After a life spent on the front line with the Irish Defence Forces, Ray Goggins has had his fair share of hairy situations. From conflict zones to terrorist attacks and hostage rescues, the former Special Forces soldier - who specialises in resilience training - has had to learn how to navigate danger and calmly take action.
However, those nerves of steel may have been put to the test recently with Ray's latest challenge. He's been guiding some of Ireland's best-known faces through the most remote and treacherous environments on Earth for Uncharted, a new RTE adventure series; and the lineup alone is enough to get the adrenaline pumping.
Leo Varadkar, Lyra, rap trio Kneecap, hurler Joe Canning, Olympian Thomas Barr, Camogie star Ashling Thompson and Paralympic gold medallist Ellen Keane are all pushed to their physical and mental limits - and then some - in a series of wilderness challenges.
Speaking about how Leo fared on the show, Ray said he was impressed and that the challenge was like ‘the ultimate reset.’
In the first episode, we see our former Taoiseach scaling a perilously steep mountain range (not a political metaphor) when faced with a death-defying vertical climb to the top of Drakensberg.
Leo was paired with Cork music diva Lyra and while it may seem like the most unlikely friendship, the duo got on like a house on fire.
'They are completely different people but they got on so well,' reflects Ray, adding that the extreme situation which found the trio getting right back to basics (cue sleeping in a cave) probably did Leo the world of good at this point in his life.
'He's in transition, at the moment, going from being the leader of a country to figuring out the next steps. This was the ultimate reset,' muses Ray. 'And you can see that he has some incredible strengths. He's a very smart guy who brings a lot to the table.
'But he was definitely out of his comfort zone in a lot of that experience with the heights,' says Ray, and no wonder, given the task of scaling gigantic peaks and climb sheer rock faces. 'Neither of them would be outdoorsy people but Lyra was just so positive and such a great team player. She has an energy that's infectious,' says Ray of the glamourous Corkconian.
Ray, a father of two who is best known as the chief instructor of RTE's Ultimate Hell Week and has navigated many a life and death situation, admits even he was out of his comfort zone.
'Well it was very different to Hell Week, which is very visceral and forceful,' says Ray. 'In Hell, basically you're barking at people for a week, pushing them into rivers and telling them what to do. Uncharted was more friendly, more PC, and because of the time involved and the nature of each adventure I had to dig deeper, and kind of figure out what motivated them, how they worked, and how to keep them going.’
In fact, far from being frustrated at the behaviour of his high-profile adventurers - or shocked at the eclectic choice of contestants on the show, Ray admits his first reaction was that of surprise at their bravery in signing up.
'They all surprised me in different ways, and for even showing up in the first place,' he says. 'They were all individual, but at the end of the day, what they brought collectively was the ability to just get on with it and endure. And they all did that.
'I'm not a celebrity type person, and I wouldn't even know half the people on television. But I was definitely interested about finding out how they were and what they were like.'
Ray was particularly impressed with the ladies on the show. In fact, when in Bolivia with Ellen Keane and Ashling Thompson, climbing ever higher into the Andean Mountains, it was Ray who struggled, he admits.
'We had to traverse glaciers and snowfields and walk all the way up to 6,000 metres. I had altitude sickness which really affected me,' he says. 'Like it doesn't matter how fit or how hard you are, if you're not acclimatised properly you're going to absolutely struggle.
'The females were like absolute machines, so tenacious and physically strong over eight days with this massive climb at the end,' he says. 'That was the toughest part for me,' he says, adding he also procured some fractured ribs and frostbite during his Uncharted weeks too.
Ray really enjoyed getting to know the contestants on Uncharted, adding: ‘I loved learning about these people, and how I got to be around them. Like I got to be a normal person, not just some scary fella dressed in black roaring at them to do mad s**t.
‘I got to have real conversations, and relate to them on a personal level. And I got to learn that everyone brings their own sense of adventure and difference and that's what makes us who we are.'
The first episode of Uncharted with Ray Goggins, in South Africa with Leo Varadkar and Lyra, begins on Wednesday May 14 on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
