Tawana.
- [26:37]
B
Wow.
- [26:38]
A
But at the end of the day, I don't think it mattered. He was. Tawana was going to choose him. And no matter who he chose.
- [26:44]
B
You think?
- [26:44]
A
So that was the. That was the. That was the trap.
- [26:46]
B
Yeah. Because the other choice was her best friend on the show.
- [26:49]
A
Well, the thing about Tawana is you don't know who. Like, she kept her car. Her car so close to her chest. Like, you don't know who her best friends were.
- [26:56]
B
Interesting.
- [26:57]
A
Because, you know, if that was her best friend, why didn't she choose her when she gave out the second key in episode. Episode eight?
- [27:04]
B
True.
- [27:05]
A
There's a lot of questions. I would. I mean, Tawana would be a great guest.
- [27:08]
B
Yeah.
- [27:09]
A
Like, I think she has so much to share.
- [27:11]
B
Yeah. I'd love to dive into her mindset.
- [27:12]
A
Yeah.
- [27:13]
B
I'm also curious with the people that turn down the money, like, if they regret it, you know, I'm sure. I mean, a million dollars.
- [27:19]
A
A million dollars. Or even, like, you look at the first episode, like, you literally could have pressed a button, eliminated six or seven people, and taken home 100,000.
- [27:27]
B
Crazy.
- [27:28]
A
Like, 100,000 is not chump change.
- [27:31]
B
Yeah.
- [27:32]
A
You know, it's just it. But you get into this FOMO like, oh, my gosh, in the first episode, your whole goal is, I want to get to the city. Now you're in the city. Oh, my gosh. I want to get to the island. Once you get to the island, you're like, I want to make it to the top 10.
- [27:44]
B
Yeah.
- [27:44]
A
So you have these things that just kind of override money, which is. It's like an amazing psychological experiment. Like, I would like. I would love to see what psychologists who analyze this say about it.
- [27:58]
B
They had one on set, right?
- [27:59]
A
They had a couple on set. So they had one on set 24 7. So there's multiple psychologists. So if you ever needed to speak with someone, you could.
- [28:05]
B
Did you ever get to that point where you had to talk to someone?
- [28:08]
A
No. I mean, I talked to one at the end because I think when you get down to the final 10 or final 20, when you get eliminated, you. It's part of your kind of deprocessing or out processing. So I sat with one about a half an hour after I won.
- [28:23]
B
Yeah. Yeah. I bet when you're that late in the game, it's a lot of mental trauma if you don't make it.
- [28:27]
A
It is. And just even kind of orienting back at home, like, I remember my wife was like. I was like. She was super kind, but, like, I didn't know what to do. Like, you're so used to being told where to go. You don't have any technology at all when to eat. Literally, you wear the same thing, like what you see on. On the episodes, what we wear in between the episodes. So it's not like we're wearing street clothes during the day.
- [28:51]
B
Yeah. It was a month, right?
- [28:52]
A
Yeah, it was about five weeks.
- [28:54]
B
Holy crap.
- [28:54]
A
Yeah.
- [28:55]
B
You're away from your family.
- [28:56]
A
Yeah.
- [28:57]
B
Was that the longest you've been away from them?
- [28:58]
A
Oh, yeah. I mean, that's the longest I haven't talked to my wife since I've known her.
- [29:01]
B
Yeah, because you don't even have your phone or anything.
- [29:03]
A
Yeah. No phone, no Internet. You don't even know what day it is. That's a lot of times you don't even know what time it is. Wow.
- [29:09]
B
No clocks anywhere.
- [29:10]
A
I mean, people have them, but no one is wearing a watch. There's not. They're not on the walls.
- [29:14]
B
Crazy. So you got a lot of time to just reflect about your life, I bet.
- [29:17]
A
A lot of time to reflect. A lot of time to chat with others. I mean, it felt like you're in the 90s again, early 90s, where you go hang out versus you go hang out with your phone.
- [29:28]
B
I saw you on Bradley Martin show say you you applied to the Amazing Race two years ago. Right.
- [29:33]
A
It was like, it was. I think it was before my wife and I were married, so it had to have been 2012 or so and we weren't fully committed. So I think we submitted a video and that was it. So, like, we never moved any any more forward, but we would, we would crush.
- [29:49]
B
That show was fun.
- [29:50]
A
It'd be so fun.
- [29:50]
B
I think you'd do well.
- [29:51]
A
It'd be a lot of fun. It'd be great to do with my wife. It'd be great to do with my oldest sister, Stacy.
- [29:56]
B
I love it.
- [29:56]
A
It'd be a ton of fun. Have you ever done a show like this?
- [29:58]
B
No. I want to get on one. Survivor interests me. There's one called the Traders. Yeah, have you seen that one? Yeah, that one's very interesting to me.
- [30:06]
A
Yeah, that one. That one would be a ton of fun.
- [30:09]
B
Yeah.
- [30:10]
A
I mean, so what about season two?
- [30:13]
B
I might have to apply, but it might be closed by now, right?
- [30:15]
A
No.
- [30:15]
B
Oh, it's not.
- [30:16]
A
Not yet.
- [30:16]
B
Okay, I'll apply, man.
- [30:18]
A
You should. I'm telling you, it. It even obviously I'm biased because I won.
- [30:22]
B
Yeah.
- [30:22]
A
But even if I didn't like, it was. It was life changing. It was. It was just good to step away for that long and connect with people and obviously. Yeah. I'm a 44 year old man. To do these challenges, to be competitive again was awesome.
- [30:37]
B
Yeah. What a term for you. Because I saw you say on Brad's show also that you recently got laid off. Right.
- [30:43]
A
Yeah. So I've been kind of healthcare sales and sales leadership for my whole life. And last April I got laid off from a sales leadership role and I was kind of like, oh, gosh, what am I going to do?
- [30:57]
B
Right.
- [30:57]
A
So I was going to. I was exploring some kind of entrepreneurial stuff.
- [31:02]
And God bless my wife for being patient with me. And I applied for this. It just kind of as it wasn't desperation was kind of like, I got the time, why not? And here we are.
- [31:14]
B
Crazy how cyclical life can be because that was probably one of your bottom moments.
- [31:17]
A
And then, yeah, it's. I mean, I think one of the things about Lucas is just giving me a ton of perspective. You know, I think there's a handful of parents who might go, you have a child who's a rare disease, special needs, and kind of go, f this. I didn't sign up for this. Why did you do this to me? But really looking at it, Lucas has helped me find the beauty and the bumps and seeing that, you know, things are either blessings or curses, and you can decide which one it is. And so for me, I remember when I got laid off and, like, I literally was emailing who I reported into, emailed the CEO, like, hey, thanks for the opportunity. It was great. However, I can help you guys, because I just realized it was business. Like, they didn't have the funding. I was an expensive kind of price tag. You know, they have to move on. So it's not. It's not like, screw them. But some people could say screw them.
- [32:07]
B
Yeah. Wow. You're good at controlling your emotions. That's impressive.
- [32:09]
A
It's. It's help. I mean, I. Lucas, you know, and this is one of the gifts. Like, like, you have to. You can choose what you get upset about.
- [32:17]
And I'd rather choose the things that really, really matter.
- [32:21]
B
Yeah. A lot of people, their emotions control them, you know, see it all the time.
- [32:25]
A
Yeah. I mean, you seem pretty calm. What kind of work do you do?
- [32:30]
B
Just been through some stuff, man.
- [32:31]
A
Yeah.
- [32:31]
B
You know, had to address it, and instead of, like running away from the trauma, I actually addressed it. And then from there, that acknowledgement and that awareness was huge.
- [32:41]
A
And being a serial founder, it's like.
- [32:43]
B
Yeah, entrepreneurship will test you.
- [32:45]
A
Oh, my gosh.
- [32:45]
B
Oh, my gosh. Even now, like, I'm going through some struggles no matter what level you get to, but.
- [32:50]
A
But that's where. That's where the light is and that's where. That's where you, you know, get a bigger vessel to be able to do bigger things. Yeah.
- [32:57]
B
And it's a very lonely road at first.
- [33:00]
A
Yeah. Well, I mean, because you got people who, you know, you were hanging out with, doing whatever before who kind of want to bring you down. Yeah, yeah, people. People typically want to cheer you on when you've made it or when you have nothing, but when you're actually doing it, people are kind of.
- [33:15]
B
Yeah, 100%.
- [33:16]
A
Yeah. It's weird.
- [33:17]
B
Yeah, it is weird. Did you have a lot of long lost friends hit you up once you won the money and family?
- [33:22]
A
Yeah, I mean, in a good way. You know, I mean, I've been. I've been. I've been blessed to have amazing friends since I was a kid and just good colleagues. I mean, I've worked for some cool companies who have met some amazing people. So just, you know, and there's people who I'm texting with who their numbers aren't in there. I have no clue who it is, but it's A lot of people send a ton of well wishes they know. They know our story and they know that we'll do good with. With the prize and with the platform.
- [33:47]
B
That's beautiful. How tough was it not telling people when you won? Because you had to wait months, right?
- [33:52]
A
Yeah.
- [33:55]
It wasn't as hard as you'd think. I mean, obviously, like, I wanted to tell my mom so bad. Yeah. Like, just because, like, my mom, her. My mom and I talk multiple times a week and she's great. She's always been a huge supporter of mine. And, like, I wanted to. Like, I wanted to watch the show with her, too. She lives in Ohio and I'm living in California. So, like, that was the one who I wanted to tell the most. But other than that, like, I like the power, like, the concept of restriction. Like, I used to drink. I don't drink anymore.
- [34:24]
B
Nice.
- [34:25]
A
Used to gamble. Really? I don't gamble anymore. And like, restricting these kind of selfish desires in order to kind of do something that's more sharing is something that, like, a concept that I believe in. And I've seen my life transform through it. So it's like always knowing that, hey, if I. If I restrict and don't tell anybody, there's going to be greater light that's shared through it. And if you see my family's reaction video, it's like, it's unbelievable because they had no clue. And I just told them, hey, it's the final episode. There's six left. Like, everybody's going to come out a winner in some way. I encourage you guys to watch it early, like, treat it like a football tailgate and, like, set up videos because you'll get to see how my journey ends. And the, the, like, the. The videos of them watching it are awesome.
- [35:11]
B
I love that. That's so cool. When did you cut the gambling and the drinking? Was it recent or.
- [35:15]
A
Yeah, it was a long time ago. Last bet was here in the city. 2014.
- [35:21]
B
Wow. 10 years.
- [35:22]
A
Yeah, 11 years.
- [35:24]
B
Well done.
- [35:24]
A
Yeah, it was cool. No, and it was like, then for me, like, it's just wild how the world works. Like, literally within a year of me not gambling, money just starts flowing, you know, So a company I was at had an exit. I got a nice distribution, was able to put that as a down payment on a home. And I quit drinking nine years ago. I just took a break and it was awesome and kind of go, oh, gosh, you know, I don't need to drink to socialize. And I feel so much better. And this is at the same time where I had my oldest son. It's like, I want to be able to wake up and be able to roll around and play versus, like, try to struggle through a hangover.
- [36:01]
B
Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people drink to. They feel like they need to fit in.
- [36:04]
A
Yeah.
- [36:05]
B
But it's. You really don't.
- [36:06]
A
Yeah. Once you, like. Once you realize you don't, like, it's like, if we're talking about regrets, like, I wish I would have kind of trimmed my drinking or quit drinking earlier. Like, it would have been so fun to be in my 20s and actually go meet people versus just drink.
- [36:21]
B
Yeah.
- [36:22]
A
And hang out at bars.
- [36:23]
B
Were you a big partier back in the day?
- [36:25]
A
Yeah, I'd say so.
- [36:26]
B
Yeah. In Cali.
- [36:27]
A
And I was living in Ohio.
- [36:28]
B
Ohio.
- [36:28]
A
Yeah.
- [36:29]
B
Yeah. You don't know about it, right?
- [36:31]
A
Yeah. And it just. The rear. When you grow up, it's like, hey, like, college football Saturday. You drink until you pass out. And don't get me wrong, I mean, I had some great times. I'm not. I. I was just one of those ones who. I couldn't just have one drink. If I had one, I was going to have 12.
- [36:47]
B
Were you an angry drunk?
- [36:49]
A
No, I wasn't. I was just. I would smile and I typically fall asleep.
- [36:53]
B
Oh, you were the ones that shut down in the corner.
- [36:55]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [36:55]
B
Yeah. That's me, too. Yeah. I stopped talking.
- [36:57]
A
Yeah, that's how I was. Yeah, I was so, like, it's good that I wasn't angry or picked fights, but. Yeah, just. It was one of these. I'd wake up in the morning, kind of go, wait, who did I talk to? Who did I lie to? Who did I maybe overshare with that I shouldn't have. It was just one of those things. My. My physical hangovers weren't too bad. It's the emotional and psychological that I was like, hey, I got to be done with it.
- [37:17]
B
Yeah, it's not worth it. You still watching sports?
- [37:20]
A
A little bit, yeah.
- [37:21]
B
NBA.
- [37:22]
A
I'll watch the playoffs.
- [37:23]
B
Yeah, same.
- [37:24]
A
Who's your team?
- [37:25]
B
Lakers. Okay, you too?
- [37:27]
A
I'll root for them or not. Oh, I grew up being a Cavs fan.
- [37:30]
B
Okay.
- [37:31]
A
Yeah. And so, I mean, I really don't, you know, and I live in the Bay Area, so Golden State is the team. I really don't have a team, but I typically. In the NBA, I'll root for, like, an underdog.
- [37:40]
B
Yeah.
- [37:40]
A
Whoever's not supposed to win is who I want to win.
- [37:42]
B
Well, this year there's a good chance of that, you know.
- [37:45]
A
Is Golden State still in?
- [37:46]
B
Yeah, they're the Six or seven seed, but they're looking good.
- [37:49]
A
Sweet.
- [37:49]
B
They got Jimmy Butler now.
- [37:51]
A
Well, and it's just like, you just can't count out Curry. Yeah, he's so good.
- [37:54]
B
How's it down there? I hear mixed things about living in San Francisco.
- [37:58]
A
It's. It's getting better. That's good. Yes. I mean, I, I don't live in the city, but, I mean, it's so damn beautiful. Like, it's like one of the prettiest cities in the world. So, like, I don't think it's ever going to go away. Like, you can't recreate that scenery. But I think the, I think some policies could change where it could encourage, you know, more business owners.
- [38:20]
And kind of be a friendly environment on business and tourist. It's just, I think they've made some decisions that kind of have come back to bite them, and it's, I think we've hit rock bottom and it's starting to bounce back up.
- [38:29]
B
That's exciting. Yeah, it is beautiful. You can't knock that.
- [38:32]
A
Yeah, but like, but a place like Vegas, it's like, I love Vegas. My wife grew up here, and it's just people out here are hustling. People out here know how to, like, survive and get through stuff. If you want to get something done, guess what? There's people around you who want to help you. I don't want to say the bay is not like that. The bay is just a little bit more kind of cerebral, a little bit more kind of head focused. I mean, that's where all the ideas are coming from with social media and tech. But, yeah, I, I, where I live, it's just a great community of, you know, head and heart. So I like where I'm at.
- [39:07]
B
That's cool. It is hard to be Vegas, though.
- [39:10]
A
It's cool. I mean, it's like one of these things where growing up, you just think of Vegas as you go through your phases. I'm gonna go there to gamble. I'm go there to party.
- [39:16]
B
Yeah.
- [39:17]
A
I'm gonna go there for girls, whatever it may be. And then like, at my age, I'm like, you can go there for shows, for food, for hiking. I love it, man.
- [39:26]
B
For podcasts.
- [39:27]
A
For podcasts, exactly. To the podcasts I've been on. Yeah. But, yeah.
- [39:31]
B
You want iced coffee hour?
- [39:32]
A
Yeah.
- [39:32]
B
That was a great episode, too.
- [39:33]
A
Those guys, they were great.
- [39:35]
B
What's the next show you're on or next project?
- [39:38]
A
This is it for now. I, you know, I have some kind of unique opportunities ahead from, like, kind of a branding perspective that I'm looking at, but, like, ultimately, I just want to share Lucas's story, and the more I can kind of share his story, I just. I've had people reach out to me, and I've made some amazing connections, facilitated some awesome meetings with researchers, philanthropists, and people who are doing some cool stuff in startups around tech because of these podcasts. And so, for me, it's like, I never know who's going to listen to this, who kind of go, hey, I want to help Jeff, I want to help Lucas, want to help their family. So I'm gonna keep doing it as long as people have me.
- [40:17]
B
I love that, man. I know you're starting a foundation.
- [40:19]
A
Yeah.
- [40:19]
B
Link that below when. If it's right, if it's up yet.
- [40:22]
A
Cool.
- [40:22]
B
And some conferences as well.
- [40:23]
A
Sweet.
- [40:24]
B
Yeah. Anything else you want to close off with?
- [40:27]
A
No, I think. I think we're good. Anything we're missing?
- [40:29]
B
No, I think we covered it all, man. Thanks so much for inspiring, and I hope we find a cure one day for this thing.
- [40:33]
A
Yeah. And once we do, I'll love to come back and chat about it.
- [40:36]
B
Absolutely. Check them out, guys, in the links below. I'll see you next time.