Todd Sampson: Outrageous Acts of Calm

Todd is an adventurer, award-winning documentary-maker, television presenter and businessman. The Financial Review and News Limited ranked him as one of the most influential executives in Australia. He is the former national CEO of Leo Burnett and currently sits on the Board of Directors of both Fairfax and Qantas. He is also the co-creator of the Earth Hour initiative, one of the largest environmental movements in history reaching over 1 billion people in 5500 cities worldwide.

Todd started his television career on the critically acclaimed ABC series GRUEN which is still one of the most popular shows on television today. He is now the writer, producer and host of a number of international documentaries including Discovery Channel's REDESIGN MY BRAIN which won Documentary of the Year, BODYHACK which has been nominated for Best Factual Series and Most Outstanding Documentary of the Year and more recently LIFE ON THE LINE. One reviewer colourfully captured Todd's unique approach, “If Bear Grylls, Louis Theroux and Brian Cox had a love child together, it would be Todd Sampson.”

Todd has also climbed to the summit of Mount Everest.

LIFE ON THE LINE

The laws of physics are like the scaffolding of our lives. We rarely think about them yet they govern everything we do. Through a series of epic and potentially deadly experiments, Todd puts his faith in science to the ultimate test. He is shot at point blank range underwater with an AK47 (resistance) , faces off with a swinging one-tonne wrecking ball inches from his face (conservation of energy), travels through a 900 degrees celsius fire with only a thin layer of water protecting him (heat transfer), climbs a skyscraper using only 2 household vacuum cleaners (air pressure) and takes flight with 120 helium balloons (buoyancy). As this series demonstrates, it’s one thing to ‘believe’ in science and another to literally trust it with your life.

BODYHACK

Todd is the co-writer, producer and host of this Discovery science series called BODYHACK. This time he’s on a mission to unlock the secrets of some of the world’s most extraordinary people - from Sherpas in the Himalayas, to Traditional Hunter-Gatherers in Africa, the French Foreign Legion soldiers in the Amazon, the Sea Gypsies in Borneo and even MMA Cage Fighters in New Mexico. Using science as his guide, he explores how these people live, what they do differently from the rest of us and what we can all learn from them. But he won’t just observe them, he will hack into their world and try and become them.

REDESIGN MY BRAIN

Todd is the host, co-writer and producer of this unique, transformative and interactive series that set out to scientifically prove that anyone could improve their brain. He competed in the World Memory Championships in London, had his brain zapped at Harvard, did a death-defying underwater Houdini Escape, climbed a 120m rock face in Utah blindfolded and even completed a high wire walk across two skyscrapers in Sydney. Redesign (Hack) My Brain won Documentary of the Year and is now being shown around the world on the Discovery channel.

THE GRUEN PLANET

Todd is the co-host of this smash-hit ABC show that delves into the complex and entertaining world of persuasion and spin. This unique show had the highest debut for an entertainment program in ABC history. It has won Light Entertainment Show of the Year and internationally the prestigious Rose d’Or Award for Entertainment.