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151 episodes

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.
Daniel Morgan: 499 Problems, the Crown Ain’t One
08/1/2026 | 1h 4 mins.
Powdered wigs didn’t win the American Revolution... scarred knuckles did.

Host Ben Thompson is joined by David Schmidt, director of The American Revolution with Ken Burns, to tell the story of Daniel Morgan - a frontier brawler who survived 500 lashes, took a musket ball through the face, and learned to fight the British in ways they couldn’t understand or stop. Morgan didn’t look like a Founding Father and he didn’t fight like a gentleman. He hunted officers from the treeline, turned militia panic into strategy, and delivered one of the most decisive victories of the war at Cowpens.

This episode strips the American Revolution down to its rawest form: mud, blood, rifle smoke, and a man with 499 reasons to never surrender.
Petty Officer Robert J Thomas: The Last Bullet Is His.
31/12/2025 | 48 mins.
During a brutal Vietnam firefight that spiraled into a forty-five-minute running battle, Robert J. Thomas was shot, shredded by shrapnel, and left barely able to stand. Instead of evacuating, he crawled forward, emptied his pistol into enemy positions, then climbed onto the door gun of a helicopter that had already been hit more than a hundred times.

On this episode, host Ben Thompson is joined by Matt Fratus of Late Night History to break down Thomas’s stand - a fight that saved multiple wounded teammates, kept the helicopter in the air, and only ended when the aircraft physically had to leave. Thomas later woke up in a medevac hospital with his face wired back together.

Despite being nominated twice for the Medal of Honor, Thomas received the Navy Cross, returned to Vietnam to finish his tour, and went on to help create the Navy SEAL sniper program that shaped modern special operations. This is a story about refusing extraction, precision under fire, and a man who never stopped fighting when everyone else was already out.

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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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