Gary's guest this week was born on a plane somewhere over New Orleans, and his life hasn’t really touched down since.

Chef Karl Wilder has dubbed films he’d rather not name. He spent three years in Italian kitchens because of a misunderstanding over a risotto, cooked for Barbara Walters without ever meaning to become a caterer, and won Chef of the Year in New Orleans off the back of a nudist wedding. All of it comes down to one rule: unless it’s scary or dangerous, say yes.

These days Karl lives in Berlin and runs The Chef Tours. He also sits on the board of Secret Street Tours in Dublin, which trains people who’ve experienced homelessness to become tour guides. You learn the history of the city, and you learn where your guide used to sleep.

That’s where this conversation really goes. It’s about the people most of us walk past without a second look: how they got there, why it could happen to almost anyone, and what one cold night in an abandoned building did to the way Karl sees all of it.

#CrossingThePondPodcast #SecretStreetTours #HomelessnessAwareness #Dublin #ChefLife

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Ever kept quiet about what you’re carrying because everyone’s got their own battles? This week Gary talks about the guilt of leaning on people, and why it isn’t your call to decide whether someone wants to listen. Put it to them. If you feel strong enough to speak, speak.

Plus: why you should never overlook anyone, a look ahead to next week’s episode with Chef Karl Wilder, and a reminder to stop and appreciate your friends and how far they’ve actually come.

#crossingthepondpodcast #mondaymood #speakup #itsoktonotbeokay

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Shaun Burke started out in hotel management with football just a hobby. Until an advert for a coaching job in America changed the whole direction of his life.
His time in the US taught him how to coach players how to people from a completely different football culture and the idea this could actually be a career, instead of a passion on the side. Shaun now works for the FA’s Football Foundation and is back on the grass at Bradford city.
His journey has built a different way of seeing the game and learning skills many people never get the chance to pick up.
He now works across all grassroots facilities, building and improving the actual pitches and clubhouses that make the game possible, long before anyone puts on a professional shirt.
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Bethany Payet was head of the art department in a UK school, saying yes to everything until she was close to burning out completely. In 2025 she handed in her notice, spent one summer testing whether she could make it as an artist, and then left the UK with her partner Matt to travel for 8 months through Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Bali.

In Thailand, an idea to try painting a mural turned into two walls, a mentorship programme, and a decision to go all in. Now based in Australia, she's working on her first paid mural and building a full-time career as a muralist, with no fixed plan for where she and Matt land next.

We talk burnout, walking away from a stable career, finding direction through art, and the lesson she keeps coming back to: you get back what you give.

Follow Bethany's work: bethanypayetartist.com

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This time Gary is on the other side of the mic. Joining Brad Garoon and Jake Ziegler on the Never Did It Podcast to talk about two British films from the 80s:Withnail and I and The Long Good Friday.

One is a boozy, bleak and brilliantly funny story of two out-of-work actors fleeing London for a countryside "holiday" that goes horribly wrong. The other is Bob Hoskins at his absolute best as Harold Shand, a London gangster whose empire starts falling apart over one Easter weekend.

We get into the humour, the grit, the Britishness of it all, and how these films land with American ears. Huge thanks to Brad and Jake for having me on.

Go give the Never Did It Podcast a follow wherever you listen.#crossingthepondpodcast #neverdidit #collaboration #80smovies #thelonggoodfriday #withnailandi

This week on The Monday Mood, Gary talks through two conversations that stuck with him, both with people fighting something hard with no way around it. From there, a look at fortitude, why "how are you" so often gets an answer nobody means, and what he's started calling life therapy, the plain, everyday version of getting something off your chest with someone who'll actually listen.

Plus, Crossing the Pond is building a team for Prostate United this October, its eighth year running under the Prostate Cancer UK banner.

#MondayMood #CrossingThePond #Fortitude #MensMentalHealth #ItsOkToTalk #ProstateUnited #ExpatLife

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We welcome back a previous CTP guest, Ross Burbeary, to the show this week. Co-founder of the 'Prostate United' challenge back in 2018. A month-long challenge born out of personal loss that's since grown into one of the biggest grassroots fundraisers in English football.

Eight years on, with clubs, staff, and fans across the country lacing up every October, Ross joins me for a catch-up on where it all began, what's changed, and why this year's challenge matters as much as ever.

Prostate cancer kills one man every 45 minutes in the UK. This October, Prostate United gives you a way to fight back; walking, running, or cycling every day of the month for a cause that touches nearly every family somewhere.

Use the link below to sign up for Prostate United this October:Prostate United 2026

Once you're in, use this link to join the CTP team, raising vital funds and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK: I'm taking on Prostate United 2026

#CrossingThePond #ProstateUnited #ProstateCancerUK #FootballForACause #MensHealth

This week's guest was born in Wales, deliberately, so he could one day pull on a red shirt and play rugby for his country. That's the first decision someone else ever made for him. Everything after that has been his own.

Matt Evans first caught the bug for the US during a summer project as an 18-year-old. Upon his return to Wales, he always had one eye on a getting back to the US, eventually leading to a coffee morning that would change everything.

Since then, and moving through countless US cities to his current base in Salt Lake City, he has built a career around wellness. Not just training bodies, but understanding that, in most cases, recovery, health, healing, starts somewhere the physical can't reach.

But underneath the rugby, the Marines, the master's degree, the moving, this is really a story about trust. Trust that saying yes to the next unexpected thing was worth it, even with no guarantee it would work out. Trust in habits over motivation. Trusting the moment on the edge of the crossing is worth it, even when you can't see the other side.

#CrossingThePondPodcast #resilience #fortitude #trust #expatstories

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