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In their quest for stories, the hosts and crews of the fifth estate are constantly traveling, across Canada, the U.S. and around the world. It's an intense life, in which the logistics of scheduling meetings and setting up equipment is complicated by the perils of encountering uncooperative, occasionally menacing, individuals. Crews often find themselves in potentially dangerous fixes. Escaping safely can mean relying on a combination of wits, charm and good luck.
In 1993, host Linden MacIntyre and his crew were driving from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, to Peshawar, a frontier town near the Pakistan border. Along the way they picked up a hitchhiker and by the end of the trip they'd become friendly, sharing cigarettes and snacks with him. As they were dropping him off, though, he drew a gun and began threatening them as a crowd of his friends gathered.
We've had it, MacIntyre thought, recalling that several western aid workers had been murdered in the same area a month earlier. The hitchhiker knew there was valuable film equipment in the back of the truck and probably assumed that MacIntyre and the crew were carrying plenty of American dollars.
Trying not to panic, MacIntyre distributed Afghani currency as quickly as he could, hoping that would satisfy the mob. Just as he was running out of money, a man appeared and began vigorously arguing with the hitchhiker and his friends, shouting and gesticulating wildly. As he talked, he shoved MacIntyre into the van, slammed the door shut and pounded on it with his fist, a signal to get moving. "I'm not a war correspondent. I don't seek them out," says MacIntyre. "I have been shot at and shelled. But perhaps the most frightening escapade was that drive to Pakistan."