Tea with the Taliban, Dodging Death & Building a Business

🔥 Beyond the Boardroom – From Soldier to CEO: A Wild Journey

What happens when a former soldier, security specialist, and The Apprentice candidate turns entrepreneur? You get a man who's had tea with the Taliban, dodged death multiple times, and built a thriving pest control empire.

🚀 In this episode, we dive into:
💼 Life in the military – The highs, the dangers, and the wildest moments
🎯 The Apprentice experience – How reality TV is manipulated behind the scenes
🐀 From combat to pest control – Why the industry is booming and what Lord Sugar missed out on
🔥 Surviving controversy – The truth behind the headlines and life after the show
🦁 Chasing Snow Leopards & Road Trips – Adventuring across 100+ countries

💬 What surprised you the most about this conversation? Drop a comment below!

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📩 For Business Inquiries & Collaborations:
Email me at aleksandra@aleksandraking.com

🔊 Listen now—you won’t want to miss this one!

📢 The views expressed by guests are their own and do not reflect those of Aleksandra King, the podcast, or its producers. This podcast is for entertainment only.

The views expressed by guests are their own and do not reflect those of Aleksandra King, the podcast, or its producers. This podcast is for entertainment only.

Transcript

  This is an interesting one. I interview Mark Moseley, who is a former soldier. He's now the owner of a pest control company, obviously ex BBC apprentice candidate. Um, this guy's done some wild stuff. We covered the apprentice, but I mean, as his time as a soldier, he's had tea with the Taliban, okay? He's almost been killed numerous times.

So this was a really interesting interview, and you're definitely going to want to tune in. 

Hi, Mark.  Hello, Alexandra. You ready for this podcast? I'm ready for this podcast. Scared? A little bit scared, but no, I'm never scared, but it'll be fine.  I'm joking. No, you're a former soldier. You're not going to be scared of this. I hope not. This is nothing for you. No, we'll see. Words can hurt sometimes. And a security specialist.

Yeah, so I spent a bit of time in security, yeah. And an entrepreneur. Yeah. And an ex BBC candidate. Correct. There's no way you're scared of this podcast. No, it'll be alright.  What are you thinking being interviewed by another crazy ex BBC Apprentice? Yeah, it's nice to actually see the different side of the stories, how everyone felt about the process.

It was an experience. I feel like it's the new people's turn now, but it always plays in your memory sometimes. Should I have done that? Should I have done this? Shouldn't I have done that? But it's one of these things I think it's geared up for. I personally think, so I've done my research for going into The Apprentice.

So I'm a numbers man. I love numbers. So I looked at all the stats and there were stats like. Lord Sugar had never invested in anyone over the age of 31 from the show and I, at the time, I was 39 and I was thinking, so he's not looking good, most of his last candidates had been girls around the age of 28, a female seems to be the one.

Yeah, I think it was like that last 34 candidates who made it to the interview stages. Twenty nine were females and six were guys and I was like, Blimey, what is going on here? Is the girls that good at this process? And then I dug a little deeper and then I found Karen Brady and I was like, Oh, that might be the reason.

But that was all good fun. And yeah, it was all right. I love the process in the end. Interesting stats. You appeared in 2023, right? That's correct. Series 17. Yep. So how many weeks did you last before you got culled? Yes. Before I got the dreaded finger, it was eight weeks on air, but about Five and a half weeks in normal time, but 17 was my lucky number.

I was born on the 17th of March, St Patrick's Day, right? When I found out it was series 17, I thought, I'm gonna win this. And I got put in a hotel and it was room 17 at quarantining. And then when I walked into that waiting room, I was the 17th candidate to walk in because I was counting people and you all stood there scared and one more person.

So I was like, 17 series 17 suspicious, isn't it? So I was thought,  I've won this already. It'll be run. So just maybe not one, but it was your destiny to be on it on series 17, which you were, but then eight wasn't your lucky number. So you were out in week eight. So why were you fired? I was fired because  I, the team just didn't sell enough tickets.

We're going to a little, so it was the team's fault. No, not at all. I wouldn't start the accountability. Yeah. I'll take all the accountability. It was a, yeah, we went into the brainstorm as they call it. And everyone wants to try and make as much money as possible. So, you've just gone to a, we've just driven up to a little rural market town in Shropshire.

And we're sat in this brainstorm, going 150  a ticket, 200 a ticket. And once we left that meeting, I'm sat there, I don't think I'd pay 150 to 200 to go and watch my favourite band play at Wembley Stadium. I know Oasis are playing there now, maybe then, but I thought This is ridiculous. We've got to drop the price down to about 90, 100 because people are just doing an impulse buy to a prison.

And yeah, and then that got brought up quite a lot in my firings and you're just chopping and changing, you're changing the prices. And I was going, we could have been selling tickets to the moon and no one's going to be paying 100, 150 for a ticket to a prison on a Saturday when it's their weekend. Were you quite adamant and stuck to your guns?

And did you listen to the feedback? Or were you like, I don't know.  Yeah, I don't mind listening to feedback. But yeah, once we'd left the brainstorm, I realised, you know, process what you've just spoken about. You think, this is not going to work. Well, it definitely puts a spotlight on you. Yeah, it does, yeah.

So if anything goes wrong, it'll be like, that's the disruptor. He needs to get fired because they're like a bunch of animals and they go for you and oh, yeah Everyone tries to save their own skin, but I think I've never been No, well, I've never been project manager So I told everyone in the brain so I said what everyone just take a step back because he's coming for me So if I don't be project manager this time, yes.

Yeah, it was all I think they wanted me secretly to go in week six They've been a few you know,  issues behind the scenes, if you like. And so I think they had it for me for week six. But thankfully for me, we're in Dubai and people were going down with seasickness. Someone else whacked their head on our team.

So we lost half of our team. And I thought, yes, the other team somehow magically had a 60 percent refund and we won the task. And I was, we were like, Nice. Well done. Well done.  Were your feelings hurt though, when you got fired a little bit? No, no.  I felt my heart going. You feel your heart going? It's going, it's coming now.

The boardroom's scary. Yeah. It's so cold as well. I think it's all the air conditioning. Yeah. Yeah. To keep all those millions of cameras. Cool. This is it.  And there's a lot of people stood around the boardroom that no one sees and you're thinking oh my god, everywhere. And the minute it's your turn to talk, you've just got 50 eyes on you and you're thinking oh my god.

Don't say something stupid. I quite like the boardroom. I wish that I could get hold of all the footage and play all the stuff they didn't show. So you're quoted as saying that Lord Sugar's missing a trick. Yeah. If he doesn't pick you, he didn't pick you. So what trick is he missing? The pest control industry is very lucrative.

At the moment, many pest control companies are being bought up by some of the bigger guys, and it's the best time at the moment to sell a pest control company. So if he was invested in me, we'd be probably exiting with seven figures quite comfortably now. And he would have You reckon? Easy. Yeah, I'm not going to go too much into my, the business finances, but yes, we've had offers already, which is great.

The business does very well and the show has helped with that. It's opened quite a lot of doors, which is a bonus, gives you credibility and that's the main thing that comes from The Apprentice. Well, that's the thing, you might've gone out in week eight, but you've got your business, you're running businesses, you're doing several things and legitimate money making.

Yes. That's it. It comes down to actually, you must have a fairly, you know, sharp head on your shoulders to be able to carry on, manage stuff. To even get on. Yeah, to even get on the show. I think you've got to be a character to get on that show. That was the whole point. It was only when I was watching, there's 20 people in a room and you all stand behind a bit of paper and they say 30 seconds to sell yourself and there's people there going, Oh, I've got a great idea for Lord Sugar.

And I thought, this is stupid. Don't worry about ideas. Just be funny. So I just went in and said, you lot, pin your ears back. You are looking at the Series 17 Apprentice winner. I'm opinionated and a bit of a charmer as you can all see. And he got a laugh. And then they were like number one, five and seven go to the back of the room.

And that was me. I was at the back of the room for the next stage. But it was, yeah, like I say, we're going back. Ruthless, that whole stuff, you know, you out, you stay, you now speak. So that's it. Yeah. And then it's interviews. I remember speaking to the chief exec, the TV company, and then one of his aides, Lord Sugar's aides.

And they said, come on then, why you? And I said to him, I said, if you think a Tesla, who do you think of? And he went, chief exec went, Elon Musk. And I said to the Lord Sugar's aides, I said, if you think of Amazon, who do you think of? Jeff Bezos. And I said, and when you think of pest control, you're gonna think of Mark Mosley.

And they both laughed and they went, up you go. So that was the next lift. And I was like, I said to the runner, I said, I can't go up anymore. I said, I've got four hours in my parking. I ended up with a parking ticket when I left there eight hours later. And I missed my friend's 40th birthday as well in Norfolk.

So I had to tell his wife on the group chat, can't make it, my car's broke down. Oh, yeah, because you can't tell anyone, can you? I also heard you saying that you're the best rat catcher in the world. Best rat catcher in London. Oh, in London. Not the world then. Pretty good rats. A quite an intelligent animal.

These big ambitions. You've gotta extend that to a world. Yeah. Universe. You can take over the world. But yeah. Well, pest control, you're not worried about the world so much. You just write about major cities. That's where the pest are, where there's lots of people, there's, there's gonna be lots of pests. So is the experience, your apprentice experience what you expected or not?

And if not, how, how did, uh, I mean it wasn't you. You dunno what you're going into. You're going into a blind process. I think the hardest thing is you are having your phones taken off you, you've got no. Contact with the outside world, the internet. I remember I left the process and then one morning I woke up and I thought I was talking to one of the guys in my room on The Apprentice.

And I'm talking to him. What time is it sat in the other? And I realized I was like. Jesus Christ, I'm back. It was last week I was there. I'm back home now. And it was like, like a short version of PTSD. But anyway, so it was a strange run. But no, but the process, like I say, the show gives you credibility, which is the main thing.

That's what you want. So if people try and Google you now, they might be able to say, Oh, he's a pest controller. He's not going to try and rip us off or anything. So it gives you that credibility and people trust in you a bit more. blogs, no one. It depends how you're made to look. It might take away from the credibility.

I've spoken to ex candidates where they've been made To look a certain way. Oh yeah, that's it. It doesn't necessarily give you that credibility. That's true. You've got to be quite It's how you're edited. So you've got to I think the main thing, if you're on the show and anyone's going on the show, you've just got to play the game.

You've got to try and However they want you to act, however they want you to be, and if they want you to be a bit silly. After week two  I knew it was a lot of manipulation. What do you mean by that? There's a lot of things going on. Week one, we're in Antigua. And you know that they've got to try and get customers to sell us.

They're telling us to go places and there's people there. And one person, we got to this bar one night to try and sell these tickets and this person was like, Are you from the BBC? We're like, What? We've just come to sell you tickets. No, they rounded us all up and told us to be here from the beach. And we were like,  Oh, here we go.

And then I thought about, I thought maybe they've got to make a TV show. So let's, they round a few people up so we can sell tickets to them. When it got to week two, there was just so many of numbers getting there. One of the big judges got their numbers wrong or something like you had to make a minimum of 200 bowel buns and the girls had made 180 bowel buns, but they won the task.

And I was like, that doesn't make sense. And the girl's corporate client wanted 80 Bao Buns, ours wanted 50 Bao Buns, so we're already 150 down before we've started the task. So in the end, I just, after that task, I just started laughing. I said, that's it. I'm just gonna have fun now because it's a lot of manipulation.

One of the girls, Shannon on it. She was like, this is ridiculous. This is, this is she means this, what is it? It's them doing what? The manipulation to try and say this team are gonna win. To make TV? Yeah, of course. They want car crash TV for entertainment. So yeah, Shannon, brilliant. Do you think it's a fair game then?

Do you think? I think they've got their favorites, but it's whether it's a fair game or not.  They'll, if your face fits and you're okay and they think, Oh, we'd be able to work with you, fine. But if there's a bit too much pushback from yourself and you're like, no, that's wrong, this is wrong. They don't like it.

But yeah, but the girl Shannon, I think she's probably the most successful out of all the candidates. And she was left on week two and said, this is just ridiculous because of the manipulation. Yeah. Because it's not business acumen. That's what it was. But at the same time that people love it. I wouldn't. I wouldn't start putting things down too much because the public love The Apprentice and they like to feel good about themselves when they see other people going bad.

Yes, and you love it and it's entertaining and it's fun and everything. However, if you're in that situation and made to look a certain way, then obviously it's not that fun. Exactly. Concerned about because there's some people that will go on that will be more concerned about their personal brands than others because they need to be.

Maybe they're more corporate or whatever. Maybe they've got family and things like that. So they're a bit more sensitive and careful. Yeah, there was there was people planning like that. There was a few of the guys were really reserved. And then when we left, and one of the guys in my ear, so how he's I wish that I'd done what you were like, just tried to be funny and just tried to have a laugh more.

And I'll try and not be the class clown, but I'll have a laugh. It's definitely the way forward treat. It is entertainment. So go for the entertainment. Exactly. Sure. If you're going to stay in. So what was it like living with the Other apprentice candidates. It was good. We got on really good. Yeah. Was it not good for yourself?

No, and I went to boarding school and I lived with all sorts, but this crowd  You weren't the ostracized out of the group were you? No, it's just snoring. Yeah, but also the I suppose the noise from production coming I couldn't sleep very well because I would always I knew that they were trying to come  To film us.

So there was pitch up with a little cars outside I knew that we're gonna come in at any moment and start the camera in your face. Good work We'd hear that we'd hear the driveway go. She'd hear the vehicles pull up and then I'd be in my room He was a character real nice chap and he would do press ups before they come in.

So one morning. Yeah, it's funny So one one morning I just got naked and I stood at the windowsill and I was like when they come in That's my backside's gonna be on there. Okay, please don't do this. Please don't do this mark I was like no and then just as they were about to come in. I was like, ah, I better just put my Boxers back on but I thought if you're barging into someone's room, you don't know what you're gonna find So I was just gonna stand there with a cup of tea Backside sham, but I thought I better not because I'll get me in too much trouble Just try a bit of fun with it Something about when you're not eating that much and sleeping that much that things aren't that funny anymore So like we had that when people would like like I said people you live with singing and like really loud I mean in three minutes that you've got to sleep that you're allowed that you're trying to sleep.

Yeah Right, heavier topic. You were in a race row. A race row? With Shahzia Hussain. Yes. Who made a complaint over your behavior on the show  for leaving her feeling unsafe.  And distressed following an incident that occurred.  So can you talk us through in your opinion? Yeah, I mean, what happened? There was, we were just won a task.

It was task three. We'd made a cartoon and we weren't on actually on the same. We were on the same team, but not the same sub team.  And it was all to do with the name of this bloody giraffe. It was Yogeeta the Giraffe, and we were saying, Yogeeta, two to four year olds, whatever age category it was, wouldn't be able to pronounce this.

If we said Geeta, that works perfectly, because kids, mama, dada, Geeta, it works. Anyway,  the other scene, there was heated arguments, and then, when it came to, there was half the team were watching it on a TV screen, in the old dragon's den, and the other half were presenting it to these BBC children cartoon people.

And, yeah.  Shazia was going, they're doing it wrong, this should be right, so let them carry on, blah, blah. And then she said something. She said, like, I thought you would say that with the way you are. It was indicating that me and the other guy who stood next to me, Brad, were who we are, our demographic, our background, so on and so forth.

So we just zipped up and just went quiet. And then when it came to winning the task, and the judges loved the name and all this lot. And, uh, we won the task and we were in, I don't know, Shoreditch, doing a little cheers with some cocktail. And then, yeah, Shazia made a comment and said, we went cheers and she went, the task that I won us.

And I was like, I said, you really are toxic. And that was it. So, cause it got personal. That was all I said. Okay. And that was it. And next thing is, I want him kicked off the show and all this. You're thinking, oh my God. Who was she saying that to? with the production who are behind the camera and the cameraman he's now trying to get it filming it because it's all been filmed and then when it came out we've been forewarned when the show was airing  because later on i won't tell you too much but other things had happened like production person started crying was made to cry legal threats by whom yeah this individual yes all this was going on these things had nothing the subsequent incidents these were all other incidents had nothing to do with you yeah nothing okay so the sugar Basically switched us over with the teams.

He was like, you're going to different team. And then other things happened. And then I heard like, screaming and shouting and man, it'd take you to court and all this thinking, Oh, my God. So everyone just quiet and really went quiet. And when the show got aired and Shazia went in whatever weeks you went in four or five or six, I'm not sure which one it was.

I knew something was gonna be coming out a week later. But it was awesome. It was all it was said. You're toxic. That was it. Yeah. Did the  PR team speak to you about that? Yeah, really briefly. Yeah, I got loads of phone calls. I've missed 25 phone calls from the PR team. Yeah, from the press team. Okay, just hold that for a second.

Apprentice launched an investigation into this, into these allegations. Do you know what happened, what the outcome was of that investigation? It was, uh, all these HR people, we've got, we had a diversity and inclusion person came in, um, and spoke to us all as a group, and then I was getting Mark, can you go and speak to, it's funny, one of these HR people came in and it was a woman and she goes, I want you to talk me through exactly what happened.

So I went, so it was boys versus girls, uh, on the previous task. I went, well, I'm going to stop you there because, um, it's not boys and girls. They're adolescents of boys and girls. You are adults. And straight away my back's going up and I was like, okay, I'll try and keep, I said, okay. So it was gentlemen versus ladies.

Okay, I'll stop you again. Ladies are someone with a title like in the monarchy and now my back is really up So I don't want to talk to this person and I'm thinking don't belittle me I'm just trying to tell you the story and about basically it was this guy's in the wrong  He's gonna be interrogated and then more HR people want to HR ladies.

I've got woken up on a day off It was about 7 in the morning said mark some HR people here to see us. Oh, here we go got downstairs  And they said, we've listened to all of the rushes, they call it, where they listen to all the audio. And they say, you've not done anything wrong. Yes, you've been personal and called someone toxic, but there's nothing They've said that.

Okay. So I'm just going to read this according to the Metro. A spokesperson for The Apprentice, BBC The Apprentice, said, The Apprentice has zero tolerance on racist bullying. The duty of care and welfare of all the candidates is of utmost importance. And when action is required, we take it. So apparently they've, they researched it and whatever.

And candidates sign up to strict code of conduct and If there was evidence of racist bullying, candidates would immediately be removed from the process. That was it. My feet wouldn't have touched the ground. But everyone in that house, they're everyone's normal, nice people. Do you know what I mean? No one's out to be that racist or whatever.

Any phobias you can come up with there's millions out there these days, but yes, and that was all it was, but and then when these two HR people, they went, look, your next task is the motorbike task, and then you have to Dubai and none of us have been told about Dubai. And I thought they just let it slip.

So I left there now. And I was like, I might just go and tell a couple of people. Anyway, I  went and told a couple of the lads. Basically, they've just let slip we're off to Dubai. So we need to get through this next task. And yeah, and I told a few people and then they told a few people next thing that most of the candidates knew.

And I'm like, Oh, why did I sack? This is going to put me in bad stock. Have you reached out to Shazia at all? So look, you misunderstood my situation or whatever, did you? Um, 40th birthday, um, which was, and I invited all the candidates. Yeah, and you invited her as well? Of course I did, yeah. Good, good.

Everyone deserves, you know, I invited all the cast, crew and everyone. So everyone got invited, um, but she didn't turn up, but no, there's no hard feelings. I wish you all the best. It was just the heat of the moment. Right. Okay, we'll move away from, we'll move away from The Apprentice right now. As you were a soldier.

Yes. Why did you join the army? I'd had enough of school, actually. I joined at 16, so as soon as I'd done my GCSEs, I just signed up to the military. I didn't really want to go to college or university, and it wasn't because I got bad grades. I did alright A's, B's, and C's, and all the major ones. And I joined the military at 16, I wanted to go in the infantry, but because my GCSE grades were okay, they said, we want you to go into the Royal Engineers and not the infantry.

So, anyway, I joined the Royal Engineers at 16 years of age. It was great, and then, yeah, after two years of training and,  Royal Engineers, building bridges, demolitions and being an electrician. Two years later, I got sent out to Germany, my first posting, which, yeah, I stayed in Germany for seven years and I'd do six months Germany, six months on tour somewhere.

So just in general, what was it like serving your country as a soldier? It was good. It's all about meeting the people. Being in the regiment I was in, you've got people from all over the country. So Scottish guys, Welsh guys. And we were just thrown into the boiling pot of basic training, but  it was fantastic.

I loved it. Were you proud? Yeah, of course you are. When you pass out after basic training, your mum and dad are there, and you stood there in your number two outfit, and of course you feel proud. But at the same time, it's, you're not doing it for, I shouldn't say queen and country, at the time it was queen and country.

You're doing it just for, one, it's a job, and two, now you've been with all these people, you enjoy it. It's like working as a  I sometimes look at countries like the States and even Poland, where I'm from, and that they really do treasure their military. If you say, I'm from the military, it's like, oh, wow, respect, immediate respect.

I don't think we have enough of that in this country. Like, we don't  value our military enough. We should, we should really. Well, the Americans, American people, American soldiers, and they'll walk through a train station and they all get clapped. Whereas at the moment, like, we used to go out, um, and they used to, the bouncers used to say to us, Are you in the military?

And you say, Yeah, and they say we're not coming in tonight as though it's like a standard thing that all the military guys will be fighting. So I know you've gone to a lot of interesting places with the army, done some cool things, but one of the best stories I think has something to do with the Taliban.

So tell us about that. In 2003, we got sent out to Afghanistan. Mazar Sharif was the province. And we got sent into this derelict sort of house, if you like. It was a row of houses. And when you think of houses, it's more like I wouldn't say mud hut, but you can see it's a big mud hut, if you like. So they said, this is going to be a Norwegian safe house.

So we want you to basically build it up. We need to put toilets in there. We need to put sewage system in the back garden and things. When we were digging up the back gardens, we were digging up, like, bones of people. And it was like, oh, my God. Whereas if you dig up a bone of a person now, like what happened with, how is it, King Richard, where they dug up in a car park?

Yeah. All the construction work has to stop. But that wasn't the case. Oh, dear. Bones to the side. And, um, We'd made these showers where, uh, basically it's a solar shower. So you put your bag, put some water in a bag, the sun heats it up, you hang it up, and then you have a shower underneath it. So we're having our showers, and next door, the Taliban, who live next door, and they would be stood there with AK 47, you know, automatic rifles, just looking at us having a shower, and you're like, Mate, what's going on?

They just stood there. So we're thinking, we were all friends at the time, they invited us around for dinner. It was crazy. What did they cook for you? It was lamb, it was like a, yeah, it was like a lamb stew. The meat was on the bone. It's good, you trust them. It was alright, the meat was on the bone. I don't like meat on the bone.

But yeah, we had this lamb stew. I love meat on the bone. It was great. I didn't say that. In the middle of the night, you'd hear like a big commotion going on. They'd all go off in one of these like, open back trucks. Like, man, what is going on out there? We weren't seen as a threat. So we were all friends with the Taliban, so they would go off fighting other rebels in town and then they would come back and we're thinking what has gone on, so we were all, we were living in the basement of this building with our rifles stood to thinking is this going to come for us and uh, and about obviously two or three years later, even though we were friends with the Taliban, two or three years later, um, that all changed when things heated up and I can imagine, I heard the Norwegian safe house just got blown up straight away. 

Even though we'd built it as soon as things heated up a bit more and the troops had finally moved into Afghanistan. Yeah, anything we'd built just got blown up, I think, overnight. But, um, it was interesting at the time. It's the political situation. We just walk to go and get water in the morning. Two of us would just walk through town with our rifles.

People would shake our hands, say hello, really friendly and things fill up. Yeah, a load of solar showers with this. Well, all the kids would be around us and we'd walk back with a wheelbarrow full of all these. Solar shower, water, water filled solar shower, sorry. And then, you shouldn't obviously be able to do that these days, because what happened.

But, it was an interesting time, but we got to see it before war had really got announced in Afghanistan. It all depends where you are. I spent quite a lot of time in Kabul. It is like going back, and I'll be careful because I don't want to upset anyone, but It's like going back to a third world, if you like, really going back 100 or 200 years, except they've got electricity and we've got more electricity.

That's what it's like, especially in like the remote areas that you go out to the forward operating bases. And there's just nothing there. I mean, we used to get, I mean, we went down to one forward operating base and build a big watchtower and it was called FOB Shank. It was an American base, but it got more indirect fire from mortars and rockets.

a day than the whole of Afghanistan, all the other camps put together. So when I was down there, it was just the constant, the alarms are going off, take cover and you're just running for the closest bunkers and things and you're hearing bang, you're thinking, Oh my God, please don't land on me. You're no wonder Apprentice was fine for you.

I don't know about that, I was still shaking in the boardroom. Because that's the sort of practice you need in a way to go into that. I think. So you traveled for 18 months after the army and apparently you visited over 100 countries. Can you list the countries, please? I'd love to list all 100. Let's see what you can list then, go.

I'll list the favorites. So for scenery, without a doubt, it's got to be the South Island, New Zealand. Probably the most beautiful place I've ever been to. Just list. What, list them all? List, let's go. I could be List the countries. I, I can list the countries that I've travelled through. I'll just start off with Afghanistan.

I didn't, obviously whilst I was travelling, but I mean Go through the alphabet, go. Afghanistan, Austria, uh, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cameroon,  Congo,  Chad, Denmark,  Dominican Republic, Egypt, England, Finland, that's a beautiful place if you go to Santa Claus Village over Christmas. Yeah. Do you want me to keep going?

Keep going. I'll be here all Keep going.  You're only on nine. I know, but yeah, I can just, maybe I'll just go through here.  I'm joking. America, Australia, New Zealand.  You can tell me some of the most unusual. Tell me three really unusual places that people wouldn't have heard of. There are ones that people don't go to on holiday, let's say.

So we got sent to the Congo for four months. And anyone, any of my mates who watch this will be like, Oh, I'm not about the bloody Congo again. But that was an interesting time. So, um, there'd been a  fight between these two militias in Bunya. And we had to go and build a runway and then build an apron off this runway to get more aid in.

And when we're there. I'll be trying to keep it too serious, but a French journalist turned up and, um, he went down into the town and only his head came back. And there I was about to ask you, did you take your malaria tablets when you were God, larium. Yeah, so you also say that you've met a lot of people, hundreds of people, and including royal family, including celebrities.

Tell me the three biggest. Name drop. Let's go. Let's have it. Who's the first one? Breakfast with Princess Anne. She's nice, isn't she? She's beautiful, like, just such a lovely person. Disciplined, wonderful woman. Yeah. Um. It's a good one. Yeah. I met Prince Harry, but it was only just a handshake, but so it's against the royal family.

Okay.  I'm trying to think, I was going to say like a football player or something, but one that stuck out in my head as a kid, the old actor Vinnie Jones. My brother had football trials for Wimbledon and I was a kid and this guy Vinnie Jones, who was a football player for Wimbledon, turned up and he said, he went past me and there was no one there except me, I just went, are you alright? 

And he went, alright. And I just went quiet and he basically come back and I was only a kid and he's like the hard man of football at the time and he got me and went, What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? And I was like, Oh my God, I'm so sorry. And he went, I'm only joking. And I was like, but that will always stick in my memory.

But he's great. I thought he was fantastic. I met him once after. I didn't say that story, but he was. Yeah, that was always a thing. But yeah, we do jobs for, I'm not going to name drop any people because no one wants to know they've got pests. But from, yeah, that would be controversial. Many royals to many celebrities to  yeah, whatever, many rich businessmen.

But it does, I wouldn't name drop because no one wants to know they've got mice, rats, cockroaches or whatever else in their property.  Yeah, as long as you're nice to bees if you find them, I hope you don't consider those pests. No, we don't consider, if we lost the bees tomorrow, it'd cost the farming industry billions to cross pollinate all their crops.

Yeah, nice to the bees. Yeah, we always say, leave bees be, because obviously they do some I also feel sorry for wasps, but, yeah Oh, they don't care. Bees are a placid insect, whereas wasps, they're just a flying arsehole. They will sting you. I can't stop laughing. That's rude, yeah. That's what they are, essentially.

They will just sting you and they think, but it doesn't matter, I'll sting you. And when they sting, they release a pheromone which tells, it's an aggressive pheromone. So the other wasps then go, we need to sting as well. So then they all go for you. Whereas the bees, yes, they will sting you, but they know they're going to ultimately suffer.

They're going to die after the sting. So they're placid, but wasps just aren't. But we've got this hornet problem now, don't we? Well, Asian hornets, yes. So Asian hornets target our bees. And they're horrible things. They've now been found on the UK mainland. They were mainly in Jersey, they were being found in Jersey, the big problem over in Europe.

And now they've been found in Jersey a couple years ago. Now we're finding nests on the UK mainland. You better have your wits about you're going to deal with that pest. If you get a sting from one of them, they yeah, anaphylactic shock, you are in big bother. So people are dying. People have died after having these Asian hornet sting.

Stop. Yeah, there's a good French guy was having a barbecue some years ago, Asian hornet stung him dead. Okay, let's talk about another one, travel one, snow leopards. You were hunting, looking for, not hunting. No, not hunting. You were trying to find snow leopards. Correct. Yes. In Mongolia. Yes. Now, cats are, especially snow leopards, are the most private and elusive cats of all cats.

Correct, yeah. What made you think that you would, they would go, There's Mark from The Apprentice. That was it. Well, how do you say that? I went to Mongolia and I went to this, like, first the Ulaanbaatar, the capital, and went to this shopping mall there. It was like this. Again, it's a bit third worldy and you go to this shopping mall, which is all very smart and plush And there was a girl in the camping shop getting a head torch because I left mine and this girl went, excuse me Were you on The Apprentice there?

And I was like, oh my god, you've come to Mongolia and someone sees you But that was good. But no, the snow leopards,  I don't know I think ever since I watched Planet Earth 1, David Attenborough, you see the snow leopard It's just a beautiful creature. My mum always had cats, but I'm more of a dog person, but I just fell in love with this animal and I thought I'd love to go and see one in the wild.

Yes, they're called the ghost cat. And so I thought, well, I'll go to one and get one. The ghost cat ghosted you? Pretty much. We came close. There was two brothers and we were told, so there was trackers out before us. They would go off first thing in the morning. We'd go off different ways and we're up and down hills.

I think they just like the adventure anyway. It's all snowing and it's just really cool. I love all that sort of stuff. And they said they found, we found two snow leopards. It's the brothers. So we're trying to go over these peaks, and we're trying to get there. Anyway, this tourist, American tourist, decided to get his drone up.

So he's got his drone up,  and he's gone over to where these snow leopards are. He's scared the cats, and they've gone over these hills. And then we get there about a half hour later, and they said, Oh, they were here. But, mate, he's gone and got his drone up, and he's scared them away. Yes, me and Three or four others were quite upset and we were, um, close to, uh, strangling this Taurus with his drone, but anyway, but we'd only seen him for about, probably around about Eight, 800 meter would be the closest.

But you've all got binoculars and things. But I love, like the snow leopard. I wanna say the ghost Cat's quite private.  See a bit of myself in the ghost Cat. Mysterious. Yeah. No, I, I don't think it's the drone. I think the cat just didn't wanna see you guys. I mean, probably the, the drone, not drone. Okay. So you came close to being killed twice.

Yes, a few times here we've come close. I think the closest I ever came was again in Afghanistan,  I was on an airbase called Bagram and you live in probably a container about as big as this room. It's like the old, the ISO shipping containers you see. So they get taken away from the shipping companies and whenever they fall off the back of a lorry and then they fit them out to put toilets in, air conditioning.

So I had this and  yeah, we'd Outside my room, there was something called a phalanx gun. It's an automatic weapon and you hear it go off and it's, it tries to hit indirect fires. If there's a rocket coming in, this gun will fire off hundreds of bullets in a few seconds to try and knock it out of the sky.

And it sounds, it goes,  spinning around. You're thinking, anyway, when I'd hear that go, I think, Oh God, is it coming close to me? And then Usually the first one would land and then all the alarms on the camp would go, so everyone's gotta take cover. But yeah one night. I remember I was sitting watching the Peaky Blinders.

Someone had told me you need to watch the Peaky Blinders. I'm sat there on my laptop watching the Peaky Blinders and I hear this RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR And I think, oh no, that phalanx is going, and I think it'd be okay. It'd be okay. And then I hear, you know, it sounds like the cartoon  You hear it and I was like, Oh no, I thought this is coming.

The first thing I did was just jump on my bed, but it hits the top of my container. It's going through and it's going to hit the floor and it probably landed when we went outside the next morning, we could see where it landed. It wasn't like a massive crater. It was a small crater and it was probably.

About 10 to 15 meters away. But when it hit the stones, all the stones went up and hit all the side of my thing, which isn't bags. I thought at least the stones, they get pushed up in the air. But I remember thinking to myself, that is the closest I stayed under my bed for about. Twenty minutes just shaking and then one of my colleagues.

Yeah, there's I just got this knock on the door and  there's an open the door He goes, where are you? And I was like, I'm under the bed. He was like Utah get up Anyway, you just said to him I said that's as close as I've ever come and he was like, yeah That was a close one, but it was exciting and it's a story to tell but there that made me reassess That was probably the last sort of six months of my time working private security because it was things were getting a bit dangerous There was sadly a guy who opened his window to the wrong person in Kabul and didn't survive.

You'd drive through Kabul in unmarked vehicles and the police, as soon as they see it's a Western complexion, they'd be like, stop. And now you're, you're now sat on the side of the road. And they'd be like, we want water, we want food, and we'll let you go. And we're like, we've got all the passes to drive through.

It's called the silver area, the silver zone, if you like. Ring of Steel, they used to call it. But they wouldn't, yeah, every time we went into the Ring of Steel, they would want water off us. And we have water, but They wouldn't let us go. Anyway, one guy sadly opened his door. Not a British guy. I was talking to the police officer and then sadly a knife came through and then we see it, drove past and we were like, do not open our windows to anyone.

And then that was probably about three months. We had the mortar, that happened, and then three months later I left. I was like, that's me. Because, yeah, it's getting a bit dangerous. Okay, so what are you doing now? Now, so, I still own the pest control business. It's doing well, which is nice. Yes, it's doing well, and whether I sell it in the next couple of years, or whether I sell it this year, I don't know.

I've had a few offers, and I've done a little side project as well, doing something completely different. I don't think I've got bad hair, and you'll probably, people will say, that's right. But I don't think I've got too bad hair, so I thought  So I've always worn pomades in my hair since about 2005. What is that?

The pomade, it became famous. It used to be like pigs fat they used to put in their hair. But it became really synonymous back in the 1920s with the gangsters. Yeah, it's a hard like gel if you like.  People always think it's the slick back. If you put it in your hair dry, it actually holds it quite nicely.

Yes, so I thought, every time I've spoke about pomades, people go, I don't use pomades, I use whatever else. And I said, you know what, I'll come up with a pomade. So, I've come up with a couple of products. And, now I sell them on social media. It does what it does. I'm not going to go into the financial side of it, but it does Do you have one here to show us?

I do, yeah, but Go on, bring it on.  Bring that bad boy. Bring it on. This is it! But this is Oh! Can I open it? Yeah, push down. So, it's like a wax? Oh, you can open it, yeah, see. 

That's solid. Yeah, it's not wax. It's a pomade. Smells nice. Yeah, but that all came off like jelly. Yeah, that's pretty much. Yes. It's like gelatin, if you like, but it's beeswax. I'm not going to try it now. No, I wouldn't. But it was that that's  spawned off the back of the apprentice that so yeah, one of the candidates on there.

Joe, lovely chap, he had a lip balm product called Surf Balm, so he was telling me all about it and I thought, I wish I had a product to sell when you leave the process. If you had a product to sell, great, because you could make a bit of money out of it. Yeah, product's always easier. Yeah, so I thought, I'll just start my own product, so I went through the brand in Ox Hair because I think You know, I'm trying to target men 30 to 50 year olds because ox is a resilient animal.

It's gone through some arduous things, I think. You're quite a resilient animal. Yeah, this is it. See, men are sort of having fun. Okay, sell it to me. Why is that a good product? Go on then, why is it good? This is a good product because it'll keep your hair in place. Most of the day. Shake it on. Yeah. Even when you're playing football and things or sports.

Also, it's water based. It's not oil based. Water based products come out of your hair easier. Oil based is a nightmare to try and get out of your hair. So that's Okay, so you can wash it out easily. How long does it stay in your  It will stay in your hair for about 12 hours. That's what we You can with pomades.

If your hair starts drying out, you can get a bit of water and put a slight bit of water in your hair and then it's back to set how it was. It's fantastic. But yeah, pomades, my selling techniques, probably not the best, but TikTok is where you need to sell these days. I've been doing TikTok shop, the live videos for an hour, just stood there in front of the camera, talking about pomades.

I have a decent audience. Oh, you have a decent, okay. Better try a bit harder. I'll have to try a bit harder. Yeah.  That's all right. You get it for your partner and then we'll see. When I spoke to you earlier, you said that you sometimes feel lonely running your own business. Is that still the case? Or have you made more friends in the e commerce scene?

Yeah, there is a good group of e commerce people that I've met, not to be fair, ex military guys. Everyone's trying to sell their little products and things, which is good. But I think when you are a business owner, it is lonely. It's just you're fighting against everyone else.  I went to a do last night, some boxing do, black tie event, and it was all business owners, and everyone says the same thing, and everyone's having this problem at the moment of hiring staff, and again, I'll be careful for your audiences, but it's the younger staff they're really struggling with.

I spoke to two business owners on my table, and they said, we're hiring people in their twenties, early twenties. And the communication skills just isn't there and I'm saying maybe it's because they're on their phone a lot. They don't, they won't ever go out after work, not to socialize, but when they do a work event, they try and avoid it.

So if they take everyone out to Tempin bowling or something, he says it's just not there. And then they leave early and things not generalizing too much. That's what I was saying. So I thought it's my business. They won't know. employ too many younger people these days because people don't want to get into pest control.

It's a dying industry. So anytime you see a pest control and most of them these days, we're in their 30s, and you'll see some in their 60s. So where the pest control goes out the window in the  coming years, because the younger generation want to do sexy, cool things on TikTok and things we don't know.

There's definitely a different mindset and different doesn't necessarily mean they're not bad. Yeah, no. But they do think differently. And for sure, something like a work life balance. In the olden days, we used to be able to like, Oh, it's like, it's all about the work. And you come to obviously work till you die.

And you have to give your kidney for this work. And you have to like, those sort of things. I forget your family. Forget your, no way. Don't eat, sleep, forget about it. Give your soul to this work. Like that, those days. You're hired.  Those days they're going now because obviously you can do that and it's going to be, it's going to be good, but then you might have the outcome.

Look at Steve Jobs and, and that sort of thing. I always go back to that. It's like that, that is the price that is an ultimate price. And if it's your own business, you're more inclined to do that. Why wouldn't you give your kidney and your whatever, if you have this dream and you want to change the world,  but then if you're an employee.

You just seen someone going, come on, stay late. Come on. Don't go home. Don't see your friends. I don't care about that, but they work. It's really important you work. Really?  There is that side. I agree. There is, there has to be a balance somewhere. There's, um, friends of mine. They're in offices where they say.

Some people can't come in because there's not enough seats now, they've downsized their office space and says people have to be doing, they can't all come into the office, what's it called where they do whatever working or flexible working is it? Yes. And then you hear recently in politics, the government was saying we're going to go into a four day week and things.

That's really work stuff going on there. And you think this just can't happen because yes, it can happen with some people, but then they say, well, we're going to work long, we'll do 12 hour days. And you think, come on, guys, no one's going to do a 12 There are people who start slacking off, especially people at home.

I was only around someone's yesterday and they were going, Oh, did you tap my computer screen for me? And partners like, I forgot. And they're like, Oh, you idiot. And you're thinking this is actually a real thing. Yeah. But I don't know. It's hard. It's a hard one. Balance is key, but. Yeah, I don't know. What's next for you?

Love Island? Something else? No, there's nothing on the books for me. Jungles? No, I don't know. I've got a few. Gonna stay away from TV then? Yeah, I think I'd probably rather stay away from TV if I'm honest with you. But I'm looking at maybe doing next year going on a road trip across America for four weeks.

I don't usually take much time off from work. I usually have a long weekend here and there. So I've got about ten days off a year and my weekends. But next year I thought, you know what? March, April time, I'll either go to Japan for a month or I'll drive across the states for a month. That's my next plan.

So I want to do one of these big trips as I've never road trip route 66 or something. Do you know what I mean? I'd love to go and see like some of the mountains or go get a flight up to Alaska because I like the mountains. Unfortunately there's no snow leopards there though. Leave the cats alone. Yeah, I'll try to.

Let the cat come to you. Yeah. Never chase the cat. True. I'll get myself a dog. That'll do. Yeah. On that note,  thanks so much for joining us on the podcast today. It's been great. High five. Thank you for having me.