Ed Stafford's Rite of Passage (2025) s01e02 Episode Script

(JOAO SPEAKING)
ED: I've never experienced anything
even comparable in terms of pain.
Every one of them has a sting
worse than a scorpion.
(JOAO SPEAKING)
ED: This is an extraordinary thing
to put yourself through.
Especially when in order to become
a man in this community,
you have to do it 20 times
throughout your life.
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: I'm Ed Stafford.
-As an explorer and survivalist,
-Wow!
I've made a career out
of mucking around in the wild.
If I'm honest,
I've never really grown up.
Look at that.
So now
Ready, guys?
I've set myself a mission
to see how cultures across the world
navigate the messy business
of becoming an adult.
I believe many of us
in the modern world
have lost our sense of identity.
But I'm hoping by immersing myself
in the often-extreme trials
that young people face,
I can figure out
how these rituals make us
better members of our communities.
I've never experienced anything
even comparable in terms of pain.
By joining them on their journey,
I hope I'll learn
to become a better man
(TINICO SPEAKING)
maybe even grow up
Expelliarrmus.
Okay, he wants me to jump.
I'm going to jump now.
and successfully pass my own
"Rite of Passage."
ED: I'm heading deep
into the Amazon jungle
to visit a people
called the Satere-Mawe.
I'm on the final leg of my journey,
a two hour boat ride up the Amazon
to reach their remote village.
They live on the Andira River,
80 kilometres from the nearest city.
This community has a unique
rite of passage ceremony
that involves them
putting their hands in gloves
full of bullet ants.
The bullet ant, of all insects,
has the most painful sting
in the world.
(DOG BARKING)
ED: Hi.
-Hi.
-(TINICO SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(JOAO SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
(JOAO SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
ED: That all felt rather stiff,
if I am honest.
Um, I think the guys knew
that I was coming,
but I think they are
a little bit nervous.
(ED SPEAKING)
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
-(ED SPEAKING)
-(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
ED: Let's face it,
it is not every day that
a camera and a man
comes in to their village
wanting to partake
in this sort of ceremony,
so I am hoping that things will relax
a little as the day goes on.
(JOAO SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
(ESAU SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
(ESAU SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
(JOAO SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
Just been given a necklace
and officially welcomed to the tribe.
That is a good start.
(ED SPEAKING)
So I believe that we are going
to the centre of the community,
not sure what-- My Portuguese is good
but it's not amazing.
I understand the majority,
but not everything.
(NATIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
(ED SPEAKING)
In terms of architecture, there's
There's quite a lot
of traditional houses
and there's a lot of concrete
structures as well.
ED: Despite their remote location,
the communities' position
on the river
means they are open
to the outside world
and the modern influences
that brings.
(JOAO SPEAKING)
Every time we stop,
I keep getting bitten by ants.
But they are these tiny little ones
and I am trying not to react
to them at all,
because obviously compared
to bullet ants
they are absolutely nothing,
and yet they are infuriating
because they are biting on my ankles
and these guys are starting to laugh
because I am like literally picking
these tiny little minute ants
off my ankles.
But they hurt! (CHUCKLES)
ED: I might be in trouble.
The centrepiece
of the Satere-Mawe rite of passage,
is the incredibly painful
tucandeira ritual.
Young men get stung by close
to 100 bullet ants on each hand,
and they have to do it
at least 20 times.
And one of those times
is about to kick off.
Okay, so this is the central area
where they conduct the ceremony.
(JOAO SPEAKING)
Okay.
My understanding
of the ceremony today
is that these guys are veterans.
One of them has done it 34 times.
It's all becoming a little bit real.
(JOAO SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
ED: It's been likened
to walking on hot coals.
Insect venom is scaled,
in terms of the pain,
from one to four,
and the bullet ant is number four,
which is obviously
the highest level of pain.
To put that into perspective,
the sting of the average honey bee
is generally just a two.
It does something
to the pain pathways
within the body and stops
the body combating that pain.
So it keeps the pain pathways open,
longer than you would
normally feel pain
in any other situation in life.
JOAO: He's ready.
ED: This is an extraordinary thing
to put yourself through.
(JOAO SPEAKING)
ED: From what I understand,
it's the dancing
and therefore the sweating
that allows the toxins to disperse,
and this is to help them
manage the pain.
(JOAO SPEAKING)
ED: Now, his hands are shaking badly.
You've literally got
a veteran crying,
shaking, trembling,
experiencing a level of pain I know
I have never felt in my life before.
It's scary.
Okay.
(ED SPEAKING)
(JOAO SPEAKING)
This is the first time that I've seen
bullet ants on a
glove like this.
ED: So the ants would have been
sort of secured into
this with the abdomen facing inwards.
And obviously,
the stings are on the abdomen,
uh, which is why it's on the inside.
(ED SPEAKING)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
Oh, my God!
ED: Tinico has been
through the ritual
more times than anyone else,
and he will be my mentor
for the week.
(ESAU SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
SINGING: # He pulled
the bullet ant alove #
ED: Do women ever go
through this ceremony?
No.
(JOAO SPEAKING)
ED: They might not have
to physically deal with the pain,
but the women do seem
to help the young men
throughout the emotional ordeal.
It's an extreme rite of passage.
So, why do they do it?
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(JOAO SPEAKING)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
I mean, this is an incredible number.
Why have you done it so many times?
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: While there's
no scientific evidence
to show the repeated bullet ants
stings improve the immune system.
I can see how it can make
the boys understand
and manage pain much better.
Is it okay with both of you that
I take part in a ceremony
in a few days?
(JOAO SPEAKING)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(CRICKETS CHIRPING)
I can't believe this is day one.
(LAUGH)
I feel like I've experienced
so much already.
The truth is, the ante's been upped.
I'm under no illusions just quite
how painful this is going to be.
I've never experienced anything
even comparable in terms of pain.
Morning.
That was a pretty terrible
first night's sleep, I have to admit.
ED: The bullet ant ritual
is still playing on my mind.
It's a mix of emotions.
It's a blend of butterflies
and knives
and all sorts of things
going around my chest.
I feel like the next few days
are vital for me to
nuance exactly my approach
to how I'm gonna conduct myself
during the ceremony,
but, um, it's occupying every part
of my being right now.
I am so aware of something
coming that is
enormous.
Absolutely enormous.
I guess my spidey senses
were tingling.
As a morning storm
quickly engulfs the area.
So while we wait for it to pass,
Adriana asked me to help
prepare some food for their meals.
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
ED: Fairine is a carbohydrate
made of manioc root.
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
ED: And it's a staple part
of the Amazonian diet
when there is no fish
or meat to eat.
It's quite flamboyant, isn't it?
-ADRIANA: Yes.
-Oh, (BLEEP).
ED: Is it always the women
that do this kind of job?
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
-ED: Okay, we're done.
-ADRIANA: Yes.
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
Golden nuggets of pure joy.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
ED: I took the moment with Adriana
to find out what she thinks
about the rite of passage.
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
How painful do you think it is
for the men?
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
ED: I guess this ritual
is basically the big equalizer.
You didn't want him
to do it initially
and you've now decided
that you do want him to do it?
Why, why have you changed your mind?
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
ED: I think if a 12 year
old can do it,
I'm hoping that at 49 years old,
I can, I can do it as well.
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
ED: I am touched by Adriana's promise
to help me through the ceremony.
At this point,
with the bullet ant ritual
only four days away,
I am gonna take all the help
I can get to overcome the pain.
(JOSE SPEAKING)
ED: Jose is helping to teach me
the steps needed during the rite,
as a way to help deal with the pain.
(BLEEP)
You think that would be easy,
wouldn't it?
It's because it ends
on the right foot
and then it starts
with the right foot
and so I'm like,
I want to do my (BLEEP) left foot.
I know it's not complicated
but that's quite imbalanced
and I'm not really renowned
for my dancing.
I think I've got it.
ED: You were really stamping hard,
was there a reason for that?
(JOSE SPEAKING)
ED: I watched him almost come apart,
you know,
tears streaming down his face,
body convulsing and shaking.
That obviously,
is somewhat intimidating,
to say the least.
There's no rules or expectations
surrounding crying?
(JOSE SPEAKING)
(SINGING IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)
ED: There is no hiding the fact that
this is going to be extraordinarily,
more powerful than anything
I would have ever felt
through my nervous system before.
I'm aware that my mind state
will make all the difference.
I think I just need
to reset, recharge.
Sleep will give me
the resilience that I need.
(CLEARS THROAT)
ED: Morning.
And traditional preparations
are in full swing
for tomorrow's rite of passage.
Turn around.
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(UPBEAT MUSIC)
(NATIVE SONG PLAYING)
Esau, Is making the gloves
sort of making it hit home?
(ESAU SPEAKING)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: Mm-hmm.
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: So what I am doing
is cutting the little strips
that end up being woven together
in order to make the inner gloves,
the ones that the ants
are actually woven into.
The outer gloves are permanent
and, and they are held within
the village hall.
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: Gloves woven,
the boys and I also need
to get ourselves prepared,
and it's suddenly
all becoming very real.
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(THOUGHTFUL MUSIC)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: How long will it stay
on the body?
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: The boys being painted
will do the rite with me.
(ESAU SPEAKING)
Mm-hmm.
ED: Tinico's grandson Esau
is 12 years old.
And like me,
he is doing the bullet ant ritual
for the first time.
(ESAU SPEAKING)
(SAULO SPEAKING)
Are you nervous about doing it
for the first time?
-(SAULO SPEAKING)
-(ED SPEAKING)
(SAULO SPEAKING)
ED: I can see it in your eyes.
(ED SPEAKING)
Mm-hmm. Mm.
(ESAU SPEAKING)
(SAULO SPEAKING)
Has your mum or your dad
given you any last minute advice?
(ESAU SPEAKING)
-(ED SPEAKING)
-(JOSE SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
ED: My body is ready.
And for the first time,
I am starting to feel more confident
about the right of passage.
But Tinico has asked to meet.
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(TENSE MUSIC)
In terms of the order
of the ceremony,
Jose indicated to me that the reason
he was in so much pain
was because he went first.
And obviously I'm only gonna
do this once in my life,
would it be okay if I went first?
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: That's it,
there is not backing down now.
I just hope
I don't live to regret it.
ED: It's my last meal
with the family,
and Adriana has made sure
we are all well fed for the ceremony.
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
ED: But it also feels a bit like
a condemned man's final meal.
-It's hot.
-(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
(LAUGHING)
-(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
-(ED SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
(ESAU SPEAKING)
Yes. Yes.
(ESAU SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
Big day tomorrow.
It has involved a
lot of mental preparation.
It has involved strategizing,
but I feel like I'm there.
And it may well be the last time
in my life
that I ever experience
such a sensation, so
I want to experience it.
I want to relish in it.
I want to revel in it.
I want to explore it.
And uh, dare I say it,
I don't want it to be over.
(LAUGHING)
ED: It's the day
of my rite of passage.
And it wouldn't be much of a ceremony
without the star of the event.
Tinico is blowing
a musical instrument at the front,
which is part of the ceremony
in terms of attracting the ants
and drawing them out of their home.
(FLUTE PLAYING)
ED: The tobacco smoke and rubbing
of the tree aggravated the ants,
and drives them out of their nest,
ready to sting.
(FLUTE PLAYING)
ED: Wow, there's quite a lot
on the pole.
There is a lot of ants
going into this tube,
huge amount,
every one of them has a sting,
considerably worse than a scorpion.
Back in the village,
while the boys and I
steel our nerves,
Tinico sedates the ants,
using the leaves
from the tapebera plant.
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: It's a skillful art,
Tinico must work fast to weave
the ants into the gloves
before they wake up.
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: This is it,
the sedative has worn of
and the ants are ready to attack
anything and anyone
that goes near them.
Undeniably
there's this surge of energy,
um, that is rising in my body.
It's kind of a mesh of excitement
and elation and
fear.
I think actually in my life,
the closest I've come to this is, um,
a boxing match, you know.
Somewhere where there's
nowhere to hide.
Somewhere where if you mess up,
it's going to be very visible
to a lot of people.
Once the gloves go on,
I'll be entering a world of pain
that I've never felt before.
The ants are going
into the gloves now, being tied up.
And there will be nothing
I can do to stop it,
for over 12 hours.
(FLUTE PLAYING)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(FLUTE PLAYING)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(TINICO SINGING)
ED: I may look composed,
but the pain is excruciating.
Somehow it's almost
making me feel high.
I'm charged with adrenaline,
and completely focused on the dance.
(TINICO SINGING)
ED: The repetitive steps
are giving me something to focus on,
but the searing pain is like nothing
I've ever felt before.
(TINICO SINGING)
ED: I've never experienced anything
to this intensity in my physicality.
Literally like, my hands are on fire.
You're right
in the heart of the fire.
(TINICO SINGING)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: If you were to spiral
into a panic
with this level of pain,
it would be awful.
It would be then unmanageable
by definition.
(ALL SINGING)
ED: If it's this hard for me,
a grown man,
I've no idea how the boys
are going to cope.
Now, it's all about withstanding
the incredible pain.
Tinico warned me there
would be intense peaks to this pain.
It feels like I am hitting
the first of these now.
I guess this is now the phase
where there's no abatement.
Yeah, it's the pain.
If anything, it's growing slightly.
If anything,
it's getting more painful
and it's managing that.
(ESAU SPEAKING)
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
ED: An hour after the ritual,
and the pain is only increasing.
The decision is made to move us
to the village hall
so that we can be closely monitored.
But it's as close to
unbearable as I can
contemplate right now.
Hats off to these people
who do it twenty times.
Crikey.
What an
extraordinary way of
facilitating them to turn
from young boys into adulthood.
A little bit of panic that the pain
is still as bad as it is
but I am just trying
to calm within myself.
This is kind of the darkest part,
for me now.
ED: As I put my hands
in the gloves first,
and for a longer time,
I received more venom.
Now, I am struggling to cope,
and my team are concerned.
(CARLA SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
(CARLA SPEAKING)
ED: Yes, Yes.
(CARLA SPEAKING)
Okay.
(CARLA SPEAKING)
ED: Okay.
(CARLA SPEAKING)
ED: After taking in fluids
and being carefully monitored
by the doctor,
I am finally back on my feel.
But the pain was way more traumatic
than I had ever anticipated.
It's kind of changed
from burning fire to they've been
smashed with a sledgehammer.
In the dance,
I just sort of found myself
next to another guy
whose hands
were completely messed up,
so we couldn't kind of link arms.
And this quite a young girl,
called Fran came up and linked arms,
it was just something
so special about the fact
that she'd noticed
and she cared enough.
(SIGHS)
I think their role is vital,
absolutely vital.
And um
It's funny, isn't it?
You go through all that pain
and a thing that
makes you close to tears is
the care that you've been
presented with and offered.
(SNIFFS)
Adriana, I mean, literally
constantly helping me,
feeding me,
binding my hands.
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
(ADRIANA SPEAKING)
(ED SPEAKING)
I've never been presented
with so much care and love,
and, and I would never have
got through that ceremony
if it wasn't for all of you.
So I'll never forget it.
(TINICO SPEAKING)
(EMOTIONAL MUSIC)
(CRYING)
(TINICO SPEAKING)
ED: I think I came here thinking
that this ceremony
was all going to be about
proving how tough I was, you know?
Proving how I could do this
on my own.
And uh
it's not true, is it?
It's not true of the ceremony,
but it's also not true in general.
It's like, you don't have to do
it all on your own.
You can let--
let people in.
You can let them help you.
It's beautiful.
It's absolutely beautiful.
(ED SPEAKING)
I feel a bit battered and bruised
this morning, if I'm honest.
That level of pain
for that amount of time
just almost doesn't feel natural.
(ED SPEAKING)
(JOSE SPEAKING)
I think I've started
to get an understanding of
how rites of passage
are really essential to communities,
because on the face of it,
they look like things that
allow young boys to show off,
to prove they're tough
so they can become a man.
(ED SPEAKING)
-(ESAU SPEAKING)
-(ED SPEAKING)
And the ceremony last night changed
my opinion on that.
So, it was about the community
come together.
It's the, it's the very soul
of the community,
and it's what pulls
everything together.
I've been fighting my whole life,
fighting to prove
that I'm tough enough
to survive on my own,
and the inherent epiphany
of last night seemed to be that
you don't have to.
You can come into a village
in seven days later,
they're calling you
part of their family and,
and giving you
so much love and support
that you reduced to tears.
I mean, that's I don't know
of many things in life
more powerful than that, really.
(WHISTLING)
Sound's like the cartoon anvil
falling from the sky.
(IMITATES CRASH SOUND)
(ED SNORING)
Ed fell asleep.
I can hear him snoring.
(CHUCKLES)