Made In Chaos with Ryan Curtis

About Made In Chaos with Ryan Curtis

Made In Chaos is a podcast about resilience, mental toughness, and rebuilding your life after everything collapses. Hosted by former MMA fighter Ryan Curtis, who survived a catastrophic training accident that left him paralysed from the neck down, this show explores what it really takes to recover - physically, mentally, and emotionally. Each episode digs into adversity, discipline, identity, trauma, growth, recovery, and personal development, sharing lessons that help you create lasting change and a stronger future.

Publisher

Ryan Curtis

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

10 Dec 2025

Latest episode

30 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

42 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Sept 2026

   Inside the Secret World of Professional Poker: Cheating, Millions & Reading People - Chris Dowling

   A Professional Poker Player on Risk, Luck, Reading People and Why You Can Make the Perfect Decision and Still Lose. Chris Dowling has spent well over a decade making a living at the poker table, from local card rooms in Ireland to the high-stakes rooms of Las Vegas. But this conversation is about far more than cards. It is about how to think clearly under pressure, how to read people, how to manage risk and emotion, and how to keep making good decisions when the outcome is out of your hands. Ryan sits down with Chris for a genuinely fascinating look inside the mind of a professional, and the mental habits that apply to anyone's life, whether you have ever played a hand or not. What we get into: How Chris went from the electrical trade to professional poker after the recession The three levels of poker, and where the real money and the real pros actually are Why films get poker completely wrong, and how cheating really works Why poker is not gambling, and the maths that makes the house always win Reading people: what you can actually tell from how someone acts, dresses and bets Game theory, exploiting mistakes, and the rock paper scissors trick that explains it all Why the best players randomise their decisions using their watch Going on tilt, and how the same emotional spiral shows up everywhere in life Why most people badly misunderstand luck and probability What separates a calculated risk from being reckless, and when to walk away How experience, not talent, lets the best stay calm playing for millions The single most useful thing poker can teach you about decisions in real life Ryan Curtis is a former Irish MMA fighter who was paralysed from the neck down and told he would never walk again. Made in Chaos exists to platform guests who've turned adversity into hard-earned wisdom worth sharing. Follow: @madeinchaospod | @chaoscurtis 🖊️ Sponsored by The Ink Factory, Temple Bar. theinkfactory.ie | @theinkfactory

2. 

   23 Sept 2026

   The Mental Health Crisis Ireland Keeps Pretending Isn't Happening - Rob Connolly

   He Built One of Dublin's Best-Known Businesses While Addiction Nearly Took Everything. Rob Connolly on Success, Grief, Recovery and the Brother He Lost. Rob Connolly is the founder of The Ink Factory, one of the most recognisable tattoo studios in Ireland, and a serial entrepreneur since his teens. But behind the businesses is a life shaped by addiction from the age of twelve, the loss of his brother John to suicide, and a long, honest reckoning with what success is really worth. Ryan sits down with Rob for one of the most open and moving conversations Made in Chaos has had, about building a life while battling addiction, the loss that changed everything, and why he believes there is always a way back. What we get into: Getting into business as teenagers, from nightclubs to The Ink Factory Why he built The Ink Factory around community, not just tattoos Growing up in an addicted household and using from the age of twelve How success became the perfect place to hide an addiction Mistaking net worth for self-worth, and the hole that no business could fill Losing his brother John to suicide, and the years of grief that followed The conversation with Ryan that helped Rob reconnect with his brother in time Why there is always a way back, no matter how far down The John Connolly Foundation and the mental health work it funds The loneliness and identity crisis facing young men in Ireland Why Ireland's mental health system too often fails people until crisis point Ryan Curtis is a former Irish MMA fighter who was paralysed from the neck down and told he would never walk again. Made in Chaos exists to platform guests who've turned adversity into hard-earned wisdom worth sharing. Follow: @madeinchaospod | @chaoscurtis If anything in this episode affects you, support is available in Ireland. Samaritans are free, 24/7, on 116 123. Pieta (suicide and self-harm support) is on 1800 247 247, or text HELP to 51444. The HSE Drugs and Alcohol Helpline is on 1800 459 459. 🖊️ Sponsored by The Ink Factory, Temple Bar. theinkfactory.ie | @theinkfactory

3. 

   16 Sept 2026

   Traveller Culture, Fighting & the Life Settled People Never See - Lucas Connor

   He's an Irish Traveller Who Speaks Five Languages, Reads Nietzsche in German, and Is Reviving a Dying Language. Lucas Connors on Culture, Community and Everything Settled Ireland Gets Wrong. When most people hear the word "Traveller," a set of assumptions follows. Lucas Connors spends this episode gently, brilliantly taking those assumptions apart. He's a jiu-jitsu black belt, a linguist reviving the Shelta language, a voracious reader of philosophy, and one of the most thoughtful guests Made in Chaos has had. Ryan sits down with Lucas for a warm, funny, genuinely eye-opening conversation about Traveller culture, identity, prejudice, community and curiosity. What we get into: Why Lucas says he doesn't really believe in bigotry — and his remarkable approach to changing prejudiced minds What settled Ireland gets most wrong about Travellers, starting with the fact that it's an ethnicity The Traveller sense of community — walk in, no knock, the company is the reward Shelta (or Gammon): the Traveller language, where it came from, and how Lucas is reviving it Why so many young Travellers grow up believing they're "only simple" — and how that belief is passed down How his mother refused to let him set his sights low Curiosity as a superpower: from the Bible and the Quran to Jung, Freud and Nietzsche Why he reads Nietzsche in German — and journaling as a tool for thinking My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, reality TV, and how stereotypes get manufactured and sold The generation of educated young Travellers changing the culture from within Jiu-jitsu, "culchie strength," and the mindset of never staying down Lucas turns the tables and interviews Ryan about the accident, gratitude, and living fully Ryan Curtis is a former Irish MMA fighter who was paralysed from the neck down and told he would never walk again. Made in Chaos exists to platform guests who've turned adversity into hard-earned wisdom worth sharing. Follow: @madeinchaospod | @chaoscurtis 🖊️ Sponsored by The Ink Factory, Temple Bar — Ireland's highest rated tattoo studio. theinkfactory.ie | @theinkfactory

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

44 ratings