ABOUT THE BOOK

On a sizzling hot day in Scottsdale, Arizona, Steven Seagal arrives to our interview at the high-end Phoenician Resort in a pimped-out SUV that can be hermetically sealed in the event of a chemical attack. He's armed with a bag full of hand guns and wears a bullet proof vest. He spends the day talking to our make-up artist in a Rastafarian accent, like he's auditioning for Cool Runnings 2. You'll have to read the rest to believe it!

Interviewing soccer legend Diego Maradona in 1994 was an experience... unfortunately not a good experience for some young fans who got far less than they bargained for. He may be the greatest player of all time, but this story will leave you mouth-agape at how some stars treat their fans, and the handlers and hangers-on around them. Also I meet Drake and his entourage!

It was the interview that almost didn't happen. I thought someone was prank calling me, but it really was Jean-Claude Van Damme! After partying with Van Damme, my exclusive interview went amazingly well until his Hollywood agent got involved ... bad move on the agent's part! You don't want to make Jean-Claude angry! Ah Hollywood... you're the hot agent one moment, and then you're not!

I venture to Florida and the mega-million dollar mansion of Hulk Hogan. The house, once valued as the most expensive in Southern USA, is up for sale. Got a spare $15+ million? The ceiling is made from 400-year old imported French wood! There's no furniture left but for the two couches we're seated on. Our interview is one for the ages, everybody loves it -- except The Ultimate Warrior, who made things ugly in the interview's aftermath, sledging me and Hulk on Youtube. So what exactly went down with Warrior and why did The Voice Versus The Ultimate Warrior never happen?

George Foreman's mansion in Huffman, Texas, comes complete with a fishing pond, grand piano, giant Roy Rogers mural, a 40+ car garage, and toilet paper gold-monogrammed with his initials! George's story of hearing God's voice and being on the verge of death in Puerto Rico will scare and astound you. And is it true George has no fingerprints? You'll find out!

Heavyweight kickboxing world champion Badr Hari and I have an 'Ali and Cosell' relationship. I venture to Amsterdam to interview Badr, and question his sanity when the darkness overtakes him and his eyes turn black, as if possessed by some malevolent force. Afterall, this is a man who smashed out the window of a gym colleague's car and pushed the car into a canal because the guy was parked in Badr's space! Plus K-1 legend Peter Aerts takes me out to Amsterdam's infamous Red Light district ... you'll have to read the rest to believe it!

On Labor Day, 2013, I venture to Marina del Rey, California, to interview the most popular wrestler of all time, Stone Cold Steve Austin. With a cooler full of beers, the interview begins. Steve feels me out for a while, and once he reaches into the cooler and cracks open a Budweiser, the good times start rolling. What eventuates is considered the greatest pro wrestler interview of all time -- and Steve's favourite interview ever! -- capped off with an iconic moment: smashing beers and drenching ourselves in suds.

Romanian soccer ace Georghe Hagi proved a megastar of the 1994 World Cup. Nobody, and I mean nobody could get an interview with him during the tournament... except for me as an 18 year old! To get the interview I had to lie, cheat and steal; get thrown out of a Los Angeles hotel, and take a cab ride from Pasadena to Anaheim with a potential mass murderer! Not to mention the Motel I stayed in in San Francisco had just been subjected to a police raid!

Natasha Zvereva was a dominant star of the tennis world in the late 80's/early 90's. Known as the Moody Maiden from Minsk, the diminutive star gave me the most challenging interview of my early career, throwing answers at me like she was thundering forehands from the baseline. A lesson in preparation, ad-libbing, quick thinking and verbal jousting with an extraordinary woman.

For years the MMA world wanted to see Michael Schiavello and Joe Rogan on their TV screens in some capacity. They finally got it when The Voice Versus Joe Rogan premiered on AXS TV across the USA in prime time. But the show almost never happened. Thsi is an origin story of The Voice Versus series, of which Joe -- unbeknownst to him -- was the first guest.

He was the hottest and one of the most controversial cricketers on the planet at the time. Pakistani superstar Wasim Akram gave me an exclusive radio interview when I was a teenager. In his darkened hotel room, with a mystery man mixing cocktails in the shadows and giving creepy photo instructions, Akram opens up about the volatile issue of ball tampering, and teaches me an important lesson.

I've interviewed hundreds of female athletes over the years, but tennis star Amanda Coetzer was one of the most memorable. We laughed, we almost cried, and I flirted. In doing so I realised a juxtaposition in my life: while I had no problem flirting with female athletes including Amanda Coetzer and Mary Joe Fernandez, I couldn't find the confidence to the do same with regular women. A chapter about Amanda Coetzer but moreso, about my failure to launch in my dating life.