Fit. Strong. Athletic. Essentially every adjective you can associate with adventure show hosts has to do with the fact that you need more than ordinary physical resilience to survive in adverse situations. Content creators Siddharth Mewara and Shashank Jayakumar — better known as Sid and Shanky — who run the YouTube channel The Big Forkers, do not check any of these boxes. Food is their niche and the last thing you would expect them to host is an adventure show. Cut to early September – we stumble across a trailer of the new Discovery+ docu-series I Should Have Stayed Home, which follows the journey of the two brothers as they hop onto an adventure, navigating through the rugged terrains of the Himalayas. We sat down for a chat with them and decided to decode the reason behind such a ‘perfectly imperfect fit,’ as they put it. Excerpts:
When were you brought on the show and what was your reaction when you were offered it?
Siddharth: We were brought after the show concept was pitched, so, we were simply told to be ourselves. But throughout filming, we kept asking ourselves: If this was meant for really fit people, why did they need two giants like us (laughs)?
What made you decide to do the show then?
Siddharth: It sounded incredibly difficult and whenever something presents us with such a challenging opportunity, we’re up for it.
Shashank: The Himalayas are my favourite part of the country. I spend a lot of time on bike over there and when they said it is an adventure show in the Himalayas, I was excited. Also, I wanted to see why they decided to take us for a show that has got nothing to do with food.
What do you think makes you guys the perfect fit for the show?
Shashank: I don’t think we are perfect for this show and that’s what makes the show. We’re two people in a location that should not have people like us. In that sense, the fit is perfectly imperfect.
How did you prepare for the show?
Siddharth: I intentionally avoided researching anything. In fact, we made it clear to the production company that we did not want to know anything in advance, so that, everything would be a surprise. We are not actors, so we wanted the reactions to be genuine on camera, which it was. Shanky had some prior travel experience in that region though, so he had a bit of an idea of what to expect.
Why was the Himalayan region chosen as the location?
Shashank: Firstly, we started from the Spiti Valley going through Zanskar and then into Ladakh — this region is unexplored to a great extent. So, it was a great way to showcase these regions to the world. Secondly, these landscapes are a visual treat.
Was it an adventure for the both of you?
Siddharth: Well, despite the show being called I Should Have Stayed Home, it turned into a mission that needed us to never say that. We genuinely enjoyed ourselves. It was undeniably difficult, brutal, and painful — but we were just so happy to be there.
Shashank: It was exhausting, revealing, and involved a lot of self-learning. I can not say enough about how privileged I feel about this entire experience.
What was most challenging?
Siddharth: The climbing was brutal. Also, I despise tents and camping. So, the whole experience of not taking a shower twice a day was uncomfortable enough.
Shashank: Walking! By the end of the show, I jokingly called it ‘Man versus Walking’. We were walking a good 8-10 kilometers uphill every single day and that was tiring as hell. There is a reason I go bike riding there — I sit on a bike and throttle, I don’t really walk into it, so that was the most challenging part for me. Also, eating vegetarian food for 25 days!
What was your most memorable experience while filming the show?
Siddharth: The climb to Drang-Drung glacier stands out the most because it was magnificent. It also serves as a poignant reminder of how climate change is affecting our world, as the glacier continues to recede.
What makes the show different from the other survival shows?
Siddharth: The other shows have fit, athletic people doing this — we are the opposite of that. And they have taken a very bold decision to bring on camera two people who do not hold their opinions back and are very raw.
Shashank: It’s not a survival show – it’s a journey of two people who are misfits in the location. And to that, we bring a lot of banter to the show. So, it’s a mix of wits, intelligence and having fun on camera. It’s a real show where nothing is scripted.
What is next for The Big Forkers?
Shashank: There’s a lot of new stuff coming out. We’ve been quiet on YouTube for about a year now but for the next three months, we have great content lined up. We have season four and five coming out and have gone international with this.
Siddharth: We have released a Texas season. We also shot for a Singapore season and we are planning to shoot something in the North. Delhi and Northeast are very much on our radar.
I Should Have Stayed Home is now streaming on Discovery+
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Twitter: @MallikPrattusa