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The Joe Rogan Experience
The Joe Rogan Experience

#2568 - Ross Edgley

October 20, 2026 • 2h 49m

Summary

⏱️ 9 min read

Overview

Ross Edgley, endurance swimmer and author, discusses his extraordinary swimming achievements including circumnavigating Iceland, his brutal training methods, near-death experiences with hypothermia and cellulitis, and the science behind extreme endurance performance. The conversation explores topics ranging from berserkers and Viking culture to modern athletic performance, ADHD as a superpower, and the controversial aspects of recovery therapies like stem cells and peptides.

Whiskey and the Cost of Integrity

Rogan opens by discussing how he walked away from a lucrative whiskey deal because he refused to lie about having a favorite whiskey. After being exposed to 18-year-old scotch whiskey by a News Radio writer, he realized the significant difference that aging makes in whiskey quality. When he tried to develop his own whiskey brand, he couldn't in good conscience promote a younger whiskey as his favorite when aged scotch was clearly superior, leading him to cancel the deal despite significant financial implications.

  • Rogan had a whiskey deal set up but walked away because he couldn't honestly say it was his favorite
  • Buffalo Trace explained their whiskey takes eight years in a barrel and that's the only way they do it
  • A News Radio writer introduced him to expensive scotch at $200 a glass that changed his perspective
  • Rogan concludes there's no substitute for time in barrels when it comes to whiskey quality
" There's no substitute for time. There's no substitute for time in those barrels. "
" I can't lie. If if i'll say this is my favorite whiskey but that will be a lie because this is so much better "

Swimming Loch Ness: 60 Hours of Hell

Ross recounts his harrowing 60-hour swim in Loch Ness that ended with him blacking out from a combination of hypothermia and cellulitis (a staph infection from his wetsuit). After swimming for three days straight while hallucinating, he woke up in a hospital 13 hours later with his mother and girlfriend at his bedside. The cellulitis caused his skin to feel like it was on fire while simultaneously feeling frozen to his bones, and he was covered in the infection across his back and neck.

  • Ross swam 60 hours non-stop in Loch Ness seven years ago for ocean conservation
  • He blacked out from hypothermia mixed with cellulitis (skin infection from wetsuit)
  • Woke up in hospital after being unconscious for approximately 13 hours
  • Something touched his leg during the swim, though he was hallucinating at the time
  • His creatine kinase levels reached 19,000 (normal is 80, hospital-worthy is 10,000)
" It just went completely dark. It just went completely black. "
" You've been swimming on the same spot, you've not moved, you've just been swimming on the same spot for four hours "

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