The rotting shark was worth it, says Danny Clayton of his new travel gig

HE ate a lamb’s head, a rotting shark, and is pretty much the most hated man in his office, but presenter Danny Clayton reckons that’s a small price to pay for his new job.

Plum gig ... Danny Clayton spent eight weeks travelling for his new show. Picture: Supplied

HE ate a lamb’s head, a rotting shark, and is pretty much the most hated man in his office, but Channel [V] presenter Danny Clayton reckons that’s a small price to pay for the best gig in television: hitting the road for eight weeks with a camera crew to travel the world.

The result is the latest instalment ofB430: Live Like a Local, a six-part travel series which sees Clayton tour Tokyo, Rio, Paris, Barcelona, New York and Reykjavik for a crash course in the places tourists must see, but never read about in a holiday brochure.

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Loving life ... Danny Clayton has the best gig in television. Picture: Foxtel

At each location, Clayton digs up a local to take him off the beaten track. In each episode where he receives a crash course in native knowledge thanks to a cluey local who lets him — and you — in on the hidden spots the locals just don’t want tourists to find out about.

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So far he’s been to Japan, New York, Brazil, Iceland and Spain.

Aside from lamb’s heads and festering shark, the trip saw him catch the phenomenon that is The Northern Lights, hang off the side of a glacier, and abseil Mount Fuji.

In Spain, when the appointed local failed to turn up, Clayton recruited a young woman selling bracelets to join the crew for a few days and show them ‘her’ Spain.

Exploring ... Danny is taking tourists off the beaten track. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“I learned that all young people take joy in making foreigners do things they would never do,” says Clayton.

“In Iceland we had a traditional Viking meal which is a fermented shark which they bury, then urinate on the shark so it doesn’t putrefy, and here I am with a local assuring me ‘this is what we eat all the time’.

“So I eat this shark and then he eats the shark and he vomits and I say ‘what are you doing?’ and he says” ‘We never eat this — this is for tourists’.”

Clayton is aware that travelling the world for work is a gig most people covet.

“Everyone hates me. I pretty much hate myself,” he laughs.

“My concern now is that I’m 30 next year, so we might have to rename the show.”

B430: LIVE LIKE A LOCAL

WEDNESDAY, 9.20PM, CHANNEL [V]