Spencer Matthews: His Most Honest Conversation Yet

Spencer Matthews has changed since his Made In Chelsea Days.

He was a terrible employee. Hotels, nightclubs, bars, a stint as a forward foreign exchange broker in the City. None of it stuck. Then he got sober, found nothing worth drinking between a gin and tonic and a sparkling water, and built CleanCo to fill the gap. Today he runs CleanCo and the Untapped podcast, is a three-time world record holder, and has run 30 marathons in 30 days and seven Ironmans on seven continents in 21 days. He is also, by his own admission, a little bit ashamed of Made in Chelsea.

Spencer Matthews joins hosts Jack Frimston and Zac Thompson at Ideas Fest for one of the most honest conversations we've had about fame, failure and quitting. He explains why he thinks Made in Chelsea makes business harder, not easier, why he doesn't like the persona, the accent, the drinking or the way he treated people on it, and why his wife assumed the worst before she met him.

He breaks down the mistakes behind CleanCo: rebrands, products released before they were ready, recalls, and launching into 44 US states it couldn't afford before pulling back to five. He explains why being a naive founder is a superpower, why he gets bored when the numbers are being hit, and why he delegates everything, including the dishwasher to his children.

Then the bit he didn't have to share. The 10K he bailed on. A heart rate of 140 on the start line, 3:08 pace for the first 400 metres, a big panini and a lot of vomit. He didn't stop because he had to. He stopped because he wasn't going to break 37 minutes. The man who kept going through moments in Antarctica that felt life threatening quit a park 10K, and he explains exactly why that still bothers him.

Along the way: one beer a week rationed across 30 desert marathons, waking at 3:30am ready to run a 31st, sleeping 18 hours on a mess hall floor in Antarctica because his team left him there, why he thinks finishing at all costs is verging on moronic, what Mo Farah told him about effort, the 2:45 he's chasing in Valencia, why he follows exactly three accounts, his brother passing on Uber, and his contingency plan if nature calls at 30km.

Chapters

00:00:00 Welcome to the Show: Meet Spencer Matthews, From Made in Chelsea to Clean Co Founder

00:01:30 The Problem We Solve: Sophisticated Alcohol-Free Options and Inspiring Human Potential

00:02:55 From Crap Employee to Entrepreneur: Why Spencer Had to Work for Himself

00:06:27 Don't Be Afraid to Fail: Why Reputati