September 27, 2024 • 28 mins
Internationally renowned photographer, producer, creator and the man behind the hit show America’s Next Top Model, Nigel Barker is truly a force to be reckoned with, especially as an animal advocate!
EPISODE NOTES: One on One with Renaissance Media Man Nigel Barker
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EPISODE NOTES: One on One with Renaissance Media Man Nigel Barker
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rappaport-to-the-rescue-on-pet-life-radio-petliferadio-com--6667849/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Love.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is Pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Rap Aport to the Rescue with award winning animal advocate,
best selling author, journalist, and pet products creator Jill Rappaport.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Hi, I'm Jill Rappaport and welcome to Rapaport to the Rescue.
You know what I love about this show is the
interesting and exciting and unusual guests that I get with
the one common denominator our love of animals and our
need to protect them. We have so many interesting guests
in the world of film, TV, fashion, music, all walks
(00:43):
of life, and I just love hearing about their fascinating stories,
how they got to where they are and how animals
really helped them become the people they truly are today.
And that's why I'm so excited about my guest, Nigel Barker.
This guy is an internationally renowned photographer, creative director, entrepreneur.
(01:04):
You remember the name because he served seventeen seasons as
photographer and judge on the hit TV show America's Next
Top Model, which aired in over one hundred and forty countries.
He also hosted the competition series The Face, starring alongside
supermodel Naomi Campbell, and he also created the VH one
(01:25):
reality show The Shot, his podcast The Shaken and Stir
Show is currently in production for its TV release, and
his latest hit show, Top Photographer Preneer to great reviews
and it looks like that show will be coming back
as well. Now let's add on his other accomplishments. Nigel
Barker has also created a furniture line, a skateboard collection,
(01:45):
three signature fragrances. He's directed and produced films and documentaries,
and his philanthropy work knows no bounds. This guy is
a true humanitarian working with so many charitable organizations, including
the Special Olympics, where he serves as a Champion Ambassador,
the Humane Society of the United States, the Humane Society International,
(02:08):
Make a Wish Foundation, and the Elizabeth Blazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Anne Barker is also part of this year's Wonderful Equine
campaign Seen through Horses, and that I also mention. He
is an author and his latest book is a New
York Times bestseller called Models of Influence. When We come back,
the man of many talents and jobs, Nigel.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Barker take a bite out of your competition advertiser business
with an ad in pet Life radio podcasts and radio shows.
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large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
pet Life Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet
(02:50):
Life Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms,
and our live radio stream goes out to over two
hundred and fifty million subscribe on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In,
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visit Petlifradio dot com slash advertised today.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Welcome back to Rappaport to the Rescue. I'm Joe Rappaport
and a little winded from reading all of my next
guest credits. Wow, what hasn't this guy done? Nigel Barker.
So happy to have you here and so nice to
finally meet you. And if you heard that whole intro,
which I'm hoping you did, Nigel, I can't even believe
you have time.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
For this podcast. Oh you're very sweet. Now, it's a
pleasure to be here. Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Well, you are really a renaissance man and you truly
put the d in diversified. What haven't you done in
your career?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
There's plenty I haven't done. I mean, I still feel
there's a lot ahead of me, you know, there's always
things that you strive for. I like to think that
anything is possible, you know. I think that it's very
easy to pigeonhole yourself, you know. And I always tell
people who ask me, don't limit yourself by perhaps the
degree you have, or the education you have, or whatever
(04:21):
anybody else might put around you. The world will try
and pigeonhole you and tell you you can't do things already.
Don't be the one to say that you can't do
them yourself, you know. So I guess I'm my best
cheerleader of me, and I'm always sort of thinking, well, what,
basically you think can I do next? What different thing?
What have I not done? So, if it's creating a
furniture line, if it's coming out my own fragrance.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Books, documentary's TV shows, you've done at all.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I've done a lot of things. I've done a lot
of different things. So there's a few things up my
sleeve that I'm working on still. But I guess the
bigger part of it is is that nothing is off
the table.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
That is so great. And even if somebody gives you
a know at this point in your life, and I
probably would, I think that they don't. You're at the
level where I've bet very few people say no to you, Nigel.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
But if they do, how do you handle rejection?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, it doesn't happen very often.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
I love that. I wish that would apply to me.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
It's the truth of matter. But it's also less to
do with rejection, is the way I kind of look
at it. It's not so much that people don't say no.
They may not necessarily agree, or they may not think
that now's the time, but that doesn't mean you've been rejected.
I guess it's also how you look at it, right,
So I think it's very easy for in this day
and age for people to feel rejected or to feel
that they haven't got enough likes for example. I mean,
(05:35):
we live in a sort of social media world where
you post something or do something, and if people don't
react to it in a positive manner or just in
any manner, then do you feel that maybe it wasn't
a good idea, or it wasn't great, or people didn't
appreciate it. Or what have you. And I don't run
my world like that. I'm very much my own editor,
my own kind of I kind of decide whether I
want to do something or not based on whether I
(05:56):
want to do it. But I think that's also the
purview of an art in general. I think, you know,
to be a successful artist, or just really to be
an artist, you have to be the one who paints
for yourself. You don't paint or shoot or photo or
do whatever it is for someone else, because if you do,
you're really working for hire. You're not really creating because
that's how you're driven to be. So otherwise you'd never
(06:18):
know as an artist when to put the paintbrush down.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
And you know what's amazing about you, Nigel. You know
you've worked in this high fashion world for so many
years with the biggest superstars in the industry like Naomi Campbell.
And there's been so much criticism today about when we
look at a photo, are we really looking at something
that's real because there is so much retouching we don't
even know what to believe when we see a photo anymore.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, but that goes back to some any things. I
think that people get over excited about a lot of
these things. What are we trying to believe in any way?
Do you like the picture? Do not like the picture?
It's pretty simple. If it's about belief, then you know
that's not really the sort of the world of fashion
and fantasy and imagination and dream and you know what
a lot of what I work in is about. Yes,
If it's about realism and about sort of photojournalism taking
(07:05):
pictures of people and you're it's a politician or something,
you know you've somehow morphed them, that's perhaps a different world.
So it really depends on what we're talking about, you know,
I say, look, first of all, any photographer worth their
salt knows how to manage the light. And with the
light you can change the shape of someone's face and
change the way they look and feel. You know, you
(07:28):
can use shadow to create mystery. All these things change
the perception of how someone reacts to a photograph. So
you could argue that anybody who does anything even remotely
artistic to a photograph is changing how you perceive that
picture to be and therefore changing your thoughts.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
And what about the image for young girls? You have
surrounded yourself and you've been so successful in the world
of fashion and beauty, surrounded by the most beautiful women
in the world, and your shows and every show that
has the Nigel Barker touch seems to have the gold
in touch. And so many young girls today look at
shows like that in admiration but also envy, and that
(08:04):
can be a little dangerous, right.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Let mean, look again, there's nothing new here, there's nothing
that is out of the ordinary, and it's going to change.
I think when you look back at sort of shows
from you know that I've worked on from back in
the day, it's easier to look back at them with
sort of hindsight and say, we wouldn't say that now,
We wouldn't do that now, But it wasn't now. You know,
those were done sort of twenty years ago. And things
are constantly in flux, and oftentimes if you don't have
(08:28):
the conversation, if you don't have these things come up
in the first place, then they don't get discussed and
they don't happen. Yes, models certainly were too skinny, were
not diversified enough, were very much one type and still
are to many respects that same way. But it's changing,
and it has changed. A large part has changed because
of shows like Top Modeled, where we brought up these
(08:49):
conversations and we started to make things different, and we
started to include full figured models and petite models and
models of color and all the rest of it. Where
I mean, did we do it perfectly? No, of course not.
We didn't. They'd be trying. Yeah, did we think we're
doing it right? We tried. But again, what was right
then isn't right now? And so on and so forth.
And I do think that if you don't have any
kind of communication or dialogue on these things, nothing ever
(09:10):
gets done, you know. So sometimes these things have to
get out there, and it's not always the healthiest thing,
it's not always the best thing, but it is what
it is, and you know, and it's also drawn by
consumer right, So at the end of the day, the
advertising industry, they're not necessarily out there to create a problem.
They're actually out there to market to people in a
way that they think that's going to react to them.
(09:31):
So part of it is cultural issues that we have
as far as what culturally we think is normal, and
that's not just created by the fashion industry. That's also
created by all of us, and how we expect people
to be and you know, whether we consider things to
you know, in a conservative manner or a more liberal manner.
And you know, what's okay in Europe, isn't okay in
the US? Or isn't it okay in Asia? Or isn't
(09:52):
okay in Africa or wherever. So there are different you know,
sort of moral standards as well that apply across all
these things, you know, including things like nudity and things
like that.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
You've achieved incredible success and people look up to you
and they respect you, and yet you also work with
teams of people and you have to be open to
hearing how they feel. Is that something that has come
easy for you because you seem like a man of conviction.
You have your own ideas and you know what you want.
So when you're working with teams as a creative force,
(10:23):
is that hard for you or do you love that
part of the business.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
It's always been a part of the business, And so
I think that from very early on you learn about
working in a team. I've telled people this all the
time that I'm not a one man band. You know,
i might be the front man, but I'm not the band.
And when you obviously bring me into a picture. I
do my piece, and that might be more heavy lifting
than certain other people in that particular scenario, but in
(10:46):
other times it may not be. And I think that
it really depends on the job. But every job, certainly,
if for example, if the fashion shoot, the makeup, the hair,
the styling, you know, all those parts pay a huge
role and are incredibly important. And I'm not doing that
those pieces. I'm helping to direct them, I'm giving my
opinion on them, and you know, we work in a
collaborative way. But likewise, they also want the pictures to
(11:09):
turn out right and or the film to look good,
and the lighting to be beautiful and all these different pieces.
And which is our bigger part. Just the way the
business is organized is that the jobs come mostly through us,
so we are the ones who do the hiring, and
so for that reason you end up being the boss.
But really on set, a lot of that becomes more democratized.
And despite the fact you are the boss, you don't
(11:32):
necessarily behave in that manner because you realize when you're
working with creatives in a creative world that you want
to give people creative freedom in order to do their
best work. And so it doesn't actually, you know, benefit
anyone to stifle that.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Because you have dabbled and really been involved in every
facet of the business. What excites you the most, what
makes you get up in the morning and think, I
can't wait to jump into this.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You know, you have to leave your life with passion,
and I'm excited by the smallest things. To be honest,
it doesn't have to be some kind of big thing
that gets me going. It really is just the sort
of joy of life in many ways and doing things
that you know that are creative in general. I get excited,
you know, making breakfast in the morning if I get
the chance to do so. You know, I get excited
(12:16):
to make dinner.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
It if you do this podcast, it doesn't matter what
it is.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You know you didn't answer. There's a great way to
feel and start to sort of stop and smell the roses. Right.
I think it is that one of the things that
we have to do in my business is be very
aware of what's happening right here, right now, right That's
the job. You know, I'm about capturing the moment as
it's happening. So therefore you have to be focused on
(12:41):
what's happening and not too aware of what happened or
what's about to happen and what you can't change. You know,
it's right here and that's what I'm working with. And
so that piece of it means that, you know, you
are just super excited about all the things. So if
I'm photographing some inanimate object, I kind of you know,
you create a story around it, and you get excited
(13:01):
by what's happening and what's about to happen, and your
mind set such. You know about the angles, the light,
the texture, and the sound that it might make, or
whether it's cold or hot or all the different things,
and those all play a part of what makes it exciting.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Who have been some of the most exciting people you've
worked with?
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I mean, look, I've been very privileged and got to
work with some amazing artists and people and personalities over
the years. I mean, I think you know, there's a
few standouts for sure. Taylor Swift is someone who I
worked with by a lot and did a book on
her at one point, and she's someone who are not
surprisingly in her youth, but she's a young woman still,
but when she was much younger, I can talk about
(13:38):
over a decade ago. When I first started working with it,
you could tell that she was someone who was a major,
major talent and was able to just work in ways
that was way above her years even then. So sometimes
people you see someone who's the creative of artists and
it can seem frivolous, you know, like you can meet
the actor. You may say, well, they're just act they
think they're so important or whatever, but they're really good ones.
(13:59):
I'm so much more. They're brilliant brains and they're amazing people.
And it's really difficult to be at the top of
your game any profession. And that also goes for models.
That's why, you know, you may think, oh, just a
pretty face, not if you have a supermodel. If you
become a supermodel, the only way for that to happen
is that you are actually a pretty dance smart business
person yourself, you know, because you cannot juggle that kind
(14:21):
of a sort of workload and somehow the hard part
is then you also have to just be the model too.
But to get to that level, and any sort of
top level of business requires anything acting, you, a musician, anything.
It takes an incredible mind. And I'm you know, so
she was one of those people.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
You keep in touch. For Taylor, you talk.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
To her, not really at this point. And that job
came through Sony, who I had a very long standing
deal with. I work for them for about a decade
NonStop and got the opportunity to work with a lot
of their big stars, you know, justin Timberlake and Peyton
Manning and people like that as well.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
No, it's just amazing because Taylor literally is She's the
most famous person in the world. You know, she could
go on Twitter right now, on on Instagram and tell
us who to vote for.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
And of course, as the whole world knows now, he
is endorsing Kamala Harris.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
That level of fame is so unbelievable, and the fact
that you've got to work with her on such a
personal and close manner.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Hundred percent I agree. But you know, at the same time,
I just got back from a trip in Africa. I
was in Sierra Leone and I got to photograph young
girls in villages in the middle of nowhere. They're miles
and you know, one hundreds of miles away out of
from the capital Freetown, in sort of jungle areas and
really difficult to get to. Multiple four wheel drive cars
(15:38):
for hours up and down, going at a few miles
an hour, trying to get to these still places and
the people I met there and the women I photographed,
and the stories they had, and they're all as important
to me in many ways. And that's the beauty of
what I get to do, is that one day I'm
photographing someone whober famous and the next day I'm photographing
someone you'd never heard of. And it doesn't make any
difference really to me on how I broach the job.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
For you, it's not about ever being starstruck. It's about
being heart struck.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
It's about telling the story, you know. It's about finding
that story. It's about the narrative of who they are
and what they are. And my job is as a storyteller.
So what's the story I'm wanting to tell? How am
I going to tell it? And what's the story that
they want to tell? How does that all marry? Well?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Besides your incredible accomplishments and your talent, what I was
drawn to them is your love of animals.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
My name's Barker, for goodness sakes. So either it's like
I'm Bob Dog like.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
A dog, or Bob Barker, right, maybe both.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, tell us about.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
That when that began, and why animals, dogs, horses and
you work so closely and passionately with this wonderful campaign
that I've been involved with seeing through horses, why they
resonate in your heart so much.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I grew up in a family of animal lovers, you know,
I mean literally I grew up with at one point,
I think we had over I think like fifteen sixteen
dogs in our house. You know. My parents, my mother'specifically
and my grandmother used to bring in this about every
stray they would find in the streets of London and
give them a hope. So we had a sort of
cockophony of crazy animals at the house, which we used
(17:10):
to love. Most of them. We would live under this
big staircase. I came from a privileged background. My father
was a financial consultant and my mother had been a
model in her day and what have you. And we
had this big townhouse in central London, big five story affair,
big ground house, but my parents turned it into like
an animal house literally, you know, underneath this huge grand stairwell,
(17:32):
all these dogs would sleep and I would often just
go down there and like sort of moudly sleep with
the dogs because we had big Rhodesian ridge bags. We
had boxers.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Were they rescues back then?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Rescues? Yeah, weah rescues and big dogs that people didn't want,
and half breed dogs and you know all that kind
of stuff that back then it was a bit different,
you know, And as a kid, I didn't know what
I was dealing with. I just was like, oh, this
is all fun and games, and I would I used
to love trying to take as many of the dogs
out on a walk as I could at one time,
and being drug around Hyde Park by these massive animals.
(18:02):
But I kind of grew up with that. We also
had budgery guards, parrots, rabbits, gerbils, cats, and these animals,
as we know, lived for a lot many candive for
some time. So we had a cat that, you know,
miss Otis, who lived for twenty four years and so
she was with me my entire life, you know, and
things like that. So you kind of grow up with
that sort of sensitivity. In fact, this is something that
(18:23):
not that many people actually know. People that are aware
of the fact that I had really at one point
sort of looked like I was going to go to
medical school, and I had applied to medical school and
that was where my direction was. But yeah, I got
in and did all that, but I did, but I
ended dropping out because I started modeling in my life
to a complete different turn. Basically before that happened, what
I had actually wanted to do was zoology. And I
(18:45):
had always loved Sir David Ashenborough, had been a huge
fan of him and his life and his life's work,
and I really I just wanted to be him. And
if there was anyone else I probably could be in
my life, that would be to be Sedavid Ashenbrook. And
so you know, just all his shows that he created,
Survival Planet Earth, all those things, but just so extraordinary.
(19:06):
But I remember telling my father and he was like,
I'm not going to have you become as zoologists. You're
going to become a zoo keeper, work in the zoo
and just feed the elephants or something. And that's not
a job for a young man who's had a very
expensive education. So, you know, I was sort of convinced
that I should do medicine. And I wasn't really smart
enough to become a vet. It was even harder to
become a man.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
That was my dream to Nigel.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
And I was terrible on math, so I was really
good at math. But you have to be really good
at math. It's like the best of the best, Our
best people out there work on animals, by the way,
everyone so our animals are very lucky in many ways.
But I guess there's far more anatomies to learn. So anyway,
that my career took a different shift. And you know,
I've spent time working as an ambassador with the Humane Society.
(19:46):
You know, I've done documentaries on the seal hunt and
I've also done you know, work with Save the Save
the Sharks. So at the arch enemy of the seal
is the shark. So I don't pick sides. I'm about animals,
regardless of their verocity or whether they like one another
or not. It's about, you know, doing the right thing
and being humane and caring and just in gen that's
(20:08):
my life ethos, to be honest, it doesn't really matter
whether it's animals or humans. Actually for me, it's about
being caring and being understanding and being a good person.
It's you know, what's the right thing to do, you know,
and why would we harm an animal? Why would we
treat them poorly. Likewise, why would we do that to
a human.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Well, it's amazing because what's going on in the world
of adoption a rescue, it's the worst it's been in decades.
And I go to my local shelter every week and
I've been featuring the underdogs of the shelter world. I've
gotten fourteen out of the eighteen in my campaign a home.
But it's truly heartbreaking. And I know for someone like you.
You know, animals they can't talk. You know, we are
(20:45):
their voice, and they need us to save them, protect them,
And thank goodness for a person of your stature doing
what you're doing. Tell me about the animals that you
have in your life right now and what they mean
to you.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Well, we have a few right now. We have a
dog called Memphis who was rescued from a puppy farm
and he's from Tennessee. So his name is Memphis, and
he's a you know, funny old fellow. He's got two
broken front legs with the chanal titanium and he had
a broken back and he's all fixed up and he's
the fastest thing you'd ever see. But when he goes
to lie down, he looks like he's already been knocked
(21:18):
over by a car. The bord little thing is. His
old body is all twisted. But he's the most sweetest
little soul you've ever seen. And he he's mended himself
so well that he you literally would have no idea.
And he's got the most incredible nose on him you've
ever seen. He could have been a sniffer dog and
he had another life because he's he can literally fine
anything and see it, you know, in pitch black, no
matter how far away you throw it. And he knows
(21:40):
one ball from another if there's a thousand similar balls,
got the nose for it. We have a cat called
Stella who is also a rescue and a friend of
mine who's a big rescue animal advocate called Loretta Stadler
found this cat for us, and it was really from
my daughter who wanted the kitten, and so she found
us a rescue. You and so we have Stellar, and
(22:01):
we have Rocky, who's a Cuban rock iguana as well.
He's now sort of four foot giant.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
And also your love of horses, Nigel.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I love all animals, and luckily enough I get to
work with horses once in a while. They're such a
beautiful regal animal, and obviously they are somewhat domesticated, so
they come across our fashion perspective. We get to utilize
them as beautiful animals. And I got to shoot for
Art Vodega magazine in Wellington just recently and went down
there to photograph all these riders with their incredible horses,
(22:33):
and amazing, they were very beautiful. I meania, there's such
an elegant and incredible animal. I've also photographed them with
my one of my other favorite subjects, which is my
wife and my sister in law, which to call the
Chin Twins on Instagram. We've shot many times with horses there,
back riding and also just doing yoga with horses, and
they're sort of yoga experts, yoga and dancers. And there's
something about a horse which there's such an incredibly powerful animal,
(22:56):
yet there's such a humble animal at the same time,
and they have the grace yet total power. So it's
those things, those juxtapositions make them very special. And you know,
they can be obviously flighty, but they can also be
rock steady, so there's all these different personalities to them
that are amazing. That appear somewhat human like in their
personality traits. I think that also helps us see ourselves
(23:20):
in them. You know.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Well, you know, Nigel, you're so creative and I would
be a fool not to take this opportunity to pitch
this idea to you. But we should do a show
about animals or rescue. I have a great idea called
mutt Makeover.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
There you go, okay, let me know. You know, on Makeover,
I was commissioned at one point by the ASPCA to
do a campaign for them, or similar to what you
were talking about, to help dogs get adopted. And the
campaign that we came up with was that at the time,
pretty much all dogs with the ASPCA were being photographed
in their kennels, but they were always behind bars. And
(23:54):
when I first looked at all the animals, and this was,
you know, over a decade ago too, they showed me
all the pictures and I'm like, well, if we want
to do a campaign to help these animals get even adopted,
what would you like would we do something with us?
And they knew I was working with the Humane Society,
and I said sure, let me have a look. And well,
the first thing I say is this is that they've
looked like a bunch of criminals behind bars. Like, the
only time you see anyone behind bars is if they're
(24:16):
a bit lefted. So if you're going to put a
thuggish hit bulldog behind bars with like sort of looking
like a bit forlorn, it doesn't look very appealing. So
so what we need to do is take them from
around the bars, put them in front of the bars,
or take them outside, played with them, let them be
a dog, and then take their photograph and then we'll
see what happens.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
That's my concept. I started this on the Today Show
with about a while. But I went to the shelters and.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
These animals who had been sitting there, some so sadly
for months and years.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
You give them a makeover, you groom them, you make
them over, and you bring them out. And I had
a one hundred percent adoption record. But I think there's
a way we could do it now, these extreme makeovers,
and then also we would be the mutt match. Then
we would find the perfect match. Aren't those great ideas? Nigel?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
It's idea.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Oh see, I'm telling you I'm going to be talking
to you about this.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
People call my people.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Oh I believe me, my dogs will call your dogs.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
We'll look out for the howl.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
And by the way, the reason I'm so passionate about
this any form of entertainment, I always say, with rescue
and adoption, you've got to give the light always at
the end of the tunnel, and you want to make
it a happy, entertaining show while at the same time
saving lives. And we need these ideas now more than ever.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Bet mcgreenville by saying mission with Remaine Society when I
created the documentary on the Seal Hunt. All the previous
films have been about the actual killing of the seals,
which is very brutal and graphic, and no one can
really stomach it, even the people who work that. So
I'm like, well, this is not really a campaign. Then
if no one's going to look at it see it,
no one really wants to hear about it. Everyone knows
(25:56):
it's bad and wronged, So that's not going to work.
What we have to do is do a celebration of
the animal, talk about its life, talk about the birth
of the animal and incredible migration they make across the
ice and what the ice looks like, and make them
fall in love with this animal all over again. That's right.
I mean we start the relationship and at that point
you don't need to tell them not to kill it.
(26:17):
They're not going to want to kill it because they
love it. And so if you love something, you're not
going to kill it. But if you don't really know
something because you're scared to even think about it, then
BAPS is easier to be out of sight, out of mind.
And so we have to read program what we're thinking
and how we do it.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
And especially with horses, I have wanted to do a
documentary for years about the horrific side of horse racing.
I wanted to call it in a race for their
lives because you know what's happening with these race horses
and how many are being put down at two three
years old. And I did a story on it where
sixty five horses were living off rain, water and wood
(26:50):
for survival and they were literally discarded because they had
no more use on the track, so they were thrown
into a farm upstate and many didn't make it. Well,
this is my goal, my dream. I mean, we have
to be able to educate people, we have to be
able to make a difference. But you don't want to
freak people out and depress them. Just like what you're saying,
right way to do it. You take them in the
(27:11):
back door and you end up walking out the front. Right.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I agreed.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
And when I not only read about all your philanthropic work,
but your charitable organizations that you work with, everything you
do to help and give back on top of your
incredible career, I've said I got to get the sky
on my show immediately. You're truly amazing, Nigel. I don't
even know how you had time to do this today.
I'm so happy you're here. Cannot thank you enough for
(27:36):
being our rapaport to the Rescue.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Thank you, It's been a pleasure and I look forward
to seeing you again.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Said, and believe me, I will be reaching out to
your people. I don't have people, it will be me. Okay,
Thank you, Nigel, good luck with everything. All the best
to take that, and thanks to all of you for
tuning in today to wrap Aport to the Rescue.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Let's talk Best every week on demand only on petlive
radio dot com.
Love.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is Pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Rap Aport to the Rescue with award winning animal advocate,
best selling author, journalist, and pet products creator Jill Rappaport.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Hi, I'm Jill Rappaport and welcome to Rapaport to the Rescue.
You know what I love about this show is the
interesting and exciting and unusual guests that I get with
the one common denominator our love of animals and our
need to protect them. We have so many interesting guests
in the world of film, TV, fashion, music, all walks
(00:43):
of life, and I just love hearing about their fascinating stories,
how they got to where they are and how animals
really helped them become the people they truly are today.
And that's why I'm so excited about my guest, Nigel Barker.
This guy is an internationally renowned photographer, creative director, entrepreneur.
(01:04):
You remember the name because he served seventeen seasons as
photographer and judge on the hit TV show America's Next
Top Model, which aired in over one hundred and forty countries.
He also hosted the competition series The Face, starring alongside
supermodel Naomi Campbell, and he also created the VH one
(01:25):
reality show The Shot, his podcast The Shaken and Stir
Show is currently in production for its TV release, and
his latest hit show, Top Photographer Preneer to great reviews
and it looks like that show will be coming back
as well. Now let's add on his other accomplishments. Nigel
Barker has also created a furniture line, a skateboard collection,
(01:45):
three signature fragrances. He's directed and produced films and documentaries,
and his philanthropy work knows no bounds. This guy is
a true humanitarian working with so many charitable organizations, including
the Special Olympics, where he serves as a Champion Ambassador,
the Humane Society of the United States, the Humane Society International,
(02:08):
Make a Wish Foundation, and the Elizabeth Blazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Anne Barker is also part of this year's Wonderful Equine
campaign Seen through Horses, and that I also mention. He
is an author and his latest book is a New
York Times bestseller called Models of Influence. When We come back,
the man of many talents and jobs, Nigel.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Barker take a bite out of your competition advertiser business
with an ad in pet Life radio podcasts and radio shows.
There is no other pet related media that is as
large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
pet Life Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet
(02:50):
Life Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms,
and our live radio stream goes out to over two
hundred and fifty million subscribe on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In,
and other streaming apps. For more information on how you
can advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
visit Petlifradio dot com slash advertised today.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Welcome back to Rappaport to the Rescue. I'm Joe Rappaport
and a little winded from reading all of my next
guest credits. Wow, what hasn't this guy done? Nigel Barker.
So happy to have you here and so nice to
finally meet you. And if you heard that whole intro,
which I'm hoping you did, Nigel, I can't even believe
you have time.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
For this podcast. Oh you're very sweet. Now, it's a
pleasure to be here. Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Well, you are really a renaissance man and you truly
put the d in diversified. What haven't you done in
your career?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
There's plenty I haven't done. I mean, I still feel
there's a lot ahead of me, you know, there's always
things that you strive for. I like to think that
anything is possible, you know. I think that it's very
easy to pigeonhole yourself, you know. And I always tell
people who ask me, don't limit yourself by perhaps the
degree you have, or the education you have, or whatever
(04:21):
anybody else might put around you. The world will try
and pigeonhole you and tell you you can't do things already.
Don't be the one to say that you can't do
them yourself, you know. So I guess I'm my best
cheerleader of me, and I'm always sort of thinking, well, what,
basically you think can I do next? What different thing?
What have I not done? So, if it's creating a
furniture line, if it's coming out my own fragrance.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Books, documentary's TV shows, you've done at all.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I've done a lot of things. I've done a lot
of different things. So there's a few things up my
sleeve that I'm working on still. But I guess the
bigger part of it is is that nothing is off
the table.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
That is so great. And even if somebody gives you
a know at this point in your life, and I
probably would, I think that they don't. You're at the
level where I've bet very few people say no to you, Nigel.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
But if they do, how do you handle rejection?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, it doesn't happen very often.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
I love that. I wish that would apply to me.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
It's the truth of matter. But it's also less to
do with rejection, is the way I kind of look
at it. It's not so much that people don't say no.
They may not necessarily agree, or they may not think
that now's the time, but that doesn't mean you've been rejected.
I guess it's also how you look at it, right,
So I think it's very easy for in this day
and age for people to feel rejected or to feel
that they haven't got enough likes for example. I mean,
(05:35):
we live in a sort of social media world where
you post something or do something, and if people don't
react to it in a positive manner or just in
any manner, then do you feel that maybe it wasn't
a good idea, or it wasn't great, or people didn't
appreciate it. Or what have you. And I don't run
my world like that. I'm very much my own editor,
my own kind of I kind of decide whether I
want to do something or not based on whether I
(05:56):
want to do it. But I think that's also the
purview of an art in general. I think, you know,
to be a successful artist, or just really to be
an artist, you have to be the one who paints
for yourself. You don't paint or shoot or photo or
do whatever it is for someone else, because if you do,
you're really working for hire. You're not really creating because
that's how you're driven to be. So otherwise you'd never
(06:18):
know as an artist when to put the paintbrush down.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
And you know what's amazing about you, Nigel. You know
you've worked in this high fashion world for so many
years with the biggest superstars in the industry like Naomi Campbell.
And there's been so much criticism today about when we
look at a photo, are we really looking at something
that's real because there is so much retouching we don't
even know what to believe when we see a photo anymore.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, but that goes back to some any things. I
think that people get over excited about a lot of
these things. What are we trying to believe in any way?
Do you like the picture? Do not like the picture?
It's pretty simple. If it's about belief, then you know
that's not really the sort of the world of fashion
and fantasy and imagination and dream and you know what
a lot of what I work in is about. Yes,
If it's about realism and about sort of photojournalism taking
(07:05):
pictures of people and you're it's a politician or something,
you know you've somehow morphed them, that's perhaps a different world.
So it really depends on what we're talking about, you know,
I say, look, first of all, any photographer worth their
salt knows how to manage the light. And with the
light you can change the shape of someone's face and
change the way they look and feel. You know, you
(07:28):
can use shadow to create mystery. All these things change
the perception of how someone reacts to a photograph. So
you could argue that anybody who does anything even remotely
artistic to a photograph is changing how you perceive that
picture to be and therefore changing your thoughts.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
And what about the image for young girls? You have
surrounded yourself and you've been so successful in the world
of fashion and beauty, surrounded by the most beautiful women
in the world, and your shows and every show that
has the Nigel Barker touch seems to have the gold
in touch. And so many young girls today look at
shows like that in admiration but also envy, and that
(08:04):
can be a little dangerous, right.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Let mean, look again, there's nothing new here, there's nothing
that is out of the ordinary, and it's going to change.
I think when you look back at sort of shows
from you know that I've worked on from back in
the day, it's easier to look back at them with
sort of hindsight and say, we wouldn't say that now,
We wouldn't do that now, But it wasn't now. You know,
those were done sort of twenty years ago. And things
are constantly in flux, and oftentimes if you don't have
(08:28):
the conversation, if you don't have these things come up
in the first place, then they don't get discussed and
they don't happen. Yes, models certainly were too skinny, were
not diversified enough, were very much one type and still
are to many respects that same way. But it's changing,
and it has changed. A large part has changed because
of shows like Top Modeled, where we brought up these
(08:49):
conversations and we started to make things different, and we
started to include full figured models and petite models and
models of color and all the rest of it. Where
I mean, did we do it perfectly? No, of course not.
We didn't. They'd be trying. Yeah, did we think we're
doing it right? We tried. But again, what was right
then isn't right now? And so on and so forth.
And I do think that if you don't have any
kind of communication or dialogue on these things, nothing ever
(09:10):
gets done, you know. So sometimes these things have to
get out there, and it's not always the healthiest thing,
it's not always the best thing, but it is what
it is, and you know, and it's also drawn by
consumer right, So at the end of the day, the
advertising industry, they're not necessarily out there to create a problem.
They're actually out there to market to people in a
way that they think that's going to react to them.
(09:31):
So part of it is cultural issues that we have
as far as what culturally we think is normal, and
that's not just created by the fashion industry. That's also
created by all of us, and how we expect people
to be and you know, whether we consider things to
you know, in a conservative manner or a more liberal manner.
And you know, what's okay in Europe, isn't okay in
the US? Or isn't it okay in Asia? Or isn't
(09:52):
okay in Africa or wherever. So there are different you know,
sort of moral standards as well that apply across all
these things, you know, including things like nudity and things
like that.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
You've achieved incredible success and people look up to you
and they respect you, and yet you also work with
teams of people and you have to be open to
hearing how they feel. Is that something that has come
easy for you because you seem like a man of conviction.
You have your own ideas and you know what you want.
So when you're working with teams as a creative force,
(10:23):
is that hard for you or do you love that
part of the business.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
It's always been a part of the business, And so
I think that from very early on you learn about
working in a team. I've telled people this all the
time that I'm not a one man band. You know,
i might be the front man, but I'm not the band.
And when you obviously bring me into a picture. I
do my piece, and that might be more heavy lifting
than certain other people in that particular scenario, but in
(10:46):
other times it may not be. And I think that
it really depends on the job. But every job, certainly,
if for example, if the fashion shoot, the makeup, the hair,
the styling, you know, all those parts pay a huge
role and are incredibly important. And I'm not doing that
those pieces. I'm helping to direct them, I'm giving my
opinion on them, and you know, we work in a
collaborative way. But likewise, they also want the pictures to
(11:09):
turn out right and or the film to look good,
and the lighting to be beautiful and all these different pieces.
And which is our bigger part. Just the way the
business is organized is that the jobs come mostly through us,
so we are the ones who do the hiring, and
so for that reason you end up being the boss.
But really on set, a lot of that becomes more democratized.
And despite the fact you are the boss, you don't
(11:32):
necessarily behave in that manner because you realize when you're
working with creatives in a creative world that you want
to give people creative freedom in order to do their
best work. And so it doesn't actually, you know, benefit
anyone to stifle that.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Because you have dabbled and really been involved in every
facet of the business. What excites you the most, what
makes you get up in the morning and think, I
can't wait to jump into this.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You know, you have to leave your life with passion,
and I'm excited by the smallest things. To be honest,
it doesn't have to be some kind of big thing
that gets me going. It really is just the sort
of joy of life in many ways and doing things
that you know that are creative in general. I get excited,
you know, making breakfast in the morning if I get
the chance to do so. You know, I get excited
(12:16):
to make dinner.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
It if you do this podcast, it doesn't matter what
it is.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You know you didn't answer. There's a great way to
feel and start to sort of stop and smell the roses. Right.
I think it is that one of the things that
we have to do in my business is be very
aware of what's happening right here, right now, right That's
the job. You know, I'm about capturing the moment as
it's happening. So therefore you have to be focused on
(12:41):
what's happening and not too aware of what happened or
what's about to happen and what you can't change. You know,
it's right here and that's what I'm working with. And
so that piece of it means that, you know, you
are just super excited about all the things. So if
I'm photographing some inanimate object, I kind of you know,
you create a story around it, and you get excited
(13:01):
by what's happening and what's about to happen, and your
mind set such. You know about the angles, the light,
the texture, and the sound that it might make, or
whether it's cold or hot or all the different things,
and those all play a part of what makes it exciting.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Who have been some of the most exciting people you've
worked with?
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I mean, look, I've been very privileged and got to
work with some amazing artists and people and personalities over
the years. I mean, I think you know, there's a
few standouts for sure. Taylor Swift is someone who I
worked with by a lot and did a book on
her at one point, and she's someone who are not
surprisingly in her youth, but she's a young woman still,
but when she was much younger, I can talk about
(13:38):
over a decade ago. When I first started working with it,
you could tell that she was someone who was a major,
major talent and was able to just work in ways
that was way above her years even then. So sometimes
people you see someone who's the creative of artists and
it can seem frivolous, you know, like you can meet
the actor. You may say, well, they're just act they
think they're so important or whatever, but they're really good ones.
(13:59):
I'm so much more. They're brilliant brains and they're amazing people.
And it's really difficult to be at the top of
your game any profession. And that also goes for models.
That's why, you know, you may think, oh, just a
pretty face, not if you have a supermodel. If you
become a supermodel, the only way for that to happen
is that you are actually a pretty dance smart business
person yourself, you know, because you cannot juggle that kind
(14:21):
of a sort of workload and somehow the hard part
is then you also have to just be the model too.
But to get to that level, and any sort of
top level of business requires anything acting, you, a musician, anything.
It takes an incredible mind. And I'm you know, so
she was one of those people.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
You keep in touch. For Taylor, you talk.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
To her, not really at this point. And that job
came through Sony, who I had a very long standing
deal with. I work for them for about a decade
NonStop and got the opportunity to work with a lot
of their big stars, you know, justin Timberlake and Peyton
Manning and people like that as well.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
No, it's just amazing because Taylor literally is She's the
most famous person in the world. You know, she could
go on Twitter right now, on on Instagram and tell
us who to vote for.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
And of course, as the whole world knows now, he
is endorsing Kamala Harris.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
That level of fame is so unbelievable, and the fact
that you've got to work with her on such a
personal and close manner.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Hundred percent I agree. But you know, at the same time,
I just got back from a trip in Africa. I
was in Sierra Leone and I got to photograph young
girls in villages in the middle of nowhere. They're miles
and you know, one hundreds of miles away out of
from the capital Freetown, in sort of jungle areas and
really difficult to get to. Multiple four wheel drive cars
(15:38):
for hours up and down, going at a few miles
an hour, trying to get to these still places and
the people I met there and the women I photographed,
and the stories they had, and they're all as important
to me in many ways. And that's the beauty of
what I get to do, is that one day I'm
photographing someone whober famous and the next day I'm photographing
someone you'd never heard of. And it doesn't make any
difference really to me on how I broach the job.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
For you, it's not about ever being starstruck. It's about
being heart struck.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
It's about telling the story, you know. It's about finding
that story. It's about the narrative of who they are
and what they are. And my job is as a storyteller.
So what's the story I'm wanting to tell? How am
I going to tell it? And what's the story that
they want to tell? How does that all marry? Well?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Besides your incredible accomplishments and your talent, what I was
drawn to them is your love of animals.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
My name's Barker, for goodness sakes. So either it's like
I'm Bob Dog like.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
A dog, or Bob Barker, right, maybe both.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, tell us about.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
That when that began, and why animals, dogs, horses and
you work so closely and passionately with this wonderful campaign
that I've been involved with seeing through horses, why they
resonate in your heart so much.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I grew up in a family of animal lovers, you know,
I mean literally I grew up with at one point,
I think we had over I think like fifteen sixteen
dogs in our house. You know. My parents, my mother'specifically
and my grandmother used to bring in this about every
stray they would find in the streets of London and
give them a hope. So we had a sort of
cockophony of crazy animals at the house, which we used
(17:10):
to love. Most of them. We would live under this
big staircase. I came from a privileged background. My father
was a financial consultant and my mother had been a
model in her day and what have you. And we
had this big townhouse in central London, big five story affair,
big ground house, but my parents turned it into like
an animal house literally, you know, underneath this huge grand stairwell,
(17:32):
all these dogs would sleep and I would often just
go down there and like sort of moudly sleep with
the dogs because we had big Rhodesian ridge bags. We
had boxers.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Were they rescues back then?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Rescues? Yeah, weah rescues and big dogs that people didn't want,
and half breed dogs and you know all that kind
of stuff that back then it was a bit different,
you know, And as a kid, I didn't know what
I was dealing with. I just was like, oh, this
is all fun and games, and I would I used
to love trying to take as many of the dogs
out on a walk as I could at one time,
and being drug around Hyde Park by these massive animals.
(18:02):
But I kind of grew up with that. We also
had budgery guards, parrots, rabbits, gerbils, cats, and these animals,
as we know, lived for a lot many candive for
some time. So we had a cat that, you know,
miss Otis, who lived for twenty four years and so
she was with me my entire life, you know, and
things like that. So you kind of grow up with
that sort of sensitivity. In fact, this is something that
(18:23):
not that many people actually know. People that are aware
of the fact that I had really at one point
sort of looked like I was going to go to
medical school, and I had applied to medical school and
that was where my direction was. But yeah, I got
in and did all that, but I did, but I
ended dropping out because I started modeling in my life
to a complete different turn. Basically before that happened, what
I had actually wanted to do was zoology. And I
(18:45):
had always loved Sir David Ashenborough, had been a huge
fan of him and his life and his life's work,
and I really I just wanted to be him. And
if there was anyone else I probably could be in
my life, that would be to be Sedavid Ashenbrook. And
so you know, just all his shows that he created,
Survival Planet Earth, all those things, but just so extraordinary.
(19:06):
But I remember telling my father and he was like,
I'm not going to have you become as zoologists. You're
going to become a zoo keeper, work in the zoo
and just feed the elephants or something. And that's not
a job for a young man who's had a very
expensive education. So, you know, I was sort of convinced
that I should do medicine. And I wasn't really smart
enough to become a vet. It was even harder to
become a man.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
That was my dream to Nigel.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
And I was terrible on math, so I was really
good at math. But you have to be really good
at math. It's like the best of the best, Our
best people out there work on animals, by the way,
everyone so our animals are very lucky in many ways.
But I guess there's far more anatomies to learn. So anyway,
that my career took a different shift. And you know,
I've spent time working as an ambassador with the Humane Society.
(19:46):
You know, I've done documentaries on the seal hunt and
I've also done you know, work with Save the Save
the Sharks. So at the arch enemy of the seal
is the shark. So I don't pick sides. I'm about animals,
regardless of their verocity or whether they like one another
or not. It's about, you know, doing the right thing
and being humane and caring and just in gen that's
(20:08):
my life ethos, to be honest, it doesn't really matter
whether it's animals or humans. Actually for me, it's about
being caring and being understanding and being a good person.
It's you know, what's the right thing to do, you know,
and why would we harm an animal? Why would we
treat them poorly. Likewise, why would we do that to
a human.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Well, it's amazing because what's going on in the world
of adoption a rescue, it's the worst it's been in decades.
And I go to my local shelter every week and
I've been featuring the underdogs of the shelter world. I've
gotten fourteen out of the eighteen in my campaign a home.
But it's truly heartbreaking. And I know for someone like you.
You know, animals they can't talk. You know, we are
(20:45):
their voice, and they need us to save them, protect them,
And thank goodness for a person of your stature doing
what you're doing. Tell me about the animals that you
have in your life right now and what they mean
to you.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Well, we have a few right now. We have a
dog called Memphis who was rescued from a puppy farm
and he's from Tennessee. So his name is Memphis, and
he's a you know, funny old fellow. He's got two
broken front legs with the chanal titanium and he had
a broken back and he's all fixed up and he's
the fastest thing you'd ever see. But when he goes
to lie down, he looks like he's already been knocked
(21:18):
over by a car. The bord little thing is. His
old body is all twisted. But he's the most sweetest
little soul you've ever seen. And he he's mended himself
so well that he you literally would have no idea.
And he's got the most incredible nose on him you've
ever seen. He could have been a sniffer dog and
he had another life because he's he can literally fine
anything and see it, you know, in pitch black, no
matter how far away you throw it. And he knows
(21:40):
one ball from another if there's a thousand similar balls,
got the nose for it. We have a cat called
Stella who is also a rescue and a friend of
mine who's a big rescue animal advocate called Loretta Stadler
found this cat for us, and it was really from
my daughter who wanted the kitten, and so she found
us a rescue. You and so we have Stellar, and
(22:01):
we have Rocky, who's a Cuban rock iguana as well.
He's now sort of four foot giant.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
And also your love of horses, Nigel.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I love all animals, and luckily enough I get to
work with horses once in a while. They're such a
beautiful regal animal, and obviously they are somewhat domesticated, so
they come across our fashion perspective. We get to utilize
them as beautiful animals. And I got to shoot for
Art Vodega magazine in Wellington just recently and went down
there to photograph all these riders with their incredible horses,
(22:33):
and amazing, they were very beautiful. I meania, there's such
an elegant and incredible animal. I've also photographed them with
my one of my other favorite subjects, which is my
wife and my sister in law, which to call the
Chin Twins on Instagram. We've shot many times with horses there,
back riding and also just doing yoga with horses, and
they're sort of yoga experts, yoga and dancers. And there's
something about a horse which there's such an incredibly powerful animal,
(22:56):
yet there's such a humble animal at the same time,
and they have the grace yet total power. So it's
those things, those juxtapositions make them very special. And you know,
they can be obviously flighty, but they can also be
rock steady, so there's all these different personalities to them
that are amazing. That appear somewhat human like in their
personality traits. I think that also helps us see ourselves
(23:20):
in them. You know.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Well, you know, Nigel, you're so creative and I would
be a fool not to take this opportunity to pitch
this idea to you. But we should do a show
about animals or rescue. I have a great idea called
mutt Makeover.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
There you go, okay, let me know. You know, on Makeover,
I was commissioned at one point by the ASPCA to
do a campaign for them, or similar to what you
were talking about, to help dogs get adopted. And the
campaign that we came up with was that at the time,
pretty much all dogs with the ASPCA were being photographed
in their kennels, but they were always behind bars. And
(23:54):
when I first looked at all the animals, and this was,
you know, over a decade ago too, they showed me
all the pictures and I'm like, well, if we want
to do a campaign to help these animals get even adopted,
what would you like would we do something with us?
And they knew I was working with the Humane Society,
and I said sure, let me have a look. And well,
the first thing I say is this is that they've
looked like a bunch of criminals behind bars. Like, the
only time you see anyone behind bars is if they're
(24:16):
a bit lefted. So if you're going to put a
thuggish hit bulldog behind bars with like sort of looking
like a bit forlorn, it doesn't look very appealing. So
so what we need to do is take them from
around the bars, put them in front of the bars,
or take them outside, played with them, let them be
a dog, and then take their photograph and then we'll
see what happens.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
That's my concept. I started this on the Today Show
with about a while. But I went to the shelters and.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
These animals who had been sitting there, some so sadly
for months and years.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
You give them a makeover, you groom them, you make
them over, and you bring them out. And I had
a one hundred percent adoption record. But I think there's
a way we could do it now, these extreme makeovers,
and then also we would be the mutt match. Then
we would find the perfect match. Aren't those great ideas? Nigel?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
It's idea.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Oh see, I'm telling you I'm going to be talking
to you about this.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
People call my people.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Oh I believe me, my dogs will call your dogs.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
We'll look out for the howl.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
And by the way, the reason I'm so passionate about
this any form of entertainment, I always say, with rescue
and adoption, you've got to give the light always at
the end of the tunnel, and you want to make
it a happy, entertaining show while at the same time
saving lives. And we need these ideas now more than ever.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Bet mcgreenville by saying mission with Remaine Society when I
created the documentary on the Seal Hunt. All the previous
films have been about the actual killing of the seals,
which is very brutal and graphic, and no one can
really stomach it, even the people who work that. So
I'm like, well, this is not really a campaign. Then
if no one's going to look at it see it,
no one really wants to hear about it. Everyone knows
(25:56):
it's bad and wronged, So that's not going to work.
What we have to do is do a celebration of
the animal, talk about its life, talk about the birth
of the animal and incredible migration they make across the
ice and what the ice looks like, and make them
fall in love with this animal all over again. That's right.
I mean we start the relationship and at that point
you don't need to tell them not to kill it.
(26:17):
They're not going to want to kill it because they
love it. And so if you love something, you're not
going to kill it. But if you don't really know
something because you're scared to even think about it, then
BAPS is easier to be out of sight, out of mind.
And so we have to read program what we're thinking
and how we do it.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
And especially with horses, I have wanted to do a
documentary for years about the horrific side of horse racing.
I wanted to call it in a race for their
lives because you know what's happening with these race horses
and how many are being put down at two three
years old. And I did a story on it where
sixty five horses were living off rain, water and wood
(26:50):
for survival and they were literally discarded because they had
no more use on the track, so they were thrown
into a farm upstate and many didn't make it. Well,
this is my goal, my dream. I mean, we have
to be able to educate people, we have to be
able to make a difference. But you don't want to
freak people out and depress them. Just like what you're saying,
right way to do it. You take them in the
(27:11):
back door and you end up walking out the front. Right.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I agreed.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
And when I not only read about all your philanthropic work,
but your charitable organizations that you work with, everything you
do to help and give back on top of your
incredible career, I've said I got to get the sky
on my show immediately. You're truly amazing, Nigel. I don't
even know how you had time to do this today.
I'm so happy you're here. Cannot thank you enough for
(27:36):
being our rapaport to the Rescue.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Thank you, It's been a pleasure and I look forward
to seeing you again.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Said, and believe me, I will be reaching out to
your people. I don't have people, it will be me. Okay,
Thank you, Nigel, good luck with everything. All the best
to take that, and thanks to all of you for
tuning in today to wrap Aport to the Rescue.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Let's talk Best every week on demand only on petlive
radio dot com.
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