Scan Magazine – August 2018

Issue 115 | August 2018 | 109

Scan Magazine | Culture Feature | Jukka Hildén

Ultimate Expedition is available

exclusively on YouTube Red.

When he was ten, Hildén tried to build

a bomb using fireworks. It blew up in

his face, giving him third degree burns.

“My face was like a big scab. It was a

miracle that I kept my eyesight, but,

surprisingly, I have no scars or marks

from the accident. My mum was really

pleased about that!”

would kill me, but I like to go for the leap
of faith and see what happens.”

While Hildén’s biography describes him
as a “stunt guy, actor and rockstar”, he
defies conventional labels. “I like to act,
but most of my work comes from being
myself, so that’s not really me. Rock-
stars have a sort of anarchy to them
which inspires others, but I don’t have
any musical skills, so that’s not really
me either. However, I do live my life with
a ballsy attitude and the courage to look
myself in the mirror and evolve mental-
ly and physically. I like to say that I’m a
Dudeson — a lovable daredevil.”

Fans of The Dudesons’ TV show will be
familiar with the explosive exploits of
Hildén and his three childhood friends,
but Ultimate Expedition has a more
serious tone. Celebrities not only chal-
lenge themselves physically, but also
explore and share emotionally. Surviving
cancer, racism and sexism are all up for
discussion.

It feels very much like the next big step

for Hildén. “Ultimate Expedition has

been the best and the craziest experi-

ence for me,” he says. “But it also gave

me so much back because a journey like

this forces you to think about your life,

your goals, the past, and the future. I

now feel that I’m in a good place. Taking

complete rookies to a deadly mountain,

pushing everyone, including myself and

my own mental, physical and social lim-

its, and being able to go through with it,

was an experience that I can look back

on and say, ‘I got this’, with whatever the

thing is that’s facing me.”

When Hildén is asked whether there is

anything that he is genuinely afraid of, he

pauses for just a moment before reply-

ing: “I never want to forget my dreams or

stop enjoying the journey. Life is short, I

want to live it hard. And I want to leave a

legacy to my children. To be the man that

lived his life doing his bucket list and in-

spiring people around him by being hap-

py with a good heart. And you become

happy when you put yourself first, not by

living by society’s expectations or what

your parents want you to be.”

It is an answer that might surprise many

but behind that fun-loving, risk-taking

persona, there is a gentler, slower Jukka

Hildén. A father, a husband, a guy who

likes to spend his summers in his lake-

house in Finland. “A sauna, midnight

sun, and good friends that you can talk

about anything with — that’s where my

soul rests.”

Photo: Ultimate Expedition Marketing