It's my final day as Off the Grid's vigilant producer and co-cost. Here is what I learned from Jesse Ventura and Off the Grid...

Today is a bittersweet day. I have spent the last nine months working my ass off (with the help of TEAM OTG of course) to make this show informative, entertaining and different from anything else on tv. Many of you may be wondering what exactly it is that a producer does. In a nutshell, my job is to come up with segment ideas, book guests, write the news portions of each episode and then get the best responses from Jesse about those topics while we film. There are many other unglamorous aspects of production that you don't see on the screen but those are the basics. Thanks to the incredible people of our tiny production crew, we manage to get a half hour show on television every week under tight deadlines. 

What many of you vigilant viewers probably don't realize is that you too have helped make this show awesome. I've consistently read all of your comments, okay, maybe not all of them, but as many as possible. That's right. I read the good, the bad and the downright hilariously offensive and ugly. I read them on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Ora. But I guess that's the beauty of the Internet isn't it? Freedom of speech. 

To those of you who wrote thoughtful comments and made suggestions about things you wanted Jesse to cover, THANK YOU. We were listening. Your ideas helped create some of the best segments. I learned from you guys and also from the man, Jesse Ventura himself. 

Jesse taught me that being authentic is the most important thing. He says what he truly believes and is convicted in all of his opinions, whether I agree with him or not. He's a genuine person and original thinker. Those people are hard to come by. He also taught me to question everything and look at stories from an alternative perspective. What you see and read in the mainstream media is not always the truth. You've got to rake through that muck and follow the money trail to find out what is really going on. Here are some other nuggets of Jesse wisdom: 

  • A person needs to run seven to ten miles on the elliptical machine every morning (or the elliptic, as he calls it)
  • Why Donald Trump is wrong on immigration (hint: it involves a ladder)
  • Things I/you never wanted to know about Mike Huckabee's sex life (see video above)
  • The definition of conspiracy theory
  • How to wear a tie dye muscle shirt

So who will be Off the Grid's vigilant producer in my absence? None other than OTG's awesome OG producer, Alex Logan. Alex is returning while I'm move on to RT America full time for a few months to be the network's West Coast correspondent. But don't worry, I'll be back to do some segments with Jesse on OTG again in the near future and may even come back to produce the show again down the line. 

For your entertainment and my embarrassment, here is one of my very first clips on camera at OTG. Before you go nuts in the comments section, trust me, whatever you're thinking, I already know. Go easy on me :) 

And here's one of my last. 

I guess you'll just have to check in on me in another nine months to see if I've gotten even better. Practice makes perfect. 

Bye bye for now and as always, STAY VIGILANT! I'll see you guys online and on RT America. 

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.

More from Jesse Ventura's Off The Grid

Advertisement