Ellen Talks to Thai Soccer Team in Their First In-Studio Interview Since Cave Rescue

They have not given
an interview since that heart-stopping
rescue in July. But they are all together
here for the first time on TV. Please, welcome the
coach and the 12 players from the Wild Boars soccer team. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] [MUSIC – COLDPLAY, “A SKY FULL
OF STARS”] (SINGING) Cause
you’re a sky, you’re a sky full of stars,
such a heavenly view. You’re such a heavenly view. Hello, [? Risa. ?] Thank
you for helping with this. You all are amazing, and we’re
so happy to have you here. We’re going to take a break. When we come back, we’re
going to hear all about it for the first time from you. Thank you so much. It’s been several months. How are you all feeling? [SPEAKING THAI] Good, like, completely fine? Completely healthy? Yes, healthy and fine. Good. All right, so let’s
start at the beginning. Why did you go into
the cave that day? And how long did you
plan on staying in there? [SPEAKING THAI] OK, so the cave is usually a
tourist attraction anyways. So some of the boys
have never been in, and they decided to go in
just to see what it’s like. They decided to go
in for just an hour, but it took them
longer than that. [LAUGHTER] Yes, it did. Had you been in for one hour
when the water came in, or were they in longer than an hour? [SPEAKING THAI] So they went in for about an
hour, so they came back out. And at the intersection
inside the cave, they just saw that the
water had risen too high. So they just know then that they
wouldn’t be able to get out. OK, and that’s when you
realized you were in trouble. And did you think,
you just thought the water would just subside? Did you start to
panic did you do it? At what point did you think,
we may not get out of here? [SPEAKING THAI] They weren’t scared, and
they always had hope. And they know that if they
don’t come out, eventually, someone will have to come
in and get them out anyway. Yes, OK, so that’s
amazing that you didn’t lose hope and lose faith. How did you remain calm? [SPEAKING THAI] Tee right here said
that the coach told them to pray and meditate so
that they can stay calm, and then they will be conscious. And that when they are
calm, they can figure out what they want to do next. The coach added that
when they meditate, they conserve energy
so that they’re not using too much energy
while in the cave. Meditation is key. Meditation is so important
and to come into play at a time like that to keep
you calm, that’s amazing. First of all, did you
have food with you? What did you eat? What did you drink? [SPEAKING THAI] So they didn’t have
any food, because they left all their belongings
outside the cave. They only brought in torches
and their mobile phones. And then when they realized
they were stuck in the cave, they tried to look
for drinking water. So they only drink
water that were clean, that were flowing down
from the cave walls. Because the water that
were flowing inside the cave were dirty and muddy. So they wouldn’t be
able to drink it. So that was the only water
you had from the drops. From the stalactites. Wow, and no food. You could sleep? Did you sleep, or was it
hard to even fall asleep? [SPEAKING THAI] It was quite humid and cold,
but they fall asleep on and off. So it’s, like, an hour’s
sleep, and then they wake up. So it’s not the
whole night of sleep. And then three of
you had birthdays while you were in there, right? Four. Four people had birthdays? [SPEAKING THAI] So four of them had birthdays. Happy birthday. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] It was dark the whole time. How did you know
days were changing? [SPEAKING THAI] OK, so Tee right
here had a watch, and it tells the
time and the date. So they knew what date
was and what time it was. Oh, so you know every
day that passes. Wow. And how did you
celebrate your birthdays? Did you celebrate in there? Did you try? [SPEAKING THAI] Said they don’t celebrate. No one sang happy birthday? [SPEAKING THAI] No. Each one of you got
out one at a time. And each rescue took five hours. Is that correct? [SPEAKING THAI] Around eight hours, actually. Eight hours for each to get out? Right. OK. And I understand that because
you didn’t know how to swim, so they were trying to figure
out forever how to get you out of there, number one. But then they had to sedate
you so that you wouldn’t panic. And do you remember any of
it since you were sedated? [SPEAKING THAI] Nobody remembers what happened. It was too dark, and they
didn’t remember anything. You don’t remember anything. And when you got
out, did you realized the world was watching you? That everybody was
getting up every morning to see if you were out? [SPEAKING THAI] They didn’t know. Inside the cave, they
didn’t know anything. But they knew that
a lot of people were watching and
supporting them when they got to the hospital. Yeah, I mean, the world, not a
lot of people, the whole world. It was a lot of people. So you’re soccer players, and
I wanted to give you a gift. This is a soccer jersey that
I think that you’re going to– [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] Each one of you. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] So I understand you
all have the same goal. What do you want to
do with your lives? [SPEAKING THAI] OK, so all of them want to
receive a good education so that they would have good
jobs and at the same time, be a professional soccer
player so that they can take care of their families. That’s a good goal. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] And you have someone
that you really admire. Who’s the soccer
player that you admire? Zlatan, right? [SPEAKING THAI] Zlatan. Yeah. It’d be cool to meet him. [SPEAKING THAI] Come on out, Zlatan. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] [MUSIC PLAYING] Hi. Hi. Nice to meet you. How’s everything? Good? Thanks for being here. Thank you. Have a seat here. It’s a miracle, isn’t it? They’re incredible. It is. I thought I was brave,
but these kids, this team is more braver than me. And they show their
collective teamwork, and had patience, faith, and
believe in other hands also. So this is probably the
best team in the world. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] [SPEAKING THAI] And you have something for them. Yes. So explain what
you’re going to do. So we have gifts,
presents for all of you. And hopefully, you’ll get happy. We can make an exchange. You get my shirt. I get your shirt. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] So you’re all going
to go see the game. You’re going to get
to go see the game. We’ll take a break. We’ll be back. Hi, I’m Andy. Ellen asked me to remind you
to subscribe to her channel, so you can see more
awesome videos, like videos of me getting scared or
saying embarrassing things, like ball peen hammer,
and also some videos of Ellen and other
celebrities if you’re into that sort of thing. Ha! [ANDY SCREAMS] God [BLEEP]!

Written by Raul Dinwiddie