The American Tourist Who Illegally Traveled to North Sentinel Island | Drop A Pin Ep. 67 (📍North Sentinel Island)
Drop A Pin
Barstool Sports
4.9 • 580 Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2026
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Drop A Pin we spoke with Mykhailo Polyakov, the American Tourist who was arrested for illegally traveling to North Sentinel Island in an attempt to capture on camera the isolated indigenous Sentinelese tribe. Disclaimer: This episode discusses the personal experiences of a guest who illegally traveled to North Sentinel Island. Drop A Pin and its hosts do not condone, support, or encourage these actions in any way, nor do we encourage anyone to attempt to visit restricted or protected locations. North Sentinel Island is legally off-limits, and these restrictions exist to protect both the Indigenous Sentinelese people and outside visitors. This conversation is presented solely for educational, journalistic, and storytelling purposes. We believe the guest’s experience is a unique case that raises important questions about travel ethics, curiosity, risk, and responsibility. Listeners should not interpret this episode as an endorsement of illegal or dangerous travel. We strongly encourage responsible, lawful, and ethical travel at all times. Timestamps: (00:00:38) - Pre Boarding (00:05:58) - Interview with Mishka (00:07:01) - How did he get to NSL (00:14:29) - The Coke can and coconut (00:22:09) - Second Trip (00:26:26) - Indian Jail (00:29:42) - Reactions/Blowback (00:34:40) - Regrets (00:47:10) - A Word From Our Sponsors (00:51:17) - North Sentinel Island Discussion (01:02:42) - Pathology Fact Check GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, (800) 327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Please Gamble Responsibly. 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), or visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD). 21+ and present in most states. (18+ DC/KY/NH/WY). Void in ONT/OR/NH. Eligibility restrictions apply. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). Pass-thru of per wager tax may apply in IL. 1 per new customer. Must register new account to receive reward Token. Must select Token BEFORE placing min. $5 bet to receive $300 in Bonus Bets if your bet wins. Min. -500 odds req. Token and Bonus Bets are single-use and non-withdrawable. Token expires 2/1/26. Bonus Bets expire in 7 days (168 hours). Stake removed from payout. Terms: sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos. Ends 1/25/26 at 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK. Get 10% off your first month of BlueChew Gold with code DROP https://BlueChew.com Become a Fora Advisor today at https://Foratravel.com/wonton 📍 Listen Now: Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/drop-a-pin/id1773703211 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/31NNzfeA0tEfKE9LpqycFN?si=5dc8e774513e4458 Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@DropAPinShow Follow Drop A Pin! IG: https://www.instagram.com/thedropapinshow/?hl=en X: https://x.com/DropAPinShow Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropapinshow Follow The Wonton Don! IG: thewontondon TikTok: thewontondon X: @donniedoesworld FB: https://www.facebook.com/DonnieDoes/ Follow Uncle Chaps! IG: @unclechaps TikTok: @unclechaps X: @UncleChaps
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Barstool listeners, you can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. |
| 0:05.4 | Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. |
| 0:08.2 | If you want to risk your life, that is completely your decision. |
| 0:13.0 | I think a lot of the blowback you've gotten online is just that this is such an isolated group of people living on this island that they have not been exposed to |
| 0:20.9 | foreign pathogens, germs, bugs. |
| 0:24.4 | And so did you take into account that by visiting these people, you could expose them to |
| 0:29.0 | something that they could catch and it would wreak havoc on their community? |
| 0:34.4 | Absolutely. |
| 0:35.1 | And that's something I saw online a lot and I think that that criticism is blown way out of proportion for several reasons. |
| 0:45.3 | Hey, how are you? Welcome back to Drop a Pin. A very unique episode this week talking about North Sentinel Island, one of the most isolated places on |
| 0:56.4 | earth. And we got a guy on the pod who visited the island and then was immediately arrested by |
| 1:04.0 | Indian authorities because it's illegal to go there. Now, how we found this guy is, I think he actually |
| 1:09.1 | went to the same high school as our producer, Sam Goldfinger. |
| 1:12.1 | Yeah, Sam, how'd that come about? |
| 1:13.9 | So this came about. |
| 1:15.4 | I was back home in Tucson for graduation in last May. |
| 1:21.3 | And this was after I first started full-time here. |
| 1:26.2 | And I was kind of explaining the show to one of my best friends |
| 1:29.2 | from high school and he was like, oh, that's crazy. This kid that was in my grade just went to |
| 1:36.9 | North Sentinel Island, got arrested. So at this point, I think he was still in jail. And then when I |
| 1:43.9 | went back recently for New Year's, he said, oh, he just got, |
| 1:47.8 | he just got back. He just moved back to Arizona, I think like the week before I went. |
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