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Cooking Up a Comeback: Darnell "SuperChef" Ferguson Unfiltered · Nightmare Success In and Out

0:01
What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
0:04
Hi, I'm Brent Cassidy, welcome to the Nightmare Success In and
0:07
Out podcast where we explore how to overcome your fears and
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nightmares that set yourself free.
0:13
We're going to be exploring this topic with guys that was in
0:15
Leavenworth with and others who survived their own nightmare.
0:20
These stories can be inspiring, sometimes sad.
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There's some humor, but hopefully you can come away with
0:26
a nugget of something that'll help you knock down some of the
0:28
prisons you built up in your own mind.
0:33
All right, welcome back nine more success.
0:35
And now, listeners, this is where you come.
0:37
What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
0:39
How do you damn survive, overcome, set yourself free,
0:42
folks. I know I sound like a broken
0:44
record, but hey, don't forget to follow, subscribe, share this
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thing out, like it up, comment it, it, it really actually helps
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the show it, it does something with the crazy algorithm stuff
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and it's, it's, it just creates good stuff.
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So I appreciate it when you do that.
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So who are we talking to today? Well, folks, I got to tell you I
1:05
super ship Darnell Ferguson and I met on, on Instagram and I, I
1:11
started looking at all the stuff that he has on Instagram too.
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I, I think he has over 580,000 followers on that on that
1:18
platform. I don't know how many he has on
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overall platforms, but his story is gosh, if you guys like just
1:27
pure gritty comeback stories and, and just getting it.
1:34
Darnell went from being homeless, incarcerated, he
1:40
transformed himself, his body and he got into cooking and he
1:47
became the Super chef. And when I say he became the
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Super chef, I mean if you watch the Food Network, he is a
1:56
prominent figure on a lot of different show.
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He he's the host of super chef grudge match, the Co host of
2:02
Morse cooks in America. You've seen him on shopped.
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He was on HGT VS Hometown takeover and when I see went
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from homeless to the Super chef he he he was in a car for about
2:18
3 months living and around 2012 he started these pop up
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breakfast events and then in 2015 he was able to launch super
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chefs restaurants in Louisville. He also has he founded the
2:36
dripping crab. It's also in Louisville and I
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think he had one in Alabama. And and it just, it just
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continued to roll. And, and he also gives of his
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time. When I say he gives of his time,
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he reaches back and he mentors teams, hires young people in the
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restaurants and he served on boards Louisville nonprofits
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like Blessings in the Backpack and and children shouldn't hug
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her. I can't wait to jump into all
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this. I can't wait to unpack this
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story because it's got a lot in it and I think it'll inspire a
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lot of people. Just how to get out of your own
3:09
bunk, don't prison in your own mind and get get to that next
3:12
step. Before we do that, I want to
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deserve Autoplaza direct telling Brent from nightmare success
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sent you Darnell Ferguson welcome in my man how are.
3:55
You amazing say a few words. Good though.
4:02
Good. No complaints over here.
4:04
So Darnell, I mean, I love talking to people who've gone
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through what you've gone through because there's so many
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different steps that people could say, oh man, wow.
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I kind of felt like that, that one point, but I didn't know
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what to do and, and, or how to handle it.
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And people that have gone through what you've gone through
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and being able to step through it, it's not all easy.
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You know, it's, it's gritty, it's hard, there's ups and
4:31
downs, there's roller coasters to it.
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Can you take us back a little bit into your world when you
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were a kid growing up? Like, what was that?
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Like Mom, dad, siblings, all that?
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Yeah, my mom raised me and my sister, and then she eventually
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got married to my stepdad, who was amazing.
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But yeah, I had a good childhood, man.
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We was in the hood, but we had everything.
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More than everything. All right?
4:58
No, no. Columbus.
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I'm from. I'm bored.
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So I was born in Philly. My mom moved us from Philly to
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Columbus because I think her favorite aunt was there.
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And then she raised us in Columbus, OH.
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I came to Louisville for comics. For coming.
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Yeah. So I was raised.
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Cleared that up because I just thought you're.
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A Louisville guy, that's how. Ohio.
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Yeah. Columbus.
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I'm a Buckeye. You know, it's good to be
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national champs, by the way. So yeah.
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So I, I had a great childhood, man.
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Everything you could ever want as a kid we had from clothes,
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just everything. My mom didn't miss a beat.
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Like so I used to always tell people like even though I didn't
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have like my dad there nothing like my mom made sure we never
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even thought about it from my standpoint.
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And when you say your dad wasn't there, did you have any
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relationship with your biological dad?
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Not growing up, no, not till two years ago when I met him about
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two years ago. But yeah, man, good childhood.
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I got a kind of childhood. People dream of just sports
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there. There was.
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My mom rarely ever said no to anything.
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We had good friends in the neighborhood.
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We stayed over there like I had a good childhood.
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The other thing that I think is really interesting about your
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your your story is, is that you and I guess you got watching
6:17
Emerald on the was it the food? Network.
6:20
Food Network, Yeah. When we had Emerald we used to
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Bam. OK, Yep.
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So he was there. Is that how you got interested
6:26
in in in doing all this stuff with food?
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Yeah, for 100% for sure. And I met somebody the other day
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with the same story, so it's kind of cool.
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It's just about he's talking about him and his dad used to
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watch it. He's a big chef now.
6:37
Yeah, but yeah, it started with Emerald.
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I knew nothing about cooking. My mom cooked dinner often, but
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I didn't pay her. No mine, you know?
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So I was more worried about getting out of her way than I
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was watching her cook something. But I used to go to my cousin's
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house every week and every day I didn't have to be at home.
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I would go over the house and we used to do things that wasn't
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really cooking but was creative. You know what I'm saying?
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Like we used to make slushies and freeze things and we used to
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make like different types of cereal together, like little,
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like just like like hood stuff. But it was all true.
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Experimentation. Yeah, it's true experiment.
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We didn't care if it tastes good and it was sweet, it was good
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with it. But then when I started watching
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Emerald on TVI don't know how. If I got on there, I wouldn't
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find it. But I don't know if my mom put
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it on. I was so attracted to what he
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did and how he did it. You know what I'm saying?
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Like it was, it didn't matter what you look like.
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None of that stuff mattered. Emerald was good at making race
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not a thing. You know what I'm saying?
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There was many kids who came from the hills who started
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watching Emerald wanted to be chefs.
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Many who came from the suburbs, came from everywhere.
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He was just who he was. Was a nerf.
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Yeah, he's a connector. Just because he had that little
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swing to him, you know. So watching him, I used to tell
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people all the time like I was my goal was either I want to be
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a chef or a Navy SEAL. Like that's what I wanted.
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I want to play football. But I was, I was good, but I was
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late into football because of my grades.
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So watching Emerald changed everything.
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I end up going to vocational school my junior year to be a
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chef because of Emerald. So I only went to school for
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about an hour and a half. Then I went to school the rest
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of the day to be a chef and that was when I had a teacher there
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who I still talk to this day who changed my entire life.
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And you kind of, that's why you got to be intentional what you
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say to people. Because had she not told me she
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thought I was so good and amazing And it looked like I've
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been doing this for years and I never even, I don't even know if
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I touched a knife. I don't know why I would be
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touching knives. But when she asked me to cut
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these things and told me to make them a perfect shape and she
8:37
gave me the diameters and what it needs to be like, she came
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back and they were perfect. She she had been, she said
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everything I had been looking for in.
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That amazing, don't I? My, my youngest daughter's a
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teacher. She's a high school teacher and
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she gets these just great letters, you know, coming back
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from the kids because she's, she teaches all this like this math
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stuff that I could I, I don't even know how she's my daughter
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because. I I I can't I.
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Don't know anything about math and but the she teaches these
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kids and they get confidence and, you know, and something
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they didn't have confidence in before.
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And teachers can actually make a huge difference in the lives of
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kids. And the reason why she became a
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teacher was because when I was going through my stuff and went
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to prison, her teachers grabbed onto her.
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And helped her. In high school.
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So I think what you just said there, it's so powerful that
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it's, it's what teachers can say to someone at that time in their
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lives to give them confidence to do whatever they're planning on
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doing and, and change their life.
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Yeah, and like, so we go, me and my partner, we were in a school
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in the West End, which is like the rougher in Louisville last
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school year, just going through culinary kids, teaching them
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like doing all these things. And we weren't teachers.
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So I got it easy, you know what I'm saying?
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Like I I get to go in there, have fun with them, somebody
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cook like it, just connect with them.
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But the first day we went in there, it was like a nightmare.
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I remember my partner looking at me.
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He later now I don't know what I got you into because that was
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just it was everything you could think of like bad like I was
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like, oh, what am I doing? Like they just don't care.
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They because it's just crazy. And the next time we came, I
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prayed and I was like, man, let me be here for them instead of
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them here for me. And when I tell you we never had
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an experience like that again, when I realized that I'm not
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there. They're not there for me.
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Like they're not there to make me happy.
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I'm there to influence them out of wherever they're at in life.
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And when I tell you it just changed everything in
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relationships. When I tell you the worst
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students in their schools, I had the best relationships with them
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because I understood how to talk to them.
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I understood what they wanted when it wasn't about how you
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respond to me, it's about how I respond back to you, you know,
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because that teacher changed and she changed everything.
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Like what you can do with words give life and death.
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And most times our emotions take over.
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And that's one thing I learned through what I went through in
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life and I'm still learning today, is that you've got to
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take your emotions out of things, man.
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They will get the best of you, put you in a situation you never
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want to be in, and then you're regretting it.
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So I try my best now to be more Stoic, which is something I'll
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be, I read a lot on. I watch a lot of YouTube videos
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on Stoicism, which is helpful for me and probably helpful for
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a lot of men who may be watching this who want to be, who want to
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be in control themselves, which most people don't have control
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of themselves. That's why it's the fruit of the
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spirit, because self-control is not an easy thing to get to, you
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know what I'm saying? It's extremely hard to be in
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control of yourself. So that's just where I've been
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at life lately. So I, I wonder when I was
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reading through your, your bio and everything, Darnell, I was
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wondering like when you were experiencing these things and
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you went to the culinary school, you had a whole another life
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where you, you had, you were dealing in drugs.
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Did you, did you feel like that? You were.
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And you even just told me before you got on that before you, when
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you went over to China, you were chosen to go to Beijing to cook
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for these athletes, but you still were in the drug world.
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You were straddling the fence. Did that?
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What was that like to to be in that?
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You've got this chef world here and you're kind of getting
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recognition for this and you're also helping to do on it and
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then you've got this, this this drug business over here.
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How did you shuffle all that? I did the best of what I had.
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And the sad part that people don't get about life is when
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people say they're like, well, you had another choice you could
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have taken too. But like, I didn't, I didn't
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have, this was the option I was given.
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It was the option that sparked my interest because I tried to
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work at job while I was in college and I was on the Dean's
12:46
list for not the good reasons. You got one more bad grade
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before we got to kick you out of school.
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You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know what that's
12:54
called, but it ain't the good, it ain't the good conversations
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to have. You know, I literally had
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multiple jobs before I started selling drugs and I just, I just
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didn't have the capacity. I'm not a school person.
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I was trying my best. I was, I was working and I was
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going to school and I was failing out of school because I
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need school, needed my full attention.
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Selling drugs is like, even if the full time is part time, it
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doesn't really, you don't have to be thinking really.
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You know, it's not that hard. But so I was doing that because
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I felt like it was the only way I could graduate, you know what
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I'm saying? And then it grew into like, OK,
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well, this builds a good lifestyle.
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I never have to ask my mom or anybody for anything.
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And I ain't hurt nobody in my mind, in my mind in college, you
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know what I'm saying? I'm like, I'm not really hurting
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nobody. And people used to always say to
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me, man, like, because it, it went from like being a college
13:45
drug dealer to like being the city 1.
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And that's when people were like, man, you don't seem like
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when they meet me, they're like, you don't seem like a drug
13:51
dealer. I'm like, I'm not, you know what
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I'm saying? Like I'm not like this.
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I got a plan and I'm always able to.
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Put this other deal right. Like listen to me.
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When I went to the Olympics, one of my closest friends ran
14:02
everything for me. I gave him my connects number,
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everything. He knew what to do.
14:05
I'll say I won't talk to you in these months, bro.
14:07
So you're going to have to keep track of money.
14:09
You have a lot to do while I'm gone.
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But he did it all, got back. I didn't have to worry about
14:13
him. He's like my closest friend in
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life at that point. And I had a plan.
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Like I said, when I get back, I got to graduate college, which I
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did. And I said I even had enough
14:24
money to start my business up I want to do, which was in
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cooking. I had everything going for me
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and I was like, this is my last time ever.
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Like my my plug news, like my service, but I'm buying drugs
14:36
from you. This is it for me.
14:38
And it was at that moment that everything went bad.
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You know what I'm saying? Like it was like I literally my
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mom was getting remarried in Vegas.
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I'm taking my girl with me to Vegas.
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We got I ain't worried about nothing.
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It was my last time ever. Like I always had a plan.
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I never want to do it for life. And it was at that time where
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the city had already been looking at me.
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They was already ready and as soon as it was my last time is
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when everything went wrong and all this fugitive stuff, being a
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fugitive on the run and I just like I ain't about to be a
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fugitive. So I would just go back and then
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that's where just like should I deal with it and dealt with it.
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I had an amazing lawyer who he was amazing and that that plays
15:20
a big part in that life. And even going through I just
15:24
went through in life this last season, like people who don't
15:27
have a lawyer almost don't have a chance because the system is
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man. I learned so much about the
15:33
system, man you. I was innocent from what I just
15:37
went through with my ex and I started to prove it like that's
15:41
crazy. Like, and we didn't even end up
15:45
going to trial about it. And but the thing about it was
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like it already ruined so much. I'd already lost everything.
15:50
I lost every TV, every endorsement, every, everything.
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I lost 90% of people, those in my life.
15:56
And and not because of the situation, but they just, I
15:59
could tell that they weren't there for the right reasons
16:01
because now that I wasn't super chef and had all these
16:04
possibilities for them, they just all went away.
16:07
Over time, you started seeing people for who they are.
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And yeah, life is life is uniquely different.
16:16
Was Lisa. Well, it's, that's one of the
16:20
things you you asked me to look at because you know, you were at
16:24
this extreme high and I and I want to get back to and then and
16:29
then having to deal with what you just talked about in the
16:32
last year and getting through that.
16:37
When, when this thing happened, when when you made the decision
16:42
that you know, I'm not coming back here, this is going to be
16:46
my last time that that I met these confinements.
16:51
When you started the ideas that you were going to do those those
16:54
pop up events, did you think at that time that this was going to
17:00
grow into something big? Well, the pop ups, the
17:03
restaurants. No, I wasn't doing restaurants
17:05
to be a restaurateur. I was doing the restaurants
17:08
because I needed to make a living, a good living, like I
17:11
should say a legal living because I had the talent.
17:15
I had everything necessary. Like when I was working in
17:17
restaurants and I worked with some great chefs, but I felt
17:22
like I was like, I don't know. I felt like I was the one behind
17:27
it. That like doing all the
17:28
specials, you know, doing everything that they look good
17:32
for. And that's all part of process.
17:33
I had nothing wrong with that, but it came a moment where I was
17:35
like, you know what? I can do this myself but I was
17:40
trying to start a different business.
17:41
The pop ups was just supposed to be for income and.
17:43
How did you feel when you like I?
17:46
I think you were on Rachel Ray. That was after the pop ups.
17:49
Yeah, OK, You were on Rachel Ray, but was was that kind of
17:52
your breakout moment? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:54
Nationally, Yep. She, she, I think her producer
17:57
seen the story, a guy did the story how I went from living on
18:00
my car to own the restaurants and they picked up on it and
18:04
that's why I did Rachael Ray. And then she surprised me.
18:06
Had Emerald come out which was crazy is.
18:08
This the guy you you grew up with?
18:10
That was funny. Yeah.
18:12
And it was just. That was the moment that
18:16
started. But.
18:17
But people don't know this. But before I did.
18:19
Rachael Ray, Guys Grocery Games had already called and I was
18:22
already going to go compete on their show.
18:24
It just, it was just a trickle effect like Rachel Ray came on
18:26
and then Guys Grocery Games aired a couple months after.
18:29
So it just steam started to build up and it started to not
18:32
just be about the food would be about like who I was as a
18:35
person, which is the game changer in all businesses.
18:38
Like it's the person running it so that the Rachel Ray helps.
18:42
You're the commodity. Right.
18:43
Yeah. And not because not I need.
18:46
It took a long time to realize that because I was so worried
18:48
about people stealing my recipes and stuff like that.
18:51
I ain't want. But he's like, I ain't giving
18:52
nobody these recipes when they come in here, we got to make
18:54
them ourselves. And now I met a chef who was
18:57
like, hey, man, you got to realize, think about the
18:59
recipes. It's about the person making the
19:01
recipes. You know what I'm saying?
19:02
They're not you. So.
19:03
Yeah. So the the Rachel Ray was the
19:06
catalyst for everything personally, not culinary wise
19:11
though. Yeah, because I didn't go in
19:12
there and cook. No one see me.
19:14
Like how great it was a chef. It wasn't about my restaurants.
19:17
So it was like in the funny part about it is I'd have never got
19:20
on Rachael Ray had not got arrested.
19:23
Had I not went through what I went through.
19:25
They would have never called. They would have, I would have
19:27
never had that opportunity had I not went through the hell I went
19:30
through because it it was a it played a part, a key part in it.
19:34
You just don't see when you're going through like what I just
19:36
went through for the last year and a half was hell on.
19:38
Like I tell you, you talk about living a nightmare.
19:41
Like my show debuted season 2 on June, probably January 2nd.
19:46
I got locked up January 7th, so they took my show off.
19:51
I'm Big Everywhere, just premiered within a week, so
19:54
everyone's talking about it. So when I got locked up, People
19:57
magazine, everybody covered the story and at that point I
20:02
couldn't defend myself or say anything.
20:04
I just had to be quiet and just let people either believe it or
20:08
not, and that was hard. But just lost everything, man,
20:13
from, from. And it's just like, you don't.
20:15
I never imagined that would happen to me.
20:17
Like never in a million years did I think that I would be on
20:22
every news, every article, every publication about burglary,
20:27
strangulation, theft, all these things.
20:31
That's like crazy. You know, I thought I'd get a
20:35
life up. Yeah, and I and Darnell, what
20:39
did because building yourself up to where you got to because I
20:43
mean you were on a. High level.
20:46
At that time we were the class. You were on the * trajectory of
20:51
everything and hosting all these different things and and having
20:55
your own show and being a Co host and all these things.
21:01
And then, you know, for those who haven't followed this, the
21:06
the whole thing was recanted, but it didn't stop the
21:10
progression of what happened. Yeah.
21:12
You still had to go through, they still, the state still
21:15
picked it up and still wanted to go to trial about it for over a
21:18
year and some change. So the state, man, I couldn't
21:21
believe it. I was like, man, I can't believe
21:23
it. And the thing I couldn't believe
21:25
the most about it was I have been so good to Kentucky and
21:27
Louisville in general and they didn't have any evidence at all.
21:33
They she came out said what happened.
21:36
She has said it underoath before she had made a statement, I
21:39
believe, or or maybe she made a statement after she said it
21:42
underoath to a judge and they didn't have any evidence and
21:49
they still wanted to prosecute me.
21:51
And I'm like, I just couldn't get it, man.
21:53
Made no sense at all. So I was just, it was a law and
21:58
nothing you can do. Like I couldn't work.
22:00
They know I'm unemployable at this time, you know, and I'm too
22:04
good to get a basic job and like a line could because they don't
22:08
want me to come in their restaurants because the Super
22:09
chef is on your line now. Your line is just like chaotic
22:13
now, like who's the real boss here?
22:15
They like not for me. I'm good.
22:17
I could play my part and play my role.
22:19
Just get my check and leave. But you do put me on a line.
22:23
Like it, it, it's, it, it's just a lot of people were worried
22:29
about it from a standpoint of people going to know he works
22:31
here. Now that could be bad.
22:33
Also, like how will the cooks go about that?
22:35
You know what I'm saying? Like will they start listening
22:38
to him? Well, be like, because, you
22:40
know, most cooks looked up to me.
22:42
So therefore it's like it was a, it was hard, no working really
22:45
just small time jobs here and there.
22:48
And it was a lot of waiting and a lot of praying and prayers not
22:55
getting answered. And that's like a big part of
22:57
what I think my story going forward for a lot of people are
23:00
going to be because a lot of people are hoping for good
23:03
things to happen. And when bad things happen, you
23:05
know, most of them go to God. You know what I'm saying?
23:07
Like it's and you should, you should, you know, and you
23:11
should. But the question is, what do you
23:15
do when God says no, Like you are going to prison.
23:20
No, you are getting indicted. No, you can't work nowhere.
23:25
No, no, no, no. You're like, well, I need this
23:28
to live. You're like, but no.
23:31
Yeah, you know, And and. And not only that, I mean,
23:34
you're dealing with this and you have 7 kids, your, your wife.
23:38
And so and, and for those we're talking kind of around the
23:42
situation, Darnell and his wife had a fight that happened and
23:47
the, the, the. We have altercation that
23:52
happened where she was really there was nothing like it was
23:56
said to be. And if I was, I'd like to take
24:00
her out the situation because I mean what she told him that day,
24:04
I mean, there's nothing to harp on anymore.
24:07
She apologized. We kind of moved past that and I
24:09
understood her anger. But the way that the police did
24:14
it afterwards is what really was eye dropping like the details of
24:20
it. But we had a situation that
24:22
happened that day, which they paid it up as I was like a
24:25
jealous guy or something. Like there's no way in the world
24:28
I would have known someone was in her house.
24:30
Like I was dropping my kids off and it wasn't even and I wasn't
24:34
violent to the guy. I wasn't none of those things.
24:37
And it's it happened to where I pushed her off of me and I guess
24:42
when I left, she ended up getting mad and she told the
24:44
cops different things. And then she came back and said
24:46
it wasn't what happened and they just didn't want to hear at that
24:49
point. This prosecutor had.
24:50
We want it like he had a. Name.
24:52
They had already started their narrative the way that they
24:54
wanted it. And yeah, and they just, they
24:56
were stuck on it and we got through it all.
25:00
But man, when I got locked up that day, I never imagined I
25:05
would be in that situation. Life, man.
25:07
Like when they told me the charges, I tell you my heart
25:09
dropped to my feet and I just was like, what?
25:15
It was an insane moment. Well, I want to take a break
25:17
there because when we come back, I want to talk about how you
25:21
step out of that, you know, because it's a, it's a, it's a
25:26
very humbling moment when you're at the top of the mountain and
25:29
you get knocked down when you think that you were never going
25:31
to go back down the mountain. And then you then you also find
25:35
out how these people around you react when you're at the top.
25:40
Everybody wants to be your entourage.
25:42
And then when you, when you come back down and, and who's around
25:45
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And if you want to know more about the white collar support
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group, go to prisonthis.org. So, Darnell, because I, I know
27:08
that that ride for you up up the mountain, that's been great,
27:12
right? Yeah, it was great.
27:15
It was. It was longer than I thought it
27:16
would be. It was good though, man.
27:19
I compete a full network because I mean.
27:20
You were you were quite the personality and people loved,
27:23
you know, the the energy you gave, you know, getting out
27:26
there and and and being who you were.
27:28
And like you said, they obviously you really good at
27:30
what you did with with cooking, but your personality took it
27:34
into, you know, fifth year and that that became what people
27:37
wanted to see was, you know, you're starring now on the Super
27:40
show. Yeah, it took a long time to get
27:42
there too, because my personality was not there in the
27:44
beginning. A guy who is Guy Fieri, who is
27:47
an amazing like uncle who never left my side in this moment when
27:50
I tell you he just texted me other day, never leaves my side.
27:54
When I tell you he's a true like he as great as everyone thinks
27:58
he is from everything he does for people, he's 20 times
28:00
better, like 2020 times better man everyone I heard from no
28:08
other celebrity chef. I I would say about two by new
28:12
mini text mini had many. I thought to get some on shows
28:17
that I was to to judge on my show and like went to bathroom.
28:21
I mean I need this person on there please.
28:22
Like they were young like me I just want to get them up and
28:24
they never reached out. Nothing ever happened but guy
28:27
never never ever left a second. But the process of getting to
28:32
where I was at was tough and it was long.
28:34
I started to try to figure out why it took me so long to even
28:37
start judging. I compete for like 6 years
28:38
before they ever let me judge. Maybe people are judging.
28:42
You ain't never seen nowhere. And I'm like, I've been doing
28:45
this for six years and they still wouldn't let me judge and
28:48
not let me. They still didn't choose me to
28:50
judge. I used to think something was
28:52
wrong. I was like, man, I don't
28:53
understand it. But guys started working with me
28:55
on my personality and like getting out the shell because
28:59
he's always wondered why I wouldn't engage in conversation
29:02
with him right before I'm about to compete.
29:04
And then one time I finally told him I was like, man, Kobe has a
29:07
great personality. People love his stories when
29:09
he's not playing basketball, he ain't talking to you right
29:12
before the game start. You know what I'm saying?
29:14
I'm like, I'm like, I'm so focused.
29:16
Guy is like making jokes. I'm not catching the jokes
29:19
because I'm I'm worried about what we about to do.
29:23
And then he kind of like got me out that shell and it made me
29:25
realize like I got to make the most of every single second I
29:28
got on here. I don't have the ability to just
29:30
worry about food. I need to worry about food and
29:32
showing people who I am. And that kind of changed things.
29:35
And once that happened, it just went up and I started judging,
29:39
Co hosting, hosting and obviously I always compete.
29:43
I love competing. I miss competing the most.
29:45
I thought I would miss hosting the most, but I miss competing
29:48
the most because that's what people really love to see me
29:50
cook and really like my cooking style.
29:52
So it was a long journey up to get to the top and we were right
29:56
there. Like when I tell you we were
29:59
about two months away from closing on season 3 and having
30:03
that opportunity to get like a a big deal.
30:06
And then all this stuff just shook it up and, and tore it
30:10
right apart, right in front of my face.
30:12
And it was like, man, we worked so hard.
30:13
I felt like I let my manager down.
30:15
My manager had worked for me for free for so long because he knew
30:18
I didn't, I needed the money. Like he had another job.
30:21
He like man to you got a point where you, you ain't struggling.
30:24
I don't want nothing. He did everything for you.
30:26
Probably like 2-3 years for free.
30:29
And I felt like I let him down so much because we had worked so
30:33
hard and finally got the opportunity.
30:35
And then this happens, and now it's like I got to rebuild it
30:39
back up again. Yeah, yeah.
30:40
But I, I think you know, people who go through this and I, I
30:46
think I've done this is season 480 some odd interviews that
30:52
comeback thing is it kept me done.
30:56
You know you, it's a choice. You know you, you, and it's not
31:02
easy because you know it's going to be harder carrying this on
31:05
your back, but you've done it before.
31:07
That's the one thing that you've got, Darnell, that you didn't
31:12
have when you were like 20 years old.
31:14
You hadn't done it already. So you actually are older.
31:19
You've gone through what you did to get to where you were.
31:22
And you, like you said, it took longer than you thought, but in
31:25
your mind, you've actually done this before.
31:28
So there's that that muscle memory of OK, this is bad.
31:35
I'm at that's a that's a place I didn't play on vegan, but how do
31:40
I step out of what what are what are your thoughts right now
31:43
going through what you've gone through being where you're out
31:47
like? What are your What are your
31:48
thoughts next step wise? Like you said, I've done it
31:53
multiple times before. Like from a restaurant
31:55
standpoint, we've been down, we've been in business and
31:59
failures of different businesses and coming back up and TV and
32:03
all this stuff and it's happened.
32:04
I've done it so many times that I have no doubt in my mind that
32:09
whatever is next is way bigger than it was before.
32:12
And so the next steps is just I already had a plan.
32:16
So before this got going, I have been waiting like 2 months to
32:19
launch this show that we just started on YouTube, which is
32:23
like the the foundation of other shows we already have planned.
32:27
And we just were waiting. Shooting content is waiting,
32:30
waiting, waiting. And I got the concept for the
32:31
show while I was in the season. Had I not been that season, I
32:34
would have never gotten the show.
32:36
I could I didn't need it. But now this is, this is like
32:40
the game changer for me and I'm just ready.
32:44
Like we've already started the process.
32:45
I didn't wait. We, I think we started like 2
32:48
days after it was over. As it was over, we started like
32:52
immediately, like there was no waiting.
32:54
But also, man, I, I wasn't sitting in that season in
32:59
despair when it got closer to the trial date.
33:02
I was sitting in there just waiting, anticipating, like, OK,
33:06
I'm ready for this. And then as soon as this is
33:08
done, we're ready to take off and get this thing rolling back
33:10
again, like with no break in between.
33:13
I'm just not built like that. I'm just super optimistic, super
33:19
faithful. I just my, my, my faith is heavy
33:22
and like my purpose and also the favorite of God has on my life.
33:27
And the more favorite he has also means the harder things are
33:30
to at times. And I think it's important for
33:33
me and it was always important for me to compare myself to
33:36
people in the Bible. I try not to compare myself to
33:39
just people, like everyday people.
33:41
I go compare myself to another chef or another athlete or
33:44
somebody trying to make it. I compare myself and I look at
33:48
how God allowed things that happened to the people He loved
33:51
and He favored the most. He favored Joseph heavily to be
33:55
#2 in Egypt, like highest position ever you could get
33:58
outside of being a Pharaoh. But he went to jail for a very
34:01
long time for something he never did.
34:04
Yeah. You're saying I look at David,
34:08
who was the greatest king ever? Well, his son was probably the
34:10
greatest otherwise. But David was one of the
34:13
greatest. And like God allowed him to fear
34:15
for his life on the run for years, allowed him to lose,
34:19
allowed him to live with his enemies.
34:21
All these things came with it. So that's why I believe that all
34:25
the success that's come in and it's came, there's also some
34:27
pain attached to it. So you just got to deal with the
34:30
pain part and don't be so thrown off by like, I'm not thrown off
34:33
by what just happened when it first happened.
34:35
Super thrown off. It takes some time to like sit
34:38
in. Yeah, let it sit in.
34:40
But at some point you got to like dust the boots off and you
34:44
got to like turn. So if you don't go through the
34:46
season correctly, you won't come out, right?
34:49
Right. So the key to whatever you're
34:51
going through, like the hardship is you got to go through it.
34:54
You can't run from it. You can't go the easy route.
34:57
You can't. You can't give yourself pleasure
35:01
to make yourself go through it because a lot of time pleasure
35:04
is our like the thing you go to, to make something better.
35:09
But in that season, there was no pleasure even available for me,
35:11
you know what I'm saying? Like there wasn't any pleasures
35:14
for me in that season. Like so I couldn't go anywhere.
35:17
I couldn't do anything. I didn't have no one.
35:18
I had no money, I had nothing I could do or go to.
35:21
Wasn't about trying to talk to girls or something like that.
35:23
This ain't the season for that, you know what I'm saying?
35:25
I'm like, I'm dealing with a case, right?
35:26
This ain't it right now. So it's like if you go through
35:31
the season and let it change you the way it's supposed to, you
35:34
come out the season like understanding like I used to,
35:38
you know, the Central Park 5 or however many, I forget what it
35:42
was. I listened to one of the story
35:44
and that season I used to listen to all the people who went
35:46
through something in that season.
35:47
And I remember one of the guys saying, that's like, what would
35:49
you change about anything? Hey, I wouldn't change nothing.
35:52
And he's like, why would you not change?
35:53
You wouldn't change like not going to jail.
35:55
He's like, no, because I wouldn't be right here.
35:57
You when you are on the opposite side of it, which I am now, you
36:00
start realizing things that you couldn't when he was in it.
36:03
Like, man, had it not been for that situation, granted, I would
36:07
have liked another way for that. I'm going to be honest, but I
36:12
guarantee you I would have never trusted God the way I do now.
36:15
Never, ever, ever. You're saying I would have never
36:18
trusted in the same way I do now.
36:19
Like, no matter what I go through, I know it's alright.
36:21
I know I'm gonna get through. I know he's got me.
36:23
And there's no doubt in my mind because I've been to a place
36:26
where not only so, sometimes the worries aren't as serious.
36:31
It's like financial or something like that that you do need.
36:34
But sometimes it's like life. Like, am I going to be locked
36:37
away from 10 to 15 years? That is a total different type
36:41
of weight on your shoulders. I'd rather be fighting
36:44
financially than fighting for your life in prison time, you
36:48
know? So sometimes I'll have a bad day
36:51
and got to remind me, don't forget what you're not fighting
36:54
today, you know? Sheesh.
36:57
Yeah. I ain't doing that.
36:58
That ain't what I'm worried about right now, OK?
36:59
It is. It is a good day, you know?
37:01
Yeah. You know, I, I think that's a
37:03
big deal, Darnell, what you just said there, because everybody
37:07
has their own situations, their own nightmares and, and it's,
37:12
it's how they deal with them. You know how the challenge is
37:16
there, you know, how do you move forward?
37:19
You know, I, I wear these leather bracelets on my wrist
37:23
and a guy from Leavenworth is the one that made them and I
37:28
wear them every day and I put them on every day.
37:30
And I just, I think about that. That was, that was a lot worse.
37:34
So whatever's going on today is better.
37:36
And you know what you just said there is, is so important
37:39
because however you deal with what you have, what you've been
37:44
given can make you a winner or loser as how you move forward.
37:49
Because like you said, you could just curl up in in a, in a, you
37:54
know, a position in the corner here and get not come out.
37:58
Yeah, have a pity party. Yeah, a huge pity party.
38:01
And, and I always think that people who listen to this show
38:05
here probably sound like a broken record, but there is a
38:07
choice between victim and survivor.
38:10
And if you choose survivor, it almost makes you feel like
38:13
you've gained more strength. You know, if you feel like
38:15
you've been victimized, it takes all your strength away from you
38:18
and you're you're having to blame and point fingers and do
38:20
whatever. If you're a survivor, you're
38:22
figuring it out. You're figuring out what the
38:24
next thing is because you, you're grouping together
38:27
whatever you have in your being to get to the next step.
38:31
And I, I think that's what I know that you've gone through a
38:35
lot and in the last few months, but what gives me so much
38:40
confidence about you and your comeback.
38:43
This is a second comeback, but like I, like you said, I think
38:46
it'll be stronger because of all the things that you've
38:49
experienced to this point in your life.
38:52
And people love comebacks. I mean, they love, they love to
38:58
see people get knocked out. I mean, that's you.
39:00
Know it's a crazy it's a. Crazy, it's a crazy, crazy
39:04
thing, you know, it's you know, why do people drive slow past a
39:07
car accident? They love to see stuff that that
39:10
that makes them scared that it's and it wasn't them.
39:14
But as much as they like to see the fall, that they even like to
39:18
come back more. I mean, how many Rockies are
39:20
there? They're six.
39:22
They just couldn't get enough for the first.
39:23
Rocky, you had. To come back six times, but but
39:27
it's, it's an aid in people to see what especially people that
39:31
they they like or they're attached to.
39:35
They'll watch them fall, they'll move away from them, but they'll
39:38
attach themselves right back to them if they see them get up and
39:40
start stepping. Yeah, and everyone likes the
39:43
movies and I always say this man, like from people idolize.
39:47
Well, especially in my group, you know, most of my people are
39:50
we just we're believers and we just follow God and you know,
39:53
that's that's us. Not, I don't put that on other
39:55
people, but a lot of people I'm around, you know, they idolize
39:58
the people of the Bible in a good way, Like they're the right
40:01
people to look up to and they like the stories they they make
40:04
their lives. They get their strip from them
40:05
stories. But at some point you may be the
40:08
story. And how are you handling this?
40:13
You're saying like the Bible's not done being written right
40:15
now. They're still writing it.
40:17
We just won't be there to read it.
40:19
You know what I'm saying? So I just feel like we got to
40:22
got to make sure our story is one that when people read, it's
40:25
something that makes them better.
40:26
And sometimes you got to take the L You took it already.
40:29
You're saying now you're in the moment, don't take another one
40:31
by letting this situation take you down.
40:33
You know what I'm saying? And for me, I always tell people
40:35
like, and don't try to figure it out on your own because I always
40:39
get people this like this parable.
40:43
It's like you got to go to who created you or what created you
40:47
to figure out what to do next. You say you don't have the
40:50
answers. If you had the answers, you
40:51
wouldn't be the situation in right now.
40:54
And that's not to say anything to speak down on it or anything,
40:57
but you don't, you know what I'm saying?
40:58
If we all had the answers, we would all be living the dream
41:01
that we always dreamed of, but we don't.
41:03
So I tell people, man, you got it at this moment in the season
41:06
you end when it's hard and you live in that nightmare.
41:08
You got it like 100%. You got to go to God.
41:12
And the reason why I said it is because He created you.
41:14
He knows what you're supposed to be doing, how to get out of it,
41:16
the right way of doing it. It's like a microwave that was
41:19
created and it tells itself it's going to become a cabinet.
41:23
You say like it's useful, it can store some stuff, but it never
41:27
ever reached its true potential. You're saying like it never
41:30
plugged itself into the wall and never seen itself light up and
41:33
never seen itself warm up. Other things that make it worthy
41:36
again, never really seen the power hat because it kept doing
41:38
it this way, you know, So I think it's important in the
41:41
season and the nightmare man, you're not there by mistake.
41:45
As much as everything is wrong at the same time, everything is
41:49
right. And it's hard to do that.
41:51
Like it's hard to believe that in the season, but me coming out
41:54
of it multiple times and like I told you, I would have never
41:58
been alright Troy had this had I've never been locked up.
42:00
You know what I'm saying? Like that they've never got that
42:02
part of the story because they're they they like that.
42:06
You know what I'm saying? Like I don't like it, but no.
42:08
There's, there's, there's an old Chinese proverb of get get
42:11
docked down 7 times, get up eight.
42:13
Well, why would you get up the 8th time?
42:16
It's it's because you believe that you can get up.
42:19
You believe that you can take another hit and the people that
42:27
that it knocked down. I mean, you read all these big
42:30
books, you know, of the, you know, the Titans of the universe
42:33
that have built these things. They've all fallen.
42:35
They've all made mistakes and they've all figured out how to
42:39
get and learn from that and, and even become like what you said,
42:43
are now bigger, better versions of themselves.
42:46
And you know, and the other thing that I find interesting
42:49
is, is that because you were so good at at what you do, you have
42:54
created a universe of Darnell fans.
42:58
And in this, in this world we live in, it's not like 20 years
43:02
ago when you you were, you had to have a network, you know, you
43:08
had to have an outlook for a cable station.
43:10
You really don't know you. You've got YouTube that is
43:13
becoming one of the greatest. It's the new cable network,
43:17
Yeah. It's like it's the new cable
43:18
network you can shoot on your phone and.
43:21
If you can get on that and you can get subscribers and you can
43:24
get big, you own your own world that way with your own people,
43:27
your own subscribers, it's your own network.
43:30
And I can see that as a great outlet for you because you've
43:33
got, you've already got pieces of that, that that can be put
43:37
together that can become a powerful force in itself.
43:42
Yeah, and I always had a plan, man.
43:43
I've never I've always been a dreamer.
43:46
I've always been a like a man, A dreamer is probably the best
43:49
thing to say. And we just have a quote on the
43:51
outside of our restaurants that said dream so big that unless
43:53
God helps you, you'll be a miserable failure.
43:55
You know what I'm saying? Like we not, I'm not dreaming
43:58
small. I ain't got no small bones in my
44:00
body to be dreaming about something.
44:02
I know I can do everything I'm trying to do.
44:04
I need help, you know, I just need it, you know?
44:08
So it's a the comeback story is great, and it's possible.
44:13
People need to see it. I mean, what you're doing to
44:15
show it is huge. Because I didn't realize, man,
44:19
there's so many people living a nightmare.
44:21
Yeah, you know what I'm saying? I need to figure out how to get
44:24
out of it and how to sometimes they got before they got in a
44:27
nightmare. They wasn't living like they
44:28
wanted either. Exactly.
44:29
And I, you know, you don't have to go to prison or be homeless
44:32
to be living in a nightmare. There's people walking around.
44:35
You know, I spent three years in prison.
44:37
I saw people. You don't get institutionalized.
44:39
But when I got out, I saw my God, you know, somebody had a
44:42
bad childhood, somebody had a bad marriage, somebody had a bad
44:45
job experience, somebody who had a bad health crisis.
44:47
And those things put them in prisons in their own mind that
44:50
they couldn't step out of. And it was eliminated them from
44:53
doing whatever because they had become institutionalized to not
44:58
want to step out to get to where they thought they needed to be
45:02
because of what had happened to. Yeah, like when I went to the
45:06
Olympics, when I went to the Olympics, I was a chef of the
45:10
USA teams in Beijing for the the Summer Olympics.
45:12
Then that's when Michael Phelps won all those gold medals, and
45:15
it was a it was. A huge Olympics.
45:17
Yeah, huge. The the the redeem team maybe
45:20
was it. Yeah, yeah.
45:22
And we were the first students ever chosen to cook for their
45:25
countries Olympics. And it was a big deal here as
45:29
huge. And when I went out, left one
45:32
person, but I came back a whole different person when I was over
45:36
there in Beijing and I seen what life is really like.
45:39
Like, oh man, when I tell you the pay isn't there, the
45:43
opportunities are not there, life isn't there, what you can
45:47
watch isn't there, freedom isn't there.
45:49
Like it is a whole total. So when I came back to America,
45:52
I came back a whole different person.
45:54
I could outwork anybody. I never complained about
45:58
anything. I wanted to do things for free
46:00
just to learn how to do them, whereas everyone was.
46:03
So that's not my job, you know what I'm saying?
46:06
Like, oh, I'm not doing this. I remember asking my chef, like
46:08
I knew he broke down the fish. Every day.
46:09
I'm like, hey, can you show me how to do this?
46:11
I'll come in early. Like I'll need to clock in.
46:13
You said I never needed money to learn what I wanted to do, You
46:16
know what I'm saying? Like I never needed that
46:17
anymore. And it opened me up.
46:20
Darnell I think that's a really big thing that I don't want to
46:23
just gloss over asking someone for help because you don't know
46:28
how to do it. It's very, you know, shows
46:31
humility and, and being humble, But if you're able to do that
46:35
and you, you're able to take mentoring from someone, it's
46:37
like getting the answers to the test before the test.
46:40
You know, you, you are literally getting and, and a lot of people
46:45
who are getting their things right.
46:48
They're they like to share. And and, and I don't want to
46:52
just crossover what you said there because you can get, you
46:55
can kick start yourself so much further in advance if you're
46:58
willing to do that and ask for help.
47:01
I think she's on top and and make it and and I was
47:05
positioning myself by doing this for a great future because by
47:10
the time I got ready for my own restaurants and stuff, I wasn't
47:13
like when I went from being a line could I went from being a
47:15
line when I was a chef for a while, But I, I, I it just
47:19
didn't. I wasn't Sue chef for that long
47:21
before I went to being a decorative chef.
47:24
Like the jump was so fast because the knowledge is already
47:27
there. While I was like I was doing the
47:28
things that my chef was doing for free every single day,
47:32
cutting his fish, doing his inventory, coming in, doing all
47:35
the specials, everything when because I wanted to learn like
47:39
it was my knowledge. My knowledge was going to pay
47:41
out for me later on in life. But it was something that I
47:44
wanted to say that reminded me of earlier and with some like
47:46
failures and stuff like that. And I remember at one point I
47:49
was studying Steve Jobs, right? Because, you know, he got to let
47:52
go from or something. Yeah, his own.
47:56
It's. Crazy work there, by the way.
47:59
Like you want to talk about being pissed and mad?
48:02
You had every reason, but you know what he did?
48:05
He left there and started Pixar. Just think about that.
48:08
Like that's a person who but he said something and I was going
48:12
through some stuff with an investor at one point who let me
48:14
down and just disappear on the face of earth after I signed a
48:17
lease for a property when I was first trying to start it up.
48:19
That's how with the pop ups because a guy disappeared on me
48:22
and he said failure is the medicine that the doctor must
48:28
prescribe to the patient. And I was like, man, that's so
48:32
good. He's like, you need it.
48:33
He said without it, you'll never truly see success.
48:37
He said you only think you're successful.
48:38
But man, I was like, you know, this is the medicine you need
48:41
you you need these times in order to make you into.
48:44
I feel like, like you said, these hard times make you into
48:47
somebody unstoppable when you go through them correctly, like you
48:49
got new confidence, you got new just everything about you is
48:52
different. You're stronger, you're not
48:54
you're not weak minded like you may have been before.
48:56
It just it made you become something that you would have
48:59
done in your own. And that's the beauty of when
49:02
you go through it correctly. And I thank God that I have
49:05
people around me. Enough people, wasn't many, but
49:07
I had enough people around me who didn't let me choose the
49:10
week way out of it, which is feeling bad, complaining,
49:13
talking about the situation, keep reliving it over and over
49:16
and over again. But just had to focus on, OK,
49:19
what do I do now? You know, say, like, what do I
49:22
do now? And made some choices that put
49:26
me in a position now where now the season's over.
49:29
I believe there's nothing in this world I can't do.
49:31
And every goal we have, we're going to get it and not just get
49:35
it for myself, man, I think that one thing I learned is that I
49:39
need to make sure that what I'm doing, people see it this time.
49:43
I've always played the route of I don't want to.
49:45
I never talk a lot about like myself.
49:47
I used to talk more about what God is doing, but God's like
49:50
this time. I need you to tell people like I
49:53
need you to make sure they understand and hear you.
49:55
Because I'll always be quiet around people.
49:57
Even though I have a talk of the personality, when it came to
50:00
really giving life to people, sometimes I would just be quiet
50:03
in circles to where I could change the whole situation.
50:06
Not around people who need it, but like I would be around very
50:09
influential people and I would just play my role of just like
50:12
sometimes it's being a family on the wall and guys like you ain't
50:15
a family on the wall no more. No fly on the.
50:17
Wall we we need super. Chef Jardelle Ferguson, no fly
50:20
on the wall. So it's just now I just see the
50:24
impact is is so much bigger, like you said, because what you
50:26
go through does change things, you know, So I'm excited about
50:31
the future. Well, it's I am too and I, I, I
50:34
know. Hopefully we have a a follow up.
50:39
Yeah, that. Was so where we talk about all
50:42
the things that you're doing in your next step, next World.
50:45
If if you think Darnell back through all this that you've
50:50
gone through, you have a a take away to share to everybody.
50:59
Oh, Minnie, what do I have one I think of often.
51:05
Because a lot's happening with you.
51:06
Yeah, a lot has happened. I don't know.
51:11
Today I don't have one. Normally I'm a note taker
51:14
because I would forget my ex to take.
51:16
She said yesterday when I told her she's like, you forget your
51:19
head, everyone on your shoulders.
51:20
Oh, because I'm always like just booing.
51:23
So I'll write down a lot of stuff.
51:24
So since I'm on this I can't look at my notes well but.
51:27
I, I think that, I mean, just following through on what you've
51:31
already talked about on the show, I think that one of the
51:34
takeaways is, is you don't give up on, on your dreams.
51:37
Yeah, yeah. And the dreams changed.
51:39
So this, I don't have the same dream today that I had before
51:41
this happened. I want to be very clear, my
51:44
goals and dreams, how excited I am about what's going to happen
51:46
in the future was not the dream before the stuff happened and
51:52
you got to accept that. And I accepted that my dream was
51:55
all about TV and all these things.
51:57
Now it's like it's more YouTube, it's more me with people
52:02
connecting with people and like, it's OK, you know, I'm saying to
52:06
reinvent yourself. I think some people get stuck in
52:08
the self they they first thought about, yes and they never can
52:12
get away from that. And I think that's a good take
52:14
away because when you're building yourself back in, once
52:17
you build yourself back to on your second comeback or your
52:21
comeback might not be anything what you were doing on on your
52:25
first go. Because you're, you're, you're,
52:28
you're combining things into what you know now and that
52:33
conform itself into something else that's bigger or different
52:37
than what you were doing before. And that's not a bad thing.
52:41
That can be a really good thing. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
52:44
You got. I accept things for what they
52:45
are, you know I'm saying. And I just focus a lot on what I
52:50
can change and whatever I can't change as a it's a saying in
52:55
Stoicism that you hope things work out the way they should,
52:59
not the way you want them to. You know what I'm saying?
53:02
And that helps you to be able to deal with life a little better.
53:04
It's like now I wanted to work out supposed to not the way I
53:07
wanted to because my way don't always work out my way.
53:10
So I'll be So what I would do be sad every single time.
53:14
But if I just hope they workout like they supposed to, whatever
53:16
it happened. This is exactly how supposed to
53:17
happen and I'm just going to do my part in this life and my
53:21
whole, my life motto has always been to do anything like you do
53:24
everything. Like I give 100% energy to every
53:28
single thing I do. I don't pick and choose what I'm
53:30
going to be great at. I fail all the time.
53:33
Like not, not all the time, but I fail.
53:37
And you know what? It just lets me know.
53:38
It's like I ain't supposed to be doing that.
53:39
You know what I'm saying? But had I been given 30% for for
53:43
three years, I'd have never found that out, you know what
53:45
I'm saying? But I go hard in the beginning
53:47
and it kind of lets me know like this ain't it?
53:50
Let me let me rethink life a little bit.
53:52
See, we grabbed that the take away out of there.
53:54
That was great take away. You can't pick and choose.
53:58
And I, I'm 100% in with my kids. I'm 100% in with a relationship.
54:03
I may have, I don't have one now, but in a relationship I
54:06
would have from day one of meeting that person because I'm
54:09
going to talk to somebody about the level day one.
54:11
You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not, I'm a whole
54:13
romantic in that area, but everything is like that for me
54:18
and I, I don't pick and choose what doesn't matter.
54:20
Every single thing matters. Some things don't work out like
54:22
I want them to, but that's OK, they're not supposed to.
54:26
And I just keep on moving, keep moving and.
54:29
That's a good way to end it right there because Darnell or I
54:32
could say it's going to keep on moving.
54:34
Talk about gratitude and everything else.
54:36
So I want to give a shout out to Homestead Financial Home
54:38
Mortgage for letting me use this podcast studio.
54:42
If anybody's got home mortgage and these outs or Greg AFTI as
54:44
your guy, he knows all this stuff.
54:46
If you're looking for a book out there, I've got one that's nine
54:49
years success, loyalty, betrayal, life behind bars,
54:51
adapting, finally breaking free. If you got time, give me give me
54:55
a review on Apple, those things. So if you want to know what I'm
54:58
doing, go to brentcassidy.com. I spell it wrong.
55:02
It's with the Ty, not a DY. There were a lot of cool
55:06
Cassidy's, you know, in my when I was growing up.
55:09
Darnell God, it's. But we.
55:12
Sean and David, but not me. I was Cassidy, as I used to say
55:18
to my people when I was writing my emails back and forth from
55:22
Leavenworth. Stay strong, I'll do the same.
55:25
Darnell Ferguson, thanks for coming by today.
55:28
I appreciate it. And man, I wish you the best
55:31
with everything. I know things are going to pop
55:33
for you and and it's going to be going to be good stuff.
55:36
No, man, thank you, man. Keep doing what you're doing,
55:38
man. This is great that you're
55:39
letting people see these people need, man, I want to tell you,
55:43
people need this. You're saying, so just send it
55:46
what I can do to help share it and stuff like that.
55:48
But people not they only need my story per SE, but they need many
55:51
stories that may be for them. The one you'll need one, you
55:54
only need to read that. Listen to that one.
55:57
Yep, totally agree. All right folks, nine more
56:01
success in and out.