The Dirty Vegan Matthew Pritchard looks back on a life of skating, stunts and survival…
I first met Mathew Pritchard in 1995. We lived on the same road and he sold me my first skateboard, out of his front room. Pritch already had a national profile as a pro-skater, but locally, he was respected for fearlessness on his deck, and legendary partying skills, off. One night, at a house party in the middle of the Welsh countryside, I watched on in horror for hours, as Pritch and some friends repeatedly tried to break bottles over their own heads. No matter how much pain they were in, they kept going, roaring loudly every time one of them succeeded in shattering the glass. So in 2002, when Pritch landed an MTV show purporting to be Britain’s answer to Jackass, it made perfect sense. Pritch and his Dirty Sanchez co-hosts spent five seasons (and one movie) injuring themselves in ever-expanding ways. Seven years later, after the show ended, there were tours, party appearances and a degree of hedonism that might have killed a weaker human.
In 2014, Pritch appeared to finally be settling down. Booze and drugs were switched for Ironman competitions, and he opened a popular tattoo shop and barbers in Cardiff, called SWYD – an acronym for 'Sleep When You’re Dead' – a life motto that’s tattooed across both his chest and his knuckles. Now, Mathew Pritchard finds himself back in the spotlight for reasons no-one could have predicted – Dirty Vegan, a cooking show (on YouTube and BBC Wales) and best-selling book. I caught up with Pritch on a Friday night at 8pm. To my shock, he was already in bed…
Hiya, love!
Sorry I’m in bed. I’m fucking knackered. But that’s why I haven’t got a T-shirt on.
I watch Dirty Vegan. You’ve never got a T-shirt on…
I’m doing a 12-hour run, up and down Pen y Fan [the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons], starting at 6am and the weather is atrocious. I went up there last week with [my dog] Lemmy and it was so bad, I had to turn around because his face was like a block of ice.
Poor Lemmy…
Well, he’s a spaniel innit. He loves it. He’ll do a full marathon with me, we’ll get home, I’ll be fucked, and he’ll drop the ball in my lap, like, ‘Let’s go.’
How has the reception to Dirty Vegan been?
It’s gone fuckin’ mental! I didn’t see it coming, to be honest. I’ve just signed a deal today for another two books!
When Dirty Sanchez finished, did you ever think you’d do TV again?
Well, I never knew it would be doing vegan cookery! If anything, I thought it would be Ironman stuff. But it was thanks to that that got me researching veganism, because a lot of ultra-endurance athletes are vegans. I’d wondered why, and the more I looked into it, I thought, ‘Fuck it. Why am I eating animals?’ I went pescatarian first, then I saw Cowspiracy and that was it. It was the most life-changing documentary I’ve ever seen. The next day I went vegan.
People really love being dicks to vegans.
Yeah, I don’t get it. It’s my choice. I don’t want to eat animals. How is that affecting you? If someone says, ‘I’m on a keto diet’, nobody kicks up a stink. Say you’re vegan and it’s fucking World War III! I’ve heard from a lot of people who’ve gone vegan, or started having meat-free days because of the show though. And a lot of the stuff on social media has been really positive, which surprised me. I’ve had people say, ‘I’m a massive meat-eater, but I love your show because you’re not shoving it down my throat.’ It’s educational and comedic and I think a lot of people have taken it on board because I’m not preaching. That works better than throwing it in people’s faces, I think.
Beyond diet and training, how do you get your brain to endure a 54-hr triple Ironman?
It gets more interesting when it starts hurting, and my head starts going. That’s when the fight kicks in. I enjoy being in those situations. It’s just me fighting my battles. The 80-mile run in the triple Ironman was in 1-mile loops, going through a forest. By the time I got to that part, it was dark. In the dark, the trees were talking to me and they had faces! Then I fell asleep on the bike and almost crashed.
So, extreme exercise is basically like being on drugs, then.
Yeah. I think I swapped one for the other.
What bands do you listen to when you’re training?
Motörhead, Prodigy and Queen, Queen, then more Queen.
You were still doing Dirty Sanchez when you started competing. How did that work?
I thought, ‘Well, if I’m training, I can party harder.’ I went to the start of many a half marathon still awake from the night before. I went to one straight from a crack house! I was off my head on crack and managed to finish in an hour and fifty minutes.
Was your drug use worse during or after Sanchez?
It started during Sanchez. We were still on the road and stuff. You pick up a habit and you don’t even think about it. You don’t realise until later that you’re fucking your head. I was constantly getting wrecked. And I’d say it got worse afterwards, because when you’re not filming, there’s nothing stopping you. When the show finished, it felt like all the things I loved started going [away]. So I think without knowing, I went on a wrecking spree. I did go into self-destruct mode.
What was the turning point?
I started slowing down in 2013 and that was purely because of a love of fitness. That’s when I quit smoking. I used to go to the start of Ironmen, smoking. People were like, ‘What the fuck you doing?!’ I went cold turkey, so that was a big kick. I realised that getting rid of stuff, I could become a better athlete. To this day, though, I’ll still have a blowout. I still like a party. Only now, it will be for a very good reason. Put the hard work in, get the treat. Like a dog!
There’s still alcohol in Dirty Vegan. I’m impressed that you can have one glass and have it not escalate.
Last year, I started drinking wine with my dinner. And, slowly but surely, it started creeping up on me. One glass of wine turned into two glasses, and then you think, ‘Might as well finish the bottle’, but that one bottle ended up being four bottles. I had to have a word with myself at that point and get rid of that. It’s a constant battle to behave myself.
How has the 15 Years Of Dirty Sanchez tour been going?
Do you know what? It’s really nice knowing that when you get on stage you’re just going to tell stories. You’re not gonna be smashing a bottle over your head or sticking a drumstick in your arse.
Did Sanchez leave you with any permanent injuries?
Just my mental health! Nah, just joking. You can’t really regret anything in life anyway. Life takes you where it needs to take you. We all go up and down. I can’t complain.
Words: Rae Alexandra
The Dirty Vegan is available on BBC iPlayer. The 15 Years Of Dirty Sanchez UK tour continues this month.
