Jack Maynard: The Untold Story: How Being Thrown Out The Jungle Changed My Life Forever | E71

Jack Maynard tells Stephen Bartlett the full story of how he rose fast on YouTube alongside friends like Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee, then landed a dream spot on I'm a Celebrity. Days into filming he was pulled from the jungle in Australia after old offensive tweets from when he was a teenager resurfaced, ending what he thought would be his career-defining moment. He describes the frustration, shame and the PTSD, anxiety and depression that hit about a year later, isolating him from friends and work. With help from his brother, his friends, the book The Idiot Brain and a therapist, he learned to manage it, and credits going on the brutal show SAS: Who Dares Wins with giving him a new lease of life. The conversation closes on relationships, self-imposed business pressure and his ambitions beyond YouTube.

• Jack was the first contestant to arrive in Australia and spent a week in a hotel with no phone, unaware who else was cast.
  00:13:57
• He was pulled from the jungle around 5-6am and given no explanation for about four hours until he reached a hotel and got his phone.
  00:18:39
• Producers had publicly announced his removal before actually taking him out, so the world knew why he left before he did.
  00:20:43
• The offensive tweets had been deleted roughly a year before the show on his management's advice, yet still resurfaced.
  00:22:14
• About 18 months after the incident he developed PTSD, anxiety and depression that he initially didn't recognize.
  00:28:28
• A therapist diagnosed him with PTSD, which he resisted because he associated it only with soldiers.
  00:36:15
• He credits doing SAS: Who Dares Wins with saving him and giving him a new lease of life.
  00:44:00

• Jack moved to London to live rent-free with his brother Conor on the condition he post a YouTube video once a week.
  00:08:47
• His YouTube took off within about two months and he no longer needed to find another job.
  00:09:50
• While in isolation his Instagram photos jumped from 40-60k likes to about 250k after his casting was announced.
  00:15:32
• When he went online he found the incident trending number one on Twitter, with celebrities including Katie Hopkins defending him.
  00:26:54
• The Idiot Brain explained the fight-or-flight response using caveman-era examples, helping him understand his symptoms.
  00:36:45
• Bartlett cites that the average American went from naming three people to turn to in a crisis to zero in 15 years.
  00:40:54
• Bartlett references the rat-park heroin study showing isolated animals choose drugs while socially connected ones do not.
  00:41:25
• On SAS he jumped backwards out of a helicopter into freezing water in winter in Scotland.
  00:44:31
• Jack met his girlfriend because they were neighbours with opposite apartment doors, bonding over dog walks during lockdown.
  00:53:18

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