Tom's Talks

The Tom's Talks Podcast is a place where we speak to a vast array of people from different walks of life and find out what makes them them. We will speak about their unique journey and delve into the highs and the lows which ultimately define them.

"I do think that losing my mum was the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Joe Fishburn was two years old when his mum died of pneumonia. He was raised by his grandmother, went on to medal at a European championships in gymnastics, and in 2024 became a Gladiators champion. He is also the first person we have had on who has said that sentence out loud, and then explained it in a way that makes complete sense.

This is not an episode about getting over something. Joe talks about how he only recently became able to say that line at all, and how he traces every part of his life back to a loss he was too young to remember. He is honest about the parts that were not inspiring at the time, like realising he was different when his grandma could not stand at the side of the pitch with the other parents, or the day a kid at school made a your mum joke and someone else had to tap him on the shoulder and tell him not to.

He also shares something he tells us he has never talked about publicly before, which is how his mum actually died.

What we get into:

The Gladiators trophy on his grandmother Christine's mantelpiece, and why he calls it a metaphorical thank you for everything she did for him
How his mum died, and why he had never shared it before now.

The moment he realised he had a different upbringing to everyone else, and what it is like to look at the sidelines and see other people's parents.

The your mum joke at school, and what that lands like when yours has died
How gymnastics started by accident, because he had too much energy, and became the way he processed grief without knowing it.

His first European medal, going out unprepared, getting beaten, and saying "we got exactly what we deserved"
Why he calls it one of the best moments of his life and the worst, in the same breath.

The resilience lesson from gymnastics: "you're falling over 99 times to get something a little bit better on the 100th"

What pressure does to a child, and why the kids who find it easy early are often the first to quit.

Being spotted by Roddy, the trials, and driving down in a day to audition for Gladiators.

The final, doubting himself against a faster opponent, and winning anyway
Starting a YouTube channel scared of what people would think, paying a mate to film the first one, and promising himself five years no matter what
Comparison, the highlight reel, and why it has never been easier to feel behind
"Becoming is better than being"

What he would say to two year old Joe, and to 23 year old Joe on the day he won

Tom has talked before about losing his brother Liam, and there is a lot in this conversation that will sound familiar to anyone who has lost someone early: the way grief quietly shapes the person you turn into, and how long it takes before you can talk about it without flinching. If you have been through something similar, this one is worth your time.

A genuinely honest conversation about grief, resilience, mental health, family, and what adversity actually does to you when you grow up inside it.

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The Tom's Talks Podcast is a place where we speak to a vast array of people from different walks of life and find out what makes them them. We will speak about their unique journey and delve into the highs and the lows which ultimately define them. 

This episode discusses child sexual abuse, rape, disordered eating and suicide. If you're struggling, Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.

Chloe was nine years old when the man her family trusted to drive her to school began grooming her. The abuse went on until she was nearly 13, and she stayed silent because he told her no one would believe her.

It would be 17 years before she went to the police.

Chloe is the founder of the Be Brave Project, a podcast and platform giving survivors of sexual abuse a voice. In this conversation she shares her story with real honesty: how grooming actually works, why so many children never tell anyone, and what happened when she finally did.

She also talks about the things survivors are most afraid to say out loud, the trial that followed, and why healing is never really finished. Her message to any child going through it now is simple: you will be believed.

What we get into:
• How a trusted family driver groomed her from the age of nine, with jokes, treats and making her feel special
• The threats he used to keep her quiet, and why she believed every one of them
• The confusion and shame survivors rarely talk about, and why she now speaks about it openly
• The day she jumped from a climbing frame and broke her arm so he wouldn't be the one to pick her up
• Telling her sister at 15, and the years that followed: drinking, dangerous situations and being raped at 22
• The depression that came from carrying it alone, and how she stopped eating when she was anxious
• How her mum found out, and the call to the NSPCC helpline that led her to the police
• What a two-week trial is really like, from three days on the stand to hearing her abuser behind a curtain
• Why she felt guilty when he was sentenced to nine years, and what his possible release means when he lives ten minutes away
• Why abusers are rarely the "scary monster" people imagine, and are usually someone the child already knows
• Forgiveness, and the one question she would ask him if she could
• Consent, misogyny, and why staying silent when someone makes a rape joke is part of the problem
• The Be Brave Project, speaking in schools, and why she believes healing never fully ends

Tom also shares the night he found his brother Liam, why he believes life happens for you and not to you, and opens up about being sexually abused himself at 15.

Subscribe to Tom's Talks for a new episode every week.

If you found value in this episode:
👍 Like the video
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Subscribe for weekly conversations with inspiring guests sharing real stories about resilience, growth and overcoming life’s challenges.

It would mean the world to me if you were to like, comment, subscribe on my videos whilst I share my ongoing journey.

Check out my website: https://toms-talks.co.uk/
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toms.talks__/

Proudly sponsored by: https://osiofficefurniture.co.uk/
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The Tom's Talks Podcast is a place where we speak to a vast array of people from different walks of life and find out what makes them them. We will speak about their unique journey and delve into the highs and the lows which ultimately define them. 
This episode discusses suicide. If you're struggling, Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.
Tom Walker was told he couldn't have a hair transplant. He walked out of that consultation feeling like he had no hope and no options - and then his first hair system left him feeling worse than the hair loss ever had.
So he learned to do it himself, in a shed at the bottom of his garden.
Tom is the founder of Hair Repair. Before that, he served in the Army, where his tour meant uncovering IEDs, and then worked shifts as an engineer at Rolls-Royce, fitting hair systems in the evenings. What started with a mate as his first client grew from the dining room to the garden shed to a brick building, and now to eleven locations including Dubai, with more than 500 specialists trained.
But this conversation is less about hair than it is about confidence. We talk about the stigma that stops people admitting they're struggling at all, the children with alopecia and cancer who come through his door, and what it actually does to someone to finally feel like themselves again.
What we get into:
• Being refused a hair transplant, and why his first hair system made him feel worse, not better
• The mate who became his first client, and why nobody noticing was the whole point
• Running a business from the garden shed around Rolls-Royce shifts, and the day the police turned up
• How hair systems actually work: real human hair, why the greys are synthetic, how often they need refitting, and why it can cost about the same as regular haircuts
• The stigma: why he didn't admit to wearing one himself for two and a half years, and what changed when he did
• Mental health, confidence and the pressure to look perfect in the age of social media
• The children who stayed with him: the boy who wouldn't take his hat off at school, and a four-year-old girl who reminded him of his own daughter
• His tour in the Army, and how he struggled after leaving
• The lockdown launch that brought in over £10,000 in three minutes
• Growing from Newcastle and London to Dubai, and the side venture that taught him a hard lesson about focus
• Whether he sees himself restoring hair, or restoring confidence
Tom also opens up about his own hair transplant, the time in his life when he wanted to take his own life, and the letter-writing exercise that helped him come to terms with losing his brother Liam to suicide. He explains why he thinks it could help anyone who's always chasing the next goal.
Subscribe to Tom's Talks for a new episode every week.
If you found value in this episode:
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🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations that matter
Subscribe for weekly conversations with inspiring guests sharing real stories about resilience, growth and overcoming life’s challenges.
It would mean the world to me if you were to like, comment, subscribe on my videos whilst I share my ongoing journey.
Check out my website: https://toms-talks.co.uk/
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toms.talks__/
Proudly sponsored by: https://osiofficefurniture.co.uk/
Support the show
Check out my website: toms-talks.co.uk
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The Tom's Talks Podcast is a place where we speak to a vast array of people from different walks of life and find out what makes them them. We will speak about their unique journey and delve into the highs and the lows which ultimately define them. 

⚠️ This episode discusses addiction and suicidal thoughts. If you're struggling, Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.

Dan's dad taught him to gamble before he was old enough to understand what it was. Fruit machines as birthday presents. Horse racing meetings as father-son days out. It was the only way the two of them knew how to bond — and it also planted the addiction that would nearly destroy Dan's life.

By 25, he'd spent close to £50,000. He was stealing to fund bets, pawning his own laptop, gambling through work shifts, and staying up until 5am chasing losses he'd never win back. A year ago, he watched a video Tom posted about losing his brother Liam — and it became the turning point that got him into his first GA meeting.

This episode is Dan's first time telling this story in full — the environment that shaped him, the father he lost, the rock-bottom night with a bottle of gin, and what it actually takes to rebuild a life around vulnerability instead of secrecy.

What we get into:

Growing up around gambling — and how it became the only language he and his dad shared
Placed in an environment "constantly around it," and why he doesn't blame his parents for it
The first bet with real money at 16 — and the £500-a-day habit he built at university
Stealing, pawning laptops, and running out of people to borrow from
The night before he decided to stop: a laptop, a bottle of gin, and "one more, one more, one more"
The breakdown in his mum's doorway at 11pm — and finally saying "I can't gamble ever again"
Walking into his first GA meeting at 25 and not knowing how he'd ended up there
Why he says he lost time, not money — and how gambling stole his presence from every relationship he had
The moment watching Tom's video about Liam gave him the push to actually change
Losing two relationships to the person gambling made him — inconsistent, absent, unreliable
His dad's sudden death after a routine hospital procedure, and the guilt he still carries over a decision he couldn't have changed
Working in social media for a gambling company while secretly relapsing — and what finally broke the cycle
The biggest lie every gambling addict tells themselves: "I can win it tomorrow"
Nearly a year gamble-free, and building Podcast Room Brighton with his two best friends — the space that's now helping him give back

Plus Tom on losing his brother Liam to a ketamine addiction, the argument he still regrets, and how showing up vulnerably on this podcast has quietly changed someone else's life without him ever knowing it — until now.

An honest, at times funny, and genuinely moving conversation about addiction, grief, fatherhood, and what happens when you finally stop hiding.

If gambling is affecting you or someone you love, support is available through GamCare: 0808 8020 133

If you found value in this episode:
👍 Like the video
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Subscribe for weekly conversations with inspiring guests sharing real stories about resilience, growth and overcoming life’s challenges.

It would mean the world to me if you were to like, comment, subscribe on my videos whilst I share my ongoing journey.

Check out my website: https://toms-talks.co.uk/
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toms.talks__/

Proudly sponsored by: https://osiofficefurniture.co.uk/
Support the show
Check out my website: toms-talks.co.uk
Follow me on Instagram: toms.talks__
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The Tom's Talks Podcast is a place where we speak to a vast array of people from different walks of life and find out what makes them them. We will speak about their unique journey and delve into the highs and the lows which ultimately define them.

⚠️ This episode discusses child loss and suicidal thoughts. If you're struggling, Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.

Hugh was born on his dad's first wedding anniversary. He had the bluest eyes, the blondest hair, and a personality to match. Two weeks after his sixth birthday, he died - after a ten-month battle with a rare form of cancer that took hold in the middle of a Covid lockdown, while the family hid the diagnosis from almost everyone they knew.

Six days before Hugh passed away, he made his dad promise something: "Go run it, daddy. Go get the medal." Ceri kept that promise - running the London Marathon days after burying his son, crying for five and a half of the six hours, then placing the medal around Hugh's neck at the funeral home himself.

In this episode, Ceri sits down with Tom for one of the most raw, unflinching conversations this podcast has ever had - about watching a child fight cancer with more bravery than most adults could summon, the total absence of support for parents in that situation, and how he turned devastating grief into a campaign that's already changing UK employment law.

What we get into:

The moment a routine "tummy ache" became a cancer diagnosis, and the surreal 3am phone call that started it all
Life on a children's cancer ward - the bravery, the "beads of courage," and why Hugh accumulated over 2,400 of them
Why the physical treatment isn't the hardest part - it's the complete lack of support given to parents while their child is dying
The promise made six days before Hugh passed, and running the London Marathon with his son's shoes tied around his neck
Burying Hugh with the marathon medal - and what "turning pain into purpose" actually means when you live it
Founding the charity "It's Never You" - and the specific ways it supports parents financially and emotionally, including 48-hour crisis counselling
Hugh's Law: the campaign to give parents of seriously ill children the legal right to be at their bedside - and why it currently doesn't exist for children over one year old
The businesses (including Premier League football clubs) already backing the campaign, and what's blocking it from becoming law
Why nearly 50% of couples who lose a child split up - and how Ceri and his wife stayed together
The disclosure most parents are afraid to say out loud: is it selfish to ask for help when your child is the one who's sick?
What he wishes he'd known in Hugh's final two weeks, and the one thing - Legoland - he still regrets not doing
Giving up drinking, going to trauma therapy, and the small, physical tools he still uses to manage PTSD years later
What a "good life" means to him now, and the advice he gives every grieving parent who reaches out

Plus Tom on losing his brother Liam, the words he still regrets, and why he believes life happens for you, not to you.

This conversation will stay with you. Whether you've experienced loss, know someone going through it, or just need to hear from someone who found a way through the unthinkable — this is essential listening.

If you found value in this episode:
👍 Like the video
💬 Comment your biggest takeaway
🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations that matter

Subscribe for weekly conversations with inspiring guests sharing real stories about resilience, growth and overcoming life’s challenges.

It would mean the world to me if you were to like, comment, subscribe on my videos whilst I share my ongoing journey.

Check out my website: https://toms-talks.co.uk/
Follow me on Instagram:   / toms.talks__ 

Proudly sponsored by: https://osiofficefurniture.co.uk/
Support the show
Check out my website: toms-talks.co.uk
Follow me on Instagram: toms.talks__
Follow me on TikTok: tomstalks
Subscribe on YouTube: TomsTalks