SKY Watch magazine article – with Descending’s Ellis Emmett
Published on Thursday, September 5th, 2013, under Media
An interview with Ellis Emmett
Kiwi Ellis Emmett loves a challenge. A self-described “hyperactive adventure daredevil” born and raised in New Zealand, Emmett’s extensive travels have led him to team up with Canadian friends Scott Wilson and Andre Dupuis to film Travel Channel’s underwater adventure series, Descending. SKYWATCH caught up with Emmett to find out what makes him tick.
How much diving had you done before filming Descending?
I’ve been diving since I was 16, but really just recreational crayfish diving. I was probably the most experienced of the three of us, but as we progressed and dived around the world in such diverse places and extreme conditions, I felt like a novice. We want to promote safety, but we don’t pretend to be experts – we’re just ordinary people going out there and seeing the world as it is today and in the condition that it is right now.
How did you, Scott and Andre meet?
We met about 12 years ago in Cambodia. They randomly interviewed me as part of a travel show. I ended up guiding them to a remote temple I’d been to before and on the way up the producer and host of the show had a bad motorcycle crash. After that I hung out with the crew and became their unofficial guide. The producer offered me a job hosting the show, so we spent the next two years travelling the world and Scott, Andre and I got close. We talked about doing our own travel show one day and here we are.
How did the series come about?
Scott and Andre spent three years doing a show called Departures. They were thinking about a dive show and asked me about hosting it. The inspiration was that when you look at a world map, you see all the land and the detail of it, but the ocean is primarily blue. But there are as many, if not more, amazing things under the water as above it, it’s just that we haven’t seen them.
What were some of the more harrowing experiences that happened during filming?
In Indonesia we were filming out of a microlight to get some aerial footage. Scott went up and they spotted a pod of dugongs, which are rare, so they started circling, getting lower and lower. Then the plane stalled and they literally dropped out of the sky from around 500 feet. The plane hit the ocean, smashed to bits and flipped on its side. Scott and the pilot were trapped underwater and luckily they had the foresight to unstrap themselves and get out. Scott was beaten up pretty badly.
How many different places did you visit while shooting the series?
We went to 17 countries and shot 13 episodes over 18 months. We dived some very diverse and unheard of places, even in New Zealand, like the lake with the sunken forest in Waikaremoana, which even the local dive operator had never dived before.
What was the most memorable experience for you throughout filming?
Definitely high on the list was in Indonesia when we were diving with giant manta rays. Initially they were a bit wary, but gradually they got closer, to the point where I was swimming on my back underneath one. It was so gentle and so graceful, yet so massive and powerful, so I did the only thing I could – I reached up and rubbed its belly.
How exciting was it to be able to showcase New Zealand in the first episodes?
It’s hugely exciting. I’m a Kiwi through and through and very proud of our little country. We have so much diversity packed into these two tiny islands so I love helping show it off.
What’s next for you?
I’m working with Andre on a new show called Over The Horizon. Over five years we want to sail around the globe and call in on all of the remote places you can’t buy a ticket to. There’s more to this story. For the full interview, visit sky.co.nz/skywatch.
Descending continues this month on Travel Channel, Wednesdays at 8.30pm.
