Shelby Stanger interviews adventurers, from astronauts to Paralympic snowboarders, about a life-changing pursuit.
Wild Ideas Worth Living is an interview-led outdoor show built around people who choose difficult, vivid experiences on purpose. Its stories move from Camino meals and moon missions to gravel races, big walls, spearfishing, and self-supported trail records.
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Wild Ideas Worth Living is a weekly interview show hosted by journalist Shelby Stanger and produced by REI Co-op Studios with Puddle Creative. Each episode is built around a single guest and a single pivotal pursuit, rather than a full biography, tracing the guest from an initiating decision through training and setbacks to an outcome such as a championship, a world record, or a personal resolution. Guests span elite and adaptive athletes (a Paralympic snowboard cross gold medalist, a three-time world champion surfer), record-setters (a Guinness World Record scuba diver, a world snowshoe champion), a NASA astronaut training for the Artemis II moon mission, and everyday people whose outdoor pursuits intersect with family or health, such as a family that walked 535 miles on the Camino de Santiago. Interviews are conversational and chronological, staying close to concrete detail (gear, training regimens, injury protocols, weather calls) rather than abstract motivational framing. Recurring subject matter includes physical injury and recovery, mental health and trauma processing, decision-making under risk, and inclusion in outdoor spaces. Each episode typically closes with a discrete takeaway framed as the 'wild idea' the guest acted on. The show does not center on gear reviews or technical how-to instruction; the emphasis is on personal narrative. Listeners interested in outdoor sports, endurance and adventure travel, or stories of reinvention through physical challenge and recovery make up the core audience. Production credits recur across episodes, including producers Annie Fassler, Sylvia Thomas, and Sam Pears-Nitzberg, senior producer Jenny Barber, and executive producers Joe Crosby and Paolo Motola. The show carries recurring sponsorship messaging from Capital One and the REI Co-op Mastercard.
Made for: Listeners interested in outdoor sports and adventure travel who also want stories of injury recovery, mental health, and reinvention through physical challenge.
What sets it apart: Each episode centers on one guest's single defining pursuit, with physical recovery and mental health as a consistent throughline rather than gear reviews or technical instruction.
High-impact interviews for those who love adventure and the outdoors. Host and journalist Shelby Stanger interviews world-class explorers, athletes, authors, scientists, health experts and entrepreneurs about how they’ve taken their own wild ideas and made them a reality, so you can too. Some of the wildest ideas can lead to the most rewarding adventures.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Adventure athletes and explorers make preparation, fear, recovery, and adaptation as compelling as the feats themselves.
Wild Ideas Worth Living follows adventure from the bold proposition to the physical and emotional work required to carry it through. In conversations led by Shelby Stanger, athletes and explorers explain how they train, manage fear, recover from setbacks, and adjust when an…
Lunar orbit meets polar ice, and your comfort zone starts looking suspiciously underbooked.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A 535-mile Camino walk turns family strain, shared logistics, and daily discomfort into a grounded story about repair.
Lauren Duke's Camino de Santiago story works as a family systems case study built around a 535-mile walk in Spain. In 2023, she invited her siblings and mother into a month of shared mileage, awkward logistics, language gaps, meals, lodging, and constant problem solving.
A focused, human look at Christina Koch's moon mission mindset and the discipline behind performing under pressure.
Christina Koch's moon assignment is framed less as spectacle than as a case study in operating under pressure. The episode ties her 328-day stay on the International Space Station, her Artemis 2 training, and her comfort with risk into a clear lesson about preparation: fear does…
John John Florence talks through the discipline behind stepping away from competition, from mental rehearsal to rehab and a family sailing horizon.
John John Florence's turn from elite surfing toward a family sailing project gives this conversation a useful business and career angle: how a top performer decides what comes after the tour.
A disciplined winter hiking story about risk, patience, and Fuller's 48-peak White Mountains milestone.
Mardi Fuller's winter push across New Hampshire's 48 4,000-foot peaks comes across as a clean case study in ambition with limits. The White Mountains are presented as steep, exposed, snowy, and changeable, with weather that can turn serious fast.
A grounded polar-expedition story about ambition, exhaustion, and staying functional when the margin disappears.
Preet Chandi's polar story is less a triumph reel than a look at risk management under brutal conditions. The episode starts with her first Antarctic drop-off, alone on the ice with a 192-pound sled, then tracks how that South Pole push grew into a career of three Antarctic…
A world champion makes snowshoe racing feel serious, lightly funded, and surprisingly practical for winter runners.
Jennifer Britz's snowshoe racing story is a small-market case study in commitment. The episode follows a Bar Harbor runner who trains in Acadia, works youth programs and fundraising at the local YMCA, coaches high school cross-country and track, and has spent about a decade…
A clear, grounded comeback story about risk, pain, and rebuilding an athletic life after losing both legs.
Tyler Turner's comeback is told through the economics of a high-risk life: what gets lost, what is worth buying back, and what it costs to try.
A grounded reinvention story about selling everything, finding peace underwater, and turning risk into a new life plan.
Barrington Scott's story plays less like a record-chasing adventure and more like a case study in reinvention. He learned to swim after joining the Marine Corps at 18, found calm underwater, and eventually set a 2024 Guinness World Record for scuba diving on all seven…
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Ryen Russillo runs weekly NFL and MLB recaps with beat reporters like Jeff Passan and Mike Sando.
Two hosts break down the ATP and WTA tour week, daily through every Grand Slam.
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A 535-mile walk turns into family therapy.
Christina has spent 10 years at NASA.
John John Florence has stepped away from competition.
This episode features an interview with marathon legend Des Linden, discussing her historic Boston Marathon win, retirement from professional road racing, and transition to new running adventures like ultras.
This episode features an interview with Thomas Bukowski, a North Face athlete who discusses his journey into climbing, overcoming fear, and expanding into ultrarunning.
This episode explores Jeff Garmire's record-breaking self-supported hike of the Appalachian Trail, focusing on his strategies and mental resilience.
Kimi Werner discusses her journey in spearfishing, her connection with the ocean, and her upcoming cookbook blending recipes and memoirs.
Interview with gravel cyclist Sofia Gomez-Villafane about her unconventional start and winning Unbound.
Interview with 19-year-old backcountry skier Kai Jones about his career, a serious accident, and his return to skiing.
A cancer survivor shares his 20-year journey with stage four cancer and how running helped him find meaning and resilience.
Winter remakes the White Mountains.
Host Shelby Stanger interviews Brother Phap Lu about his book Hiking Zen and the practice of mindfulness through walking meditation at Deer Park Monastery.
Ariana Luterman shares her journey from battling a serious illness to setting a Guinness World Record by completing six Ironman races on six continents in one year.
Preet Chandi remembers the plane leaving.
This episode features an interview with iconic ultra runner Anton Krupicka, discussing his career, FKTs, and the philosophy of trail running.
Award-winning journalist Amy Martin discusses how animals and plants use sound to communicate, exploring the hidden acoustic world of nature.
This episode features an interview with mountaineer Wasfia Nazreen about her spiritual approach to climbing the Seven Summits and using mountaineering to advocate for women's rights in Bangladesh.
This episode features polar explorer Eric Larsen discussing his record-breaking expeditions to the North Pole, South Pole, and Mount Everest, and his lifelong passion for wilderness adventures.
Jennifer Britz runs where winter gets heavy.
Host Shelby Stanger interviews REI gear tester Emily Pennington about the best outdoor gear for holiday gifts, covering tips for buying quality equipment for various adventures.
Tyler Turner kept chasing motion.
Barrington Scott found his calm underwater.
Chad Caruso shares his journey of setting a Guinness World Record for fastest skateboard crossing of America, discussing his struggles and triumphs.
Journalist Alex Hutchinson discusses the balance between technology and the thrill of discovery in modern exploration, drawing on behavioral psychology and neuroscience.
An interview with Tracy Metcalf, the first American woman to climb all 14 of the world's 8,000-meter peaks, discussing her journey and motivation.
Adventurer Jacob Lemanski discusses his wild idea of cycling around the world until he can go no further.
Host Shelby Stanger interviews mountaineer Nelly Attar about her journey from dance to climbing the world's highest peaks.
Interview with elite ultra runner Harvey Lewis about his running career, mindset, and training methods.
Professional thru-hiker Liz Thomas discusses urban hiking and her experience completing the Triple Crown.
An interview with travel journalist Stephanie Vermillion about her nocturnal adventures and chasing the northern lights.
Brooks Bash discusses his extreme endurance running challenges, including running 100 marathons in 100 days and a relay from Canada to Mexico.
Elite climber Mo Beck discusses her career in adaptive climbing and rethinking limits.
Interview with running coach Knox Robinson about his unconventional coaching methods and the Black Roses running club.
An interview with two former city dwellers who started a regenerative farm, discussing their transition and vision for community and environmental education.
Interview with blind mountaineer Eric Weihenmayer about his adventures and overcoming challenges.