Worst Case Scenario with Abi Clarke and Julia Stenton - Day 3 - Ricky Megee

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

Abi and Julia have an incredible story that needs to be heard to be believed in episode 3 of Worst Case Scenario.Ricky Megee wakes up in a shallow grave in the vast Australian outback, stranded with absolutely no way to communicate or survive... but here's the thing—against all odds, he fights tooth and nail to stay alive. Resilience, endurance, and the quest to quench a thirst. Buckle up and get ready for the wild ride that is Ricky Megee's survival saga!Send in tales of survival from your own worst case scenario to [e-mail] and follow the podcast on Instagram @wcspodTheme tune by the brilliant Crizard who can be found on Instagram @crizards Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get attacked by an angry shark Stuck up a mountain in the dark Pushed off the top of a big landmark Hit by lightning in your local park Caught in a downpour of acid rain Struck by meteor or a train A proton beam passing through your brain Attack by that angry shark again

Hear how they survive Trappled by a herd of buffalo Chaste with an axe by your new friend Joe Buried alive in a pile of snow It's the worst case and Hello. Hi. Welcome to the podcast

where we tell the stories of those who found themselves in the worst case scenario and live to tell the tale. It's your grizzly fix but with a happy ending. I'm Abby Clark and I'm Julia Stanton.

And this is worst case scenario. This. That was a nice little, I don't know, I brought the little jazz in there, a little five, six, seven, eight. You take a musical theater out of the Oh no, what is it? You can't take the musical theater,

but you can't take the musical theater out of the girl. Margarita? I think you mean piss, Julia. Oh, sorry. Would you like some of my piss, Abby? I'd love some urine day three. Day three piss. Day three urine, just as Bear Grills likes it.

Yeah, is that day three is prime? Is that the best day? Well, we're both... Nice bit of ASMR. Ooh. Well, as we know, Bear Grills. goes urine day one. But we thought we'd mark each episode we do. Yes. As a day of urine. Who knows how many there'll be? This could be the final one. We've got a big bottle filled with

urine that has the day marked on it. How's that? That's a sparkly piss. Is it? That's fermented already. Someone's had a lemonade. That's carbonated. So, yes, this is the podcast where we tell survival stories to each other, taking tips along the way of how we could also survive the worst case scenario, which we're convinced will one day happen to us despite never really leaving our houses. But we also want to hear from you. So if you have a story of survival or a moment where you think you find yourself in the worst case scenario, please send them into us at help, not at, to help at wcspod.com. Or you can follow and message us on Instagram and TikTok we're at WCS pod

don't forget to press follow on whatever podcast app you're listening to follow for a follow that's still a thing do you remember that? Follow for a follow! Fire for a follow like for a like I'm lying we won't follow you but feel free to follow us

whatever and yeah listen on whatever podcast app you're listening to us on now give us a five star rating and a review and if you've got any friends who are in need of a survival toolkit or you know just want to some terrible stories. Share worst case scenario on WhatsApp. Thanks. We are terrible

at that. Okay. Julia. You survived anything this week? I survived a questionable gig in Exeter. Oh yeah? Well made it questionable. It was actually, so yeah, we got there. It was sort of, there were a few people there, sort of not talking.

And then the MC... There's a lot going on outside. The MC got her boob out, so... Did she get the boob out? It was accidental. So how did this accidentally do? It was, I hope she doesn't mind me telling this story. Oh, I think she'd take this with pride. Yeah. I'm surprised it wasn't on her Instagram story.

Yeah, it might. She shares far worse on that. Yeah. I've seen her on the toilet too many times. Really? On the toilet? She shares a lot. Blimey.

Oh, well then she won't care about this. No. So she plays a character and she was MCING in that character. And there's a bit where she does a dance and she gets some people up from the audience to do the dance. I've seen the bit. Yeah. And she was doing that. and she was wearing a crop top,

and at one point her arms are waving up and down. Oh, it was an underboob? And one boob just slipped under... Yeah. She wasn't wearing a bra? She was wearing a bra. The bra had come up over the boob. The boob had slipped under the bra and under the crop top.

Wow. She was really giving it some beans when she was jumping. And what would she put in the survival kit to avoid that again? Sports bra. Sports bra. Yeah. But that's no fun. Yeah.

She carried it off so well, though. She really, you know, she just kept it out. No. No, she did put it back in. The crowd of loving it. Let's get going. The two old guys that she got up on stage really loved it. Oh no.

Yeah, a bit too much. What have you survived this week? I survived a weekend with my ex. Oh shit, yes. How was that? Oh my God. We haven't talked about this. So, first of all, let's talk through booking a B&B,

an Airbnb room suitable for you and your ex-boyfriend. um two single beds i went for twin beds okay nice which felt passive aggressive when i sent him the link yeah with being like is this okay yeah but he was like yeah that looks great and i was like quoth cool then we drove oh it was about in total so we did like four our journey to my parents separate rooms at your parents separate rooms at the parents but then that was the case when you were together so no change there then um and then got up early drove like another three hours and then arrived at the Airbnb um first of all didn't realize um it was shared with other people wait what are we talking about so turn up um as soon as

you enter Wales all signal internet gone and i'm not the kind of person who's pre-downloaded my Airbnb info so we get to a dark road no lights it's now the point to the time to point out that last week last week you your ex-boyfriend got a little dig for not pre-planning and I just want to fight his corner here a little bit yeah okay no look we I'd pre-planned I'd booked it I had my little text in your rooms ready yeah I had the address okay what I'd forgotten to look up was the key box code oh okay fair there's so much admin with there is a lot of admin um and it's all like i thought it'd just be on the email that i had open which is fine if you don't signal if it's already open but no you had to like download itinerary haven't done that um so we're on a tiny one-way road

it's pitch black there's this creepy looking deserted pub building thing up on a hill and we're like we guess it's that uh we drive up we don't know how to get in but then there's just a man in the window and he's like come on in pal there's just a man in the window it's all right he was very small um and we were like okay so we just go in like hi and they were like oh are you in the room with the bath it's like what tell me there was a there was a bath in the room oh we get so much worse julia oh my god so much worse um so there's like these three people that are on like some cycling holiday best bit though they have dogs oh lovely i got dogs through the Airbnb I took picture of one of them

you're going to love it and it looks like the dog from Colin from account it was an amazing dog called Molly shout out Molly what a babe and then there was a really

big greyhound called Hermione so that was amazing I was like because literally when we arrived I was like this place is like allowed pets

I wish we had a pet but then that would complicate the breakup a little more so it's better that we don't but yeah and then they were like

oh yeah I assume you're just in that room the keys in the door which I felt uncomfortable with, that like, the room we're staying in with a load of strangers is just like left open with the key in the door. I don't really think they had time to go get another key cut. There wasn't a Timpsons nearby, but I don't know, weird vibes. Okay. So yeah,

twin bed, you're like, that's great, but then sex bath, 100% of sex bath, like huge bath, like room for so many people. Nice. Huge shower as well that like... In the room? So, yeah, so It was listed as an on-sweet room. Yeah. And so there was this big shower, like, really good for sex because, like, it looked like no one would get cold. Oh, you know? Like a big...

Like a big overhead and, like, lots of room. Nice. Toilet sink. We then realized, oh, hang on. There's no wall or doors. Wow. So the bathroom, like, it changes from carpet to lino, but it's just in the room with no separation.

Oh, God. And at that point, we realized. we're going to have to piss and shit in front of each other. Wow. And I was like, who is this room designed for? A very comfortable couple. But then why is it single beds? Oh, yeah.

Why is it single beds? But totally open, orgy bathroom. Like, who are those people? Nobody's having sex. If you're watching your partner doing a poo, there's no sex happening after that. I have to do all of my poes out, out, out, like, when we were out and about. Until the final day where I did have to ask him to leave the room I was like, I need to poo, you need to leave.

Yeah. And he was like, how long should I leave it before I... Don't put a time on it. Don't put a time on it. To worry. I gave 10 minutes. Okay. No, like luckily the shower was kind of like round the corner.

Oh, okay. So... I mean, it's nothing you haven't seen before. We just got on with it, to be honest. How many days were you there? Two nights. Long enough. Too long.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Too long to have an open bathroom. Yeah. We do. He's a lovely boy. Um, what? He is a lovely boy. I agree. I did ask him. I was like, can I talk about the Airbnb room? He's like, yeah, just don't slag me off too much. So I was like, I'll say he's a lovely boy every other sentence. I've missed a few. So he's a lovely boy. He's a lovely boy. He knows you so well. But I don't want to see him taking a shit. Never did, to be honest. That's fair. That's fair. I really fancy Leonardo DiCaprio. I don't want to see him take a shit. No, he's very, no, I shouldn't, that's, that's too far, there's too much sharing. I was just to say, he's always been very private about his sheds. Shocking. Unlike you?

I just, I feel like, I don't mind. Are you a door open shitter? No, I'm not door open shipper, but like, he'll disappear for half an hour and you're like, is he okay? And then he'll come back and not say where he's been. Whereas you're like, I've just done. Although, actually, that's a lie, because this, I have seen a video of this boy's poo. Why? If you're not seen the video? You've definitely seen the video. He gets it out all the time. He literally got it out the last time I saw him. No? He's got a video. This is, this should not make the podcast. He's a lovely boy. It's the biggest poo I've ever seen in my life. Why? It's like, it's the size of the toilet. It's so big. He obviously took a picture of it because he was like, this is a world record. It was so, he's, it was when he was doing his exams and he was just eating like, I don't know, Weeter Bix or something.

And it's honest, I can't believe you haven't seen it. Oh, because he wanted to have sex with you. Yeah, I was going to say that, I'm over him immediately. That's really helped that. You're welcome. I'll get him to forward you the video and then... To be about, I don't think he shot all weekend.

I think he really just... Wow. Yeah, it was worse for him than me, I think. I did ask him to play some music when I had to go for a wee though, so he didn't hear me. And he played shake it off. If he didn't pill a weekend, there's probably a secret. call to that video coming out soon.

He's a lovely boy. He's a lovely boy. Anyway, should we tell a story? Yes, let's do it. Right, I'm going to set the scene. It's 2006. You're a mere baby, I imagine. Thank you for suggesting that.

I am age ambiguous. Just for the industry. She's 52. him um it's uh so it's 2006 january we are in australia so it is very very warm red flag already immediate red flag from mugs snakes sharks do they have alligators crocodiles probably they've got crocodiles i think crocodiles yeah okay so he's in melbourne so he jumps in his 2001 Mitsubishi Mitsubishi challenger do you like the detail on that uh the research that i've done yeah thank you i can absolutely picture what car that is yeah i know i knew you didn't know exactly

what that was you know i'm a big car fan i would have asked otherwise exactly uh okay and then he hits the bunteen highway which i don't know if what a cute name for a highway is it just lined with bunting that would be adorable real kitsch um no but you know just imagine an australian highway they are long and desolate oh no very orange Yeah, exactly. Big red flag. So a couple of hours into the journey, Ricky spots three men stranded on the side of the highway. No. Yeah. They're next to a car. Okay. So he thinks, okay, let's be smart about this and he stops a safe distance away from them. But also he's a nice guy. So he's thinking like these guys, if they are stranded out here, they are, they're screwed. Because, you know, it's Australia and it's hot. So he stops at a reasonable distance. and he beckons them over to him. He's got all the doors locked

and a machete under the seat. Okay. In case things... Sorry, in case things ever turn nasty, in his words. Well, so what you should have is a sea turtle. Clearly I don't listen to the first two episodes. He's gone with machete, which I'd argue probably a better choice. Okay.

Okay, so one man walks over to Ricky's car and tells him they'd run out of petrol. and they need a lift to Hall's Creek Now there is a closer town This is where I'm going to wave a red flag Because there is a closer town With a petrol station So a bit suss that they want to go

In a different direction Anyway But Ricky doesn't think much of it And he agrees to give them a lift He's a nice guy Oh, he let them in his car Yeah, in the car In the car, Ricky offers the guy to drink

He's got a little cooler or an esky if you're Australian. Oh my God, this is one of like those fancy Uber's? Yeah. Well, they offer you a bottle of water and they got the lights going. This is so much better than that because he offers them a rum and Coke.

Wow. Yeah. He's been backing off rum and coax throughout the journey. Okay. So he's on his fifth. Oh, no. Yeah, absolutely.

Not great. Not great. That's... Okay. Don't drink and drive. The guy is in control of the drinks. The passenger. Okay.

So he takes one out. opens it, gives it to Ricky. After a couple of sips, Ricky's starting to feel a little woozy. What? And then he felt something pierce his arm. No. Yeah. And then he blacks out.

Not great for the driver. He wakes up in the passenger seat and someone else is driving the car. So he tries to take control of the car. This results in it careening off the road and driving into a muddy soft patch. Now the phrase muddy soft patch does not sit well with me.

I don't like it at all I don't know Somebody said it to you in the past No it just makes me feel You know how some people don't like the word moist Yeah That's how I feel about muddy soft patch I'd agree

I'd accept that So gross So he drives into this muddy soft patch Up to the axles Up to the axles Which I'm guessing As a part of the car And it's not a good thing

Okay One of the hitchikers is in the back seat And he hits him on the back of the neck And he passes out again I'm concerned about how many concussions this guy has in this story because I think you've only got what like four in you and then you're done. The first one wasn't concussion though

No true He's a little stabby stab in the arm He gets hit in the head quite a lot Oh no He wakes up again and he's now in a small camp He's not restrained And he's looking at three men Who are all staring at him

One of them is pointing a gun in his face Good, good sign Yeah You're happy with that? I love when I wake up and someone's pointing out going to go to my face. I'm like, this is going to go well. Yeah, can't wait. Can't wait to see what happens next. One of them gets up

and gives him some water. Okay. What do you think happens next, Abby? Oh, does he pass out again? He passes out again. Stop drinking what? They'll give you, Ricky. He passes out again. Before he passes out, Ricky's assuming that this is a robbery because it's quite common in that area that people will steal passports and sell them on for

like financial scams and whatnot. And he's kicking him. now for forgetting that before picking up these guys slash wasting his rum and coax on them. So did they spike his rum and coke? Yeah, I think so. How did they do that so quickly? I don't know. That's a sealed can. Yeah, but they, I mean, he's driving. He's probably not paying that much attention. Right. They're, you know, just pop some roofies in. Mm. Yeah. Okay. So he wakes up to something nudging him, but everything is dark. He can't see a thing. And that's when he realizes his face is covered.

And he's in a shallow grave. Oh, my God. I know this story. Oh, do you? I haven't researched it, though, but I have seen this where, like, someone picks up hitchhikers and ends up in the desert. Yes. Is it that one?

I guess. Well, it would seem so. So he's covered in a black tarp and in a shallow grave with a thin layer of sand in just his shirt and pants. Weird. And a dingo is standing on his chest. No. Not so much. How much do you know about dingoes?

Quite cute. Sure. Do you know the story? A dingo. Baby got my baby? Baby got my baby. Baby got back. Dingo took my baby?

Yeah, that big... Yeah. But that's a baby. Yeah, they're still... I could take a dingo. Oh, you so could not take a dingo. You absolutely did. I need to giggle dingo.

They are... See, you're going to Google it, you're going to see it, and you're going to be like, oh, so cute. I knew you would. It's like a big dog. It is a big dog. I'd borrow that and borrow my doggy. It's a big feral savage dog. Oh my God, it's so cute.

Do you know what? I hope we do get some Australian listeners, and I hope they'd send you scathing emails. Look at his face. Yeah, he's so cute. He's so cute. Come on, waking up to a gun is worse than waking up to that. Oh, yeah, for sure, but still. If I died looking into a dingo's eyes, I'd don't happen.

even if that dingo is ripping your throat out you're happy with that as long as he did it quickly okay so the dingo's on his chest tugging at the tarp off on his face so he's pulling the tarp off his face

actually helpful dingo helpful dingo despite the fact that this dog wants to eat Ricky he's actually saving his life because he's punctured a hole in the plastic and so now Ricky can like

get a finger in there and then pull it open yeah What do you want to say that, Abby? Nothing? No? Nothing to add, okay. So, Ricky is out.

He's out of the plastic. He's out of the shallow grave. His wallet is gone, but he's been left with $14 and his car key. Okay. I think you could be left with worse. I agree. Yeah. I mean, there's no shops for miles and his cars in a muddy soft patch, but sure.

Yeah, but like, if Dingo gets Larry, you've got to work. true good thinking that is good thinking okay so he's relieved because he's assumed his car is nearby forgetting about the muddy soft badge did he just press the little thing like boom boom boom which is when you're lost in a car park yeah nothing's flashing yeah that's exactly what's happening um uh he can't see it he's looking around there's nothing there there's no he's not even near a road he's so far the dingo is just like dude yeah he actually he actually shouted at the dingo they didn't go run away. Oh, see.

I know. Still, savage animals. Okay. So he climbs a tree to get his bearings, but he's got no idea where he is and no way of finding out where he is. And now he's got a hangover. Oh, no.

Bad day for Ricky. Really bad day. Also, he's had like 12 concussions. He should have died by now. So Ricky walked for 10 days barefoot in the blistering heat. It gets like over 40 degrees, which I don't know if you've ever been in 40.

degree heat it sucks it's so hot it's like walking into an oven no i only really holiday to wales yeah yeah well global warming keeps going yeah one day i'm gonna get that holiday yeah oh one day whales will get that hot for you yeah so and then in the evening at night time temperatures can drop to below freezing so it's really the worst of both worlds yeah yeah yeah you get the worst of them Why you let me finish that I know, I'm feeling generous He kept himself go This is actually quite a good thing

I think possible tool Toolkit He kept himself going by every day thinking this is the day I'm going to get saved So positive thinking I don't think we have that I don't think we're okay

Yeah we'd have to really retrain our brains Really retrain Yeah So what's he like eating and drinking? I'll get to that I'll get to that Okay So he's thinking right

today's the day I'm going to get found. He manages that for the first few days and then I think he drops it. Um, when he doesn't get found. Um, and initially it did rain. So Ricky was able to drink the rain water. I do. But it didn't rain every day. So he had to resort to drinking his own piss. Yeah. I told he said. Yeah, he did. I told you so. Which he collected in his pants. I mean, best place to collect it, I suppose. Really? And drank from pants. Yeah. He's got a cut.

You're going to have to talk me through that because when I pissed myself in a ballet class it very much did not stay in my pants it went all the way

down my ballet tight and created a puddle below where all the girls went, what's that? And then jetteed over it. Oh no. Nice that they carried

on with the ballet class. They saw it in the game. They were like, have you been just I was like, no. I was like, yeah, what is this?

What is this? I like they do have loads of little girls in ballet outfits just slipping on your piss. No, it was, it was quite a high-level ballet class. Everybody made it over. Oh, this was recent.

No. I was, I don't want to say. Okay. So, pissing, I imagine he made some kind of a little pouch. Pissing into the pouch, drinking from the pouch. I imagine it was a very quick thing. Right. He's not dragging his heels with this.

He's not sipping it. He's drinking it warm. Yeah, he's chugging it back. So he's drinking his piss He ate flowers and plants admitting later That he had no idea what was poisonous He just ate whatever tasted okay Yeah

He also ate frogs, snakes, ants, leeches Pretty much anything that moved What was he killing them with? His bare hands Jesus Apparently the leeches were the best Ew Yeah gross, so gross

Isn't that just blood? Yeah, you'd think so well I guess if they're empty It's just like A sack isn't it? Like eating a condom. I thought... And that would be the best

with it, do you know? Well, apparently, it got it to Ricky. I'd have had my money on snakes. Yeah, I would too. I think a frog is probably... Frog's legs. People like that. Not for Ricky.

He just clearly wasn't cooking it, right? He's a leech man. Yeah. He didn't know how to do it like the French did it. Okay, so after those 10 days of walking, found a small dam however

where there is water there are mosquitoes and they ate him to fuck I think you're just gonna finish on they ate him They ate him He did not survive

This is not the point Of the podcast No they just ate him a lot Oh no And mosquito bites have got to be They're the worst They're the worst things Worse than a paper cut

Do you think? Yeah Would you rather have a paper cut Than a mosquito bite Late at night itching See I don't really You don't get bitten? I don't get bitten that much.

Of course you don't. I'm just disgusting. To mosquitoes, yeah. Well, good for you. You'd be fine out here then. I think they could still have a go. Yeah? I'm sure they were.

I just go on holiday with my sister who's really tasty and so... Oh yeah, you need a decoy. That's what Ricky didn't have. You need a tasty person next to you. He needs to take your sister with him. Yeah. Didn't think ahead. Right.

There was also a broken. down windmill near the dam at first. So at first he was sleeping on the elevated platform of the windmill. It was like it was broken. Oh, okay. And then eventually he used the blades to build a humpie

which is, do you know what humpie is? Don't want to guess. I don't want to assume, okay. It's an Aboriginal temporary shelter. I've got a little picture. Do you want to see a little picture? That's a humpie. Oh, look at this. There you go. Okay. We'll put that on the

on the socials. That's that's so cute That's like when you like turn Platinum Jubilee into like Platty Jubes Do you know what I mean? Like they've clearly Didn't get shortened for something

Well I think they've just been like Oh that looks like a hump in the earth And they're like Oh I see Australians are good at that They do shorten everything Well they technically made it longer But they just made it cuter

Mm hmm okay Yeah good at nicknames More juvenile and fun Sure right up your street So Abby do you want to Do you want to describe what you can see What the humpy looks like So

it's well it's underwhelming to be honest with you it's what you'd expect from like what were you expecting I just a palace it's just a pile of twigs

shaped into a tent shape it's kind of like what you know your first go to I'd say in making a shelter you think you could do something a bit more elaborate do you

I think I could take it two stories you reckon Get a staircase in there. I could get a conservatory little... Sure. Yeah, extension. Okay. Maybe a hallway.

Yeah. Yeah, it's just a pile of twigs. I'll be honest with you. I'm not going to glamour. I'm not going to glamourise it for you. So glad I asked you. So, so glad I asked you. But if you want to see for yourself,

you can go check out on Instagram and we will post a picture. Yeah. And actually, I think it's pretty amazing. I don't think I could make something like that. After weeks at the dam, no one had come to rescue him. So he thought he needed to keep moving.

to have a better chance of finding help Yep He got into the... Oh, so this is quite clever So he's at the dam Yeah So he gets into the water And just floats and lets it

Let's the water take him Nice No effort involved, keeping cool Staying with the water source Very clever He was in the water for four hours When he saw a track Heading up to the river

Ricky's thinking great There must be people here Fantastic He got out of the lazy river and started walking... Was it literally called the lazy river? No, I called it the lazy river. And he starts walking 6K into the journey. He sees vegetation.

Oh my God. Happy days and a fence saying Hettysbury Beef Country. That sounds great. Yeah. It's all looking up for Ricky. That's got food in the name. Exactly. His feet are fucked.

So he uses his shirt to wrap them up. so he'd walk for a bit and his shirt would collect all these stones so then he'd stop unwrap his feet shake out the shirt and the stones and then wrap it up again so he's not getting anywhere fast

I assume he's rich this shirt is not jumping he's not sack racing yeah but he must be like naked now because the pants have been used for drinking and his shirt's now on the

I think he's still wearing the pants because when you see the picture after he gets rescued spoiler um he is wearing his pants right unless they're fresh pants and you'd hope they're fresh pants before the picture but he's still only in his pants anyway maybe pants for the toolkit would be good what do you think i still i still don't understand how the urine hasn't just gone through the pants unless it's like polyester pants maybe yeah i mean i think you'd use anything wouldn't you because you can't piss directly into his mouth unless he's very

Has he tried? I imagine he did try. Oh, what did I've taken so far? I mean, I'd add urine so far. Okay. I mean, it's a, I feel it's a obvious one. It's keeping him alive. But it's what's kept him hydrated.

You're not adding leeches? Could add leeches. A tasty snack. Tasty. Tasty leeches. I'd add something from his diet so far, I'd say. because I mean the windmill's helpful but I don't think it would fit in our bag

I'm saying leeches or urine leeches or urine contenders right okay so now he's without shelter and it's night time so he's rolling himself up in grass and mud to protect from the freezing temperatures at night

so that's quite clever how's he doing that oh you don't know digging up making finding some mud packing it on himself yeah okay he gets to a crossing

and it is buried to the left and wallamonger to the right he chose woolamonger good choice i think longer word more fun yeah just feels like they have more going on there yeah exactly but this is very smart he makes an sOS sign with an arrow pointing to the right so that people know that's the way he's gone yep um oh so now so he's looking for food he's looking for food my flag he's looking for food and he puts his hands into a tree searching for grubs and it gets bitten no

imagine blindly bitten has got to be the worst biting that you get well that's what like you do to punish people is like oh will you put your hand in the box that's what you do to punish people what in medieval times how dare you now put your hand into this box

no you know like on like a Japanese game show and you have to like they'll put something weird in a box Oh, and I'm a celebrity, they do it. Yes, they have to put your hand. And then, like, it's just like fish guts, but they're like, what is it? Yeah, well, this was a 20 centimetre long bush centipede.

Oh, my God. Yeah, and I didn't even know that was a thing. Me neither. And his arm immediately begins to swell up. Well, I have a new fear. Didn't add that to the list. Are we adding to our fear tick? Yeah, why know?

That goes straight in. Yeah, so he's panicking. He's stressing out. He's not keeping. track of his direction. In my head, you sort of go around his circles. And does he know as a centipede or is he like, I could have just been bitten by like a poison snake? I think he knew it was a centipede because he wrote in his book. It was a 20 centimetre long centipede. He's writing a book. Oh, at the end, not during. Yeah, he's not keeping a diary as he goes. He was like, this is good content.

Yeah, yeah. Got a... The Abby Clark mindset. If I have my phone with me, everything is content. This would be an Instagram story highlight, I tell you. Oh, God. Imagine. So bleak. and his his choice was very much the Julius Sensen approach he just laid down to die which I would have done

from the very beginning I wouldn't have made it out the shadow grave I'll be honest I would have seen it was a dingo and just been like this is how I die he falls asleep

until a rainstorm wakes him up and actually his arm is feeling better now oh what was all the drama about then but he still he's still disorientated he still has no idea where he's going but he stumbles upon some cowpats

okay so maybe cowpats go in the survival toolkit well i haven't heard what they do yet because he follows them oh he follows the cowpats so he finds a sign of life another dam so he stops there and he builds another shelter uh this time he uses a feeding trough he turns upside down so it's metal which is quite good because he can cook things because the metal gets obviously very hot and certainly can cook things I feel like that would feel like as in he's staying under it. It is sort of a coffin. That's a very hot coffin.

It is a hot coffin. There's an abundance of food here, which is great. He even starts naming the plants he was eating, which I think is fun. Passes the time. They probably already have names. They definitely already have names. He was, that bite on his arm, he was like,

I'm going to name the plants. Ricky's putting his own spill on it. Some of my favourites include Spriggie, Spriggie, Love that. Bopples. Okay. Morning glory. Nice.

Loll. Still got a sense of humour. Yeah, exactly. But he wasn't fully veggie. He also ate flies, wasps, praying mantis. Siz. What's the plural praying mantis? Mantas?

Lizzards, frogs, caterpillars. He tried a mosquito, but it wasn't for him. Oh, no. Not for him. They're not even that big for it. Very much a one-way eating relationship with a mosquito. One morning, he wakes. Oh, this bit's so.

Oh, my God, it gets worse? One morning he wakes up and one side of his face was swollen. After a couple of days, it was so swollen he couldn't open his mouth. Obviously very dangerous when you're only eating insects, essentially. You've got to get that mouth open. So in order to force it open, he tried using a star picket, which is like a steel fence post, part of a steel fence post, to puncture his mouth. No! No!

But it did, it didn't. No, you got to give me a look. moment there, Julia. No! It didn't work. It didn't work. It didn't work. He punched his face and it didn't work. What, did he just think it was a big spot? Why was he popping it? It's an abscess. So his tooth has become infected and there's a big abscess in his mouth that's swollen up.

So what he does, he doesn't get defeated. He sharpens, and actually I think this might be the thing to make the toolkit. He sharpens his carkey. Okay. pierces it with the car key. Not only does he pierce the abscess, he also jimmies out the tooth. Ah, all in one.

All in one. So productive. And then, you know what? Then his mouth is open, he can eat again. I imagine there was some recovery he needed. But crisis averted. Sorry, the metal post didn't pop it. Didn't pop it.

Just wasn't sharpener. I guess so. Right. So it's not like he just stabbed through his face and missed. No, it wasn't, yeah. He didn't miss the massive abscess on his face. Right, it just wasn't sharp enough. Yeah, it just couldn't do the job.

He said this is the worst, this was the worst part of the whole experience. Yeah, I'd be with him on that one. On the 70th day in the desert, he was so convinced he was going to die. He put a cross on top of his shelter so that someone might notice it and then they'd come and find him.

Yeah, and his family would know what had happened to him. On the 71st day, Ricky heard an engine. Ooh. And he popped outside of a shelter and saw... It was just a dog on a quad bike. Imagine. He saw two ranch hands, Taz and Bruce. Yay!

That's as Aussie as it gets. Taz and Bruce. Yeah. So they were going off road. They worked for the Hettysburg cattle people. Okay. You know the sign we saw earlier. Remember that?

Yeah. They worked for them. and then they said he looked like a walking skeleton and as soon as Ricky saw them he collapsed which is fair play I feel like that's what your body would do yeah you're like okay we did it yeah exactly I'm out yeah

oh they worked for Hettysbury Heathysbury Beef Cattle Company it's quite a mouthful isn't you'll get it in the end yeah thanks they had 1,663,563,513 acres of land. Wow. Yeah.

So he could easily have died without any, on their land and nobody ever, nobody would have noticed for like a long time. For a while. So they drove him to the homestead of the cattle ranch. He had some pumpkin soup. Oh. And slept in an actual bed. He was like, I prefer leeches, actually.

Can we get a few leeches in there? He's like, you'll be amazed how good they are. Yeah. He's actually opened a restaurant now. solely leeches he was flown to the darwin hospital he now weighed 132 pounds and before the kidnapping he weighed 230 pounds so he's lost a lot of pounds he was eating he got to the hospital and he's eating as much as he possibly could like he's eating so much that the doctors had to be like you need to chill out rickie you need to calm down you're going to eat yourself to death wow yeah

I thought, like, once you, like, went on a diet, your stomach shrunk. Not for Ricky. Not that this was a purposeful diet for Ricky. No. Imagine that, though. You've survived 71 days in the desert and you kill yourself by eating too much. Yeah. Yeah.

Shocking. Anyway, so he even, he's, then the doctor's like, you need to calm down. And then, so he stole a microwave so that he could heat up food during the night and carry on eating throughout the night. He's like, I don't like cold food. Yeah. Fair play. He's like, I've lived. on leeches for the last 71 days. I'm having a hot. I'm having a chicken tega masala.

Yeah, exactly. Despite what he'd been through, his body actually wasn't damaged that much internally. Oh, his cheek was fine, was it? Well, yeah, the cheek just saw some damage, but his electrolytes were okay and he had some liver enzyme abnormalities, which I'd argue probably had more to do with the rum and coax than anything else. Wow, not judging the victim at all, aren't you? Not all, with margarita in hand. No. He did have a fungal rash, which could have been down to a lower immune function from malnutrition. Maybe. He left the hospital after six days.

Wow. Because he wanted to eat burger and chips. Yeah. And drink beer and milkshakes. What a guy. And apparently they wouldn't allow that at the hospital. So he was like, see ya. And he never vomited once.

Oh, I don't know. Because in my story, last episode, like when they tried to eat after days of. Yeah. They couldn't handle it. their body. Oh, Ricky's made of hardier stuff. Jesus. Yeah. He made a police report about the kidnappers, but they didn't believe him. Yeah, that's the bit I've read. They had too many questions. Like, why was he left in a shallow grave? Why did you give them rum and coke? Yeah. Why didn't they make sure he was dead? Why didn't the dingo take your baby? Yeah. Why did they leave the key car,

the key car, the car, the car key, the car key, the car key, the car key, when they stole the car. Because they thought, oh, well, they would have just stolen the car. That's true. Yeah, they can't use the car. He said, I drove it, I crashed it into a muddy soft patch. Oh, yeah. And then eventually they did find the car exactly where he said it was. Oh, wow. But they still didn't believe him. And his psychiatrist couldn't say whether he was lying or not.

Not long after all this, Ricky and his mate Greg decide to go back to the last shelter that he built. Yeah. Just a fun day out. The trough. Let's go back to the trauma. Yeah. they travelled out in a car that didn't have four-wheel drive and got stuck in a muddy soft patch

in a muddy soft patch stop saying mindy soft patch fortunately some guys were doing field work and pulled them out you'd think then let's forget it don't worry about it it was a nice idea fun day out but we haven't got the no they just carried on they hiked have work to do they hiked what for four hours to get to his shelter. They were determined.

And then what did they do? Just selfie? This story is so distressing. No, they got lost again. Shut up. Ricky's ankles start giving him some grief. So they end up staying the night at his old shelter. They went to out on Airbnb now.

The next day they walked 6K to a water pump, planning on heading back to their car. But Ricky twisted his ankle and was unable to. walk so they are stuck again oh no however this time the station manager knew where they were going and sent a car out to get them that's embarrassing so this car takes them back to their original car and then travelling back they hit a bull no which smashes in the front of the car damaging the radiator so they have to go the rest of the way very very slowly and constantly topping up the water.

Is the bull okay? Oh, I don't know. I didn't get the... Do you know, you know that's what I'd want to know? I know, I'm sorry, I didn't... You know I only care about the animals in these stories? I just seem, probably not. I know, sorry.

So they had to keep... They had to stop to top up the water in the radiator until a passerby was able to get them back. So they relied on like three, four people. They were really tempting fate there. They were. They really were. In 2010, Ricky released.

released is a book called Left for Dead, very funny book. That's a good title. Yeah. And now he works in construction in Dubai. Ooh. Yeah. And he's married and that's... Did you say it was a funny book? Yeah, he's quite a funny guy. It's genuinely a comedy book? Well, I mean, he's got a funny take on it. Just like with a good sense of humour. Did you, do you not remember the bit where he named the plants? That was funny. Yeah, I do you remember that bit. So, that's the story of Ricky McGee. What are we That was his name. Wow. What we're putting in the survival toolkit.

I actually... He only used the keys once though, didn't they? I think the key should go in there though. The keys is good. It saved his life. He could have died from the abscess. Yeah. Imagine popping your own tooth out.

And it's like bugs, you wouldn't actually need to take them with you. They are kind of always around. And he wasn't fussy about which bug he ate. So I think I might put car keys in there. I'd agree with you. I think that's. was a smart move from Ricky. All right.

Agreed. We've been doing this so easily so easily. I know. No arguments yet. It's a turtle with a car. Great. Right. I need a wee.

I'll take the bottle. All right. We've heard from old Ricky McGee. Enough of Ricky. It is now time to hear from the people listening and their personal survival stories or worst case scenario situations. If you have one you want to share with us,

please send it to us at help at wcspod.com or contact us on any of our socials. We're desperate to hear from you. Unless your story's rubbish and then, you know, don't bother. But I have a really good one this week. Oh, okay. Because it's linked with yours. To Ricky?

Yeah, what are the chances? Oh my God, how exciting. Okay, so this is from Emma Elio. Oh, I hope I've said that right. She says, hi guys, I was in the Dorigo rainforest with my now husband in 2014, and a raindrop fell in my eye with the addition of a tiny leech. Oh, oh, stop. It's Ricky's favorite. A tiny leach.

This leech must have been. really tiny. Oh, I don't know. Your eyes quite big. Yeah, but have you seen a leech? I mean, Ricky's leeches. Pretty hefty leeches. He went for the big ones.

This is a start-a-course leech. Yeah. A little pre-leach. Yeah, one of those, like, fancy restaurants where they just bring out loads of mini dishes. This is a canopy. Yeah, you're not filling up on these leeches. Yeah, okay.

So, it attached to the white of my eye. Oh, God. And we couldn't get it out. No, thank you. So we quickly walked back to the visitor's centre, only to find out it was closed. My husband was telling me the whole time that it wasn't that big. And then I caught my reflection, and it was massive. Surely it's on her eye.

So I feel like she can like see it, like she knows something's in the eye, but she can't see it. Yeah. And then she caught her reflection and was like, that's bigger than you told me. Is it? And I'm assuming, because leeches obviously are. sucking on your skin trying to get that blood. Yeah. Is it...

It's going to be a bloodshot eye. Is it really... Oh, God. It's going to be a real red eye. Oh. Would you, if you had a leech in your eye, would you rather me tell you the truth of its size or... No, lie to me.

Lie to me. In all survival scenarios, Abby, lie to me. Okay. Tell me everything will be okay and the shark bite is minimal. Yeah. I mean, like, your leg is... Still there. It's still there.

It is... You know what? It's never looked better. Yeah. He just shaved you. Yeah, if anything. You're glowing. You're looking slimmer.

Let, yes. Okay. Some people in a camper in the car park gave us some tweezers and my husband pulled it off. Didn't hurt. Just looked a bit grim for a while. How much would you be worried that the eyeball would come with the leech? Not that worried. I'd be terrified.

I think there's quite a few things attached to the eye. But even like it would cut it coming at, the tension of that, no, thank you. I back my eyeball. Do you? I don't back my eyeball would win. Do you think, okay. Okay, next story. I don't think I'm over that story.

This story is from Shane Curry. He very kindly sent this into me when I did the little call out on my DMs. He said, hello, two days before Ireland went into its first COVID lockdown. Oh, should I be doing that? Please do an Irish accent, please. Oh, lady then. I was walking to get the bus. Sorry, I said Irish.

When I was just hit by this car Going 70 to 80 I'm so sorry Shane It's gotten serious I'll do the real normal My voice I broke my left If sounds wrong now

Sounds wrong Yeah I know Jackson I broke my left knee My left collarbone All the ribs on my right And my neck Wow

I don't remember much Just the words No don't try to move After that It was hazy but I recall like a flash being lifted onto a stretcher into the back of an ambulance staring up at the roof of the vehicle

and thinking very clearly and I really, really hoped I wouldn't die echoing the final lines in a similar scene from Martin McDonnell's. I love Martin McDonough. In Bruges. Have you not seen in Bruges? Glad I said it right.

Oh my God. My favourite film, says Shane. Me too, Shane. I like Shane. Mine's tangled. things didn't seem so bad anymore that's a lie it's mean girls but I panicked I just like girls with long blonde hair

so things didn't seem so bad anymore now I was in the ambulance and I contributed this reassuring feeling to the fact that I was being brought to a hospital where I reside doctors who were trained to deal with such situations that is where you want to be that calming fact and of course the morphine which was dissolving into my bloodstream a day later while coming down hard from morphine

withdrawal, confined to a hospital bed and beginning to feel the full extent of my injuries with a constant stream of paranoid COVID news. Did I say when this was? Yeah, two days before Ireland went into COVID, lockdown. Convined to a hospital bed and beginning to feel the full extent of my injuries with a constant stream of paranoid COVID news as my only form of escapism, my biggest concern should have been for my future health. But instead, I remember being worried that I may actually miss Paddy's Day. Ah, there we go. Priorities. Then the strangest thing happened.

Oh God. The whole world shut down until I got better. What? It was then I realized I am the main character. Ah, that's great. We all bow to Shane. So we've got Shane to thank you. the pandemic. Thanks, Shane. And I hope you enjoyed your first

sent Paddy's Day back. Um, okay, final one. This is from Jess. She says, Hi guys, when I was about 17, I was waiting for my dad to pick me up from town. I was sitting on a bench outside Debenham's, the rest of peace. Which was where the bus stops are. I'm on my iPhone, sorry, iPod. Jesus, what year was this? Have you ever owned a night? iPod, just that of interest. Only secondhand from my siblings. Okay.

Yeah. I had a iPod nano. You're like, whoa, this is so vintage. Yeah, I was like, here you got it. What is this? So I'm on my iPod, minding my own business when a car drives into the bus stop, which isn't unusual, as people use it to quickly drop off or get picked up. Oh, didn't drive into, onto the pavement.

Well, but this time the car didn't stop. Okay. Instead, it went up onto the curb, threw a thick wooden bollard, and came straight towards me on the bench. No. Fight or flight took over and my body got me out the way and honestly that part is still blacked out for me. I remember seeing the car and then standing behind the bench, locking eyes with this old lady behind the wheel, knowing if I had moved seconds later, I would have been crushed between the car and the bench. The people around me came over and got me to sit on the bench next,

to the crumpled car. She put that in capital. So I could calm down. Really? I couldn't have sat somewhere else. Luckily, a police car drove around the corner that very minute and took my statement. The corker at the end of this story

is that my dad eventually turned up and instead of immediately consoling me and making sure that I was okay, instead stood across the road and took a photo of me sat on the bench next to the car. My kind of guy, content first. Get the content. You were going to want to remember this.

That boat is going to go viral. P.S. Thankfully, the old lady was okay and the bench was removed and the hole filled with concrete. Oh, like a little memorial. I guess. She should have asked to like put her hands in the concrete. Like Hollywood. Yeah.

Yeah. Like a little plaque. That's cute. And those are our listener stories for this week. Thank you everybody for sending those in. If you've got a worst case scenario that you want to send us, please send them to help at wcspod.com. or you can find us on Instagram or TikTok. We're at WCS pod.

We want to hear those stories. Oh, and also, Jess, could you send us that picture your dad took? Oh, please. Yeah. I'm picturing you with a thumbs up. Just to remember Debenhams, to be honest. Oh, God, Debenhams. That's all, guys.

Thanks for listening. I hope you survive another week. Goodbye. Bye! Get attacked by an angry shock. Stuck up a mountain in the dark. Up a top of a big landmark Hit by lightning in your local park

Caught in a downpour of acid rain Struck by meteor or a tray A proton beam passing through your brain Attack by that angry shark again Hear how they survive Trappled by a herd of buffalo Chaste with an axe by your new friend Joe Burried alive in a pile of snow

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