The Debrief

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.

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.

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!

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.

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?

The Debrief is joined by reporter Tim Pulliam, who took part in the new documentary series Squatters: Get Out of My House, to unpack why this has become one of America's most maddening and dangerous problems. Tim explains how complete strangers manage to occupy someone else's home, why they become so difficult to remove once they're in, and how the law can end up working against the very people who own the property. Along the way he shares some of the most jaw-dropping cases he reported on, including one that sent a fraudster to prison for 20 years, in a conversation that will make you look at your own front door a little differently.

The Debrief is joined by Danielle and James Styron, co-authors of The Mile High Club: Confessions of a Private Jet Flight Attendant. For most of us, flying private is a world glimpsed only in films and on social media, but behind the luxury sits a crew managing extraordinary demands, enormous egos and situations most people would struggle to believe. Danielle spent seven years in those crews, and she pulls back the curtain on the wildest requests, the most difficult moments, and the surprisingly kind clients who restored her faith. Danielle and James open up about the pressure to stay silent, to tolerate almost anything, and what all of it taught them about human nature when money strips away the usual limits and consequences.

The Debrief is joined by Guido De Wilde, fresh off an extraordinary journey across Europe. Over 25 days, Guido and 14 other riders cycled 3,333 kilometres from Barcelona to Paris, climbing more than 54,000 metres along the way, all in support of the Al Jalila Foundation’s cancer research and patient care programmes. Guido takes the team inside what a day on the road really looked like, and how tough this challenge was on his body. He also goes into the deeply personal side to this challenge: a stage 4 colon cancer survivor himself, Guido reflects on what cycling gave him when so much felt out of his control.

The Debrief is joined by Dr. Christine Marie, cult psychology expert and author, who did something almost no one would dare: she went undercover inside a dangerous cult to help bring down its leader. Christine reveals how she worked her way into the FLDS group led by Sam Bateman, winning the trust of its members under the cover of filming a documentary. She breaks down the psychological control tactics Bateman used to hold his followers in his grip, and how she quietly gathered the evidence and confessions that would eventually condemn him. It all builds to the tense, high-stakes day the FBI finally moved in, and Christine takes the team right into the heart of it.

The Debrief is joined by Russ Matthews and Idee Matthews Montijo to tell the extraordinary story of how they found the Pan Am Clipper Endeavor aircraft, 74 years after it crashed and sank off the coast of Puerto Rico. Russ and Idee trace the years of painstaking archival detective work that led them to the site, and the moment they finally found the wreck. They detail the unforgettable legacy left by this tragedy that reshaped air travel forever. The safety briefing every passenger hears before takeoff exists in part because of what happened that Friday in 1952, which means every person who has ever flown has been touched by this plane, and almost none of them know it.

The Debrief is joined by Edna Cowell Martin, cousin of infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, and Megan Atkinson, who helped her tell her story in print. Edna takes the team back to a childhood spent alongside a boy nobody suspected, and answers the question that has followed her for decades: were there ever glimpses of what lay beneath? She describes what it was like to remain close to him while the murders were happening, how the family absorbed the news when the truth finally broke, and what passed between them in their final exchanges before he escaped prison for the second time. Megan explains how the writing process forced Edna to revisit trauma she had buried for years, and what it revealed about the toll it had taken on her whole life. It leaves one unsettling question hanging over the whole conversation: if someone close to you was living a double life, would you really see it?

The Debrief is joined by Professor of Aerospace Engineering Dr. Adeel Khalid, to unpack the technology that recently found two lost hikers in a matter of hours, a search that could have taken human teams days. Dr. Khalid explains exactly what he has been building, and what one of these drones is actually seeing when it sweeps over a forest below. The team uncovers the accuracy difference between these machines and old school rescue tech like helicopters or dogs. They also find out how long these machines can stay airborne, and just how much ground they can cover on a single flight. Then the conversation lifts off into the future: what these life-saving systems will look like five to ten years from now, and how many more people they might bring home.

The Debrief is joined by CeCe Moore, the pioneering genetic genealogist who helped turn a hobbyist's tool into one of the most powerful weapons in modern policing. CeCe explains what those consumer DNA tests are really telling you, how far back your family tree can genuinely be traced, and why some parts of the world are far better represented in the databases than others. The conversation digs into the hurdles of unpicking someone's ancestry, and how the same technology that reunites adoptees with birth parents is now cracking cold cases that sat untouched for decades. Then comes the harder question: where does personal privacy end and the pursuit of justice begin, when a distant cousin's spit sample can put a killer in handcuffs? CeCe also looks ahead to where AI takes this next, and reflects on how a career spent inside other people's DNA has reshaped the way she thinks about family, identity and truth itself.

The Debrief is joined by Dr. Steven Hassan, one of the world's leading experts on cults, mind control and undue influence, and a man who knows the subject from the inside. Recruited as a young college student, Steven spent years inside a high-control group before getting out and dedicating his life to understanding how it happened. He explains exactly how skilled recruiters operate, the small steps that pull a person in long before they realise it, and why the people most vulnerable are almost never who you would expect. The conversation turns to the long road back, what it takes to rebuild a life, relationships, and learn to trust your own thoughts again. And with the internet doing the recruiting now, Steven has a warning about how much easier it has become - especially for the younger generation to disappear into one of these groups.

The Debrief is joined by independent cold-case investigator Alex Baber, who believes he may have unmasked the man behind two of America’s most infamous unsolved crimes: the Black Dahlia murder and the Zodiac Killer. Alex makes the extraordinary claim that both were the work of the same man, and explains how he ended up chasing two cases that have haunted investigators for decades. Using AI, historical records, handwriting analysis and a fresh crack at one of the Zodiac’s shortest and most mysterious codes, he lays out how he arrived at his suspect. Alex even reveals the chilling moment he approached the son of the man he believes did it.

The Debrief is joined by Paul Brodsky, a senior analyst at TeleGeography, to pull back the curtain on the physical guts of the internet. Paul explains how the whole system actually works, what people really mean when they talk about “the cloud,” and what happens in those split seconds when you send a simple message. The team gets into how much of the world’s internet traffic runs through undersea cables, what those cables actually look like - especially m just how startlingly thin they are for something the entire planet depends on. Then comes the big one: what happens when it all goes down?

The Debrief is joined by Michael Pachter, one of the most respected analysts in the video games industry, as the countdown to GTA 6 hits fever pitch ahead of its November 19 launch. Michael breaks down just how enormous this release is in pure financial terms, why Rockstar has leaned so heavily into a digital-first approach, and whether fans should brace for the console shortages already being predicted. Plus, the team unpacks the stunt that stopped New York in its tracks, Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus scaling the Empire State Building!

The Debrief is joined by Roman Axelrod, founder of Dubai-based deep tech company XPANCEO, which is building what could be the world’s first fully integrated smart contact lens. Roman explains how the lens can merge augmented reality, health monitoring and biosensing into a single device that sits directly on your eye. The team digs into who this technology is actually for, from continuous glucose tracking for diabetics to hands-free data for surgeons and pilots, and how something so small manages to power itself. And with tech that literally touches the eye, the conversation turns to the big question hanging over it all: what does this mean for privacy, and are we ready for it?

The Debrief is joined by Paul Holes, the investigator who helped crack one of the most notorious cold cases in American history. Paul takes the team inside the world of cold case work, where an investigation actually begins, and what Hollywood consistently gets wrong about it. He explains how he became involved in the Golden State Killer case and why the killer managed to stay hidden in plain sight for so long. Then he reveals how a brand new kind of forensic science finally caught up with him, and what really happened on the day it all came crashing down.

The Debrief is joined by Barbara Butcher, who spent more than two decades as a death investigator in New York City, witnessing thousands of crime scenes over her career. Barbara explains exactly what the job involves, how someone ends up in that line of work, and how she mentally prepared to walk into a crime scene. She opens up about the difficulty of delivering devastating news to strangers, and even the times she clashed with police and homicide detectives. It left Dane and Shaan asking: what does our fascination with death really say about us?

The Debrief tackles a tempting question: if money was no object, which franchise would you open, and could you actually make it work? Dane and Shaan dig into the surprising rules, hidden costs and wildly different definitions of "ownership" behind some of the world's biggest names. McDonald's owner-operator Paulina Kostecki joins from Detroit to reveal what it actually costs to run one, what owner really means in her world, the truth about Hamburger University, and the biggest misconceptions people have about life behind the golden arches.

The Debrief is joined by Sima Taparia, the celebrated Indian matchmaker known to millions from her hit Netflix show. Sima shares the inner workings of her business, why she believes dating apps are failing a generation, and where she sees the matchmaking industry heading next. The conversation digs into how young people are finding love today and even her famous philosophy of "compromise and adjust”. What role does romance play in a modern relationship? Sima aunty says, important, but not as front-and-centre as you think!

The Debrief breaks down SpaceX's record-breaking Nasdaq debut, the biggest IPO in history, and what it actually means. Why did this IPO matter so much? What does SpaceX even do beyond rockets? The conversation then drifts off-planet, into what living on Mars or the Moon would really involve: shelter and infrastructure, water, oxygen and food, power systems, and even what sunrise and sunset would look like in outer space. It all comes down to one question the hosts put to themselves: would they actually do it?

It all kicks off with the big question: if you were in a survival show, would you pick fire, hunting, or shelter? The Debrief is joined by UAE-based explorer Kshitish Koorapaty, who is on a mission to climb the legendary Seven Summits. With three already conquered, Elbrus, Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro, Kshitish takes the team through his journeys, the training behind each climb, and what it really takes to reach the top. He opens up his adventure pack to reveal the essentials he carries (he picked fire!), even challenging Dane and Shaan to lift it!

The Debrief is joined by Segolene Stephenson to explore how Hawk-Eye Innovations and the technology behind it has transformed the world of sport. Segolene breaks down how the technology actually works, the precision it delivers, and the ways it has reshaped officiating across tennis, football, UFC and beyond. They even cover controversies in how the tech has slowed down sports and watching experiences. Dane and Shaan also dig into the odd ways the next generation is changing the way sport is watched, followed and consumed…

The Debrief is joined by Le Mans winner Mark Blundell ahead of the 2026 race. Mark takes the team through what it feels like to win the iconic 24-hour race, the physical and mental demands of endurance racing, and even all the drama behind his time in Formula 1. With the current F1 season in full swing, Mark also shares his take on this year's grid and where the championship is headed.

The Debrief digs into the FIFA World Cup and why things haven't exactly gone to plan even before kickoff - from chaos to the complaints, and the new rules shaking up the tournament. The team get into the chants: Dane’s flying the flag for England while Sana has been handed the unenviable task of rooting for the USA!

For over a decade, Martin Pistorius was fully aware but unable to move, speak, or tell anyone he was still there. Misunderstood as unreachable, he lived locked inside his own body until technology finally gave him a voice. In this extraordinary conversation, Martin opens up about the loneliness, the guilt of feeling like a burden to his family, and how he rebuilt a life he once believed was impossible… including finding love when he thought there was no future left for him.

After Hermès faced backlash over alleged background checks on shoppers before allowing access to certain products, serious questions emerged about privacy, exclusivity, and what luxury brands can legally get away with.  IP lawyer Vivek Jayaram breaks down what’s actually legal behind the scenes of high-end retail, how brands protect exclusivity, and where the line is between customer screening and discrimination.

The watch world can’t stop talking: Swatch x Audemars Piguet collaboration but is it hype, history, or a cash machine waiting to explode? The Debrief are joined by a luxury watch content creator Karim Haddad who shares some industry insights, what collectors should expect, the resale frenzy already brewing, and the insider strategies most buyers won’t hear until it’s too late.

How many decisions do you really make each day? According to Professor Robert Sapolsky… maybe none. In this fascinating conversation with the Debrief, the professor explains why he believes free will is an illusion, arguing that our choices are shaped long before we’re aware of them, by genetics, hormones, environment, and biology.

The Debrief in conversation with Anna Lembke from Stanford University School of Medicine who breaks down how dopamine drives our habits and why it is so easy to become obsessed with things from our life. From compulsive scrolling to modern-day dependency, she explains what’s happening inside your brain and how to take back control before it’s too late.

After losing their mum to dementia, brothers Jordan Adams and Cian Adams were hit with the unthinkable truth - they carry the same gene and could develop symptoms in their 40s. Instead of stepping back, they stepped up. Known as the FTD Brothers, they’ve already raised over £1 million and are pushing even harder. This powerful conversation covers genetic testing, running 32 marathons in 32 days and even being recognised with British royals.

What drives someone to run 100 miles every single week… for over 320 weeks straight? The Debrief are joined by Andy Glaze who breaks down the mindset, discipline, and sacrifice behind his unbelievable streak. From injuries and mental battles to documenting it all online they discuss what it takes to keep going.

When a successful creator quits at her peak, people take sides. Is it brave honesty or total disconnect? Influencer relations expert Le D'Souza tells the Debrief exactly what brands really expect from influencers. From burnout behind the filters to the pressure of constant performance, we unpack the realities of an industry that looks glamorous but demands far more than you see.

Ben Lamm, co-founder of Colossal Biosciences joins the Debrief live for a fascinating conversation. Ben reveals how scientists are racing to revive species like the woolly mammoth. From cutting-edge genetics to exploring whether de-extinction could reshape ecosystems or rewrite the rules of life itself.

AI expert, James Poulter explains to the Debrief how artificial intelligence is reshaping industries, creativity, and the future of work. From real-world applications to ethical dilemmas, he breaks down what AI means for all of us and why understanding it is no longer optional.

The Debrief chat with Victor Vescovo, investor and explorer, who takes us from the highest peaks to the deepest points on Earth. From record-breaking ocean dives to extreme expeditions, he reveals what drives humans to explore the unknown and the mindset needed to operate where few have ever gone.

Dane speaks with Alex Partridge, founder of UNILAD and LADbible, who breaks down how he built one of the world’s most influential digital media brands. From early disruption to global reach, he shares the risks, controversies as well as his own mental struggles with ADHD and how that has shaped him as a person.

The Debrief in conversation with Peter Faulding, pace rescue and forensic search specialist, who reveals what it takes to locate the lost and uncover the truth in the most challenging environments. From high-risk rescue missions to groundbreaking forensic techniques and equipment, he shares the realities behind his role.

The Debrief in conversation with Allisson Levine who shares what it really takes to survive Everest, endure Antarctica, and push past breaking points. From brutal conditions to mental resilience, and she reveals why success isn’t just about strength.

Dane and Sana get inside the mind of Steve Keogh a detective Inspector whose 30-year career in the UK's Metropolitan Police started in 1991. Steve breaks down what it is really like to be a part of a real life crime scene, from split-second decisions to the subtle clues criminals miss.

The Debrief in conversation with Neil Harbisson who explains how he turned a disability into a superpower by implanting an antenna into his skull to “hear” colour. From becoming the world’s first legally recognised cyborg to identity, technology, and the future of our senses Neil explains all.

Explorer and adventurer Charlie Walker shares his experiences with Dane and Sana. 15 years, covering 60,000 miles by food, horse, bicycle, ski, kayak and dugout canoe. Charlie tells how he builds trust with local communities along the way.

Former McLaren Formula 1 race mechanic Marc Priestley shares the insights from his amazing career with the Debrief as well as working alongside racing champions like Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen.

Real life water sommelier Timmo Bausch joins the Debrief in studio to explain exactly what is involved in testing waters from around the world, even telling Dane and Sana some companies book him to do water tasting with their employees for fun.

On The Debrief, Dane speaks with Dubai-based trainer Nikola Aleksic, who’s taking on a 100km run across the city to raise awareness for rare autoimmune diseases. Battling Behcet’s disease himself, Nikola shares what drives him and the challenges he faces along the way.

Dane speaks to Ashy Dykes, a Welsh adventurer and extreme athlete that hold world records that include trekking alone across Mongolia and even hiking the full length of Madagascar. But Ash tells the Debrief what it really takes when it comes mindset and how he even came close to death thanks to bears and wolves along the way.

Communication expert Julian Treasure joins the Debrief to talk about not only being a good communicator but how to be an even better listen. Julian tells Dane and Sana that $10 trillion is lost annually due to miscommunication... so what can he teach us?

The Debrief in conversation with the world's deepest freediver, William Trubridge is an 18 time record breaker, 6 time world champion and the first person to ever dive 100 metres unassisted.