Matt Wright: The Outback Wrangler transcript
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Samantha Armytage: The legend of a larger-than-life croc wrangler took me to the Territory in search of Matt Wright. He was a hard man to track down. But in the end, Matt found me.
Matt Wright: You ready to go catch a crocodile? I'll take that as a yes.
Samantha Armytage: Getting close to Matt meant getting close to crocs and they're everywhere.
Samantha Armytage: Is he under the boat?
Matt Wright: Yep.
Samantha Armytage: Oh, my God. (YELPS) Quick!
Samantha Armytage: As crocodile numbers increase, so do attacks on cattle and people. Farm owners call Matt to catch problem crocs, often bare-handed, and he relocates the them well out of harm's way.
Matt Wright: We'er just going to take her to a new place. She can pull up home for a bit. How good's that?
Samantha Armytage: Two years after that first encounter, I've found Matt on a day off.
Samantha Armytage: What are we doing?
Matt Wright: Big sharks out here, too, hey?
Samantha Armytage: Again, he's heading into the danger zone. Matt's surfing with a few mates at a remote beach on South Australia's
Yorke Peninsula. Did you see he size of that wave?! These guys are mad! And just like before, he wants me close to the action.
Matt Wright: That took some guts coming out there with the guys.
Samantha Armytage: Matt, these are the things I do for you. I put myself in terrifying situations all the time for you!
Matt Wright: They were big waves. Good on ya.
Samantha Armytage: Thank you for acknowledging. Matt's approach to life on the edge is the same whether it's catching rogue crocs or surfing in shark-infested waters.
Matt Wright: When people fear an animal - shark attacks, crocodile attacks, snakes - when people see this or hear this, their first reaction is kill it, destroy it, get rid of it, which is pretty small-minded, I think.
Samantha Armytage: Matt's affection for wildlife began when he was a kid in South Australia catching brown snakes.
Matt Wright: One time we caught quite a lot of snakes. I told mum they were lizards. Late that night, the snakes got out of the house and two weeks later I caught the last one out of the house. Mum absolutely flipped, she didn't like that too much.
Samantha Armytage: Goodness! (LAUGHS) Glad you're not my son. Now Matt's wildlife is about to get a whole lot wilder.
Matt Wright: I'm Watt Wright. I fly helicopters and work with wild animals.
Samantha Armytage: Two years after we found him, Matt has been discovered by Hollywood. National Geographic America has signed the hunky bachelor
to star in a worldwide series.
Matt Wright: This is how I got started, mustering cattle. I used to do it from the back of a horse.
Samantha Armytage: In the air...
Man: Easy! We've got a bit of pace, get round him!
Samantha Armytage:..and on land, he's a real-life outback action hero.
His series will be broadcast in 90 countries. You'll be seen by over 100 million people around the world. How does that feel?
Matt Wright: A little bit nervous.
Samantha Armytage: So you're more nervous in the studio than in the croc's nest?
Matt Wright: Oh, definitely.
Samantha Armytage: Seriously?
Matt Wright: Yeah, yeah. OK! I can understand animals. I can work with animals, that part comes easy. Lights, cameras, actions - nah, that's tough.
Samantha Armytage: In the series Matt has his hands full with creatures great...
Matt Wright: Just like fishing. A little bit bigger fish though.
Samantha Armytage: ..and small.
(PIG SQUEALS)
Samantha Armytage: It's unavoidable that this lone ranger will be riding in the shadow of another admired Aussie. I know you don't like omparisons
to Steve Irwin...
Matt Wright: Oh, yeah.
Samantha Armytage: ..but they will be inevitable. How are you going to handle that as you break into the American market?
Matt Wright: It's not that I don't like being compared to Steve, ah, it's - I'll make my own mark and I just don't want to try and take anything away from what Steve, um, has been. You know he's - he did great things
and hopefully one day I'll be able to do the same.
Samantha Armytage: Like Steve Irwin, Matt's career is taking him well out of the outback...
Matt Wright: It's Borneo's deadly king cobra, the world's largest venomous snake. OK, I got him, yep.
Samantha Armytage: ..where the locals have the knack for underestimating the size of the danger.
Matt Wright: You said it was a small snake.
(LAUGHS)
Man: Yeah, small, JB.
Matt Wright: Thanks, mate.
Samantha Armytage: Matt is using the show to highlight the plight of endangered animals, like these cheetahs at Monarto Zoo near his hometown of Adelaide. Do you think he likes this?
Matt Wright: By the looks of it, I think he does. He's enjoying it. We've got one world and we need to look after it - the environment, the habitat and the animals that live within it. We're losing it pretty rapidly and that's what we need to sort of try and...try and keep.
Samantha Armytage: This is quite a life you lead, Matt. Cheetahs one day, crocodiles the next.
Matt Wright: It's an interesting life. Leave it!
Samantha Armytage: Matt's companion, Nash, travels with him everywhere and he has a nose for trouble.
Matt Wright:(LAUGHS) Oh, Nash! Don't poke it!
Samantha Armytage: Which brings us to the croc wrangler's biggest fear of all. Anyone special at the moment?
Matt Wright: Sam...(LAUGHS)
Samantha Armytage: Yes, Matt?
Matt Wright: This is a question that has come up before.
Samantha Armytage: Two years ago, Matt handled the commitment question this way.
Matt Wright: I've had relationships. It's, you know, at the end of the day, it slows you down.
Samantha Armytage: You haven't changed, have you, since I last saw you?
Still rolling your eyes about women.
Matt Wright: Like, yeah...(CLEARS THROAT)..so...(LAUGHS) Don't change the subject!
Samantha Armytage: Is there anything that scares you besides being pinned down by a woman?
Matt Wright: I reckon 'Dancing with the Stars' would be pretty scary!
Samantha Armytage: (LAUGHS) That's true. But ask Matt to salsa with a snake or quickstep with a croc and it's no worries.
