After filming inside an erupting volcano, I worry about dying on extreme shoots, says TV hardman Aldo Kane
TV hardman Aldo Kane has admitted he regularly risks his life in the name of his adventure programmes.
The former Marine is back on the box this week with his biggest project yet, Disney’s OceanXplorers, from Titanic director James Cameron.
Aldo and three other hardmen take part in missions aboard the most technologically advanced research vessel ever built, deep into the Atlantic in the Azores, diving into the shallows of the Bahamas before embarking north to the freezing arctic of Svalbard, Norway.
But even the icy depths don’t top Aldo’s scariest mission.
He said: “I was inside a volcano filming near the Congo a few years ago and that erupted when we were in there so that was quite a tricky situation.
“It was quite scary you had lava bombs and poisonous gas.
“I do all these things but they’re well calculated because I don’t actually want to die in there right, I don’t want to die in a cave system in Venezuela and nobody finds my body again.”
Luckily the big budget new National Geographic series, which lands on Disney+ today, didn’t push Aldo to such limits.
At 46, Aldo, has come to fame later in life after his military career first took him behind the camera as a safety advisor.
He’s worked with everyone from Tom Hardy to Will Smith but his first proper role on screen wasn’t until 2022, on Channel 4’s The Bridge alongside AJ Odudu.
He’s unlikely to ever challenge the Hollywood action men, though.
Aldo said: “I’ve never done any fiction stuff, I’m not sure I’d make a good actor.
“I would probably be too self conscious worrying about what everybody else was thinking and how shocking my appearance was.
“It was easier back in the days of just doing safety, setting up props and getting Will Smith into a big sink hole somewhere or paddling in a river before he does it.
“When you’re being filmed, you’re not only doing your job, you’re then having to think what you’re needing to bring across to the audience.”
The OceanXplorers vessel is 80m long with six decks and is home to various scientific labs, two submersives, a helicopter and three boats.
The series, which is a co-production from National Geographic and BBC Studios, see the team encounter everything from whales and sharks to polar bears.
National Geographic say: “Ocean experts embark on a global odyssey to solve some of the ocean’s greatest mysteries through the lives of its animals and their ecosystems.
“The ship sets sail on a grand adventure and provides an immersive look at an underwater world of wonder with incredible discoveries that push the boundaries of exploration and our understanding of the ocean like never before.”
OceanXplorers lands on Disney+ today, August 19 and premieres on National Geographic on August 25 from 5.30pm.