7. Stripper Life and Meeting Channing Tatum

So I get home after a big day's work, and wifey comes up to me and says, I've got some news for you. Okay? This was around May 2015 at the time I owned Crosswick Wellbeing. Got home from the gym and she goes, I've registered in this competition. I said, okay, what is it? What do I have to do? Because she had this funny look on her face. It's like, hmm, what have you signed me up for, darling? And she said, it's a chance to win this competition and meet Channing Tatum and Joe Manganiello in the Magic Mike 2 premiere. I said, okay, I'm listening. She's like, all you need to do is just win a strip dance show. And I said, okay, thanks, honey. And she looked at me and said, you're going to win. I said, are you going to do it? And I said, yeah, we're going to win. We're going to win this, actually. We're going to win this. And you're going to meet Channing Tatum and the rest is history. G', day, everyone. Welcome to Real Dad Movement podcast. My name is Big Al. Big Red. And here we're talking about my stripper life. Stripper life. And meeting Channing Tatum on this special episode. No doubt in the title, this will be the number one episode so far that everyone's gonna listen to or watch to get an idea and understanding of what Al had to do to sell his soul so that his wife could meet her Hollywood crush, Channing Tatum. And that's exactly what happened. Truth be told, I did enjoy it at the time. So feeling flash, feeling good. Those listening to podcasts can't say I got some nice button up shirts now wearing the embroidery, the rdm. Looking cool, looking sharp. Trying to be like the cool kids. Wow, what an experience. It truly was something that you'll never forget, and it was quite amazing. And I'll take you guys through it because I'm sure you'd like to know the ins and outs of it. I hired a special dance coach. His name is James Sharkey. I'll have to send him the link so he can listen to this, but he taught me everything I know, so to speak, with my dance moves. And don't worry, guys, I don't have a recording of the actual dance. But every year around, I think June or July, it rolls around again and everyone sees it and it spreads across Facebook. So if you're friends with me on Facebook, no doubt you'll get a chance to see this shortly. But what an experience. And it was a really funny thing. I've never been more certain of anything in my life than I was of this. And there's no guarantees. I didn't know the ins and outs or the logistics of it all, but as soon as Krin signed me up for it, I got that nervous butterfly feeling. And it's not because I'm a phenomenal stripper, because that by no means, maybe in a previous life, is not who I am right now. I own a gym and crossfitted, and that's what I did. So Sharky took me under his wing and started to show me some dance moves again. I'm not sure what his previous life was, but he had some good moves and we started to work together. And basically, because he trained at my gym every single day, we'd go upstairs and we'd practice the dance moves, put the song on. It was five more hours. And that was. Well, that was the name of the song. We didn't go for five hours, of course, but went for about 30 to 40 minutes every single time. And just refine it. Dial it in, dial it in. And Chris Brown, I think, is the singer of that song. So it really hits home. Anytime I hear that on either the radio or in the gym, it sort of brings those memories flooding back. But we practiced and practiced. We didn't know who we're up against, what the standards were, what we had to do. It was basically a dance in front of the. And we thought it was just that, the tv, the radio host. Sorry. And it was at the Civic Hotel in the city. And I remember, I think Crin took a sickie or something from work that day and we'd practice and practice. And I got there and, man, the butterflies are real. Like, I had real butterflies. Like, man, I'm like, strip dance or strip shot. I don't know what to do do or I don't know what these guys, these other guys are going to do or they're going to come down to him. They selected. I'm sure they had a lot of entries, but obviously due to time restrictions, I think there were six of us. Six of us. And we all met beforehand, which was quite funny. And we're sitting there talking. They've all got their little tricks up their sleeves and sussing each other out. And I was like, man, I have no idea what to expect here, but I just had this feeling that we're going to win. I was confident in the dance we did. There's a little bit of flossing going on with the Jacket, the hat comes off, the shirt comes off, all sorts of things. So I had a reasonably good routine, I thought, given that I'd just done some training with my super coach, dance coach, James Sharkey, and it was quite an experience heading in there into the city and all of a sudden all of these predominantly women, but all of these people started flooding into this little underground nightclub in the Civic hotel. And there's DJs there, there's like the streamlights or strobe lights, sorry. And all these different things in place. And I was like, oh, this is real. This is actually here. What an unbelievable opportunity to really get out of your comfort zone, I'll tell you that much. And I'm a very confident, charismatic and well presented man in my own right. But there's obviously things for all of us that can really throw us or put us out of our comfort zone. This was one of them. And when I went down there and we all started lining up and everyone was there, they did their intro, all these sorts of things, man. I'm just reliving this now, actually, while I'm talking about it. It's pretty. Yeah, it's pretty surreal that it actually happened. There was probably a hundred people in there, like I said, all women, a few men, never seen, never met them before. They were all from the radio station across the road and they came in and announced the fly on what was going to happen. And guess who was up first? Big L, Big Red. And I was like, oh, no, here we go. Time to set the standards, set the platforms. I wanted to see what at least the other guys were doing. So I went out there and the DJ got everything started and started the song to which I didn't know it was happening yet because the intro of that song is like some sort of music that comes in and then just slowly becomes like a dit, dit, dit, dit, dit, dit. And I heard that and everything was going. People were cheering and screaming. I didn't know it started yet, so I didn't do my opening routine. I turned around and looked at the dj. I said, is it on? He's like, yeah, it's going. Then bang, the music started. And it is a good song, actually. I'll try and put it on the YouTube, actually. I'll try and find it and put it in the intro and outro of this podcast. You can have a good chuckle, but it was quite. Yeah, not a Deer in the headlights sort of moment, but a real sort of. Because I actually performed. Did really well. Well, I guess I did because they picked me and I won. But looking through, it was just all there, lights, everyone there, bang, were on. The music started and I did my routine. Involved lots of flossing, like I said, pulling the jacket off, thrusting, pumping the arms this way, that way and the other. I hope I'm not turning people off here as well. When I'm saying these words and these cues. It was pretty clean. Some of the guys there, oh, man, I'll tell you about them in a second. But taking the hat off, doing little dancer spin arounds, and because I did a bit of CrossFit, I thought, I'm going to throw something in here. Started doing a handstand, did a handstand, walk around, some other bits and pieces, was quite funny. And then finished by getting a big bottle of water and splashing it all over my face and presenting myself to the crowd, so to speak. I was met with lots of cheers and screams. And Corinne was my greatest fan for that day. She was screaming her heart out, which definitely helped me and gave me all that confidence, belief, and that was amazing. The funniest part was, though, they couldn't find a mop and there's water all over the floor and it delayed everything by about half an hour in trying to find something to clean up the floor because I'd sprayed it, completely destroyed the stage, everything. What an experience. Unbelievable. And the other guys come on and they're pulling shirts off, little tassels on their nipples, all these different things. And watching these guys go, man, this is some crazy stuff. One guy tried to strip down a full mood and they had to stop that. They definitely cancelled his finishing performance, so to speak, and that was quite hilarious. And out of all the fellas, I wasn't sure what was going to happen and we didn't know who was going to win. They were going to announce it, I can't remember, maybe a week later on the radio. So we did all our dances, all packed up, cleaned up and went away and. And there was just that feeling with me and Karim, like, shit, I don't know how we went, like, how's this going to turn out? What's the end result? What's going to happen here? And it was amazing because when we were there on the radio and I was at work, Karim was, I think, at work or something. She might have been home that day when they announced it. And, like, the winner is. I just knew. I just knew that I was going to win. It was so weird and I've rarely ever had that feeling especially even with CrossFit or other things. And I just knew we were going to win. She's like, and the winner is Alex. Over the radio, I was like, oh, man. I couldn't believe it. Got that feeling straight away and actually started cheering and yahooing and screaming. I was like, yes. And called KRITA was like, we did it, baby, we won. We get to go meet Chatting Tatum. And what an experience that was as well. It was amazing. Really enjoyed it and I feel blessed that I had the kahunas to just give it a crack and get after it where. And it's not saying that every guy will do this, every dad or person will do this. Well, looking at it and going, well, I wasn't a father at the time, actually looking at it and going, well, I'm not going to do that, silly. That's this, that and that. I was like, you know what I'm going to get after this? This is giving me that feeling. Put me out of that comfort zone and I'm going to give this a crack. And we did. We won. We ended up going to The Magic Mike 2 premiere, walking along the red carpet. And it was pretty amazing experience. When we got to meet those guys, they came out Joe Manganiello, who was personally my favorite, and Channing Tatum, obviously Crin's favorite. And we're in this room backstage waiting for them. And there was us and then a few other people, and we all sort of lined up to meet them because they would have won various competitions. And when those guys walked, everyone's talking and eating and all this sort of stuff. When those two guys walked into the room and you could have heard a pin drop, it was crazy. And I'm not someone who, like, I don't. We're all human beings living our best life, doing the best we can. I don't glorify or put people on pedestals or any sort of stuff. I do have, I guess, childhood heroes or people I look up to. Like, some of my favorites are people like. I do enjoy Arnie. He definitely helped me in that motivation side of things when I was younger and in my health and fitness journey. I've bit of a soft spot for Will Smith and Hugh Jackman. And Simon Baker is probably the only man that I'd turn gay for in this world. I've definitely got a crush on him, especially his TV show the Mentalist. But either way, if I met them, I had that greater level of understanding. They're just human beings and they're doing a phenomenal job and role in their part, in what it is that they excel at or they love doing. But that's not the case for a lot of other people. And when these guys walked into the room, oh man, it was like you could feel the energy. I was like, wow, this is, this is really weird. This is like sort of almost uncomfortable. People were just like, oh my God sort of thing. And we all lined up. Kryn obviously was that way inclined as well, which is fair enough. That's fine. She loves Channing Tatum and Magic Mike one and all that sort of stuff. But we got up to meet them and she went and met him and was talking to him and gave him a kiss and chained him for ages. And they were trying to hurry us along, said, I'll go and meet Joe. G', day, Joe. How you going, mate? And had a good chat to chat to him. And I had a bag of CrossFit wellbeing shirts and apparel for them. And I actually, it's a true story. I actually got, because that was my last year at regionals in 2015, a picture of me jumping up, doing, I think was a pull up or a muscle up or something up there. I got it printed, the photo framed and I signed it in gold pen to Channing and Joe. Keep it real, boys. Your, your favorite crossfitter Al. And I actually signed it and I gave them that. And I think if you look through some of my Instagrams back far enough, there's, there's a, there's a video of me showing that to, to the camera on one of my Instagram videos. Pretty funny. So I thought, well, I'm going to flip the tables here. Those boys can meet the fittest man in the world for his size and they can be star struck by who I am and what I'm doing, as obviously as a lighthearted joke. And when I handed it to Joe and chatting, chatting, oh, my God, this is your husband. Dude, this guy's massive. Hope he doesn't hurt me. And he's saying all this stuff to Karim because obviously she was cuddling and kissing him and I was like, okay. And I was obviously not jealous, but I was just stirring him up. I was like, yeah, mate, you better watch out. Keep your hands off my wife. And she had photos, all that sort of stuff with him. And he's like, dude, your husband's fucking massive. It was so funny seeing this guy and the playfulness that was there at heart and looking, going. It was an awesome experience to have these guys who, they're just really good blokes genuine down to earth. They probably don't enjoy the whole starstruck people putting them up on these pedestals and looking them going, oh, my God, look at these people. They're just being them. They're just doing their thing. They're just living what it is that they want to do in their life. And it was really cool because I didn't have that approach. Corinne had a great chat with him, and I think she gave him some books and other bits and pieces for his daughter. But it was an amazing experience. We got to chat with him. We didn't spend all night with him, obviously. It would have been less than 10 or 15 minutes with him and chatting with him. It's really cool just to see how down to earth these guys actually were. Especially Joe. He's my favorite. He's a real good guy, funny character. And I was stirring him up and Jean him up about CrossFit and training. And obviously when I gave him the song frame photo of me, it was. It really threw them, which was cool because I'm sure that they've probably never, ever had that before. So I loved giving them that experience as well. That was a real, real, amazing moment in our lives and an incredible night that we'll never forget. Sharkey got to come with us, as did. He was allowed to bring one friend. I think it's one of Corinne's background photos on a Facebook profile picture with all of us with Channing and Joe and Krin's sister Megan got to come, and we got to watch The Magic Mike 2 premiere and they did some Q&As after. And it was an awesome night and an awesome experience that I'll never forget. And I loved it. And I guess the reason why I wanted to share this with you guys was really to look at the power of putting that energy out there in the universe. And look, every episode, I do, everything I do, there's different things that you'll be able to take from this, whether it's having a laugh, enjoying something, drawing some meaning. And I'm not always about just diving deep in going into the whole mindset side of things, but it was a phenomenal thing. It really was like from Day dot, as soon as Chris said that, I just put that energy out in the universe. This is going to happen. This is going to happen. It led to me doing training sessions of dancing with Sharkey and playing around him and looking at songs and tweaking it and practicing playing around and enjoying the experience whether we won or not. Literally putting ourselves in that position and putting that energy out in the universe. One of my other best mates, prezo Luke Preston, was laughing at me and picking on us and teasing on it, which was funny and it was good. It was good, light hearted fun, but looking at and going, going to get after this and give this everything I've got. And the universe rewarded me and it was pretty phenomenal to have that experience, that sort of notch on the belt or ticking that box of going, this is something we wanted to do that's definitely out of our comfort zone with something we've never really engaged with before or don't have any experience with ever. And we're going to get it, we're going to win, we can do everything we can. And having that belief and that power and letting Corinne know how we're going along the way with our practicing our dancing, practicing some dance moves for her hilarious sort of real left field type experience. But there were some fundamental things there that really, really gave me some good life lessons and helped me understand and realize that power, that power of self belief and putting that energy out there in the universe. Hopefully giving those boys an experience that they'll never forget as well in Joe and Channing and going, this is big Red dude who's signing autographs for us. So funny. But it was worth it. And I gave up the rest of my CrossFit career to basically become a stripper. And that is my life. That's what happened. Certainly feels that way because I never made regionals again. Probably invested too much time in dancing. I haven't made a comeback as well. Guys, just to let you know, I don't do any private dances or private shows. Bookings, weddings maybe, I'm not sure. Just fill in some details, get in touch, flick me a message, what sort of dance and song you want and I'm there. Probably not. Maybe one day we'll see. If I get to meet chatting again, I'll probably probably scarred him, but he was pretty scared. Although Joe was a big fella, he was pretty big, like well, you know, muscular and good guy. But he was like good physical. He's like an athlete. Quite a tall fellow as well. I think he's an inch or two taller than me. So it's really cool to meet those guys and just have a chat with them. But the bigger lesson in learning I pulled from him was just getting after it, just having a go, just having a crack, having a shot at it. Because could you imagine just sitting there and going, oh, we should have done this, oh, we should have Done that. Don't die. One thing, I didn't even know if we were going to get accepted into doing this. And next thing you know, we're down in the Civic Hotel in this underground nightclub where there's all these strobe lights and all these flashes and people around there cheering. This DJ is like, man, what an experience. You dive down in there and you relive it with me. Guys, I'm sure you can understand and realize that it's pretty crazy, but it was such an awesome experience that I loved. I hope that adds some value to your life. Whether it's pure laughter or engaging in some personal stories of mine or what we did and where we were. Do keep your eyes open. I think it's June, so we're coming up into maybe middle of June or end of June is when you'll see the memory that'll come around again of that brief videoing of me doing that strip show. If you don't want to sear or burn your eyes forever, don't watch it. Do yourself a favor. Just put the music on and close your eyes and then you can hear it. That'll probably give you a better effect. Yes. That's just a little story myself, guys, to share some lighthearted fun with you, to really keep this podcast casual, as well as helping you understand some of the different things in my life that is, I guess, collectively shaped who I am and who I continue to be, as well as we all have our own stories. That was something that I thought, you know what? Why set a small goal? We're going to get after this. This is something that's way out of our comfort zone. You sort of see or hear about them all the time with competition and stuff like that. I thought, this is it. I'm going to get after this. I'm going to win. I'm going to make Chatting Tatum and show him that I'm bigger than him and more muscly than him and I've got a better body than him. And yes, that was. That was one of the small things which Corinne told me afterwards. I felt blessed for that because she was certainly ogling him and enjoying his company, so to speak. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Anyway, team, this wraps up our episode of Being a Stripper Stripper Life and meeting Channing Tatum and the boys from Magic Mike 2. What an experience. What an unbelievable thing that I feel blessed that Corinne threw me in the deep end with that. It's really good. It's great having people around you that I guess, in different ways find ways to challenge you and bring out the best in you. And it was an awesome experience, one I'll never forget. And I'm glad I got to share it with you guys, and I hope you enjoyed it as well. So listen in for our next episode where we will be diving in and chatting to Christopher Manariti, talking about his experience from basically the CrossFit Regionals or CrossFit Down Under Championships in being that phenomenal athlete in competing down there. It's the best in the Southern hemisphere, really. And what an experience that was. So stay tuned for that next episode. Guys. Coming to you shortly. And I hope you enjoyed today. And if I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night. Thanks, guys. Cheers.