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Ross Kemp: Extreme World (Mondays 9pm, Sky1)


DJ Stashman

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AFTER reporting from the front line in Afghanistan, hunting down Somali pirates and going toe-to-toe with deadly gangs in Russia and South Africa, Ross Kemp should be ready for a quiet life.

But TV's most enduring hardman has thrown himself into even more dangerous situations for his latest gripping series.

Over the course of nine gruelling months, the 46-year-old travelled to hot spots across the globe for a unique new documentary series, Ross Kemp: Extreme World.

Incredibly, some of what he witnessed was so harrowing that the footage is TOO STRONG to be shown on British TV.

On one trip, Ross risks his life to meet a sinister narcotics overlord in a heavily armed Chicago drug den.

He quizzes the gang boss as desperate women - who work naked - cut up heroin around him.

The TV star also treks into the heart of the Congo and interviews, among many others, a woman whose arms were cut off before she was raped.

He then meets a teen soldier who has repeatedly carried out orders to sexually assault women but shows little remorse. And he talks to a girl whose father was brutally punished for refusing to rape her.

Later he sees mutilated bodies lying on Mexico's drug-ravaged streets.

And don't think the UK is immune from serious problems - in the UK Ross finds that sex trafficking and slavery are rife.

Shuddering as he recounts all the horrors, Ross said: "This is definitely the toughest series I've made. There are moments you have to watch through your fingers.

"It is about extreme environments and extreme human beings."

Ross, who picked up a Bafta for his On Gangs series, was away from home for most of last year, travelling between his five challenging and, at times, horrendous assignments.

One of the most disturbing is Ross's look at Chicago - the heroin capital of the US - which climaxes with a tension-filled meeting with a "Mr Big", one of the city's biggest dealers. Ross said: "He was frighteningly intelligent and probably the scariest person I have ever met. If I ever reveal his identity I will unquestionably be killed.

"He sees himself as something of a saviour because he prides himself on producing good merchandise which doesn't kill people.

"We visited a 'chop house' where they cut up the heroin into smaller batches and mix it with other substances.

The work is done by two desperate, naked women, forced to wear nothing so they cannot steal any drugs (they were allowed to cover up while Ross was filming).

"There are now 50,000 people in the Chicago area who inject heroin out of a population of three million - and even more who smoke it."

Ross visits an old brickworks which drug addicts have made their home. Long-term resident Jerome - originally from a good part of town - tries desperately to find a vein to inject in before overdosing. It is extremely harrowing to watch as his bulging eyes flicker and he loses consciousness.

Ross said: "That was just the stuff we could show. I watched him smoke two crack pipes with a toothless woman who has an appalling sexually transmitted infection.

"She had just had sex with someone to pay for the crack pipe.

"Then Jerome shared the pipe with her before trying to load up his heroin needle. He tried to inject in the back of his knee, which looked like a dartboard. We had 15 minutes of footage but it was so grim we couldn't use any of it."

An equally traumatic investigation for the series - on Sky 1 and Sky 1 HD at 9pm from February 21 - was his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in central Africa, which is still reeling from the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda.

There has been fighting for power and land between the Congolese army, foreign-backed rebels and home-grown militias ever since.

Ross said: "I met a girl there who told me that a man tried to make her father rape her. When her dad refused they mutilated him.

"Mutilation and rape are still being used as weapons of war. Soldiers will be ordered to rape a woman, then mutilate her. Then these same women have to walk more than 200 miles - sometimes pregnant - for help. The brutality knows no bounds."

At Goma prison, among the worst in Africa, he meets a former child soldier - nicknamed Satan - who joined a militia at the age of 12.

On camera, at least, he shows little remorse for raping and murdering his way across the country.

Ross said: "He was quite dismissive. He didn't seem to feel guilt about what he had done."

Later, Ross heads into the village of Walikale. Just days after he and his team left there was a mass rape.

The former EastEnders star said: "The militia went in and raped 500 women. It was carried out by rebel soldiers as punishment for villagers colluding with government forces. They came armed with AK47s and machetes and told the villagers they had come to offer protection.

"We were out there on our own because the army refused to protect us. I had to pull a knife on two guys who tried to steal a can of tuna from me. We had no water and I was staying in a hut with rats."

Ross also spent weeks in Juarez, Mexico - considered by many to be the most dangerous city in the world.

Graffiti depicting Mexican president Felipe Calderón is daubed on the street walls and in one scene Ross spots an executed man lying in the road. There were 2,650 people killed in Juarez last year in drug-related incidents.

Ross said: "There were 76 deaths in Juarez in the three weeks we were there. The drugs cartels have their own honour code. If you cross them, the consequences are extreme.

"But by their own standards they are very honourable. I met one guy who was interviewed by the police but never gave up any information.

"He was waterboarded and given electric shocks but refused to say where his money was buried. The reason was that the cartel would have done much worse to him - and his children, brother and mother."

Ross also visited Haiti twice last year to see the aftermath of the earthquake a year ago. He found a country still in a mess, with police patrolling the streets.

He said: "So much aid was offered but so little has arrived because the world has suffered an economic downturn. The place is chaotic."

Ross dedicates one episode to the twin problems of human trafficking and the sex trade.

He said: "You travel all over the world, then realise that some of the worst atrocities are going on right under our very noses.

"There are more slaves in the UK than at any time in history. There is a big crossover between trafficking and the sex trade."

Ross returned from his latest travels an angry man because of the human suffering he witnessed.

But he said: "Who are we to judge these people? They have ended up as they are for a reason. All I can do is show what is happening - even if we would rather not know."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3409251/Drug-Mr-Big-was-scariest-person-Ive-met-If-I-reveal-his-identity-I-will-unquestionably-be-killed.html

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At Goma prison, among the worst in Africa, he meets a former child soldier - nicknamed Satan - who joined a militia at the age of 12.

On camera, at least, he shows little remorse for raping and murdering his way across the country.

Later, Ross heads into the village of Walikale. Just days after he and his team left there was a mass rape.(pmsl)

"We were out there on our own because the army refused to protect us. I had to pull a knife on two guys who tried to steal a can of tuna from me. We had no water and I was staying in a hut with rats."

sounds gutter

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Guest Flat Eric

Ross said: "That was just the stuff we could show. I watched him smoke two crack pipes with a toothless woman who has an appalling sexually transmitted infection.

Appalling you know.

"We were out there on our own because the army refused to protect us. I had to pull a knife on two guys who tried to steal a can of tuna from me. We had no water and I was staying in a hut with rats."

Sick guy.

How are they allowed to do these shows?

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Guest Klitschko

Ross said: "That was just the stuff we could show. I watched him smoke two crack pipes with a toothless woman who has an appalling sexually transmitted infection.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

:rofl:

There isnt a part about that that isnt funny

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Guest Supreme Allah

u man know me too well

He quizzes the gang boss as desperate women - who work naked - cut up heroin around him.

now thats a f*ckin BOSS

id have random naked chicks just cookin me pasta or something

cos im not into that drugs sh*t

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