I'm Travis Bader and this is The
Silvercore Podcast.
Join me as I discuss matters related to
hunting, fishing, and outdoor pursuits
with the people in businesses that comprise
of the community.
If you're new to Silvercore, be sure to
check out our website, www.Silvercore.ca
Where you can learn more about courses,
services, and products.
We offer as well as how you can join The
Silvercore Club, which includes 10 million
in North America wide liability insurance,
to make sure you are properly covered during
your outdoor adventures.
By popular request, I'm speaking with Silvercore
instructor, Darren Maughan, to discuss what
it takes to work as a bodyguard for some of
the world's most elite.
Darren recounts how he got into the
world of executive protection, as well as
some fantastic stories during his time working
with Oprah Winfrey and the Australian
National Cricket Team.
All right.
Based on feedback that we received from the
previous podcast we did with Darren Maughan,
we're sitting down again to talk about some
of the things that we kind of alluded to at
the beginning, which was the executive
protection work and your time shooting IPSC.
Darren, thank you very much for coming back to
The Silvercore Podcast, I'm glad I didn't scare
you away on the last one.
Thanks Travis, it's always good to be here.
You got very heavy into executive protection
and close protection security work and have
been doing that for quite a number of years.
Run your own company doing that and working
for other companies.
How did you get into that?
Oh, good question Travis.
You know, being, living in Zimbabwe
at the time, there was a need for that.
And there was a need for that in South
Africa, which was a bigger market.
And it was something that I didn't intend
to do, you know?
I actually went to agriculture college, so.
Right.
It wasn't something that I had as my bucket list,
but something that made this happen was I got
into, first of all, I got into the sport of IPSC.
Right.
You know what IPSC is, the practical
pistol shooting.
It was just as the world was starting to
really take notice of it and, and the world
shoots were taking off.
We actually had a, a, a strange phenomenon
when I just started shooting; that Zimbabwe
at the time wouldn't attend the world shoot
because South Africa was still allowed to go.
Ah.
But when that changed in 1990, 1999, I was
selected to go and represent Zimbabwe
in Australia.
And again I was, in those days, you need a single
stack 45, you know.
Yeah.
Manage to squeeze eight rounds into the magazine
after a little bit of tinkering and that's
what we shot with.
And it was awesome, you know, and we met
subs legends, even in those days as Rob
Leatham and the boys.
Right.
And I loved it and I just seemed they have
an aptitude to shoot, it just seemed to come
natural to me, I don't know why, I didn't come
from a shooting family.
I did my hunting and that and.
So with that, I decided like, you know, I'll
carry on doing the sport, this is pretty good.
And over the next five years, I actually
attended another, two world shoots a one
in the Philippines, one in South Africa.
And in fact, I think I may have got
that wrong, I think Philippines were 1999.
Anyway, I'll I'll correct myself later.
Yeah, no problem.
Anyhow, I went to three world shoots
and I did really well.
I was Zimbabwe champion five years for my sins.
Wow.
Made me the captain.
I don't know why, you know this crazy
guy from the farm.
Good for you.
It was all fun and enjoyable.
And I always had the opportunity to help train
other people and, and start training people
who hadn't really shot handguns before, had
been in the military but as most people know in
the military, you shoot, you don't shoot handguns
that much, right.
Right.
And especially in our military.
So they would come out and that's, asked me to
start teaching them how to shoot and it was fun.
I love teaching, I love people, I love
imparting knowledge.
It's one of my passions in life.
You're great at it.
Well, I hope so, I try.
And yeah through that, I met people who would say,
well, listen, you know, why don't you do some
close protection work?
In those days it was still called
body guarding.
I went well, I don't really know
too much about it.
I, I, I can handle myself.
I can, you know, I've been in some
tough situations.
I've been in some very serious situations
that we've got ourselves out of.
And they said, well, listen, we know these
guys, we know these guys, why aren't you
going to do a course?
And I ended up going to South Africa and doing
a couple of courses down there because we
had really nothing in Zimbabwe to do that.
A bodyguard, in those days was someone who just
came out of the military and said, okay, you'll do
and he, he looked mean.
Right.
And I quickly picked up that to do a professional
body guarding course you had to take it more
than just knowing how to defend yourself and
you know, how to shoot a firearm correctly.
There were many other things that
were involved in it.
So when I started, I started picking apart
what would be best and a lot of it was
client confidentiality.
Right.
Including client confidentiality, in that
day, they trusted you, there was trust in you
and also there was a bit, it was a bit involved in
client, client comfort.
They wanted to know, they wanted to feel special.
They were paying a lot of money.
And I think this went back to my professional
hunters days, right.
I sort of putting the two and two together
and so one of the things I started doing
is after I'd done all these courses and
passed the course I said, I think I can
integrate this into my own training course here
and start developing it.
And so that's what we started doing.
And then we invited instructors up to
us to impart their knowledge on us and.
Right.
And integrated that and what we found
out, now, this is quite interesting.
You alluded, right at the beginning of the
first podcast that I'd done some security work
for, for instance, the Australian Cricket Team.
Right.
Now, I ended up there as a security manager
for five years, but how I originally got
that, they were coming to South Africa to come
and play the world cup.
Right.
There was a whole bunch there.
And the South African company that we're
employing the close protection for the teams
decided they didn't want a South African
looking after the biggest rivals, cause South
Africa thought that we've got to win that war.
Right.
So they reached out to me being Zimbabwe and
I'd worked with them before, they said, would
you come down and do the Australian team?
I went fine and it ended up getting, got on so
well with the guys.
We had it, we, this is, this is a great
little story, sorry.
Is it all little antidote on the side here.
I love it.
Yeah.
Well, during the world cup, there were a couple
of matches that were shared up for the, in
Zimbabwe, but Zimbabwe were going through
that political turmoil.
Mugabi was when the news for everyone
and some of the teams decided not to go.
England for one, forfeited their
match, that they had a plan Zimbabwe rather
not go up there.
And it was that made international headlines.
Yeah.
Well, the Australians said, well,
we'll do we go?
And they had this big, I know you're talking
about all the major executives, this is a,
this is the national team and they all like
the best, one of the best teams in the world.
And they had to go up to my hometown, which was
in the South of Zimbabwe, we called Bulawayo.
So the manager said, Darren, I got to
come talk to you.
Now, the managers for the cricket team
is like God right.
He's the guy that runs the place.
Yeah.
I said, yes, He says, listen, we
think we should go, but we don't know.
I want, would you be prepared to speak to
the entire Australian team and tell them
your thoughts?
I went fair enough.
Right.
And I could speak from the heart because my
wife was still there, my kids were there,
my wife was still pregnant at the time.
Right.
In Bulawayo and I said, because it's not the
security situation we've got to worry about it.
It's your political ideas whether you want
to, or don't want to go.
The guy said, well, we don't want to shake
Mugabi's hand, and well, I don't know if
he'll even be there.
But I'm just going to give you the briefing
on the security side.
And it worked out well, the guys after the
talk it was a good 15 minutes I was standing
in front of this team that really I just met.
And they went, you know what?
We'll go, we'll go on your advise, we got to
hire, we got to, we're going to, yeah, we got
to get our own airplane and we're going to go
up there, charter it so we can fly out and
we're going to stay one night instead of two.
And then we're coming back and that'll be all
sort of, and they went up there and they played
Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, it was magnificent.
The Zimbabwian's were just ecstatic that they
had this Australian team.
I'm talking about the normal man in the
street and that they had this opportunity
to see Australia play in, in Zimbabwe.
So that was fantastic.
So that was cool.
First time.
So that sort of just led me into the idea
that you've got to be able to relate to the
teams at the time.
In fact, that time, that night they stayed
there, they all came to my house for a barbecue,
we called it a Bri.
My poor wife didn't know what to hit her.
She had the whole Australian team, the
management and the Australian embassy and
convergent in our little house in the suburbs.
You didn't tell her ahead of time?
Oh I told her, look, you know, I can't
tell you too much, but we're going to have a
whole bunch of people.
But I couldn't tell any of my best friends
except two of them.
And I said, listen, I want you guys to come
to my house tonight for a, you know,
we call it a Bri.
They're why?
I can't tell you, just come.
And when they arrived there, their eyes
were just like sources like the
whole Australian team.
Anyway so I, going back to what I said,
I, I realized that be, be able to connect to
the people that you're looking after, the people
that you are protecting, is an important thing.
And so what I did is I started training
my guys more in that.
Well, not more as an extra, there's an
you've better know your client's comfort.
So for instance, I'll give you a small example.
The client's going to get into his vehicle
that morning, you better make sure that
his newspaper that he reads is folded up and
on his seat next to him.
The water that he drinks is in, in the,
in the right place for him to drink the air
conditioner set at the right temperature, you
know, the radio station, if need be, or the music
they listen to you.
And the guys say, really, and this
worked out so well.
So you talked about Oprah and I can, I can
talk now because it's been so long ago, but
that's how I actually got that job as well.
What actually happened is another company in South
Africa said, look, we've got this issue here.
One, we need guys that can speak good English.
I'm like, what do you mean?
Well, in South Africa you have the Afrikaners as
well that don't speak, you battle sometimes to
understand my accent.
Well, if you're trying to know for context.
Right.
I mean, I love the guys, but so they said, well
okay, we want you to come down there, but there
was also this issue.
And I don't know if I can mention this, but this is
the truth of the story is that, we don't have the
right racial breakdown of our security teams down
there, they're all white.
And I went well, that's crazy, I've got a whole
bunch of guys here that work with me and
we trained together.
Can you bring them down?
Said yeah I can bring them down.
So not only did I go down, about another five,
six guys or my guys down to be part of the team.
For my sins, I was designated as the CPO
one to Stedman Graham.
That was Oprah's long term partners
liz, a fantastic guy, absolutely fantastic.
He's a motivational speaker, I didn't
know that and I love, I love that, I love
that sort of stuff.
Yeah.
Obviously you can see that, right?
Yeah, yeah.
And we got on really, really well and.
We'll do another podcast, once, I'll tell you a
story about what happened during our Christmas
kindness when a whole pink, blue dot on us.
I love it.
Yeah, that was a big one.
So that's really how I got into close protection
is that, it wasn't something that I had
inspired to when I, you know, left college
or anything like that.
It's something that came to me and, but
it's also, I think the realization that it's
not only that you have to protect your principal,
as you call them.
Mhmm.
But you have to look after him and sometimes
you even have to baby him, but you have to make
him feel good, but you know, put them in a, in a
environment that is best suited for the protection
of, of him, or her.
And make sure that, you can control that,
and sometimes there are difficulties.
Sometimes you have clients that have are
very difficult and they'll push the envelope
and they won't listen to you and there's always
that trade off of well listen, how much, do you
listen to me to, for me to be able to protect
you that doesn't impinge on your freedom as such.
Right.
So there's a lot of difficulties in that and
that still exist today.
That's gotta be a difficult one
to juggle too.
I mean, they want to be out there, especially
the celebrities, the personalities.
And your whole job is just to tuck them
away, keep them safe.
It's very difficult.
It can be.
I mean, sometimes you have awesome clients.
They'll listen to you because they, they know
that there's a threat to end that they, they want
you to look off them.
But at the same time, you're giving
them enough space to be a human being.
You know, they're not being a prisoner
and the you, you make those decisions.
But sometimes they don't and then you just have
to roll with it because at the end of the day,
they're paying you.
And if you have to walk away from a well paid job
because it's, the client, won't listen to you.
That's being professional.
I'm sorry, you know, we've talked about
this, you're not listening to me.
I can't protect you under the circumstances,
I can't do my job.
Because the last thing you want to happen as a
close protection officer, is your client get hurt.
How often does that happen?
Have you had to walk away?
Has that happened to you?
It's happened once or twice.
Not often.
We've, we've normally been able
to resolve issues.
That's not to say that there hasn't been a lot
of times where we've had to resolve that issue.
You have to actually sit down and talk it through.
Right.
You know, you gotta understand a lot of the
clients that we have are either high value, or
have celebrity status.
Here's a favourite one; celebrity says,
stop that person taking a picture of me.
I'm like, I can't, that's totally legal,
and everyone has a cell phone, so please don't do
anything stupid in public cause that's really,
what's going to happen.
So you have to talk to them about those
sort of things.
But by and large, I've been very fortunate
because I think I normally want to connect
and that doesn't mean it always happens.
But you know, it's something that I think
is, is missing, the large part in the training
of close protection.
You've got to some of these close protection
courses, and there's some really good ones
around the world.
But the emphasis is on fitness, on firearms
training, on self-defense training, driving skills,
which are all great.
Sure.
But don't forget that real personal part.
Well, that's all the sizzle, right.
And that's, that consists of a very small portion
of the actual job.
It sounds like the actual job is basically
good people skills.
Yeah.
Well, look, let's put it this way.
So you'll spend at the range and you'll go and
spend a couple hours every week training,
making sure your skill set is still the same,
where it's meant to be.
I'm talking about a country that you
are authorized to carry a firearm and
you need to carry.
Right.
But let's just say you do that, well how often are
you actually, during the time that you work going
to draw your firearm, nevermind fire it.
Right.
And the possibility is probably much
less than 1%.
So, you know, concentrate on everything else,
keep your skill set up, make sure that
you're ready for that.
Because a lot of the times you are doing
absolutely nothing.
And that's the hard part, to keep
your concentration.
I've heard of some of the courses recently, and I
think it's really good.
You just get there, four of you in the room,
they, they, they, they tape of a box around
you, square metre and they say alright, stand
there and wait until further instructions.
Three hours later, they still standing
there because a lot of the time, as a close
protection officer, that is all you're doing.
Really?
Is standing.
You know, there's a, there's a saying in
the close protection world, holes in walls,
you know, you, you you're setting in the
hotel in the holes and.
you know, up against a wall.
It's, it's, it's a lot of patience, but keeping
your concentration.
Cause that's when it happens right.
After three hours of standing, you know,
you start, mind starts wandering, you start.
Totally.
Yeah.
And, and, and that's when it happens.
So there's some really good courses around
and, you know, it's been good for me.
I haven't just done one on one, you know, I've
had that opportunity, the fortunate opportunity
of, of working with, as I said, the Australian
Cricket Team, I also work with English Cricket
Team and New Zealand.
And I traveled the world.
I've been all over with these, with these
various people and look, there's some really
glamorous parts about it, don't get me wrong.
Sure.
It's not just the three hours standing, doing
nothing, but you get to fly private jets.
You know, you drive them, the latest
Mercedes, you know, the Maybeck's you get.
And, and what I found, for me, was I got to work
with the most interesting people, because a lot
of clients will come to an area and they'll
bring their own personal close protection that
they've had forever that that's their guy.
But they need three or four or five guys
on the ground to work with their team.
Right.
And we've done that before.
And you meet the most interesting guys, guys
that have had careers that I've, I mean, I
can just, in awe of sometimes, I'm like,
Whoa, you know, did you guys really do that?
I mean, are you not telling me the story,
but you meet these, these incredible individuals.
And that's what I really love about it.
Well, I guess it's got to take its toll on your
personal life, it's gotta take its toll always,
essentially shadowing somebody, some other
big personality and their, their big life,
and trying to slice out time for yourself
in there as well.
It does.
And I mean, I've been doing it for a long
time now, you know, I'm in my fifties.
Mhmm.
Late fifties, almost, not quite but close.
So I've been doing this probably for 30 years,
on and off, and it does take a toll if you
will let it as well.
You know, there's sometimes you
can mitigate it.
There should always be downtime.
So, you know, the last 10 years when I actually
ran the teams, instead of me being on the ground
all the time, I would make sure that everyone
had the down time okay.
To decompress because it is a very high stress
job, but as you could decompress and that
you can, get back to your job the next day
or your next shift, you know, clear headed
and, and ready to work.
So there are those things, but also you
gotta, you gotta look at your family time as well.
I mean, for a family man, it's hard because
in the beginning when I was traveling a
lot, my wife and kids would stay at home.
That's one of the reasons I actually
moved to Canada, but that's another story,
but you know, I'm, I'm blessed that I have
wife that was very understanding and very
strong, you know, when I'm not there, she can
do just about anything.
So, but it does, it can take a toll on you.
And I think where I'm now on my waiting side
of the career, I would say that any close
protection officer worth his salt just will
know his limitations and limitations
come with age.
They come with, you know with anything, with time.
Mhmm.
You've gotta be able to realize that and then
work in cause you don't want to weaken the team.
In any way, and you don't want to put your
principal client in danger in any way,
just because you want to work that extra
couple of years.
Right.
It's a, it's a good thing to know.
Just park the ego.
Exactly.
Well, one of the things, and I've known you for
many years, and I've always admired about you,
is your positive outlook.
Now you're talking about stress and
decompressing, and I know there's been lots of,
everyone's got stress.
I know you've had many challenges in your life.
What kind of tips and tricks would you give?
How do you keep yourself so positive?
Well, it's nice that you just say that Travis,
I don't always think like that, but I am.
I think what it is, is that you can always
look at the negative and you can always
look at the positive.
Mhmm.
You're right.
I've gone through some tremendously challenging
times in my life.
Times that I would think, well, you
know what happened?
I'll give you the one challenge; when we
arrived in Canada in 2005, there was myself,
my wife, my two little girls and a baby.
Between us, we had nine bags and $15,000.
Wow.
That was it.
And in 2005 and that $15,000 ran
out really quick.
Yes.
I've just been truly blessed, number one,
to be in Canada.
I'm so grateful in every way you can imagine for
being in this wonderful country and what has
had to offer us and help us and assist us.
And we thrived, you know, we've we, we
settled in here, we assimilated immediately.
Mhmm.
I say simulated three, three and a half
years in Prince George coming out of Africa.
We have learned how to winterize in
Canada real quick.
Yeah.
Understand where propane is and how to light
a stove to keep warm.
But I always look at life as an adventure as
well, and adventures are never always going to
be easy and sometimes the harder the venture,
the more satisfying they are right.
So I look at that.
I also, there's an understanding, and
I tell my girls this all the time.
I said, you gotta understand life is not
easy, life is hard.
Life wants to beat you up, it loves doing that.
But let me tell you, if you can get up from
that, because it will, okay, you going to
live a wonderful life.
You learn from it and you move forward
and it's, it's just an amazing thing.
If you had to keep that positive outlook it's
like, well, something's good going to happen.
You know?
Yes, we got to go through hard times,
you're going to get.
Right.
Beaten down, but I'm going to get up again.
And so I have that attitude.
I mean, it's not always there, believe
me, I've been through some very dark days
and like, what's.
Sure.
Going to happen next.
I'm sure everyone goes through that.
Sure.
But I wasn't looking at the less fortunate
in the world.
I mean, I come from a country, you know,
people struggle everyday just to live.
I understand that, I also understand that
people with disabilities, you know, I have a son
that's special needs.
Yes.
And I just look at him and I'm like why
would I even consider feeling sorry for
myself or feeling that I've had it tough
or I've had it hard.
I mean, I don't have an everyday challenge that
some of these kids have around the world and
so that also, you know, gets reality set in.
You know, we live a really good life here,
we're very, very blessed to live in, in this
life that we live here.
And you know, I had that opportunity and you were
with me when we, when I set out my fire and
there's a big fire going out on the property in
the middle of nowhere, I sit and I just,
just feel so blessed.
And I think to be able to have that feeling
inside you, that, the gratefulness that you
have for life, for being here for, for
what you have, doesn't matter what you have.
You know, you're getting up every day, that's,
that's an advantage, some people can't do that.
So, you know, I think that also helps me stay
positive, being grateful, you know, being thankful
and, and, and just, just understanding that, that
life is, can be hard, but it's a beautiful
thing, you know, it's a beautiful place to be.
Couldn't agree more.
Yeah, holding that gratitude in your
heart is definitely something that, that'll
drive things forward.
Without a doubt, without a doubt.
We just went really deep there.
That was.
We did.
So bit of a segue, but you mentioned a tent
falling down story.
I did.
So this is way back when Oprah came to South
Africa, Nelson Mandela was still alive and she
was very close to him.
She used to stay at his house, but she decided
to do what they call a Christmas kindness.
Okay.
Which is a very, very good thing to do because
besides opening a school, you know, and building
a school for girls.
She decided that she would go into these
areas around Nelson Mandela's area,
basically, and set up a system where she could
give presence to these underprivileged kids.
Right.
And now this was a massive undertaking
because to actually even do that, do teams had
to come on first and figure out where they
were going to put these big, huge circus like
tents because they had to basically accommodate
the whole school and all the officials.
Cause in Africa, there's always a
lot of officials.
Okay.
Right.
So, and also had to then go out and figure out
what toys they're going to get and buy different
toys, you know, soccer balls and dolls and.
They decided to put all these in backpacks
and the pink ones would be for the girls
and the blue one for the boys and then the
different age groups.
And so there was a huge amount of preparation.
They sent out teams six months before that and
they asked me to come down because this is
the time they wanted me to come and provide
some of my guys as well.
And we spent time with the advance team doing
these, this, this work to get the toys and
locations and setting up.
Anyway, when they will arrived, Oprah arrived.
As I said, I alluded to it earlier, I was a
Stedman Grahams close protection officer,
number one, right?
Yeah.
And so I spent a lot of time with him and he
would break away from the group quite often to
go out and do his little motivational speaks
and stuff like that.
So once he had finished that he then went to
join Oprah and Gayle.
Gayle was Oprah's very good friend, I
think she still is.
Yeah.
And join them down there so that he could
help and be part of it.
So the, the process went like this, a huge tent
was set up, there was a smaller tent, which
was executive tent where Oprah could go and wait
and have refreshments.
And in that main tent, there were a whole bunch
of benches and a main stage in the front.
And then all these kids would then be bussed
in with buses and they would file in, in the
order of age and they would fill this tent
up from front to back.
And once all the speeches had been done, then the
procession was Oprah and whoever entourage was,
in this case included Stedman, would then
take these backpacks and walk down the lanes
and hand the backpacks out to all the kids.
It was great, and as the kids would then
get them, then they would then file out.
So the speeches had just been finished and we
were just starting to hand the backpacks out.
And as a close protection team, we
were strategically placed so we could keep
an eye on a principal.
They only got through the first row and I just
happened to look up out to the West and there
was this amazing looking cloud and it was just
rolling, but it was a lil far away and I didn't
really think much of it cause we were in Africa.
We don't get tornado's really, right?
Yeah.
Not that I've ever seen.
By the time we got to the third row, the
wind had picked up and this place was coming.
The, the, the, this, this rolling cloud was now
really getting close.
I'm like, this is not that good.
Anyway, by then Oprah said like, I'm going to
go back to the executive tent and get a drink
and then, Stedman said I want to keep going,
you know, cause you know, which is great,
so let's keep going.
Within the next five minutes, the storm hit
and it hit hard and it was out of absolutely
no where that the storm hit this tent.
Now I'm talking, circus tent, I'm
talking poles as big as tree trunks that
holding this tent up.
Right.
So just as, as, as a, a visual, the tent was
set up in a longitudal form and along one side
where all the trucks that had delivered the
backpacks that were parked along the side
of the tent, that was to the East, that the wind
came in from the West.
We were halfway down one of the, the
rows and I realized this is not good.
So I say, Stedman, run, just get out of
here now, he said, what do you mean?
I said get out of here now.
We had only just made it out of the tent when
the full brunt of the storm hit, it hit so
hard that it picked this tent off those,
off those big poles and started throwing it over.
By then I wasn't looking back, but Stedman being
a big guy and he's a tall guy, he took
off and he was gone.
He was like a giraffe, he was gone.
I'm like okay, he's safe, he's safe.
I got my, my principal safe.
Yeah.
But just before I got to the, where
the trucks were lined up, where Stedman was
running towards, Gayle was standing there
screaming for her kids.
She couldn't find her kids.
Oh no.
But at that stage it was a split second decision.
We need to get under the truck because
we're going to die.
And I felt it on the back of my head that the hair
standing up, these big poles coming towards us.
Yeah.
So I just out of instinct, I grabbed
Gayle and I'd rugby dived her, I'll call
it, like a tackle, underneath the truck.
Me and Gayle skidded underneath the truck and
as we hit the ground, all I just heard was just,
it was like a war zone.
These poles were just raining down, but
because of the angle where the truck was,
they would hit the truck and not drop on us.
If you envision what I'm saying.
Yeah, I get it.
It had formed a triangle.
Yeah.
But it was, it was like war and while this
was happening, Gayle was screaming and I
was holding her down.
By now I had lost sight of of Stedman.
So I don't know, you know, I might
be being a bit of trouble, but who cares?
This is like, this is Armageddon and nobody
knows what's going on.
And I look over to my right and I see this
kid that had crawled on the other end, I
grabbed him and I pulled him and it was, it was
Gayle's one kid right.
Okay.
So she's found one, don't know where
the other one is.
Anyway, this must've lasted only for about
20 seconds and just all, everything you
can imagine that when, when all hell
breaks loose was.
No kidding.
Happening.
And then it went from that to deathly silent,
deathly silence, not one word, no screaming,
no nothing, for about five seconds.
And then the radio started going
crazy in my ear.
Ahh.
Cause Oprah now is screaming where,
where is Stedman?
Where's her best friend.
Yeah.
Well, as it turned out, Stedman ran
round the side of the truck, caught his hip.
So he was, he was waiting the other side of the
truck, so he didn't get hurt, but he was now.
I managed to get Gayle and her kid out, saw
Stedman, grabbed Stedman, the radio's going crazy.
And guess who walks out of this absolute
mayhem with two of the most important people?
Your's truly!
It was just one of those times of my life,
where I was like, Whoa!
Right place, right time.
And it just happened, it was.
And I just remember it was, it, it, it was one
of the most scariest things cause I knew I
was going to get hit.
When you know this pole's going to hit me
on the back of the head.
When we look at the devastation afterwards,
it was mind blowing.
The whole tent had gone all the, all the chairs
had been knocked over.
There were people who had broken arms.
It was people that had massive
concussions, including I think the pilot.
There was some serious injuries.
Geez.
Anyway, segue to this story.
So from there, Oprah runs up and she's
very, very happy that like Stedman's okay.
But Stedman's like agh, my hips really sore.
So anyway, she said, Perez go to speak to
Gayle and Stedman says, I said Stedman I think
we should just get you checked out, get him
and go to the hospital.
He went, you know what, you're right and I
had just this little stick shift, little
van, type thing that we were driving around in.
Whereas the way everything else was set
up in close protection and the convoy, you have
a limousine one that has the principle and then
you have the lead and you have the backup cars.
And, and, and that was all set up
for Oprah right.
But for us, we just arrived at the latest
so we were in this car.
So I said, well jump in, I'll push
the seat right back, cause he's a tall guy.
Make sure you don't hurt your hip.
In fact, I said, I'll you know, I'll
put you in the back.
So he said, okay, let's go.
So we jumped in and as I'm about to go,
next thing Oprah's bodyguard jumps right
into the passenger seat.
Said what happened?
He said Oprah's coming.
Why?
She wants to be with Stedman, I'm like
okay, but I've got to stick shift right.
And I know what she's like, she likes things
smooth, which is fine.
Sure.
And I went, okay.
Anyway, she gets in and I'm like, okay,
how do I let this clutch out smoothly?
And change gears smoothly.
And we're going to do it right, okay.
And just look out from the corner of
my eye and I see all the other security
guys running, diving into their vehicles,
trying to form up a, you know, the convoy.
It was, it was just one of those
things, you know, we had to get there.
And anyway, I got him to the hospital
and they checked him out and he was fine.
And, after that I dropped him off at
Nelson Mandela's home and I actually got
to walk in there so.
Really?
That was another Whoa.
That was a day.
That was the day.
Yeah.
And the final, the final thing that
happened that day.
So when I get back and we'll dusty and tired,
and everyone's going back to the hotel, I'm
the last guy to walk in there and Oprah's other
body guard, she has two, and he says, Darren,
Darren, come here.
I'm like ugh, what have I done now?
What have I done now?
Cause you know, that's what.
Yeah.
So, I guess he said, wait here.
And he said, he goes to Gayle, says
Gayle, there he is.
And Gayle runs, and I'm in the middle of the
hotel foyer, she runs up and throws herself
at me and hugs me.
And I'm like, what'd I do now?
So yeah, you get, you, you get, sometimes you
get those days where you will remember, and
it's not just standing, holes in walls right.
That is fantastic.
Well, Darren.
I really appreciate your friendship, I really
appreciate you making the time to come in
and speak to us again.
Thank you.
Oh, you're welcome Travis.
And it's reciprocal.
I value our friendship.
You've taught me a lot out here as well.
Believe me, I've learned a lot from you and
I'll continue doing it.