Dhani Jones tackles the globe for new Travel Channel show

As far as armchair vacations go, the Travel Channel’s hosted guide shows have hit the sweet spot of R&R and indulgence — Andrew Zimmern’s “Bizarre Foods” and Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” introduce new foods and cultures, Adam Richman’s “Man v. Food” gets to pig out spots and Samantha Brown and newcomer Bridget Marquardt show you how to let loose and relax a bit.

Now it’s time to take on adventure sports — the cable channel’s new series “Dhani Tackles the Globe” airs at 9 p.m. today.

The hourlong program follows Dhani Jones, a Cincinnati Bengals linebacker, out of the stadium and into foreign countries as he spends 10 episodes trying his hand at some of the more challenging sports that may not get a lot of screen time on ESPN (think Thailand’s muay Thai boxing; Switzerland’s Schwingen, a type of wrestling; and Spain’s jai alai, “the game of dodging death,” or at least avoiding speeding rock-hard balls to the head).

Whew! As if the NFL isn’t strenuous enough, Jones filmed six episodes before the football season started and four after it finished — mostly to countries he hadn’t visited on his own dime. We sat down with Jones when he was at the W Los Angeles-Westwood hotel last week to find out why he’d put himself through this. Here’s a bit of our Q & A:

L.A. Times: Tell us how the concept of the show came about.

Jones: It was actually a collaboration between Red Line Films and me. I’m passionate about traveling and I’m passionate about sports, so how do you combine the two in order to make it the best opportunity for people to experience a culture aspect? And then, throw in a little bit of adventure and throw in a bit of challenge and all of a sudden you have ‘Dhani Tackles the Globe.’ ”

L.A. Times: In the Muay Thai episode, which is the pilot episode, you get to see a bit of the town — such as sampling street food and the local nightlife — as well as learn the sport. Do most shows follow that format?

Jones: “The basic gist of the show is here’s Dhani. Dhani gets off the plane and has one day to rest. Then he has four or five days to practice the sport to the best of his ability in order to compete at the highest level possible at the end of those eight total days.

Going out meeting people, going out experiencing the culture through the eyes of the sports people I interact with [is part of this because I] utilize that entree of competition, that ‘I’m an athlete, you’re an athlete. Let me hear your story, as I have told mine before.’ ”

In another example of tasting local culture, Jones got a different kind of pedicure in Singapore - fish foot therapy.

“These little itty bitty piranhas come and bite the dead skin off your feet. The faces I make are quite interesting.”

L.A. Times: How does this compare with your travel schedule when you’re on the road for the NFL?

Jones: “It’s a little bit different because when you’re here in the States, you’re going through a max of three time zones. When you’re abroad, it’s like eight time zones.”

L.A. Times: Do you have any advice for getting over jet lag?

Jones: “Stay awake. One thing that I figured out last year is sometimes you can’t fight jet lag. But other times, as soon as you get on the plane, treat that like you just got to that country. Set your watch to that time zone … Go to sleep if you must, depending on what time it is in that time zone.”

L.A. Times: Do you drink a lot of Red Bull?

Jones: “Yeah. There’s definitely times when I’m on my Red Bull kick and it’s ‘Oh, Red Bull, Red Bull, Red Bull.’ That’s one of the jokes that we always have, but it’s not just that. It’s mint tea, it’s green tea, it’s triple or quadruple shots of espresso that allow me to make it through the day.”

L.A. Times: Have you played any of these sports before you went to these places?

Jones: “The only sport similar to what I’ve done is surf life-saving [in Australia] and swimming.

“The interesting thing about the show is each sport is sort of a variation of a sport, which is a variation of another sport and it’s sort of cross-training for football.

“Hurling [which is shown in the Ireland episode] is basically a ball and a stick and you’re running around. When you think about football, you have a ball and no stick so I’m working on hand-eye coordination.

“Rugby [in the England episode] is a direct reflection of football because rugby basically started football. When you think about dragon boat racing [Singapore] and how you work your shoulders, that’s just like lifting.

“The difference is when you get into mixed martial arts such as sambo in Russia, pradal serey in Cambodia or muay Thai in Thailand. That’s different, but all those kicks, punches and knees are working your core. I’ve done the exercises, but I haven’t done the sport. This is a big cross-training effort to make me a better athlete.”

L.A. Times: What did your coach and general manager say when they heard you were going to be doing all of this stuff?

Jones: “I didn’t really talk to them much about it, but when I got back from London my coach called me. I [finally] answered the phone and he said, “Tell me about your travels. I gotta live vicariously through you.’ ”

L.A. Times: Which of the sports was the hardest to master?

Jones: “I think all of them had a degree of difficulty. You get a sport like jai alai where the ball goes 300 miles per hour and you’re trying to catch the ball so you don’t end up with a big hole in your head or you’re doing pradal serey in Cambodia and get used to a massive elbow shot to the head and not get a concussion from that … each of them have an element of difficulty. It’s not only ‘Dhani Tackles the Globe,’ it’s ‘Dhani Tackles the Globe and can he survive.’ ” No word on any cliffhanger episodes …

L.A. Times: How did you prepare for these sports?

Jones: “The only way you can prepare is to get there. There’s no ‘Dhani, you’re going to Ireland in three weeks, so you have to prepare.’ The schedule as it is I’m on the road for 40 days straight, it’s ‘OK great, you did a great job. You either won or lost that competition, tomorrow morning we’re on a plane to go to Switzerland and you’re starting practice the next morning.’ ”

L.A. Times: Do you watch YouTube videos or anything like that?

Jones: “Sometimes, but a lot of times I watch the video and it might psych me out so I just leave that alone and let the coach teach me at an advanced level and an advanced pace.”

L.A. Times: Do you think the other athletes go easier on you?

Jones: “You might think that at first, but they’re not going to put me in the first day and just beat on me. The first day is at a slower pace and the next day, if you’re gonna do it, you have to go all in.”

L.A. Times: Did you meet any of the players on the show who might be good for the NFL?

Jones: “Winston, a guy I worked with in New Zealand to do America’s Cup racing, he looked like he’d be a good tight end. I told him he couldn’t play defense and he proceeded to chuck me in the water.”

L.A. Times: Is there anyone else in the NFL you’d like to take with you next season?

Jones: “Maybe if Keith Rivers [who has a bit of a mentor-student rivalry with Jones] acts right, maybe I’ll bring him along. Maybe I’ll bring [fellow Michigan player and current New England Patriots quarterback] Tom Brady along and see if I can fight him because I feel like I’m always chasing him.”

L.A. Times: You gotta bring his wife, Gisele Bündchen too.

Jones: “No, Giselle’s friends.”

We’ll see who pops up next season, but for now it’s just “Dhani Tackles the Globe” at 9 p.m. Pacific Mondays on the Travel Channel.

–Whitney Friedlander, L.A. Times staff writer

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Travel Channel’s Samantha Brown offers language tip

Travel Channel’s Adam Richman digs into ‘Man v. Food’

[All photos taken in Switzerland and courtesy of Travel Channel]

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 16, 2009 at 5:32 pm by Whitney and is filed under Airline travel, Celebrity, Europe, Global, Great Britain, News, Tips & Advice, Outdoors & Adventure, Ski & Winter, Sports, Travel Insider. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.