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153 episodes

Fridtjof Nansen: North of Insanity
11/2/2026 | 50 mins.
Ice. Starvation. Total darkness. And somewhere out there — a polar bear that would very much like to eat you.

On this episode, Ben Thompson is joined by producer Andrew Jacobs to break down the life of Fridtjof Nansen — Arctic explorer, record-setting skier, neuroscientist, diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the only man in history to drift across the polar ice cap on purpose.

Nansen didn’t just explore the Arctic — he weaponized it. He froze his own ship into the pack ice to prove a scientific theory. He skied farther north than any human had ever gone. And when he was done conquering the planet’s most hostile environment, he turned around and saved hundreds of thousands of refugees.

This one has frostbite, philosophy, and a man who genuinely believed the only way out… was further in.
Olympias: Snakes, Curses, and the Birth of an Empire
04/2/2026 | 1h
Empires don’t begin with heroes — they begin with mothers who refuse to lose.

Olympias ruled from the shadows using fear, religion, and assassination, making sure history remembered her son as a god and forgot anyone who stood in his way. If Alexander conquered the world with a sword, Olympias conquered history with snakes, curses, and a body count. Hosted by Ben Thompson, with co-host Dr. Patricia Larash, this episode unpacks how power really worked in ancient Macedonia — and why Olympias may have been the most dangerous person in the room.
Marguerite de la Rocque: Alone on the Island of Demons
28/1/2026 | 55 mins.
In 1542, a teenage French noblewoman is marooned on a frozen island off the coast of Newfoundland - deliberately abandoned by her own family, left with a failing matchlock gun, a handful of supplies, and no hope of rescue. Over the next two years, Marguerite de la Rocque watches everyone she loves die, survives brutal winters, hunts seals, and kills polar bears with a weapon that takes minutes to reload - knowing one mistake means death.

This week on Badass of the Week, Ben Thompson is joined by New York Times bestselling author Allegra Goodman, whose novel Isola resurrects one of the most insane survival stories in history: a woman written off as dead who endured the Island of Demons - and came back changed forever.
Gilgamesh: Immortal Power, Very Mortal Consequences
21/1/2026 | 1h 3 mins.
Five thousand years before Batman brooded, before Achilles sulked, before Hercules punched a god in the mouth, there was Epic of Gilgamesh - the original badass origin story. Gilgamesh starts as a tyrant king with godlike strength, a legendary temper, and absolutely zero chill, until the gods drop another unstoppable force into his life: Enkidu. What follows is a saga of monster-slaying, divine beef, catastrophic hubris, and one of the earliest -and most brutal - lessons ever recorded about friendship, loss, and mortality.

Host Ben Thompson is joined by mythologist and storyteller Dr. John Bucher, Executive Director of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, to break down how Gilgamesh isn’t just the first epic hero - but the blueprint for every action movie, superhero arc, and hero’s journey that followed. It’s a story about conquering everything… except death - and why that realization still hits just as hard 5,000 years later.
Butch Cassidy: The West’s Smoothest Criminal
14/1/2026 | 1h
Outlaws don’t usually get remembered for being smart—but Butch Cassidy was something different. He robbed banks and trains with minimal bloodshed, outwitted the Pinkertons for years, and built a criminal crew that operated more like a well-run business than a gang of desperados.

This week on Badass of the Week, we’re joined by Todd Weiser, co-host of the Heist Club podcast, to break down what made Cassidy’s robberies so effective, why charm was his most dangerous weapon, and how one outlaw managed to turn crime into legend. And then there’s the ending—because depending on who you believe, Butch Cassidy either died in Bolivia… or pulled off the cleanest escape of his life.

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About Badass of the Week

Throughout the course of human history certain individuals have stood out as being completely f***ing awesome. From ninjas and gunfighters to pirates and Vikings, to explorers, scientists and great leaders, these people - true badasses - completely obliterated anything that stood in their path, routinely overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and ultimately altered the course of history through their actions. Be it glory, conquest, or survival, these hardcore men and women all had one specific goal in life - and they didn’t let anything stand between themselves and their mission. They refused to back down even when the odds seemed hopelessly stacked against them, they came back from the brink of failure to achieve ultimate success, and they beat the hell out of anyone stupid enough to have stood in their way. Welcome to Badass of the Week hosted by Ben Thompson. The weekly (duh) podcast, that dives into depths history to tell new stories of badasses every week.Badass of the Week is Produced by High Five Content and Seven Bucks Productions. Executive Producers are Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Dany Garcia, Andrew Jacobs, Ben Thompson, Hiram Garcia,Brian Gewirtz and Frankie Chiapperino. You can support more Badass story telling by joining our patreon here:https://www.patreon.com/cw/badassoftheweek

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