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June 6, 2023 - Uncensored - Piers Morgan
45:31
20230606_piers-morgan-uncensored-ukraine-dam-elle-brooke-wi
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Ukraine's Desperate Counter-Offensive 00:14:38
I'm Piers Morgan uncensored tonight.
Ukraine says Russia blow up a major dam unleashing a biblical flood which threatens a nuclear plant.
The UK calls it a war crime and as Ukraine begins a massive counter-offensive.
Is this the turning point in Europe's bloody war?
Also tonight OnlyFans has become a multi-billion dollar business now with a record 3 million users, most of them selling soft porn photos to followers.
Is it feminist empowerment or just downright immoral?
We'll debate that with one of his biggest stars.
Plus the legendary Wim Hoff, better known as the Iceman, is a wellness guru to the stars, says he can fix all our problems, print his well-being, anxiety and pain management.
Think of a few people today that could have done with a bit of that.
So I thought I should talk to him.
He joins me live.
Live from the news building in London, this is Piers Morgan Uncensored.
Well good evening from London.
Welcome to Piers Morgan Uncensored, far away from the breathless talk of misbehaving TV presenters and attention-seeking reality stars and whining members of the royal family.
Something remarkable is happening in Ukraine right now.
Russia's little neighbor, with an army half its size, was supposed to fall under the Kremlin's rule in three days.
Every expert told us Ukraine would be pounded off the map.
And for a while, that's how it looked.
Russian troops surged across the border from three directions.
Bombs pounded shelters for refugees, maternity hospitals, residential buildings.
In town after town, Russian flags were hoisted up as symbols of a genocidal conquest.
They turned Ukraine into a living hell.
But a hell of a lot has changed.
Ukrainians fought back against the Russians, facing tanks and tractors, repelling the invaders with now legendary bravery.
Western arms poured in and Putin's war machine is falling apart.
We're now hearing a lot about Ukrainian counter-offensive.
And it's worth thinking about what that actually means.
It means Ukraine is no longer just defending itself, pinned against the ropes, taking the blows.
It's now ready to begin punching back.
It's fighting.
It's on the front foot.
And it's ready to take back its country in the way that President Zelensky has always vowed it would.
We are not prepared to exchange or trade the territory of the independent state of Ukraine.
We have no right for this.
First of all, we are the government because this land belongs to Ukrainian people.
Ukraine has every right to fight for every inch of its territory.
A lot of experts say there's no way this ends without them giving up sways of their country to the Russians, to Putin's barbarians.
But why should they?
How would we respond if Russia did this here to our country?
Well, we know what we did when Adolf Hitler tried to do that.
Don't we?
What have we forgotten?
Do we not learn the lessons from history when dictators try and rampage their way through Europe, seizing democratic sovereign countries?
Ukraine has to win this war, has to win it for freedom and for democracy.
And we have to help them do it.
And it has to win this war on its terms, not Vladimir Putin's.
Today, another reminder of why a massive explosion destroyed a huge dam in southern Ukraine, unleashing a biblical flood that will cost more lives and even threatens a nuclear power plant.
It looks a lot like another lunatic act from a terrorist state that's getting ever more desperate and dangerous or fearful of the counter-offensive.
The only way we stop things like this is by bringing an end to the war.
And that, for us, for America, for the other allies, means that we support and back Zelensky and Ukraine to finish the job.
Well, joining me now is Yuri Sak, he's advisor to Ukrainian Defense Minister, and by General Mark Kimmit, the former Assistant Secretary of State for Political and Military Affairs.
Well, welcome to both of you.
Yuri Sakiv, let me start with you.
How crucial is this phase of the war that we're now entering with the much vaunted counter-offensive?
And how damaging is this incident today with the dam?
Thank you, Piers.
And I would like to start by expressing deep gratitude to the United Kingdom, to the British people, for the support that we have been receiving from your country since day one of this aggression.
Your leaders have come to support us in person.
We have received tanks.
We have received ammunition.
We have received multi-launched rocket systems from the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom have been the driving force behind the formation of the Fighter Jet Coalition.
So we are thankful for that.
Now, as to your question, of course, we have been preparing for the next stages of our deoccupation campaign for a long time.
We have been receiving military support from our allies.
And what is happening, what is beginning to happen now, the front is beginning to move.
Russians continue to suffer setbacks on the battlefield in some places which have become legendary by now, like the city of Bakhmut, which is entirely polarized by the Russian artillery.
But Russians are leaving from there as well.
And we are advancing little by little.
You know, faced with this lack of military success, what a terrorist regime, which is what it is, the Russian terrorist regime, what they're doing, they continue the campaign of terror.
So they continue to terrorize Ukrainian cities with the massive missile strikes.
Just last night, we had a massive missile strike, 35 cruise missiles.
But fortunately, thanks to the air defense systems we have received from our partners, they've all been shot down.
And at night, they have blown up the dam, which creates the flooding.
More than 80 villages and small towns are now underwater.
The water levels have risen in some places up to 10 meters.
We have no idea how many people this flood will take away because we, of course, right now cannot access these territories and we will have to wait till the water comes down.
The reconstruction of the dam is impossible.
It is damaged beyond repair.
We have proven evidence that the explosives have been taken there by the Russian terrorists, by these war criminals.
And this is why we are calling now an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
And look, we are confident, we are aware that Russia, the terrorist state, has a seat on the Security Council.
But still, we think it is important for us to bring this issue to the attention of the international community because one of the possible outcomes has been the threat to the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, the SAC, second largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Luckily for now, there is no immediate threat.
Okay.
Thank you for that.
That was an extraordinary account of what's been going on.
Thank you.
I want to bring in General Kimmett from a purely military point of view, General.
Where are we in this war?
How prepared are the Ukrainians for this counter-offensive?
And I guess the overriding question, can they win?
Well, first of all, it's remarkable how strong the character and morale of the Ukrainian forces are.
Everybody thought this would be over in a matter of weeks.
It's now been 16 months.
And 16 months now, the great event to come is a counter-offensive that nobody would have ever anticipated.
But one has to question if there is a sufficient amount of equipment that has been provided to the Ukrainian armies to achieve President Zelensky's war termination goals.
And that's what we need to talk about is what does win mean?
If win means that all of the Russian forces are pushed out of both Ukraine and the land inside the Crimea that belongs to Ukraine, I don't think we provided enough equipment up to this point.
But I do believe that there is sufficient capability for the Ukrainians to conduct a significant counteroffensive against the Russians that would, number one, prove to the Soviet, prove to the Russian forces that they have been defeated, prove to the West that this is a good investment and we need to provide more and more equipment and also put the Ukrainian forces in a position that perhaps not this counteroffensive,
but a subsequent counteroffensive would get closer to President Zelensky's war termination goals.
Otherwise, I'd be afraid that the West would be pushing the Ukrainians to a premature set of negotiations, which would just turn this into a frozen conflict and reward Putin for his aggression.
Yuri, when I was in Ukraine interviewing the president and the first lady, I was struck by when I spoke to ordinary people in the street, old, young, male, female, whoever I spoke to, the absolute unity of resolve that the president should not cede an inch of Ukrainian land.
In fact, they wanted to go and get back Crimea and other parts of the country that have been taken by Vladimir Putin.
You know, what is your message now to Vladimir Putin?
If he's watching this, what is your message to him and his military about that question?
Would Ukraine ever, do you think, cede an inch of land?
My message to the Russian military would be something that our president, Mr. Zelensky, has said so many times.
Surrender or be destroyed.
This is the only two possible outcomes for these war criminals.
They are already degraded by the Ukrainian army.
They are demoralized.
We are seeing they're deserting the battlefield.
You know, by now, we have killed more than 210,000 Russian soldiers on the battlefield.
And the news spreads.
And this is why we're seeing the beginnings of the civil war in Russia, you know, all these movements, the partisans in the Belgor region.
So this is my message to the soldiers.
To the terrorist number one, the leader of Kremlin, I would say, begin rehearsing your speech when you will be standing in the docks of an international war crimes tribunal.
Because this war criminal has already had one indictment issued against him.
And after today, I think somewhere now as we speak, another one is being written.
So here's the leader of Kremlin and his clique that will all stand trial.
Now, as for Ukrainians, you know, we will continue the fight because we understand at the level of our DNA that this is a war of fast survival.
This is a historical chance for us to once and for all resolve this issue.
Russia, this war has begun not in February 2022.
It began not even in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed Crimea and started the war in the east of Ukraine.
This is something that Russia, this genocidal maniac and monster, was trying to achieve for centuries.
Destroy the Ukrainian identity, destroy the Ukrainian culture, and destroy us as a nation.
This will never happen.
I give you my word for this.
General Kimmer, briefly, if you don't mind, but what is the importance of this war now to the rest of the world?
Are people like China, Iran, other countries watching to see what happens here?
Would a victory for Putin unleash just yet more hell around the globe from people like those countries who would feel emboldened, perhaps attack Taiwan and so on?
How significant is this now?
I think you're exactly right.
If they see aggression go rule with it, they have no reason to be deterred, no reason to stop.
I think the first issue would be that, as you say, China would do an unprecedented attack into Taiwan.
You'd see other dictators around the world revive their own personal aspirations for lands outside of their country.
So as the defense advisor said, we must show Putin that he will not be rewarded for this illegal aggression.
General, thank you very much indeed.
And Yuri Sack, thank you both very much indeed for joining me.
I appreciate it.
Well, I'm joined in the studio by the political journalist Ava Santina.
And the journalist, Quentin, he's more than a journalist.
He's a legend.
He's a Fleet Street icon.
Desperate old hack.
A political journalist, a thespian writer.
I mean, you're everything, aren't you?
A bit of everything.
An all-rounder, botham, of journalism.
Too much.
Quentin, what do you, I mean, I'm always very inspired when I hear the Ukrainians talk.
They've got something about them that is just inspiring, that resolve, the iron determination.
People weren't expecting this to be going on now.
They thought Russia would roll them over.
No, no, no, indeed.
On the face of it, this dam's destruction is very bad news for the Ukrainians.
But psychologically, I think it tells us something about the Russians.
We used to talk about a scorched earth policy, this drenched earth policy, if you like.
But the scorched earth policy, that business of destroying a country as you are retreating.
And it shows that the Russians mentally are in retreat, and it shows that they're giving up on the idea of taking more of Ukraine.
And Henry Kissinger made a good point last week.
He said that the Russians have basically already lost because, or Putin has already lost, because the West no longer fears that Russia will attack another European country.
And I think that's a pretty shrewd point.
The Russians have lost strategic purchase as a deterrent.
Right, a deterrent sense.
And Ava, I mean, look, putting politics aside, both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sun, and of course, very briefly, Liz Trust, we have been, as a country, emphatically behind the Ukrainians.
Impressively so, I think.
Yeah, I mean, but importantly, that's because Europe has so much more to lose than Putin has to gain, realistically.
I mean, you know, if Russia were to take that land, what does that say for, you know, who we are as the Western world?
And look, you know, this dam, I actually do think it's a lot more important than perhaps we've laid claim to.
I mean, you think of the human effect of what's happening right there.
All of those emergency services are going to be drawn to the area.
That's a dam, the water of which, you know, cools the energy supply unit nearby.
Think about all the people who've lost their homes.
All these villages being absolutely catastrophic.
That happens.
The water also was used for irrigation of the fields.
So more bad news for food prices, maybe.
I want to segue to something much more trivial, but interesting nonetheless.
Debunking The Welsh Class Myth 00:03:30
Michael Sheen, one of the great Welsh actors, said he's found it very hard to accept when Welsh characters are not played by Welsh actors and has criticised what he calls posh stars cast in working class roles.
Now, we did a bit of research into Mr. Sheen.
I think we've got some of his roles here, which we can show you.
Let's have a look.
It's a VT.
As far as I'm concerned, the first thing he can do for me is to chuck all your medals and all your caps and all your pots and all your pans into the biggest flipping dustbin you can find.
Bella is alive after all.
Isn't that wonderful?
I love a happy ending.
You.
You.
Bad angels.
Well, to recap, we found 10.
You played Brian Clarford, Yorkshireman, Tony Berriscott, David Frost, Englishman, H.G. Wells, Englishman, William H. Masters, American, Sigmund Freud, a Czech, Nero, an Italian, Hamlet, a Dane, Mozart, an Austrian, Jesus Christ of Palestinian.
His Hamlet wasn't very good.
But I rest my pace, Quentin.
He's a good actor, though.
He's a good actor, but I think in the...
But there's no point.
He's a great actor that can play all these parts.
Exactly.
I don't scream when I hear a Welshman playing Tony Blair in a Blair accent.
What's he on about?
I think Michael is being what the Welsh would call a pillog.
What is a pillock?
Do you want him to bother?
And I mean, it's a ludicrous proposition, really, because actually, it's very self-defeating.
There are very few Welsh parts in world drama.
So he may be doing himself out of a job because if only Welsh can play Welsh, that means, you know, the Western world.
What about this point about posh stars cast in working class roles?
Is there a point to that?
I mean, this is a reverberating debate, isn't it?
Should only disabled actors play disabled roles and so on and so on.
What about the posh the working class part?
The point is representation.
So this whole Welsh argument is silly.
But the point being that if you grow up in a small village in Wales, you don't have access to getting into acting.
You don't have the transport links.
You don't have the money to go into it.
You know, perhaps it may be children who've been born into London.
Two words for you.
Two words for you.
And they were words of a man I had a wonderful 40-minute private chat with at a dinner party the other night.
Michael Kane.
You don't get a more working class actor than Michael Kane.
150-something movies he told me he's made.
Playing, you know, often...
I don't know if I could name one.
Michael Kane?
I'm actually not.
I don't know if I can.
Harry Palmer.
Do you know what?
That is actually.
I've sent people out for lessons.
I have.
And banned them.
You might get a suspension.
One of our greatest actors.
I mean, Michael Kane.
Greatest.
But my point being that he was telling me about his, you know, he didn't get a great fancy.
He's a great screen persona, isn't he?
Yeah.
But a working-class boy who it's ever been a barrier for him.
Can you name, realistically?
And do you know what the problem is with these actors, though, is that they go to private school, they get into acting, and they pull the ladder up for everyone else.
They go, no, I've had it, and I'm posh, but you know, no.
Do you know what?
I actually can't tolerate you sitting here any longer for not knowing who Michael Kane is or not even understanding he's how great he's acting.
But I think we're through all this class stuff.
I mean, this is so much fun.
Aren't we?
Aren't we through all of this?
Aren't we so used to this stuff?
I used to be a Dustman.
Would I be able to play a Dustman on screen?
No, I was actually a job.
You were a Dustman?
I was a Dustman once.
That's a staggering bombshell.
But I would not be able to play a Dustman.
Hang on.
You can't drop this bombshell.
Quentin Letz.
I was a Dustman in Bista.
OnlyFans Earnings And Stigma 00:11:21
What?
Oxfordshire.
Literally a bin man.
Yeah.
In the days when there were metal bins full of ash.
Really?
What was the most disgusting thing you ever had to deal with?
I can't remember anything disgusting.
I just smelt for about two, you know, two weeks after I took a holiday.
Terrible.
Have you got any weird little things in your back catalogue?
I was a delivery driver.
I used to drive a white van.
That used to really impress people.
You were a white van more.
I was a white van delivery driver for years.
And you still don't know Michael Kane's movies.
Yeah.
I also.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the Italian Joe Boy.
Alfie.
I mean, for goodness sake, he's one of the greatest actors ever.
It's quite right.
No, you're going.
That's the end.
You out of the studio.
You're being censored.
Quentin, great to see you.
Ava, not so great.
Lots on your reputation.
Welcome back to Piers Morgan Uncensored.
It really is going to get a bit uncensored here.
OnlyFans has become a digital phenomenon.
It has 190 million users and 3 million so-called creators who mostly use the space to upload X-rated photographs and videos of themselves for their subscribers.
And it's big business, very big business, raking in $5 billion a year.
Well, Ellie Brooke, who makes six to seven figures per month on the site, describes it as empowering.
But after years of fighting back against the objective use of women in newspapers, magazines, and as chili as in sport, isn't it just, well, a bit of a backward step.
Well, joining me now is OnlyFans Creator Elle Brooke.
I did ask you, then got it wrong, didn't I?
And the host of the Blair White Project, Blair White, over in the States.
So welcome to both of you.
All right, Elle.
Now, tell me about yourself.
What were you before you did this?
I was a law student and now I'm a ticket.
At university?
Yeah, university in North Southampton.
Did you graduate?
No, no, no.
I dropped out to do OnlyFans because I was making a lot of money.
So I was like, why am I doing speaking?
Studying to be a lawyer.
Yes.
And then you start doing OnlyFans while you're at university.
Yes.
What made you get into it?
Because I saw how much money other people were earning and I was thinking, hey, I can do this too.
And then it turns out I'm pretty good at getting my clothes off.
And I was like, this is a career for me.
Okay.
Look, I've nothing against you.
I don't, I'm not taking a moral view here, right?
You can do what the hell you like.
It's legal.
I'm just disappointed that someone like you's obviously got a great brain training to be a law student at university decides to pack it all in to just take your clothes off for perfect strangers on OnlyFans.
Why?
Because I wouldn't have made loads of money as a solicitor anyway.
Like I would have earned money, yes, but I earned that in two weeks now.
And I earned that for years.
How much do you make?
I mean, how much money do you make?
I earn a lot.
How much do you make?
Maybe like double that?
Well, we won't get into what I earn, but what do you earn?
I earn a lot of money.
I mean a number.
Well, I don't want to give a specific number, but I'm 0.01 on OnlyFans, so I'm as top as it gets.
What does that mean?
It means you are the best of the best.
0.01%.
Best of the best of what?
OnlyFans creators in monetary terms.
Why are you so good?
Because I'm really good looking.
Right.
And original.
Well, you're certainly not shy, are you?
No, I know I'm good at what I do.
I'm not going to harangue you for being cocky because that would be ridiculous coming from me.
But all right, well, let me go to Blair here.
I mean, Blair, look, on the face of it, isn't this really what feminist empowerment is all about?
A woman in control of her body, doing what she wants with it, making a huge amount of money?
Isn't it entirely down to Elle what she decides to do?
It absolutely is up to Elle to do whatever she wants to do in her professional career.
And I don't have any issue with adults doing what they want, entering sex work.
However, unfortunately, I think the way in which OnlyFans is often discussed in public makes it out to be this quick get-rich scheme.
It reeks of a pyramid scheme.
And oftentimes young girls find themselves following this fool's gold rush and not really understanding the consequences of it.
So here's some information that I feel like young girls should arm themselves with.
The average registered OnlyFans creator makes only $180 a month.
That's the average.
So we're not discussing Elle in that, obviously, but that is the average.
Making about $2,500 a month puts you in the top 1%, which adds up to $15 an hour, which is the same or less than McDonald's pays.
So oftentimes these young girls find themselves, you know, entering sex work thinking that it's going to be financially, you know, beneficial for them.
And they end up making less than a fast food worker, but they still take on the entire stigma of being involved in sex work and oftentimes can't find employment afterwards.
So my only issue is people doing these things without having, you know, themselves armed with the information.
And I think everyone should know what them because they're...
Yeah, I mean, look, you make some good points, Simon.
What do your family think of this?
I mean, they must be incredibly disappointed, surely, that you backed in a potentially really successful career as a lawyer to do this.
Pierce, my dad is dead and my mum is on my payroll.
My family are family.
Your mom's on your payroll.
My mom is on my payroll.
And what doing what?
Admin.
What does that mean?
It's just behind the scenes work.
She doesn't do anything rude or anything.
So she loves you doing this.
Well, she doesn't praise it at the pub, like, woohoo.
My daughter does OnlyFans, but she's supportive.
She knows that I'm over 18.
I can do what the hell I want.
And she knows that, you know, her views can't like impact my life.
What is she going to do?
You're grounded because you do OnlyFans.
Like, what the hell?
It's 2023.
People can do what the hell they want.
No, no, don't get me wrong.
I totally subscribe to that.
And the show.
So you subscribe.
I don't subscribe to you, but I haven't bestowed you that honor yet.
No, but the, look, I think this show's called Uncensored.
You can do whatever you like, or I don't care.
But I'm just curious about you being someone who embarked on a law career, was obviously very bright, went to university, packed it in just for money to be effectively an online stripper.
I mean, that's what you do, right?
Yeah, way worse than an online stripper.
What do you mean, way worse?
Way worse.
Online strippers is, you know, naked.
I do things that are way more grotesque than just pornography.
Pornography, anything.
But it's all within what I want to do.
And I absolutely love it.
And I'm really good at it.
You know, I could be a good lawyer, yes, but also, am I good at doing other things on video and camera?
How would you feel when you want to have kids yourself?
Well, I mean, that's, I don't really want kids right now.
How old are you?
25.
Right, so you will do at some stage, probably, right?
When you do, you're going to be proud that you have your little ones and they look at you and go, didn't you want to be a lawyer, mummy?
What happened?
And you go, yeah, but look at all my stuff.
They can cry in a Ferrari.
You see, there will be, I know there will be people watching this, younger people, cheering you on, going, yeah, girl, you go well.
And there's other people going, what are you sounding like?
You sound awful, gratesque.
It's like, why go down this road?
You've obviously, you could be doing something so much better for the world than this, couldn't you?
No, I've been so like sexually open since I was at school.
And if you met anyone in my year group, they would be like, you were absolutely made to do this.
And I think if you put your mind to something, that you can absolutely achieve it.
Like, look at me with a little bit of good looks and hard work, you can become a millionaire.
Blair, look, you know, the play devil's advocate, Blair.
I mean, look, you know, I saw you rolling your eyes, but the bottom line is she's making millions doing what she enjoys doing.
She's clearly very popular.
I mean, who are we to be too prudish about it, frankly?
It's nothing to do with L, but I think it's important to state that it's not just about having good looks and a little bit of work ethic, because oftentimes, like I just said, you could be incredibly good looking at OnlyFans and only bring in $180 a month and still take on the entire stigma of doing sex work.
So while it's important to, you know, say that everyone can do what they want, we do have to acknowledge that L is the exception, not the rule.
And oftentimes these young girls, sometimes on their 18th birthday, are being misled into joining the site that completely demolishes any prospects of future employment for them.
And often statistically, any chances of having relationships.
A lot of OnlyFans girls are actually regretting being on the website, coming forward and saying they can't get a job now and they can't get a date and they never even made the money to justify doing it.
Well, that's all good.
I'm so happy for L, but that's the exception.
Okay, yeah, let me ask you on that point.
I mean, do you have a man or not?
You want a man?
No, I'm single at the moment.
But can I just point out that people fail at jobs all the time?
Like, just because you didn't make it as an actor, do you regret being an actor?
Like, so many companies go busk, busk.
And like, what point if you fail at OnlyFans and you've done porn?
Sorry?
I said, but if you fail at McDonald's, you didn't flip a burger correctly for a customer.
If you fail at OnlyFans, there's videos and pictures of you having sex or being naked on the internet forever.
But you make that choice.
It's not like loads of people fail.
No, I know.
You make that choice of getting naked than you.
The information, but you should be armed with the information is what I'm saying.
You should be able to do it.
What do you say though, L?
I mean, honestly, we've got to wrap it up.
What does it say about society where a bright young woman like you decides to abandon a career in a fantastic career as a lawyer to do this just because it's making you money online?
What does it say about the way society's gone?
That I'm successful no matter what I do.
I'd be successful as anything.
Are you proud of it, right?
Yeah, of course I am.
Of course I am.
More than you would be.
Through OnlyFans, I box.
I have a big social presence.
I have everything.
OnlyFans was my gateway to become this influencer that I am now.
Who wants to be an influencer, really?
Have you met any, maybe not OnlyFans, but anyway?
I find all influencers pretty shallow people.
I've got to be honest, because they think they're great influencing on people, but most of them aren't.
They're a bad influence.
I feel like now you've been to platforms, you're kind of an influencer.
Really?
Yeah, I'd say so.
I don't know.
Just you can have any views online and post them when you're an influencer.
That's true.
That has me as you.
That's true.
But I see myself as a journalist.
It was a career I always wanted to do.
You would have been a lawyer if you hadn't taken this path.
I reckon I'll interview you again in 15 years.
Yeah.
And you'll say, you know what, Piers, you were right.
I'll pick you up in my Bugatti.
Okay.
Well, it'll be one or the other.
Thank you for coming in.
Elle, appreciate it.
And thank you, Blair.
Appreciate you joining me.
Thank you very much.
Over the last few years, the worldwide wellness industry has exploded in popularity and profitability.
So there's estimated to be worth around $4.2 trillion a year.
But if you thought it was all about Gwyneth Paltrow's intimately scented candles or supping kale smoothies while adopting the downward dog, then my next guest is here to put you right.
Wim Hoff is the Dutch lifestyle guru whose radical extreme cold therapy method has made him a Sunday Times best-selling author and motivational speaker to millions.
More importantly, in a world of snowflakes, his promise to freeze the fear by putting ice in our veins is surely needed more than ever.
I'm thrilled to say the Iceman joins me now.
Well, welcome to Piers Morgan Uncensored.
Wim, thank you very much indeed for joining me.
Thank you, Piers, for having me on your conversation.
Ice Cold Therapy For Healing 00:06:00
Thank you.
Well, I'm kind of fascinated by you because a few quotes you came out with.
You said, we are, as a society, have become snowflakes.
Doctors prescribe too many pills, treating symptoms like anxiety and depression, but not the cause.
Connection with nature is profound.
Cold water is the remedy.
Exercise, connection with the natural world is paramount.
We're addicted to phones, iPads, laptops, and machines, despite dopamine, but it's futile and makes us miserable.
Tech has made us weak.
And when I read that, I was like, hallelujah, that somebody with a big following with influence is saying what is clearly ever more obvious.
Yes, and it is so.
We have abstracted through our technology.
I welcome technology, but I welcome biological technology of the human body even more.
How to maintain and activate and create and guarantee our own happiness, strength and health.
We lost that connection with us.
So I came up with a way to tap into the deeper physiology and endorse it by scientific scrutiny, by comparative studies, so there is no speculation about it.
They injected us, a group I trained into this method in four days, and they were able to withstand an endotoxine that is an E. coli bacteria injected into the veins and they were able to bring down the symptoms whereas 16,000 others could not.
And now suddenly 12 people trained by me in four days were able to bring down to suppress the inflammation caused by a bacteria.
And that is revolutionary.
It shows that we lost the connection with our deeper systems inside, which is the immune system, the endocrine system, the cardiovascular system.
And we have no control over that anymore.
And now I have shown by going into nature, then going through science, showing it in groups, that we are able to retrieve a deep connection with our systems and at command are able to exercise power over that what makes us sick, depressed, and lack of energy.
You know, it's fascinating.
And I've got, I've got to say, quite an increasing number of friends who go and do this wild water swimming, you know, freezing cold and jump in and they swear by it.
They think it's been really good for their mental health.
It's been good for their physical health.
So I definitely sense a lot of people are trying forms of this.
What's interesting to me, Zim, is how you really got into this.
And the sort of pivotal moment in your life came through utter tragedy where your first wife took her own life.
She was suffering from schizophrenia, took her own life.
And you were left with your four children.
And it inspired you to really go down this road of ice cold as a form of therapy for you.
How important do you think that was for you in getting over that appalling tragedy?
Back then there was no other remedy in my life.
I had little money, four kids alone.
And a wife, she was the love of my life.
So you are heartbroken.
Emotionally, you are in agony.
It goes around, around.
I had no control over that.
But I remember to go into the cold.
The cold, it makes you stop thinking.
It just breaks the loop of the emotional agony.
And that directly gave me relief.
Just a little time without being into that loop was able to bring about this healing from the inside.
So of course I went on doing this all the time since 95 and I did it very consciously because I had to bring up four kids alone with little money.
The cold, I tell you, Pierce, the cold and the breathing techniques, they gave me all the bloody energy to make a warm nest for my children and make me able to process all the emotional agony.
And now I say what back then all the psychiatrists did not know, I am working right now with the best psychiatrists of the world to show that we are so much more capable to tap into our emotional agony and learn to process trauma.
We got him.
We got him and I want to bring it and therefore I thank you for me bringing it through your show to so many people.
Well I think honestly I think it's a really interesting and never mind nothing else.
You've broken 21 Guinness world records including I'm going to read some of these out running a half marathon above the Arctic Circle barefoot in shorts swimming underneath ice for 66 meters hanging on one finger at an altitude of 2,000 meters climbing the highest mountains in the world while wearing again only shorts and standing on a container while covered with ice cubes for more than 112 minutes.
PGA Tour In Saudi Arabia 00:10:01
Now apart from the fact that you're clearly well you're different to the rest of us is how I would put it politely.
Which of those was the hardest The hardest is where it was most impressive.
Every time I do a world record, I am ready to take on fully 100% of my body and mind.
I know how to do that.
I learned how to climb without gear, steep walls.
I learned to trust myself breath hold and swim 60, 70, 80 meters under the ice.
Just breath hold.
And in short, things like that, you cannot do if you don't do it with a full confidence and trust and control within.
So my twin brother, my identical twin brother, is absolutely not able to do what I do.
Do his body is the same as me genetically, but I am very able to do it.
So I saw if you train your body, you are able to do what in science, physiologically, is thought impossible.
Wim, I've got to jump in because I wanted to end by actually enacting your work.
We found a member of the Talk TV team, Lauren, who is a massive fan of yours.
And we thought if he's such a big fan, we'd strip him down and chuck him into an ice bucket at the top of our building.
So Lauren, as a tribute to Wim Hoff, and thank you, Wim, very much indeed for coming on Piersborg and Uncensored.
We have a very uncensored member of Talk TV's team about to ice himself, hopefully not to death.
Take it away, Lauren.
Cheers, Piers.
Ready?
Good luck, Lauren.
Breathe deep.
In control.
You.
William, how long do we leave him there?
Two minutes.
Until, muscularly, he is totally at ease.
All right, leave him.
The job is done.
All right, leave him five.
Leave him five minutes until total paralysis sets in.
He's not had the best of years here, so it's the only punishment he'll understand.
I think it will not happen.
Lauren, you're a good sport, mate, and you've had a very good year.
William, thank you very much indeed for joining me.
I appreciate it.
Welcome back to Piers Borg and Uncensored.
The PGA Tour and Live Golf just entered a shocking, unprecedented, and very unexpected merger.
After a year of bitter dispute, legal action, disruption to the men's game, and questions surrounding human rights, the two sides today suddenly announced they're going to be best friends.
PGA's commissioner has described Union as a historic day for the game, having previously savaged LivGolf for selling out to what he saw as a brutal Saudi regime.
The Tour has long had a monopoly on elite golf and led the stinging criticism of the breakaway Saudi tour.
So has it sold out and why?
I'm joined now by the American Sports Journalist Clay Travis and the human rights lawyer and former Leeds United Managing Director David Hay.
You're welcome to both of you.
Now, David, I want to play you a clip.
This is Jay Morningham.
He's a commissioner of the PGA.
This is what you said when he was asked directly about fury from the relatives of victims of 9-11 about the live tour being funded by Saudi Arabia.
This is what the PGA commissioner said at the time.
9-11 Families United sent a letter to the representatives of Phil, Dustin, Bryson, Reed, and others, quote, expressing their outrage towards the golfers for participating in the new league.
I think you'd have to be living under a rock to not know that there are significant implications.
And I would ask, you know, any player that has left or any player that would ever consider leaving, have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?
I mean, it's pretty breathtaking, isn't it, David, that we're now in a place where the same Jay Moyner is saying this is now the greatest thing since Slaze Bread, having taken a lot of bread from the Saudis that he was so furious about.
Absolutely.
And good evening.
And I think it's going to be very difficult for him to come back from that.
And, you know, I speak from personal experience, as Piers, as you may remember, I mean, 10 years ago, I brought effectively Islamic money from state-controlled Islamic investment bank into Leeds United.
And as the Leeds United fans know full well, that did not end well.
It ended with flights of trying to ban alcohol from football clubs and all sorts of very terrible things and poor results on the field.
So I speak from experience in that sense.
And obviously now working human rights defending the very people that people like Saudi and the UAE torture and abuse.
So I think it's a shocking situation.
And it's not just about one club.
It's not just about football.
It's not just about golf.
But where does this end?
Is this yet another stop on a very dangerous road to control of sport by the wrong people?
All right.
Well, that's, look, it's a question a lot of people are asking.
Clay, I've got to say my reaction to all this, I'm a big golf fan, know a lot of the golfers, know Phil McKisson quite well, know Rory McElroy well, seen both sides of this debate raging away.
And I read a piece for the New York Post when it was all bubbling away last year saying, I think there's a stinking hypocrisy at the heart of the PGA position.
They go and have tournaments in China, for example, without banning an island.
Many of the sponsors do huge business in the Middle East, including Saudi.
So the whole debate to me was always about money and power and control.
It was never really about morality.
Oh, 100%.
And that's why I never had any issue with the decision that Phil Mickelson made or the decision that you would see happening with Brooks Kepka.
Look, those guys were trying to make the most money.
And the people who I think have the most right to be angry right now, Tiger Woods, reportedly Pierce turned down $750 million.
Rory McElroy turned down hundreds of millions of dollars.
Justin Thomas, and now the PGA itself is going to take the money that they decried as blood money and tried to connect to 9-11.
If I'm Jay Monaghan, I don't know how I face all those guys and look at them and say, why is it okay for us to take the money?
But you individual golfers who did it, who have far less resources than we do, you were somehow a pariah.
And I'll also mention this.
Do you know Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State Pierce, is on his way to Saudi Arabia right now.
If you're in America or anywhere around the world, wouldn't you want to criticize a guy like Joe Biden for giving a fist pound to Mohammed bin Salman and begging for him to decrease the price of oil?
The government's going over there and begging for Saudi Arabia to have an impact.
Why in the world do we care more about what Phil Mickelson does in terms of how he makes money?
I think this has always been right now.
Yeah, you know, I got to say, I found the way Phil McCasson was vilified absolutely pathetic, actually.
But I also have to say that I also thought someone like Rory McElroy did it from a position of being principled and being honorable.
He wanted to support his tour.
And he will be feeling.
Yeah, but he'll be seething tonight, I'm sure.
I mean, he must be.
Apparently, they all found out at the same time, literally like a couple of hours ago.
Bang.
So how this guy, this is the thing, David Hague.
I mean, I don't know how Jay Moynen stays as commissioner.
How can you evoke the memory of the victims of 9-11 as a reason not to do business with Saudi Arabia and then literally jump into bed with the Saudis?
I mean, how can you do that?
You can't.
And, you know, his position is untenable going forward.
There's no way that he can now publicly represent an organization that owned him that he's vilified, quite rightly.
And so that I imagine his tenure will not be long-lived going forward because it's complete hypocrisy.
And, you know, at the end of the day, it's the question that we all need to ask ourselves is: do we want politics and religion controlling world sport?
Okay, look, let me jump in on that.
I have a problem with that.
And I'll come back to you, Clay, on this.
I love sport.
A good friend of mine is Cristiano Ronaldo, who went to Saudi Arabia and is playing football out there.
He loves it.
A lot of big football stars are going out there.
Possibly his great rival, Messi.
We know Ben Zamaris and others.
There's a really big league being built.
They love their sport in Saudi Arabia.
When I was in Qatar for the World Cup, the number of Saudis over there loving it.
Why shouldn't they be allowed to invest and enjoy sport like we do?
And if we're all going to get very moral about this, you know, the UK, the US, what I would consider the illegal invasion of Iraq and so on, are we so pure?
Are we so morally perfect that only we can host sporting tournaments or invest in sport?
Look, all of us on some level work for billionaires.
So the idea that you're going to somehow arbitrate whether you're allowed to work for this billionaire or not, I think is fundamentally wrong.
And yes, I think, look, these guys have relatively short shelf lives to make the most possible money.
And again, that's why I come back to Tiger Woods and Rory McElroy.
They're the guy right now because PGA and Lib are merged.
They turned down hundreds of millions of dollars, money that they'll never make back.
I think, Clay, we've run out of time, but I think the fallout from this is going to be big.
Watch this space.
Clay, greatest talk to you, David.
Thank you very much.
Appreciate it, guys.
Whatever you're up to, keep it uncensored.
Good night.
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