I feel really sorry for Todd Sampson’s wife. And his kids too.
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Not because he’s a terrible person or anything like that – he comes across as a nice enough guy on TV.
More because of his apparent desire to put himself in harm’s way. Repeatedly.
I’ve only started watching his hijinks on Body Hack 2.0, which has been airing on WIN on Thursday nights (though it’s been bumped this week for some of James Corden’s woeful carpool karaoke – even one episode of that show is far too many).
The biggest takeaway so far is his family must be sitting at home watching the series through their fingers.
Last week he joined an Iraqi military patrol through the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul. Why? Apparently because soldiers can teach us a few things about handling stress and danger.
Watching your partner or father walking through a place where people have guns and don’t mind shooting them at you must come with its own sort of stress.
Maybe in an upcoming episode Sampson could feature his family watching an episode of his show and monitor their vital signs to see how they deal with it.
Perhaps they’re used to it, having seen him doused with petrol and set alight, try his luck in a cage-fighting match and asked to be choked unconscious – though he drew the line at cannibalism in a recent episode.
But if it was me, there’s no way I'd be watching the show. In fact, I’d be asking my other half “can’t you find out all these things by asking someone who has done it, rather than doing it yourself?”.
As a host, Sampson is engaging and his “what am I doing here?” moments do feel genuine. Overall, he's effective as a guide through these other worlds, other experiences and can convey the information in an easy-to-understand way.
I’m just glad I don’t have to worry about what he’s going to do next.