Russ
If you think Russ comes across as a first class tool after editing, imagine what he is like before you see the edited Russ ....
I have never met Russ, but he does come across as a major di@k. I know a few people who have had to deal with him and they concur with this summary judgement.
I am told it was Russ who decided to edit out all the footage of the Long Way Round bikes meeting other bike travellers along the way. If you ride across Russia these days you will meet other western bikers daily, every day for months. Yet the only mention of another biker in the entire book or the TV series (prior to Orange County Choppers) is the reference to Ted Simon, 30 years ago. Russ didnt want it to look like loads of other people do this sort of thing ... he wanted it to look like it was unique. Like it was original. So why not edit the entire world of adventure bikers out of it, including the guys they met along the way.
In fact he also edited out all the research they did showing that of course it was totally do-able, he edited out the fact that they bought the Terra Circa and Mondo Enduro DVDs, again confirming it is entirely do-able, and pretty much copied the Terra Circa route ... but they did leave in some clueless irrelevant Russian girls who had never been on a bike, and never been to Siberia saying that "you must be mad going to Siberia, its for bears... people dont ever come out of there alive..." I mean ... please ... Give me a break.!
Russ made contact with the Terra Circa crew on numberous occasions, pumped them for info, sorted out the route before they went, then called up several times on route at all hours with "what do we do now" questions, such as when they were in Mongolia and thinking of quitting it for Siberia, and when they were in Siberia, quitting the road in favour of the train. Yet was there even the smallest hint of thanks or even acknowledgement?
Iin fact, faced with the some of the Terra Circa guys saying the road of bones was no problem, and a dour Austrian guy saying it will take them 6 weeks if they can do it at all, it is obvious to work out how that was going to be cut and edited into the spin story.
Needless to say, the story behind how they came to end up with BMW bikes instead of KTMs is not as it was presented, and was not because the Austrian guy thought it was going to be tough. But thats another story ...
I have nothing against the two guys who did the Long Way Round ride ... in fact good on them for wanting to do something like that ... two guys wanting to go on a long adventurous bike ride - there should be a lot more of that sort of thing

... just not sure about their decision to get Russ involved. He turned a simple and admirable bike adventure into Spin City ... and made a propaganda film that Leni Riefenstahl would be proud of.
Maybe I am being too harsh? Maybe that was Russ' job. As a stake-holder I guess he wanted to get as much revenue from the project as he possibly could, and that meant hyping it up to sound as dangerous and unique as possible (thus the weapons training, and holding pig hearts - all very dramatic - and complete bollox). Amazingly for a team of over half a dozen on the road, and a further half a dozen back in London, there is no mention of the huge fanfare Putin made just 1 months before they left London that the trans-siberian highway now goes all the way to Vladivostok ... not paved all the way, but at least a graded gravel road all the way. Its not possible that such a well researched unit didnt know that. It was the biggest news out of Russia that month. Russ just decided to leave that out as it would spoil the adventure sound of things, especially when they put their bikes on the train, allegedly not knowing if there was a road ahead.
I enjoy watching the Kazakhstan, Siberia, Mongolia footage from LWR, but the propaganda drives me round the bend. If you think Charlie was lucky to have a new career in life from being involved with Ewan McGregor, I can assure you it has done the same if not more for Russ.
And what with his obsession with being in his own films? How many shows do you see the producer in it all the time? Hardly any. They are meant to be behind the scenes. His obsession with being in his own films means we spent a good chunk of LWR watching 4WDs driving around Siberia, crashing in Mongolia etc. It was supposed to be about 2 mates riding bikes round the world but Russ wanted it to look like a grand expedition, of which Russ himself is an essential part. Lets be honest ... why did they even need the "support vehicles" anyway? What value did they add to the bike trip? What support did they offer? They already had a third bike to do the filming. Why 2 4WDs as well? It was just an excuse for Russ to get his head on the box. I wont be surprised if he does Celebrity Big Brother next year.
And now it seems Race to Dakar features almost as much of Russ as it does of motorbikes and racing to Dakar.