Brendan McDonough was the sole survivor among the 20 members of the elite firefighting group the Granite Mountain Hotshots during the fatal Yarnell Hill fire of 2013. As the crew battled a raging wildfire, 19 perished in a tragic event that was memorialized in the film Only the Brave. Brendan tells us how he escaped death and about his agonizing road to recovery.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Told in the words of filmmaker and journalist Louis Myles, this is the ridiculous true story of Carlos Kaiser, a footballer who managed a 26-year professional career without playing a single game. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After being arrested at Don Muang airport, drug smuggler David McMillan spent over a year in Bangkok’s infamous Klong Prem prison. In this gripping account, he reveals the nightmare of existence in this notorious jail and explains how he did what no other Westerner has done: escape. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The world's most famous paleontologist discovered the first dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere, the first evidence of parental care among dinosaurs, and is the inspiration for the main character in the book and film Jurassic Park. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hollywood filmmaker Michael Robert Gale is best known as co-creator of the wildly popular Back to the Future trilogy. In this episode find out how the films got made, why they have endured, and the chances of seeing a sequel. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2018, Claire Nelson took a lone hike in the desert. She shattered her pelvis in a fall and ran out of water. Here she retells the gripping account of her determination to survive. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1974, Philippe Petit set out to achieve the unthinkable: a high-wire walk more than 1,300 feet in the air across New York City’s Twin Towers. The event that enthralled New Yorkers almost 50 years ago has been immortalized in an Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire and the 2015 filmThe Walk. He told us how he constructed the audacious plan and what it felt like to look down on the world below. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul de Gelder’s life was upended when a routine Navy dive brought him face to face with a 9-foot bull shark. He recounts the harrowing details of his attack, how he survived against the odds, and why he now refuses to succumb to fear. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Terry Waite spent 1,736 days as a hostage in Lebanon between 1987-1991. Here he recounts in harrowing detail life in solitary confinement chained to a radiator for up to 23 hours a day and explains why the human spirit will never be broken. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Durant, the Black Hawk helicopter pilot made famous after being taken hostage in the Battle of Mogadishu, reflects on that fateful day on October 3, 1993 - the crash, the ensuing gunfight and 11 days in captivity.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1971, retired sea captain Dougal Robertson made the outlandish decision to sail his young family around the world - only for their boat to be sunk in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Nearly 40 years on, this remarkable story is told vividly through the account of his son, Douglas. It’s a tale of adventure, shipwreck and redemption, as Douglas reminisces on the last voyage of the Lucette. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1985 Joe Simpson and his climbing companion Simon Yates become the first pair to successfully summit the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. But after reaching the top and preparing for the descent, it was then that things started to go badly wrong.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since meeting Tom Cruise on the set of Edge Of Tomorrow, Stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood has never left the actor’s side - crafting stunts that have tested Cruise and left audiences in awe. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1985 Joe Simpson and his climbing companion Simon Yates become the first pair to successfully summit the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. But after reaching the top and preparing for the descent, it was then that things started to go badly wrong.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two time space shuttle captain and former commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield paints a vivid picture of life in space, living aboard the ISS and the question of aliens.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.