Dorian Yates - BAFTA Movie World Premiere of Inside The Shadow

Full transcript: Dorian Yates on London Real

0:05 Dorian Yates: Well, actually somebody asked me, they’re like, are you not worried about there’s something on there you might like and everything like that? I said, you obviously haven’t seen that clip where I say I don’t give a fuck. I had no idea that it was going to get so huge. So obviously what I was saying was resonating with people.

0:27 Audience member: It’s a story about someone who achieves such success and then makes the decision to go on the road less traveled.

0:35 I think for all of us, that’s such an inspiration. I heard a microphone, would you? Sorry. Very good. Very good friend.

1:22 Brian Rose: And welcome to the world premiere of London Real’s very first feature film, Dorian Yates, Inside the Shadow. You missed the world premiere of Dorian Yates we had here at BAFTA, which is the British Academy of Film and Television. It was a huge event. 250 people there, standing room only. Sir Anthony Robinson was in the house. Former guests of London Real were there. It was huge.

2:18 But now you have the chance to feel like you were actually there because this is what happened that night. No, you cannot see the full film Dorian Yates Inside the Shadow here. You have to go to LondonReal.TV where you can watch it for free. But you can see the Q&A session I had on stage with Dorian himself right after the movie where we went deep. We talked about how with him being Mr. Olympia was never about getting his body in a better shape.

2:44 He treated his body like an experiment. He spoke to former bodybuilders in the audience who had had their lives both augmented and then crushed by this board of bodybuilding. People really asked him everything and it was a really special time. This Q&A you’re really going to enjoy because you see more about who Dorian really is. But if you really want to see Inside the Shadow, if you want to see him putting me through a high intensity training session, leg day no less, if you want to see him taking me through a yoga session on the beach, if you want to see Dorian and I ride mountain bikes up into the mountains, if you want to see me maybe smoke some cannabis, then you have to go and watch our very first feature length film, Dorian Yates Inside the Shadow. You can click on the link below and watch it for free over at LondonReal.TV.

3:32 If you love the movie, please share it on your social. We want this movie about this great man to be seen by as many people as possible, which is why we made it free to the public. So check that out and now sit back and relax and you can see the star studded evening we had. Everyone was in suits and ties. The champagne was fizzing and it was really a special time to be there.

3:53 So check it out.

3:58 Dorian Yates: It wasn’t really my body. I was very detached from it. It was like a project that I was working on and through hard work and dedication, I could build this project. People say don’t put all your eggs in one basket, but I just had one egg, so I better look after that egg and, you know, nurture it.

5:17 My past, it made me who I am, but I don’t need to stay in the past. I believe a lot of people become what I call crystallized very early on. I don’t need to still be that guy. Fancy meeting you here? I almost feel like a different person now.

5:36 Now I feel really kind of going to know who I am, what I am and feel comfortable about that. But I’m 54 years old, you know, so I’m just starting to get there. Life is like a movie, you know, just a movie. It’s just game. You’re the director.

5:55 Brian Rose: Ladies and gentlemen, Dorian Yates will be joining me on the stage. We’ll have a few questions for him. I assume he’s still here.

6:29 Dorian Yates: Great job, man.

6:33 Brian Rose: I’m biting my lip.

6:38 Dorian Yates: You’re biting your lip. Maybe we can both bite our lips a little bit.

6:43 Brian Rose: Can everybody hear us okay? What did you think of the movie?

6:47 Dorian Yates: Wow, yeah.

6:47 Brian Rose: It’s been a little emotional though, yeah?

6:50 Dorian Yates: Yeah. That was a fantastic job, really, really happy with it. Of course, I haven’t seen the movie before. You told everybody, right? Yeah.

6:58 I just saw some clips on social media that looked great, but the finished product was amazing, yeah. Thank you very much.

7:04 Brian Rose: You’re welcome. You’re welcome, Dorian. We spent three days together down there, so you were probably wondering what we were going to put in the film, right?

7:12 Dorian Yates: Yeah, you know, you do all this stuff over three days. Some of it I remember, some of it I don’t remember, but as you said, I had total trust in you and the team. And, you know, whatever I said, I said I don’t give a fuck anyway, right?

7:26 Brian Rose: I want to get some questions from the audience in just a little bit, but I had to ask you, I still remember that day four years ago before you came to London Real Studios, and I remember you tweeted out the night before, guys, it’s about to get real, and to your audience, and I was like, whoa, this guy’s coming over to do something the next day.

7:46 And I just was wondering, why come into London Real that day?

7:51 Dorian Yates: Wow, it’s amazing how, you know, from that day I walked in, I mean, because I didn’t know the podcast, but I like the name, London Real, you know? And I liked, I don’t know how the communications came across, but I knew it wasn’t going to be another just bodybuilding interview, which I’d done thousands of, which is great, you know? But I was interested in maybe doing something a little bit different, and I got the sense that it would be, and the name, London Real.

8:25 And then we came in, there was you and Nick, and I don’t even know how the conversation started. I think it was Nick, I don’t even know how he got there, but he was like, wow, you know, I’m thinking of doing this thing, and try this Iowasker stuff, and I was like, Iowasker? I’ve done that before, and I’ve done DMT, and that’s, you know, and you asked me, would I mind to talk about that on camera? I asked, what’s the name of your show again? You know?

8:53 Brian Rose: So you were ready just to talk?

8:55 Dorian Yates: Yeah, it was great for me to be able to talk and get my points of view across on subjects that were not at all, at some points, bodybuilding related, you know? Which, usually the press are Mr. Olympia, so of course they’re going to want to talk about bodybuilding and all the entails. I was glad to have the opportunity to express my views and opinions on other things that were becoming important to me, you know?

9:23 Brian Rose: And you really started feeling these vibrations coming back at you the following year.

9:29 Dorian Yates: Absolutely. Actually, you know how I started meditating? There was a viewer that watched London Real, and he sent me a lot of video, a lot of DVDs and stuff like that on meditation. It was actually his stuff that I started doing.

9:46 So I actually started meditating because somebody that was into meditation watched London Real and thought, I might be interested in, you know? So it helped me along my journey as well. And then when you came back two and a half years later, you started talking about vibrations and then I started thinking about my own vibrations.

10:05 Brian Rose: Well, that’s the way it works, right? That’s what we’re trying to do, like some kind of domino effect, you know?

10:11 Maybe I just tipped you and then you’ve tipped somebody else and so along, like the whole domino thing that we can somehow make the world a bit better, you know?

10:22 Dorian Yates: And now you’ve got me doing yoga.

10:24 Brian Rose: There you go. And what do you think the reaction is going to be? There’s a lot of big guys here tonight.

10:31 What would the bodybuilding community say about this?

10:35 Dorian Yates: I don’t know. You’d probably have to ask them. I think the people from the bodybuilding community feel proud of me because I’m going out there and I’m articulating things and perhaps people don’t expect that from a bodybuilder. Perhaps you didn’t expect it.

10:54 So I think the people from bodybuilding will be generally proud of me, you know?

10:58 Brian Rose: I believe so. I don’t know. You have to ask some of the guys. I’m going to ask them shortly.

11:03 Brian Rose: And when you heard we were going to do this big premiere in London, you were game for it right away, weren’t you?

11:09 Dorian Yates: Oh, yeah. I thought it was a great idea. But honestly, I didn’t envision it being in the BAFTA Theatre and everything like that, this profession that it has been. So thank you very much for doing such a good job.

11:20 I’m very proud of the end product.

11:22 Brian Rose: Good. Everybody I mentioned, I bumped into, when they found out that you hadn’t seen it. They were like, I couldn’t imagine.

11:28 Dorian Yates: Well, actually, somebody asked me, they’re like, are you not worried about something that you might like and everything like that?

11:35 I said to you, obviously, I haven’t seen that clip where I say, I don’t give a fuck. It’s like, whatever I said, I said it, you know? And I noticed, that’s why I told you on the message on Facebook, Brian, just trust. Because I walked into your studio. We didn’t know each other.

11:51 We didn’t have a script. We didn’t have an agenda. I didn’t look at the questions. It was just off the cuff and it was genuine and it was natural and it was real. And I could see you getting a little bit nervous because obviously you invest in time and money and a crew coming all the way to Spain.

12:04 Now, this is a big thing, right? It’s not just in the studio. So I could sense that you were getting a bit nervous and you were trying to, like, plan things and I was trying to, like, go over it and I’m not planning anything. You just get yourself here. Because if we start planning it and discussing what we’ve got to do or I might know what you’re going to ask me, my reaction might be different.

12:23 Because I’ve already been thinking about the questions. I didn’t want to know anything. I didn’t want to know what you’re going to ask me because then you get my genuine spontaneous reaction and I think people can feel that. They know the difference between something that’s spontaneous and natural and something that’s scripted and planned. People can feel that, you know?

12:43 Brian Rose: I’m a bit of a micromanager. And so before I went down to Spain, I was probably, like, texting Dorian every couple of days. Okay, so we’re coming then and we’re going to come on the night and then we’re going to stay until the sixth and back and forth and finally Dorian just wrote back. Trust. Just get your ass here and we’ll do it.

13:01 Dorian Yates: That’s it, you know?

13:03 Brian Rose: Yeah. Why did you take out my entire crew with the weed?

13:09 Dorian Yates: Well, I thought… It wasn’t just me. I thought they’d been working hard and they deserved the break and, you know, I didn’t exactly hold them down and make them smoke their joy. They did it voluntarily and we were just to let you know the story. It was the last day we finished everything, which I was conscious of, like, you know, because you never know how people are going to react.

13:34 So I said, okay, we’ll finish everything. Brian’s going to smoke first. And when the crew was finished, I just offered her, guys, hey, if you want to… Now you’re finished work. Are they finished work, Brian?

13:43 Are they off the clock? He said, yeah, they’re off the clock. Okay, guys, if you want to… But no more than two puffs each. And okay, they did all that.

13:50 And I said, that would be really nice now because we finished the movie. We’ve all been on work mode a little bit. Finished the movie. Let’s all go have a nice dinner together and we can relax. So me and my wife and my friend were in the restaurant and we’re like, where’s Brian?

14:04 Where’s the crew? I’m trying to call Brian. I’m trying to WhatsApp him. I’m getting nothing. And girls said to me, don’t you realize what’s happened?

14:13 I’m like, what? You’ve just fucked them all up. I’m like, no, surely not. Surely not. There are two puffs.

14:20 I mean, come on, two puffs. Apparently you’re lying on the beach for a couple of hours, so… Yeah.

14:26 Brian Rose: Yeah, so we’re supposed to have dinner afterwards. So I had the two puffs.

14:31 Dorian Yates: By the way, my girlfriend didn’t want my daughter to see that. But now the cat’s out of the bag. So we will be talking about cannabis later. My daughter’s here. Yeah.

14:42 Dorian Yates: It’s an education process.

14:43 Brian Rose: So, yeah, I had the two puffs. I thought one I was going to go ahead and get away with. And then we walked down the beach and then you’re like, yeah, we’ll meet us at the restaurant. And I turn to the crew and I’m like, all right, who didn’t smoke?

14:53 And everyone was like… Nobody. Who’s going to drive? Everyone was like… So, yeah, we laid on the beach for about three hours.

15:01 And we had to get all the gear ready at night.

15:03 Dorian Yates: That’s right. I’ll forgive you first. Stand him up for dinner, you know.

15:06 Brian Rose: And then the next door, we had to pack all the gear up, get to the airport the next morning, and Dorian called me in the airport.

15:11 And I was like, yeah, Dorian, sorry, we didn’t make it. And he said, well, you made it through the legs. You made it through the yoga. You made it through the bike ride. That’s epic already, man.

15:21 Dorian Yates: I had to get you at some point, you know. Yeah.

15:28 Brian Rose: And so what are we going to do next?

15:33 Dorian Yates: I don’t know, man. Whatever flows, you know.

15:39 I mean, that would be a hard thing to beat. But let’s see where we go. I don’t know. I’m not planning.

15:46 Brian Rose: You’re not planning.

15:47 Dorian Yates: Let’s see what happens, you know. Let’s see what people think of this. And they want to hear more or do more. Or they don’t want to hear anything. Then I’ll go back to my shadow, you know.

15:57 Brian Rose: Thanks for having me down there in Spain.

16:00 Dorian Yates: Oh, you’re very welcome.

16:01 Brian Rose: You see right through me. So, you know, you see that I need some of you, you know. And I think you see me, as I said, micromanaging, over-planning, over-stressing.

16:11 But then with the show, you can relate.

16:13 Dorian Yates: I can relate to it, you know. You can relate. I relate to it because I used to do that. Right.

16:17 That was, you know, trying to be the best in the world. I was like a military strategic. Everything was planned, you know. My whole day, week, month, year was planned out. There was nothing spontaneous about what I was doing at all.

16:30 I felt like I couldn’t afford that, you know. So now, you know, they had to crash and burn and, you know, like the Shiva come and destroy everything. So you can rebuild something new.

16:41 Brian Rose: You’re nine years ahead of me. I feel like you’re guiding me.

16:45 Guiding me a little bit here.

16:47 Dorian Yates: Well, you gave me a great opportunity to platform to get my views and opinions across. And the feedback from people has just been tremendous, you know. Just a podcast that I did has changed people’s lives, which is amazing. It’s very powerful, you know.

17:05 Brian Rose: Yeah. So I’m very grateful for that. People stop me on the street and say, you’re the guy that interviewed Dorian Yates.

17:11 Dorian Yates: People stop me on the street and say, you’re the guy from London Real. I’m expected to say, you’re Mr. Olympia.

17:17 It’s like, you’re the guy from London Real, especially the younger generation. The younger. That maybe, you know, weren’t around when it was Mr. Olympia. I’m the guy from London Real now, you know.

17:25 The guy that talks about psychedelics and all that kind of stuff, you know. That’s interesting, so.

17:32 Brian Rose: Yeah, you’re the cool guy now. Yeah. For those kids.

17:36 Brian Rose: Who’s got a question for Dorian? If you could just raise your hand up. We’ve got mics coming around. Don’t be shy. Yeah, you sir.

17:44 Guy right in front. You stand up. Thank you.

17:48 Audience member: First of all, great movie. Both of you.

17:52 You mentioned about meditation later on in your life. How different do you think your life would have been had you started practicing meditation from an early age, especially in the lonely years of, you know, that solo weightlifting career?

18:08 Dorian Yates: Well, I don’t know. I mean, you know, you’d have to go back with the young Dorian and do the whole process again. But there was a degree of meditation as we covered in the film.

18:20 That was like when I went to the gym. I mean, literally, I just had white noise around me. You know, there’s bodybuilding fans in here that they know about the Blood and Guts DVD and video and everything like that. If you ever watch that, you’ll get headache because my training partner is screaming and shouting and well, literally, I didn’t hear that when I was training. It’s just sometimes it’s just going to a different world, which can happen if you’re under extreme stress and effort.

18:53 I actually remember it happened to me when I was 13 years old. I did a charity run around the track and it was going on and on and on and everyone was dropping out and dropping out. Eventually, it was just me. And I just went through something. I didn’t feel anything.

19:10 I didn’t hear anything. And I just kept going and going. And eventually, the teacher was like, Dorian, you’ve got to stop because I need to go home. So there was some degree of meditation there. And there was always something in the back of my mind that was interested in that.

19:23 But I didn’t really know, you know, what is this thing? You just sit there and what do you do? I didn’t know. But after the London Real, people started sending me stuff and I started looking into it. And I think it’s amazing.

19:35 It’s like, I check out of here, you know? I check out of this world and I kind of connect with something bigger and I try to do that on a daily basis just to keep me in a right vibration, if you like, or frame of mind or whatever it is. And I find it tremendously helpful. I recommend it to anybody.

19:55 Brian Rose: And does that inspire you to do your own podcasts?

19:58 Dorian Yates: I don’t know because I think Brian was trying to twist my arm to do a TED talk on time, you know? But I don’t like to plan things, you know? If I got on stage and did a planned speech, I just don’t feel it’s me. It doesn’t go well. So I have to be spontaneous.

20:17 And I react very well to somebody just asking me off the cuff questions. So I’m happy to be a guest at this point. But who knows? It’s possible.

20:28 Brian Rose: Thank you, Guy.

20:29 Audience member: Thank you. Which interview that you watched of your younger self up there was the most surprising to see. Did you remember doing those interviews?

20:37 Dorian Yates: Yeah, I remember all the interviews are from Mr. Olympia basically because it’s the only time you can catch me on camera because I don’t want to be on camera.

20:45 And that comes across as well. Listen, I just want to get on stage and do my job and compete. I don’t even want to talk. I didn’t do speeches after the Mr. Olympia.

20:56 Being able to speak and hopefully fairly well is something I’ve developed since I was bodybuilding. I was very good at doing seminars explaining what I knew about, what was my specialty. But I wouldn’t be confident enough to talk about any other subjects. So I was very reluctant to be on camera. And Joe Wieder, who is a legend in bodybuilding, who is a magazine publisher and who’s the guy that bought Arnold Schwarzenegger to the States and all this stuff.

21:31 He was the head honcho that ran everything in bodybuilding. And he got me under a big contract, pretty good money. And he tried everything to get me to smile on camera. And in the end he’s just like, just do what you want. Which is what I do anyway.

21:47 Brian Rose: Did we accurately represent your leg day training session? And were you secretly trying to get me to throw up?

21:55 Dorian Yates: I tried to push people to their limit or help them understand where their limit is. It’s not where they thought it was. They can always do a bit more.

22:06 And I thought it would be good effects with a camera. If I get you to throw up, that would have been great.

22:12 Brian Rose: But unfortunately, you’re too fit, man. I saw black spots there. But I covered it really well.

22:18 Dorian Yates: I saw you wobbling a little bit at one point. You went a little gray, bluey, greeny color. And I thought, he’s wobbling, he’s wobbling, but he pulled through it, you know?

22:26 Brian Rose: Is there another question out there? Raise your hand.

22:29 Yeah, go ahead, Marianne, right there. There’s a microphone right there. Can you stand up?

22:35 Audience member: Totally awesome movie. Very genuine.

22:37 Thanks for making it. Very impressed.

22:40 Audience member: Dorian, you seem to have this anger, this passion and ambition in life. What’s your next challenge you’re sorting out right now?

22:48 Dorian Yates: I don’t know, you know.

22:50 I’ve got different challenges. I have my business challenges. And then I have this other challenge to develop and understand myself more spiritually. So there’s different aspects to challenge. But I don’t have a challenge like I used to, you know, in the physical world.

23:12 I want to be the best in the world. I’ve already done that. I don’t have a challenge to, you know, I don’t have the ambition to be a movie star or a multimillionaire or anything like that, you know? My challenges are more spiritual now to try and understand that and develop that side of myself and life and understanding and help other people. I mean, that’s what that’s all about, you know?

23:38 That’s why I did the interview with Brian. That’s why I did the movie. You know, I’m not making any money for it. I’m not getting paid. It’s not about that.

23:45 It’s about trying to not become a teacher or a guru or anything like that, but hopefully just give that tip, a little poke to people, and wake up the thing that’s inside all of us, you know, that little spark there, that little light that’s inside everybody. You know, some people is very faint. But that’s all I’m trying to do. Just, you know, hey, if something I say helps you, resonates with you, helps you and makes you think about stuff that maybe you were thinking about, you know, in the back of your mind, but you weren’t really sure.

24:18 Maybe people see me because I’m a recognizable person or they look up to me because of bodybuilding. Whatever reason they’re watching the show, that’s all I’m trying to do, you know? And I’m not telling people that they should do what I’m doing or they should follow my approach. They should absolutely follow their own path, or they should, you know, hopefully make them think about that path. That’s all.

24:41 Brian Rose: Thank you. Can we get a question from a bodybuilder? The bigger the better. Yeah, up there at the top. Are you big?

24:47 Stand up. I want to make sure that you’re legit. Take your top off. All right, all right, all right. You and then you.

24:54 Audience member: Doyan’s seen me before saying that as well. Doyan, now, everyone that knows you’ve been knowing you for years, you’ve changed completely, talking-wise. How would you talk to, if Brian was your Doyan for 97, 98, how do you think you would converse? Personally-wise?

25:11 Dorian Yates: Well, it would be a different conversation because a lot of the things I talked about, I wouldn’t have that experience, you know?

25:19 I wouldn’t have that. My level of understanding was strictly related to what I was doing, although there is a spiritual and mental side to sports, of course. But the conversation would have been limited because my experience was limited. You know, from the age of 21 to 35, you know, I was just in the gym, just in the gym training and pursuing my sport and giving it 100%. So perhaps I hadn’t thought about some things and I hadn’t experienced a lot of things I have now, you know, more life experience.

25:54 So the conversation would probably be different, but that would be interesting. But yeah, it would be different because I’ve got 20 years, 20 years more experience now, 20 years more mistakes, and 20 more years of learning and so on. So I think that’s what comes across in the interviews. And of course there’s some chemistry between the person that’s interviewing you, you know? I’ve done interviews with people and nothing great’s come out of it because I don’t feel that they’re asking me the right questions or the chemistry’s not there.

26:31 And Brian’s a very skilled interviewer, is that the right word? I don’t even know what the word is. I don’t know what the word is, but whatever he does, he’s very good at it because he doesn’t interrupt you, which a lot of people do, or he doesn’t try to put across his point of view or his opinion. He strictly pulls it out of you and then and sits back and lets you talk. So I think that’s great.

26:57 I think Brian’s great at his job.

26:59 Brian Rose: Sitting alongside me, we’ve got a former pro, John Hodgson, and again, a well-known bodybuilder, Justin House. So I’m sure they’d like to say a few things. Well, Brian did ask the question, what bodybuilders or people from the bodybuilding community are going to think about this movie and what comes across. So I’ll let you guys say something then.

27:21 Justin House: Hi, Dee. It’s Justin. I speak for, hopefully. I’m retired now, as you know. But I’m so proud of you, mate.

27:31 Every British bodybuilder, past, present and future. I’m 45 now. I remember seeing you, Brian Batcheval put you down. Jan, 93, after your Helsinki, 92, made and win. Watching you, seminar, just you could hear a pin drop.

27:49 It was literally, you know, Brian had to say, can someone clap? Yeah. Because you came out, Jan, 93. I look really terrible and everyone’s in a barren silence. I was just shocked.

28:00 You were 2-4-2 at Helsinki and, yeah, you came out heavier and we know what happened in Atlanta in 93. That was, you know, and we know what a difference a year made between 92 and 93, right? The black and white shots, and obviously John next to me. Good memories, chemical warfare. So it’s with great pride.

28:24 And you, personally, the way you mentioned me and you also defended me with your first podcast with Brian. You spoke about my health. I appreciate that. And, you know, when you opened my gym in 2004, so from the chemical warfare and then the CMP and then it was just, I love you, mate, I love you. And so that was very moving.

28:52 Thank you. I speak for every British bodybuilder. You know, as a 20-year-old, I look to you as a fan and now you’re my friend. So thank you. Thank you very much.

29:13 Dorian Yates: Cheers, mate. Thank you.

29:15 Brian Rose: John, take the mic, John. Well, John, this is a question. Maybe not your personal views, but what do you think that the bodybuilding community would think of this movie and the opinions and so on that’s been voiced on there?

29:34 John Hodgson: Personally, for myself, I thought it was an amazing film. I really did. Brian, I thought you did a brilliant job. It just shows you how well rounded and what the journey can sort of like give and how you can unfold as time goes on. And I’m just hoping that the modern bodybuilders of today can get a real true understanding of what it really actually takes, discipline-wise, what’s really required to be the very best you.

30:02 And like you rightly said, now I always used to say it. I knew I was never going to be Mr. Olympia and that, but the ultimate challenge is always going to be with you as an individual on many levels when it’s training, attaining a better physique, like you say, or even becoming a better person. So for me, I think it couldn’t have gone any better. I think it was an absolutely…

30:24 I was actually in tears. It got to me because I know you personally as well.

30:30 Brian Rose: Bite your lip if you feel that happening.

30:33 John Hodgson: Well, I genuinely did because I could relate. And I remember being this kid at, well, back in 92 I saw you for the first time in the seminar.

30:43 And it’s quite poignant because I was looking to become a bodybuilder. I’d set my heart on it, I’m thinking, yeah. And I always remember being, and it was in Denson, you came down, it was one week before you won the first Olympia in Helsinki. And it was really funny because after you’d come out and posed, we were all in shock, we just were numb. But then one of the lads said to me, he would turn around and he went, fucking hell, John, doesn’t it make you want to just give it up?

31:09 What are we messing about with? Look at that. And he said, it just makes you want to give up. And I always remember turning around and saying, you’ve got to be kidding me, Pete. I said, that’s what I want. That’s what I want.

31:19 And I didn’t know you personally. And I looked at the way my journey unfolded and the impact you had on me was massive. And then I ended up working for you. But I’m more proud of the fact that I got to know you after it was all over, finding the real Dorian who was coming through as a person. I’ve seen you change a lot.

31:43 Well, just to let you know, Brian, you weren’t the only one fucked up on cannabis. He actually got me a cookie. Do you remember when you bought me that cookie in Denmark? Yeah. And then I stood frozen in the middle of the road, screaming, don’t run me over.

31:59 I had to get jogged off the road. So you’re not the only one who’s had one of his tactics, won’t you? But what I’m saying is, I was just trying to work it out now, I don’t know where I was, but you’ve had such an impact on me. And also you helped me spiritually as well. And I don’t remember ever again going back.

32:19 I always remember saying to you one time, I said, something’s not adding up with this world. It’s gone crazy. All these wars, it’s madness. It’s this going on, that going on. And he turned around and said, have you ever heard of someone called David Icke?

32:32 And so I had it up going. And I started to do my own little research because I started to see the world unfolding, the madness going on. I still see it more and more. So I just want to thank you personally for allowing me to have that hunger and the drive and the bodybuilder I did to succeed in my own little way to become the best person. And I’m still like you finding myself as well.

32:58 So that’s from me to you, but I think every bodybuilder in the world has to see this documentary, definitely, mate.

33:09 Brian Rose: Thank you. I want to hear from Gemma. Can you give Gemma the microphone? Can you stand up and give this lady here?

33:19 Yes, please stand up. She wouldn’t put a microphone on. She asked me if she’d have to speak, and I promised she wouldn’t. Okay, good. Here, give her a microphone, would you?

33:27 Sorry. And stand up, please.

33:30 Brian Rose: Dorian, can you introduce her to everyone?

33:34 Dorian Yates: Yes, this young lady is a lovely Gemma who was on the movie and is my yoga teacher but more than a yoga teacher is my very good friend.

33:48 Gemma: Thank you.

33:49 Brian Rose: Do you remember when Dorian first came to your yoga class and how was that progressed?

33:57 Gemma: I remember the first time we met, I didn’t even know who he was, was him. So I’m sorry, but I’m not used to speak in public.

34:09 Brian Rose: You’re doing great.

34:11 Gemma: Thank you.

34:12 Gemma: So, yeah, I remember.

34:14 Dorian Yates: I remember falling over when I was trying to do the warrior pose and boom, when she looked at me like, ah, top guy.

34:23 Gemma: Yeah, because it’s completely different. When you work, I work also in the gym, so it’s completely different. In yoga, you work more with the strength of your brain.

34:37 So it’s about controlling the body and it’s completely different.

34:42 Dorian Yates: I’ll tell you one thing that Gemma told me in the yoga class that has been very helpful to me. You know, because I’ve been training in the gym for so many years, it’s all about pushing and pushing and pushing. And, you know, sometimes during the poses, I’ll be struggling, you know, struggling. And she told me, you just got to, like, try to relax and concentrate on your breathing because the pose that you’re trying to hold is like life, you know.

35:17 It’s sometimes going to be very difficult and stressful. But what are you going to do during that time? Are you going to panic and, you know, and it’s just going to make it worth, or you can just breathe and nothing lasts forever, you know. So doing the poses is a bit like life, you know. How are you going to handle it when it’s getting hard?

35:35 You just go with it and breathe and, you know, when stressful situations happen to me, I always remember that.

35:48 Brian Rose: Muchas gracias. Amen. Thank you. The yoga sequence, yeah.

35:54 Gemma, thank you. The yoga sequence was just our most favorite in the whole movie. So we’ve been watching it a lot the last few weeks.

36:03 Brian Rose: Yes, ma’am, you’re right there.

36:05 Audience member: Before you asked, I was watching this movie and I was wondering if it started looking a bit like a bromance there.

36:13 Did it? A little bit? Okay, all right. We continued. There’s sequel, yes, sequel, right?

36:20 Brian Rose: Go ahead, can you stand up?

36:22 Audience member: Sorry, Dorian, my question is to Brian.

36:26 Brian Rose: Okay.

36:26 Audience member: So I’m sure you come across a lot of people to telling you the real story, but why Dorian? That’s my question.

36:35 Why him? Why him? Why him tonight? Thank you. Why him for this, for example?

36:41 Yeah. Why you want to make this documentary about Dorian, about the other people that you probably interviewed, so many of them?

36:48 Brian Rose: Good question. Well, this is the first movie, so it could be that you’re going to do more, but this is the first one, right? You know, with Dorian, like I said, we had an intern at London Real who had gone up to Birmingham and trained with Dorian at Temple, and he came in and said, oh, you got to have Dorian on the show, and I just didn’t know Dorian.

37:09 And so he came in like so many people do, and I remember having a conversation in the kitchen, I think that’s when we talked about Ayahuasca, and I was like, okay. And then I’ve watched that first interview back, and I don’t know, it’s a piece of art. It’s just like, you’re hitting every single cylinder, and like you said, it wasn’t planned.

37:28 Dorian Yates: Yeah, I just came in there relaxed and no agenda or anything like that, and I don’t know who’s going to watch it, how many people are going to watch it.

37:36 I never heard of London Real, so I had no idea that it was going to get so huge. So obviously what I was saying was resonating with people, and you know, I think it was about halfway through the interview where we started talking about psychedelics and everything, and there were so many comments, it was like, yeah, the body stone and stuff was great, and then all of a sudden halfway through it, it got fucking awesome, you know, like. So a lot of people come up to me, and they’ve seen that interview, and they’re not from the gym world, you know, they’re not, you know, middle-aged housewives, and a lot of, so many people watched that and found it interesting, and that obviously touched something inside of them that, you know, that they felt and had an effect on their thinking, and that’s, you know, that’s the whole purpose behind it, really.

38:25 Brian Rose: Yeah, I mean, and Dorian quite, spoke quite openly about psychedelics, and it’s not like we try to find people to come on the show and talk about psychedelics. I mean, in our first 10 episodes, we happened to do a whole episode on ayahuasca, and we did it before and after, and we were pretty open about it. And then Dorian, after the first interview, he’s like, yeah, we got to smoke DMT sometime, and then he disappeared into the shadows. And so I ended up doing a before and after episode, and it was very controversial, and I didn’t know what was going to happen, but it was honest, and so we did that.

38:53 But so many guests come on the show, and then they say, Brian, I’ve done ayahuasca too. And so many people are still in the closet when it comes to these kinds of things, but a lot of very famous people from Steve Jobs to other people have had some experiences here, and so the fact that Dorian will talk about it openly is really refreshing. But really why I have him on is because the one thing he said at the very, I think the last 10 minutes of the interview, what’s he trying to do?

39:22 He’s not trying to open the next 100 gyms. Yeah, he can do that if he wants to, but he’s trying to change himself. He’s trying to learn. He’s trying to figure out what’s going on out there. Maybe it’s not what we’ve all been told.

39:33 Maybe who we think we are isn’t what we’ve been told, isn’t correct, and he’s constantly questioning himself, and that’s why I like people like that on the show, and Dorian just embodies that, and he’s constantly changing me, and that all happened in four years. That’s crazy. Imagine the next four years. That’s a serious change. I want to grow a big lung beer.

39:53 And so it just seemed so obvious, and Dorian was always welcome, and to be honest, he’s mentoring me without me knowing it. So he said, why don’t you come down to Spain, Brian? So honestly, he’s helping me on my journey, and he’s tricking me into doing it by thinking, I’m having him on my show. I think he’s teaching me a lot of things, and I need to learn how to calm down, and I need to learn how to go through the flow, go with the flow, and I’m doing yoga now, and I’m just, I’m not smoking now, but you know.

40:21 I’ll never smoke again.

40:22 Dorian Yates: Give you another four years.

40:24 Brian Rose: So if that answers your question, that’s why Dorian keeps coming up, and he resonates so much with our audience. It’s not even funny, and I just think it’s because he’s constantly questioning things, and nothing is taboo, and everything is worth questioning. Well, you know, what we want to do is tell fascinating stories of incredible people that can inspire us all, and so I was talking with the guys.

40:49 We spent the last three weeks, I must have seen this movie about 500 times, and we watched it and watched it and watched it, and someone said, Brian, what do you want to happen tonight? And I said, I want everybody in this place to see something in this movie and to walk up afterwards to Dorian, whether they’re a housewife or a 12-year-old girl or anyone, and say, man, I can change myself. Here I am. I think I’m a 45-year-old housewife, but I can be whatever I want, and that’s what we’re always looking for.

41:20 So anyone I can speak to that gives you a message that might make you question what you’re doing or what we can all do together, I’m in, and Dorian just happens to be the perfect guy for that. Yeah? Okay. Let’s go. You, sir.

41:35 Just to have a microphone down here. A lot of questions. Yeah, great. It’d be silly if we’re sitting up here and no one wants to answer your questions. Can you stand up?

41:45 Brian Rose: Can you tell us who you are? And speak in the mic.

41:49 Ru Wickman: Right. My name’s Ru, Ru Wickman, and my question to you, Dorian, is about the post-Mr. Olympia depression that you mentioned, and I believe that in the fitness industry, it’s something that many, many people go through once they decide to pack in, whether it’s from an external factor, like happened to you with a biceps injury, or if it’s more of an internal shift, which is something that I’ve been dealing with myself as well for quite some time, to be honest.

42:24 I’ve managed to get a pro card with the WBFF, and then I just realized I’m not really going to make it on a pro circuit. And how did you deal with letting go of the former self at that time, which was many years ago when you wasn’t exposed to things like psychedelics or meditation or yoga, and obviously you said you did a lot of partying, which didn’t help because you said you can’t really replace that, and even the other things that could potentially give us some teachings, including psychedelics and meditation and things like that, it doesn’t necessarily always work, or if it does, then only for a very short time. And how do you integrate those lessons, or are there other ways to overcome it and destroy the ego and move on?

43:21 Dorian Yates: Well, the thing is what I realized, you know, it’s not just the fitness industry. There’s anything which requires extreme kind of tunnel vision and your whole identity is tied up with that. So the thing I know about is sports, and I think it’s very common in sports because you’re in this all-consuming thing, and also your identity is tied up in it. I was Mr. Olympia, and everywhere I went, you know, I had to project this Mr. Olympia and this, you know, image to the public and to people and be positive for the sport and all this stuff, and after some time you start wondering which bit of that is really you and which bit are you doing because it’s your job or your profession and so on.

44:09 So what I realized, and it takes time, is that you’re not going to replace that. Look on the other side. All the things I couldn’t do when I was doing that, you know, I couldn’t spontaneously say, hey, I’m going to jump on a plane now and go, holiday here, or I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that. I couldn’t do that, but now I can. So I started to see the positives of the situation rather than just the negatives, but it takes time, man.

44:39 It took me time, it took me a few years, and yeah, I had fun partying and everything. It was cool, you know. I couldn’t do that before, so it wasn’t like, you know, abusive. That’s all I was doing, but I was doing a good bit of partying. I just wanted to have fun for a while, you know.

45:00 I’ve been so serious and so driven doing this, but eventually that gets old, you know. What I realized is you can’t replace that, you know. It is what it is. You can’t replace that, but there’s a whole world of possibilities out there. That’s what started to open up to me, you know.

45:16 You can do pretty much anything you want. As long as you, you know, as long as you believe it. And everything starts there, you know. If you start thinking negative things, that starts to be the reality, you know. So it’s important to try and get yourself in a positive situation.

45:36 And you can change at any moment. Look, from four years since I met Brian, things have changed for me just because I’m thinking differently. And lives were living, you know. Why would you want to do the same thing your whole life? Even if you’re the best in the world, it’s very limiting.

45:55 So I just think, I just feel great now that I’m, you know. Even at my age, the world’s full of possibilities. And exercise and fitness will be always part of my life, you know. But it doesn’t have to be lifting huge weights and following that path. I now do yoga, do cycling, walking, swimming, anything.

46:17 I love to exercise, always part of my life. And that really helps me to keep positive. Even in the darkest times, you know. I was making sure I went, at least, all I knew was going to the gym. So I kept doing that for a while because that’s all I knew.

46:30 But eventually I was like, hey, I can do this, I can do that. And it was fun, you know. So it takes time.

46:37 Brian Rose: Go ahead, go ahead.

46:39 Ru Wickman: Just a quick follow-up question in regards to the attachment to what you see in the mirror.

46:45 Because it’s kind of common in the industry and with this culture is to have a bit of a body dysmorphia and kind of how to let go of the older version of yourself.

46:56 Dorian Yates: Well, maybe I’m unusual, but I really didn’t have that. It was almost, as I said in the movie, that I was removed. It was almost like I was working on a statue. So it was a product and the way to build the product was through self-discipline, you know, and mastery of yourself.

47:14 Mastery over your instincts. Like when you’re hungry, your instincts to eat, right? You can’t do that when you’re in bodybuilding. So you start to master your instincts and your emotions and get mastery over yourself. So that was, you know, I wasn’t really…

47:32 I never started bodybuilding because I felt, oh, I’m not big enough, I’m not strong enough, my body doesn’t look good enough. If you look back at my earliest photos, they probably would do well in a fitness contest now before I even hardly started training. So it probably came from a different point of view. And, you know, a lot of people, especially the young guys, they ask me like, oh, when you look back at those photos now and you’re looking like that, you’re looking awesome.

47:59 Don’t you feel like, oh, I wish I looked like that now? Not at all. Not at all. It doesn’t apply to what I’m doing now, you know? I need a functional body that can cycle up the hills and, you know, before I could lift 600-pound squats and all kind of incredible stuff in the gym, but if I went to walk for a couple of miles, I’d probably get out of breath, you know?

48:21 So it’s just not practical for me now. That’s the way I look at it. As long as I’m in really good physical shape, which is a passion for me, you know, to be fit, to be physically fit, that’s the main thing. Now the look is secondary, you know? I think I look okay anyway, you know?

48:37 Not too bad. But an average 55-year-old, but it really doesn’t concern me. That’s just my personal view. But if you start training and building your body because you feel inadequate or not confident and then your whole confidence is tied up with having that physique, of course it’s very hard to let go of it because you feel like, well, you know, now I’m bigger and stronger and people respect me more and I feel more confident and people don’t want to give that up.

49:07 And that’s, you know, we mentioned that with the whole steroid thing. Once you get on that merry-go-round, if your esteem, your self-esteem, is tied up with having big muscles, you’re not going to want to let go of that. So there’s a lot of psychological reasons behind it and everyone’s an individual, so I think you have to look inside yourself for those answers. I can’t really give them all just my point of view. Cool.

49:31 Brian Rose: Time for a bat. Yeah, good. Two or three questions. Yeah, right here, okay. Stand up, please.

49:37 Audience member: Dorian and Brian, congratulations on the movie. It’s really well made and it’s very inspiring. Awesome. And the fact that it’s a story about someone who achieves such success and then makes the decision to go on the road less travelled, I think for all of us, that’s such an inspiration. Thank you very much.

50:02 But the question I wanted to ask, mate, was that the movie itself starts when you’re in your mid-teens, you seem very much alone, you’re very driven, you’re in this little council flat in Birmingham. What we don’t see anything of is the little boy who ended up in that council flat. The one clue we got was the fact that in one photograph, we see you as a skin. You are a fucking skinhead.

50:35 Dorian Yates: Yeah, that’s right.

50:37 So is it that you didn’t want to talk about your earlier life or if you’re happy to do so? No. Who was this little boy who became that boy who ended up in the council flat?

50:47 Dorian Yates: I’m totally transparent. I’m happy to talk about anything.

50:51 I think, you know, there’s a picture of me and my dad, which is probably his only two photographs that I had, and my dad passed away when I was 13. And I think they had a big effect on me. And perhaps that’s where the insane drive comes from, you know? I wanted to be recognized, I wanted to be accepted, and so on. And I left home when I was 16.

51:21 First of all, I slept at a friend’s house and eventually got my own place. And at 18, you know, I was a skinhead. It’s a group, it’s like a family, you know? Support system and identity with some other kids that probably didn’t have a good background or whatever. And at 18 years old, I got sent to a detention center for some minor thing, really.

51:49 But anyway, I found myself in a detention center with a few hundred other lads. And I’d already done a bit of weight training when I was at school, and I liked it, but, you know, I was more or less half living on the street, so I couldn’t pursue it. And then I went into the detention center, a few hundred guys, and they had weights in there, you know? It was quite a military regime. You had to march everywhere, and you had to do sports, you had to do weights and everything, trying to like, you know, short, sharp, sharp, they called it, trying to get us to toe the line.

52:22 And I was doing weights in there, and I quickly recognized, and so did the prison officers, and so did the other inmates, that I was stronger than everybody else, and I had a better physique, and I got a level of respect off everybody that nobody else was getting, and I found this was something I’m good at. And I didn’t have a, at that point, think, well, I’ll be Mr. Olympia or anything like that. I just thought, this is something positive, and I want to do this, and I don’t want to come back to this shithole again.

52:54 You know, I was in there with guys. I remember one incident, and one of the guys in there, and the prison officer was giving a bollocking about something, and it was like, if you don’t change the way you behave and the way you’re thinking, you’re going to be in and out of prison all your life. And the guy just looked at him and says, I don’t give a fuck. And I thought, well, I definitely do, you know? And I don’t want to do that.

53:23 And funny enough, I see the guy around sometimes, and that’s a true story. He had spent his life in and out of prison. So I’m like, I don’t want to do that. I don’t relate to that. And I got something here that’s very positive, and I put my energy into this, and something positive’s going to happen.

53:42 That was as simple as that. And I started training not to get bigger and stronger, you know? I was always feeling okay like that. It was to get out of, you know, improve my life and do something positive, and it wasn’t a feeling that I would like to do this. It was a feeling I literally had to.

54:02 I had to do it, and I almost feel like I knew, in the back of my mind somewhere, I knew what I had to do, and I knew what the possibilities were, although it was a little bit in the back of my mind. I knew it. I didn’t really say it to anybody, you know? And once I got on that path, I didn’t look back. I mean, I didn’t, not in a bad way, but just my mates would still go out drinking and partying and everything, and I just couldn’t do that anymore.

54:27 I just got to work and get money and go to the gym and get my food, and I didn’t have a car until I was 26 years old. I was just catching the bus. Every penny I had was going towards this, and I’d sit on the bus and read the magazines and just constantly dreaming. So I probably, without knowing it, knowing what I know now, I was just constantly projecting out, projecting all the time, and I believed it so much that it actually became reality, although I had to have the physical tools to do it.

54:58 Not everyone could be Mr. Olympia, so I had the physical tools, but how many people out there have the physical tools? I’ve been in gyms all around the world, and I see guys, and I think that guy could just be a freak if he just, you know? But they didn’t want to put the work in, and they didn’t put the absolute dedication in there. Perhaps they had more comforts than me.

55:19 Perhaps they had a nice family. Perhaps they had things around them. So I think if I had a comfortable upbringing, I probably wouldn’t have had that drive inside, perhaps, you know? So the childhood was probably the catalyst for this whole thing happening, as a lot of things are in people’s lives, you know? Thank you.

55:40 Brian Rose: A couple more questions. Colossus, I can see you up there. Big man, thanks for coming on top.

55:51 Audience member: Great talk, I really enjoyed it. I really mean that. You talked a lot about ego, about, you know, in a sport like bodybuilding, how that’s at the forefront. I mean, like any sport, really. It is at the forefront.

56:08 My question is, without that ego, without that drive, without almost getting lost in the ego, could you get to them great heights? Looking back at it now, did you have to go through that and get lost to be found?

56:25 Dorian Yates: I think, I mean, there’s definitely ego there. I mean, what is the ego, you know? What is it?

56:32 It’s drive, isn’t it? I don’t know. I think the ego is like what we think we are, you know? And that’s constantly changing anyway. It’s like your self-portrait that you’re projecting to the world.

56:43 This is me. And that’s constantly changing. But I think I did it from a different point of view from a lot of people that were in bodybuilding, you know?

56:52 Audience member: How was it different?

56:53 Dorian Yates: A lot of people that do bodybuilding, they want to walk around with the tank top on the shorts on all the time because they want to show people what they’ve got.

57:03 Nothing wrong with that. But I didn’t actually want to do that because I really didn’t care what people thought. I cared what the judges thought and I cared what the other athletes in the sport thought because they know what it entails and know what it takes. So the general public, I really didn’t care. I purposely get covered up because I just didn’t like people looking at me.

57:21 Audience member: Did you have to go that… Did you have to go as far…

57:24 Dorian Yates: Well, I guess it’s kind of… I guess you did have to go that far. I took it as far as I could until my body just broke, you know?

57:32 And now, you know, at the time, I thought it was the end of the world. But now I can see that that was had to happen, you know? Had to happen and had to crash and then be able to rebuild to where I am now. And if I didn’t get the injury, I don’t know what my story would be now. I probably would have carried on longer and maybe, you know, who knows what would happen.

57:56 Maybe there are health problems. A lot of people have been doing bodybuilding too long in professional sport. I’ve got health problems and so on. So I think I got out at the right time. And I think now I’ve got, you know, I’ve got the ego under control and the meditation has helped me so much because it just slows everything down.

58:15 It’s almost like the information is coming in but I can see it and I can feel it and having a conversation in my head, well, if I do this, I’ll do that, that’ll be the consequence. I’ve got time to like shift through it rather than just reacting, you know? So we all got egos, but I think hopefully I’m getting mine under control, you know? Cheers.

58:36 Brian Rose: Thanks, James.

58:37 Brian Rose: Can I get two more questions? Hold your hand up really high. Oh, yes, a gal’s pointing at someone. Alex. Oh, Alex, Mr. Reed.

58:43 Brian Rose: All the MMA guys are getting the questions.

58:45 Dorian Yates: Well, you know, I’ve trained with some MMA guys in Birmingham just mainly on conditioning and stuff like that for fun. And I can tell you that bodybuilding training’s hard but the MMA training is probably harder. But then bodybuilding’s harder outside the gym. You know, there’s more outside the gym than MMA.

59:02 Audience member: I can vouch for that. Great respect for the MMA guys, and I love the sport. I can vouch for that bodybuilding. Rex, you put your sore foot. I mean, getting punched in the head hurts, but you’re destroying your muscles all the time.

59:13 It’s not pleasant. It’s a horrible feeling, and it’s actually counterproductive for what we do. But it’s bloody hard. My question… Hello.

59:23 My question is celebrity. Okay, it’s quite clear. I see how driven you are. People have answered my questions. You didn’t set out to have celebrity passé.

59:35 Dorian Yates: No. It’s come.

59:36 Audience member: I can imagine you said you don’t have the ego where you walk in the room and you want everyone to know who you are.

59:44 Dorian Yates: I’d rather the opposite, to be honest.

59:46 Audience member: Yeah, and I gather that.

59:48 But now, I found the Thank You for that film. It was amazing. Very spiritual, related to a lot of the pain, and I’m at the end of my MMA career. I’m hurting and I relate how you want to move on to something different. The depression, I totally get.

1:00:04 But the main thing, celebrity. Now you have… You seem very together, very happy, very… And that’s lovely to see someone a bit older than me where I can get that happiness. Yeah, my life’s been a bit like this.

1:00:21 Now you have the ability to have celebrity, although not in the media, so to speak, with the red tops in television, because everyone’s going on the Internet now. Are you OK with that? To be able to use that for a degree?

1:00:34 Dorian Yates: As I said on the film with Brian, I’ve got a little bit of celebrity. And in my circle, in the gym world, of course, my name’s huge, you know?

1:00:43 But in the general public, it’s not. So I’ve got a nice little bit of celebrity. Enough, you know, I can go to nightclubs around the world and get recognised and get lit in and all that kind of stuff. So that’s nice, but then most of the time, I can just lead a normal life. Celebrity is not something I’m interested in.

1:01:02 It’s not something I would seek out. Actually, I’ve actively shunned it most of the time. When I was Mr Olympia, a lot of British TV shows invited me to be on the show. But I asked myself, what’s the point? What’s the purpose to go on the show?

1:01:19 And the only point I would have would not be self-promotion, because I’m already the best in the sport, and the people that are in the sport that I care about, they already recognise that, yeah? So if I’m going to go on TV or any mainstream media like that, my interest would be to promote a greater understanding of bodybuilding. And in order to do that, I have to be in a position to do that. And the TV shows never want to allow that to happen. They all wanted me to go on the TV show, in my posing trunks, do some posing like a monkey, and then they can comment.

1:01:52 I’m not even in a position to have any kind of point. So I had a conversation once with the BBC, who were just like, couldn’t believe it, that I was not really interested to be on the show, because most people want to sell their soul to be on TV. And I said, listen, I’m very happy to come on your show, yeah? But I want to come down and sit in my clothes and be interviewed so I can get my points across. And I can educate people about the sport, perhaps more than they know about it, and try to put it in a more positive light.

1:02:22 And in order to do that, I need to be sitting in my clothes, talking to the guy, not just out there in my posing trunks, and then it’s some novelty thing to make fun of, just to fill in the show or something like that. So I said, no, I’ll come on if you allow me to have my clothes on. And the guy wouldn’t have it. I said, listen, mate, the top football player at the time was Gazza Gascoigne, and I remember him, right? I said, listen, if you have Gazza on your program, yeah, are you going to ask him to come in his football kit and do ball tricks around your studio?

1:02:52 No, you’re going to sit him down and he’ll be able to talk. So all I’m asking for is the same thing. And they weren’t interested. Same thing as a big brother. They wanted him to have, not big brother, a big breakfast it was or something at the time with John Bourne and Denise Van Alten on there.

1:03:08 Yeah, they wanted to have me in the posing trunks, lying on the bed with Denise and having a chat. In private, I wouldn’t mind that. But, you know, not on TV.

1:03:22 Brian Rose: Next time, one more question. So raise your hand super high.

1:03:27 God, I got to ask him. Felix, you win. Thanks, Doris. Thank you. Felix, excuse.

1:03:40 Felix: Doreen, I really want to say thank you to you for the inspiration and nudges along the way. And great film. Thank you both for putting it out there. And Doreen, Gemma and Gail, appreciate the difference in my yoga and meditation the last two years has been profound. So thank you first of all.

1:03:58 Dorian Yates: Felix is on the bike ride with me, brother. Oh, yeah, you told me, yeah.

1:04:02 Felix: But my question is, you know, in Blood and Guts, you said, if you look back at your training career, you wouldn’t train. You wouldn’t train any different. You wouldn’t change a thing.

1:04:11 As a parent and now going through the journey of meditation, yoga, and the journey you’re on, if you went back and spoke to your 14-year-old self now, as a parent or speaking to yourself as an out-of-body experience, what are the best pieces of advice and wisdom you would give to you to move forward in your life?

1:04:40 Dorian Yates: I would just say to perhaps enjoy the journey a bit more, you know, and be a little bit more relaxed than I was, perhaps. The only thing I knew was 100%, you know, 100% or zero.

1:04:57 I probably could have gone at 90% and enjoyed it a little bit more. But I think we had this conversation before, similar. I don’t believe in going back and having regrets and trying to change things. Of course, it would have been nice if I couldn’t go back and tell myself, you don’t need to, like, kill yourself with the heavy weights and everything when you’re on a contest diet because you’re really raising your chance of getting injured. But if I hadn’t got injured, the whole story would have changed, and I’m happy with where I am now.

1:05:31 So I don’t want to go back. It’s like one of these time travel movies. You go back and you change one little thing, and the whole future changes. So I don’t think I would. But, yeah, I definitely could have chilled out a little bit more and spent a bit more time with the family and things like that.

1:05:45 But, you know, at the time, I just had this drive, and, you know, it got me where I wanted to get.

1:05:53 Felix: What journey you’ve been on now to a 15-year-old person, what would you tell them? Because, obviously, you went through a very driven, very focused, huge success, and now on a completely different journey, which is really resonant.

1:06:13 Dorian Yates: Yeah. Well, I’ll tell them whatever you focus on with your thoughts is what it’s going to bring into your reality, you know?

1:06:23 So if you’re thinking positive and you’re pursuing positive things, then that’s going to be your feedback, and also the opposite, you know? Thank you.

1:06:32 Brian Rose: Dorian, I just want to say, it was a tremendous amount of trust that you gave myself and the team at London Real. So thank you for that. We take it really seriously, and we couldn’t sleep for many nights.

1:06:45 Dorian Yates: It’s been brilliant, man, brilliant. I’m really, really happy with the end product and the experience, and I don’t know what we’re going to do to top this or if we’re going to top it or if we’re going to need to top it. I don’t know. But it’s been great. It’s been great going to know you and all of the people from the London Real.

1:07:03 Brian Rose: And thanks, everybody, for coming.