The Debrief

In November 2012, two fishermen set off from the coast of Mexico. Only one came back, 438 days later, having drifted almost 7,000 miles across the Pacific, the longest open-ocean survival in recorded history. The Debrief is joined by journalist Jonathan Franklin, who tracked down survivor Salvador Alvarenga and wrote the book documenting the whole ordeal. Jonathan takes the team through how it began, a routine trip that a storm turned into a nightmare, and what happened to Alvarenga’s young, barely-experienced crewmate out on the water. He explains how he fact-checked a story almost too extraordinary to believe, what kept Alvarenga alive through months of total isolation, and the strange mental tricks that stopped him losing his mind. Then the moment everything changed: after 438 days, land.

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Would you wear clothes made out of human hair? Turns out that idea is a lot closer than you might think. The Debrief is joined by Zsofia Kollar, founder of Human Material Loop, who is turning the hair swept off salon floors into actual, wearable fabric. Zsofia walks the team through exactly how it works, from strand to sweater, whether the end result would actually be comfortable against your skin, and how far away we really are from this landing on shelves for millions of people. Dane and Shaan, meanwhile, remain firmly split, somewhere between genuinely disgusted and quietly wondering... hmm, maybe?

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You know those boxes. Around 500 dirhams, and suddenly you have every movie, every sport channel, streaming platform, all of it “for free”. But a new report has the FBI tracking down the people who own these boxes, and it is not about the free movies. The Debrief is joined by Ahmed Khanji, CEO of GridWare and one of the cybersecurity’s leading voices, to explain what you are really plugging into your home. He breaks down how a cheap box can quietly turn your internet connection into a proxy for cyberattacks happening on the other side of the world, whether you should actually be worried if you own one, and how far law enforcement will really go to get them off the street. If you have got one of these sitting under your TV right now, this is the one you need to hear.

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As Barack Obama's speaking tour puts premium meet-and-greet access on sale, The Debrief digs into what that eye-watering price tag of AED 20,000 per ticket actually buys, and why every ticket comes subject to a background check. Joining the team is Jason Russell, a former US Secret Service Special Agent of eight years. He explains just how big a headache an event like this is when the public is given close access to a former president, what kind of personal history gets someone flagged, and what most people misunderstand about presidential security in general. And the question everyone secretly wants answered: how close are the presidents and their agents really?

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The Debrief hears the extraordinary story of Ricky Kidd, sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without parole for two murders he did not commit. Ricky walks the team through it all, from the fateful day police first made contact to the moment the gavel came down in the courtroom and his life changed forever. He describes what it was like to walk into a maximum security prison for a crime he had no part in, and how, behind three layers of barbed wire, he somehow found his purpose again. It builds to the moment that had all of us in tears on air: being told, at last, that he was free to go.

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The Debrief puts Shaan in the hot seat with a live negotiation, then takes it apart - before handing it over to a real expert. Joe Navarro spent his FBI career in counterintelligence and behavioural assessment, and he reveals the tiny signals people leak long before they say a word, and the thousands of behavioural tells hiding in every interaction. He even weighs in on what makes a good handshake (hint - it’s not always strength), and what he makes of the world's most famous grips, including President Trump's.

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The Debrief is joined by Nirmal Rajah from Mleiha National Park to get everything you need to know before one of the year's great sky shows: the Perseids meteor shower. Nirmal explains what the Perseids actually are, and why this year's peak, overnight from August 12 into August 13, is set to be especially stunning, with up to 100 meteors an hour. He talks the team through where to watch across the UAE, from Mleiha's UNESCO-listed dark-sky desert to spots away from the city glow, the best conditions for catching those famous fireballs, and just how rare a display like this really is. No telescope required, just a clear patch of sky and a little patience!

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The Debrief digs into the storm surrounding Amanda Knox's new one-woman show, Cartwheel, at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. The team looks at why the production has drawn sharp criticism from Meredith Kercher's family, who have called the idea offensive, and how Knox has defended it, insisting the show honours Meredith's memory and confronts the violence done to both women rather than making light of the tragedy. We weigh what the family, what Knox, and what festival-goers themselves make of it. Dane and Shaan then look back to last year's Disney+ dramatisation of the case, and to Dane's own interview with Amanda herself, in which she opened up about everything she has lived through. She told Dane more about how she intends to keep telling her story, and what she makes of the criticism that still follows her, despite being acquitted of the murder twice.

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The Debrief is joined by Brandon Maben, category lead for the Adidas Originals business across the MENA region, to get to the bottom of a question dividing pet owners everywhere: should you really be dressing up your pet? With the Adidas pet collection now landing in the UAE, Brandon reveals why the reaction here has been so huge, and how it all traces back to Gen Z and the way they see their pets. He explains why the whole trend started in Asia and what was driving it there, walks the team through what's actually in the collection, from mini Cali Tees to collars and carriers, and names the standout bestseller. And the big question underneath it all: is pet fashion a passing novelty, or a category that's here to stay?

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The Debrief is joined by Brandon Maben, category lead for the Adidas Originals business across the MENA region, to get to the bottom of a question dividing pet owners everywhere: should you really be dressing up your pet? With the Adidas pet collection now landing in the UAE, Brandon reveals why the reaction here has been so huge, and how it all traces back to Gen Z and the way they see their pets. He explains why the whole trend started in Asia and what was driving it there, walks the team through what's actually in the collection, from mini Cali Tees to collars and carriers, and names the standout bestseller. And the big question underneath it all: is pet fashion a passing novelty, or a category that's here to stay?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.