Rowan and Adam from Viva La Dirt League tell FIRST about surf lifesaving, post-club cuisine, why they never fight and more.

First thing you bought with your own money

Adam King: The first meaningful purchase I made was when my brother and I had a paper run. We saved up as much money as we could and the two of us bought a Nintendo 64.

Rowan Bettjeman: Did you buy it together?

AK: Yeah, we bought it together. So we still, to this day, co-own it. Currently I am the steward of it. But we were so proud of ourselves that we managed to save for a console and a few games.

RB: I’m just impressed that two brothers were able to work together.

AK: Well, Nintendo 64 is a multiplayer console, so we made sure we bought two controllers and it was good times.

First time surf lifesaving

RB: Whites Bay in Marlborough. I’d just sit on the balcony … looking out with binoculars. But if someone was drowning there’s no way I was going to save them!

AK: How old were you?

RB: I don’t know… 13?

AK: You weren’t saving anyone!

RB: It was more of a concept. 

First fight

AK: We don’t have that many professional fights, because there’s three of us. We have a rule that if two of us think one thing, and one thinks the other, we go with the majority. We’re all kind of really good at just going “OK”.

RB: The power of three, we banish thee … arguments.

First thing you learned to cook

AK: When I’d come home drunk from the clubs as an 18-year-old I would get some Vogel’s toast, do a very light toast on it, then put some Vegemite on that, put a little bit of cheese on, slice up a tomato – and make a little mini pizza instead of going to McDonald’s or something at 2am.

RB: I must get that recipe off you.

Read more: Inside Viva La Dirt League’s YouTube empire

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