Body Hack

The Gaza Strip is home to one of the longest ongoing conflicts in modern human history. Joining Palestinians at the sites of protests along the border with Israel, host Todd Sampson hopes to understand the extreme cost of wartime stressors on the human body. Sampson focuses on those who have found ways to adapt, live, and work in one of the most protracted conflict zones in the world.

In Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, the cradle of human civilization, host Todd Sampson meets two tribes and witnesses ancient, extreme rituals. With the Suris, Todd meets women who reject stretching their bottom lip to wear a plate. He then travels south to the Hamar, where a boy becomes a man by jumping over a line of cattle, while his female relatives are whipped until they bleed as a sign of devotion.

In Mexico City, Sampson joins the Lucha Libre, wrestling superstars who have embraced danger and fear in the hope of entertaining the masses and becoming heroes. Todd trains under the guidance of superstar Cassandro, a wrestling champion who has overcome decades of physical abuse, drug abuse, self-harm, and homophobic stigma to emerge as one of Lucha Libre’s most beloved wrestling and LGBTQ icons.

Joining the indigenous Nenet people of Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula, Sampson faces minus 30°C weather as he herds an army of 2,000 reindeer from winter pastures to summer camps. He concludes his visit at the village of Panaevsk in the hope of taking part in a traditional reindeer festival, where tribes compete in wrestling and racing matches before continuing their yearlong journey onto the ice.

Sampson delves into and beyond black magic and tales of possession as he visits four distinct aspects of much-maligned voodoo. Joining a priestess, he explores the powers of placebo and alternative medicine as he takes part in the bloody sacrifice of several animals and witnesses the priestess performing rituals. In the midst of yearly voodoo festival Sampson experiences religious rituals.

Sampson explores Japan's cultural history through martial arts. He learns from a samurai master the centuries-old science of the sword before progressing to its modern counterpart of Kendo, a form of martial arts taught to police cadets. He spends a day with Japan’s ideal man, a mountainous Sumo wrestler, and learns new perspectives on fitness and strength. Then he meets athlete Mizue Hasegawa.

In Utah, part of the U.S.'s heartland, Sampson explores the world of extreme drivers, and how they use their bodies to cope with the challenges of adrenaline, extreme stress, and debilitating fear. He joins a father-son team of demolition derby champions, Johnny and Dalton Gullo, and then takes on a bone-jarring challenge: a smash and bash demolition derby known as “The Day of Wreck-oning."