WORST Day in Egypt!! Camel Cooking Disaster!!

21 Comments

1. About our producer, Ahmed:

   There’s no way to explain in one video how awful this man is at his job. To understand more, read below. This is the review I left on his trip adviser page. He’s since deleted the page.

   Ahmed was hired as a local fixer for our food focused production in Egypt.

   I'm the creator and host of the most viewed travel food show on the internet or otherwise. I've traveled to 50+ countries. I've worked with dozens of fixers and I can tell you Ahmed is the most incompetent person I've ever had the displeasure of working with.

   Ahmed contains none of the qualities of a good local producer. Ideally a local producer or fixer will do what it takes (within reason) to facilitate a shoot. Ahmed constantly worked against us. Here are some examples of who Ahmed is and what he's like to work with.

   – Ahmed didn't finish the pre production that was supposed to be done before we arrived. We had to actually hire a local tour guide to find exact restaurant locations in Cairo. Ahmed would not guarantee access to any restaurants and so we were unable to make a schedule. His idea was to just drive around and go wherever we could. Yes, this is the expertise I was paying thousands of dollars for.

   – Ahmed can't communicate. Any simple question will be answered with a long winded story demonstrating his brilliance and sophistication, yet the question will remain unanswered. He thinks he's a genius. It's true he has a lot of knowledge, but he has no practical way to focus that knowledge in a useful way.

   – Ahmed is paranoid. More than once he'd asked who on the team was secretly recording audio of him. He would yell at us to stop filming at random times. He'd always tell us the police were watching us. When we shot without Ahmed for a few days we had no issues. He just attracts negativity.

   – Ahmed has no ability to control a set. Sadly he was the only person who spoke Arabic and English in many situations, but he had no ability to lead the production and efficiently explain what needed to be done. He's easily overwhelmed and if given two tasks at once, he'll always forget the first one. Every production day took about 30% longer than it needed to.

   – Ahmed threatened me. When we were at a camel market Ahmed failed to make a proper negotiation with the local vendors. When they got angry, he tried running away from them. He then ran into my shot where I was already filming. Then he threatened me for filming him. He said I could be in deep trouble with the authorities. What kind of fixer behaves like this? My team is a small team of four and we were all at his mercy.

   – Ahmed would scoff at my requests. I've directed over 400 food videos that have been viewed over a billion times. I know how to make a food video. When I'd ask for simple things Ahmed would made audible protests or cross his arms. Once I asked him to have an eating rug moved into the sunlight so we had better lighting when I ate with some villagers. He scoffed. Everything was like this. He'd constantly tell me my requests were unusual rather than trying to assist in some way.

   – Ahmed is not a people person. This man cannot figure out how a conversation works. He'll spit out facts for 30 minutes straight about a subject no one has asked about, then when you try to join the conversation, he'll steam roll you with more pointless prose.

   – Ahmed is unlikeable. This is a simple one. He's painful to be around.

   – Ahmed lies constantly. But he'll lie in subtle ways to gaslight you and make you think you're crazy. When we were in a desert oasis he put us up in a "resort" with no heating and no space heaters while the outside temp was near freezing. His response? "What do you expect? Of course. We're in an oasis." Right… So we were the crazy ones. The resort provided heaters the next night, by the way. So it was ALWAYS in the realm of possibility.

   The same thing happened the next day. I paid $800!!! to see two farmers cook a sheep. The farmers made breakfast, then they left and a group of tour guides came in to cook the sheep. This was so confusing. The video is about farmers, not tour guides. Ahmed insisted this was normal and that this is how things are done around here and that the tour guides are related to the farmers anyways, so they're basically family. What a load of crap.

   – Ahmed conned us out of money. Near the end of the trip my team was ill. We knew we'd have to take some days off. He kept the full payment for the days we should have shot. This is reasonable. But then we planned POTENTIAL future dates contingent on us recovering. In true Ahmed fashion, he said he would not discuss any shoot details until we paid in full. So I paid for four days in advance. We ended up having to cancel all the dates BEFORE the dates took place and he still kept 100% of the money.

   Ever fixer in the world gets 50% of money before and after. Not Ahmed. He requests 100% up front or he'll threaten to halt production.

   I could go on and on. The point is this. I am a public figure with a public reputation. I have nothing to gain by making these statements, but I am making them because I don't want others to go through the same awful experience my team and I went through.

2. some sick shit going on there

3. blame the government, not the people

4. Egypt is a discrace. They treat the animals with zero respect

5. 1500 USD for a Camel 😂 they scammed you. You can buy a car with that kind of money

6. At least the camel experience worked out for you.

7. Im so saddened. As a Tourist who loves traveling Eygpt was one of the next place on my list next to Ukraine before the war… But anyway Man.. Im So saddened by it. People here dont understand Freedom. Not having to have ur phone searched or pictures deleted cause of Trade center didnt look good in the sunset etc. Thats Freedom People.

8. I feel really bad for you.My family and I have been your subscribers for a couple of years now and this is the first time we haven't seen Joy in your face this entire series.I'm in Bangalore, India 🇮🇳 and if you ever happen to travel here,we would love hosting you.

9. halal is such a cruel practice, and a waste of blood

10. Your experience maybe horrible. But this one is my fav episodes by far. Kudos to you and your team, this was a great story and editing. Hearing Ahmed giggle at the end was funny haha. End of Ahmeds career lol.

11. As a woman my experience when i traveled to Egypt was even worst it was so scary and full of sexual harassment to me and my little sister and when i tried to tell other people to be careful of they go they told me I'm racist and a hater

12. All things considered, the spirit of the best ever food review channel is still intact even when filming with a nokia 3310.

13. The term "BFE" makes more sense now…

14. The tour guides are such a breath of fresh air!😍They seem really kind too. Maybe if Sonny and his team had found them earlier on, thinks would have been a bit more bearable in Cairo. All in all, great show, and the food looks amazing!

15. Should have cooked the Egyptians, not the camel.

16. And no women anywhere..

17. For the first time for any of your videos I can say, ok this is too much for me, I can't watch it.

18. That dirty, corrupt, thug, criminal wanna be producer was always was looking, going, attracting police or government officials to get them to shake you down for that thug and others to get money from the shake downs. Btw, I’m talking about the producer!

19. I'M NOT A VEGETARIAN BUT I FEEL SAD FOR THE CAMEL'S 🐫😢 WELL IT'S THEIR CULTURE ANYWAY 🤷🤷🤷

20. Shame on him.. Bad omen
    Keep up the videos.. Take care 🙏

21. Do you love your culture

    Just asking 👩‍💻👀

Comments are closed.