400 Episodes: The Conversations That Changed Us
The High Performance Podcast
High Performance
4.6 • 4.8K Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
High Performance just passed 400 episodes. To mark it, producer Will puts Jake in the hot seat — not for a highlights reel, but to go deep on the conversations that actually changed him.
Which guest challenged him most personally? Which episode stayed with him? What happened in the room with Jonny Wilkinson that nobody heard? Why did Dame Stephanie Shirley's words make him rethink the entire purpose of the show? And what was the episode that left him completely broken down on camera?
Jake also reveals the show that High Performance almost was instead — and why that origin story still shapes every interview he walks into.
Episodes mentioned in this conversation:
- Jonny Wilkinson https://pod.fo/e/9cca4
- Dame Stephanie Shirley https://pod.fo/e/16a443
- Danny Gray https://pod.fo/e/145c8a
- Paul Gascoigne https://pod.fo/e/3917fd
- Claire Williams https://pod.fo/e/2b956b
- Dr Chris Van Tulleken https://pod.fo/e/24d790
If you're new to High Performance, this is the best place to start. If you've been here since the beginning, this one's for you.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there, welcome along to another episode of High Performance and it kind of passed without fanfare just a couple of weeks ago. |
| 0:09.4 | But we have now released our 400th episode of this show since we began recording in late 2019, |
| 0:17.0 | since we began releasing episodes in early 2020 just before COVID struck. |
| 0:21.8 | We have kept going year after year, month after month, week after week, episode after episode. |
| 0:27.7 | And so I thought that today I would do something a little bit different for you. |
| 0:30.4 | I would just join you from a hotel room in Madrid. |
| 0:33.4 | I'll explain more about that in a moment. |
| 0:35.4 | And just talk about the journey we've been on. |
| 0:37.2 | I get asked so often, how did high performance first begin? So I'm going to tell you that story, but I'm not on my own for this episode. I have not my usual co-host with me today, because while I'm in Madrid, Damians in Japan, I have our producer, Will, who's also been with us every step |
| 0:54.6 | of the way since episode one. Hey, Will. Hey, Jake. Sorry, yeah, you've got me today. But you know what, in some ways, no, I think this is perfect because people ask me what I'm most proud of when it comes to high performance, right? I'll always say the impact that we have on people, right? When people stop us in the street and tell us that it's either changed their life or save their life. |
| 1:14.1 | That's what really matters. right. I'll always say the impact that we have on people, right? When people stop us in the street |
| 1:11.0 | and tell us that it's either changed their life or save their life, that's what really matters. |
| 1:15.4 | But you know, the other thing that I'm super impressed and super proud of, Will, is that we've |
| 1:19.6 | shown incredible consistency. We've just kept going regardless of pandemics, regardless of illness, |
| 1:27.0 | regardless of issues with guests, |
| 1:28.5 | issues with diaries, issues with location. So right now, Damien's traveling around Japan with his |
| 1:33.6 | family and fair play to him. He very much deserves that break. I'm in Madrid. I'm working. I've |
| 1:38.9 | got my family here as well. I've packed them into another room in the hotel and told them to be |
| 1:43.0 | quiet. And you're in Manchester in your house because this is still a week where we have to keep on |
| 1:48.2 | releasing high performance. |
| 1:50.0 | Because consistency is the thing that our guests have told us matters more than anything else, right? |
| 1:55.1 | Consistency is the thing. |
... |
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