What Happened To "The UK's Scariest Debt Collector" Crew?

A 10-year update on the participants of Vice's UK debt collector documentary, revealing their life changes, tragedies, and ongoing struggles.

Key Takeaways

Participants of the documentary had widely varying fates including jail, recovery, and death.
Sha Smith reinvented himself multiple times, gaining media attention beyond the original documentary.
Mental health struggles were a significant theme among the tough characters featured.
The documentary’s dramatic moments, such as Tony’s betrayal, were partly fabricated for TV.
Public rumors about the participants’ deaths were often unfounded and contradicted by later updates.

What the video covers

The documentary followed Sha Smith, a former gangster running a debt collection business and his associates in Muscle House Gym.
Nat Taylor, a promising boxer with a troubled past, struggled with mental health and substance abuse but showed signs of recovery.
Davey Fallon and Stu were caught selling steroids in the gym and punished, with Stu eventually turning his life around.
Tony Smith, Sha's supposed best friend, was revealed to be selling steroids and fled, with his family fearing for his safety.
Sha Smith transitioned into promoting bare knuckle boxing and launched a fighting company, Ultimate BKB, gaining Netflix exposure.
Sha authored a book titled Debt Collector and attempted a clothing brand, but later faced a deliberately set fire at his gym.
Rumors of Sha's death circulated but were disproven by his podcast appearances in 2023 where he shared updates on himself and others.
Nat Taylor relapsed but later recovered, now reportedly living a stable life with family and training as a boxer.
Davey Fallon died tragically after a fall from a window following an argument, with Sha controversially blamed for the incident.
Tony Smith later revealed his side of the steroid selling story, explaining tensions with Sha and his current life running a gym.

Chapters

What happened to Sha Smith after the documentary?

Sha Smith transitioned into promoting bare knuckle boxing, launched a fighting company, authored a book, survived a gym fire, and later appeared on podcasts debunking rumors of his death.

Did Tony Smith really betray Sha Smith by selling steroids?

Tony’s betrayal was portrayed as a major twist in the documentary but was later revealed to be fabricated for the show. Tony later explained his side of the steroid selling story.

What is the current status of Nat Taylor?

Nat Taylor struggled with mental health and substance abuse but has since recovered, is reportedly clean, training as a boxer, and living a stable life with a girlfriend and children.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

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In the 10 years since Vice posted this legendary documentary, some of its participants ended up in jail, some successfully turned their life around, whereas others died unexpectedly. For context, the production followed a former gangster named Sha Smith, who was trying

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to live a life on the straight and narrow by running a debt collection business in the Muscle House Gym, where the show introduced many of Sha's associates. Firstly, there was Nat Taylor, who had a rough childhood and after

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years of self-medicating had also spent time in what he described as the city's Nut House. Despite this, Nat was an extremely promising boxer and was training for a shot at the title provided he could stay clean. He is a top

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top kid, and his talent is unbelievable. It's just that problems he... The documentary then introduced Davey Fallon and his friend Stu, who were caught selling steroids in the gym and were punished in a pretty memorable way. A grand, you give me a grand, keep your job,

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stay in the gym, only made more notable by the words exchanged afterwards. I got to come. Finally, there was Tony Smith, who was supposedly Sha's best friend. He's down, man. Everything goes through him. You're best, me. It's called loyalty. You

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can't buy it. Until the end of the episode, when Sha revealed Tony had also been selling steroids, the little was already selling steroids in and around the gym on way to me, and as a result, Tony had gotten in his car and

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left to avoid consequence. Here's the little Cocker. Now look at him. Left his bed, left all his kids. Look, look his, his hands look. He's like, oh, oh, you see him on it. After the episode ended with the

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narrator stating this, Tony is still on the run. His family fears if he comes back, he may go on the missing list forever. It's no surprise commenters wrote Tony's betrayal is genuinely one of the best twists I've ever seen, and

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it's in a documentary of old places. Although the betrayal turned out to be fabricated for the show, but we'll talk about that later. The documentary gave a unique look at some pretty scary people, although it was also made incredibly

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relatable by displaying the mental health struggles experienced by these very tough guys. I don't sleep. I'm on like 150 mg Cly, 80 mg of Parm, 7.5 mg of Zone, depression, anxiety, panic attack. Although with so many crazy

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characters on such volatile paths, it makes you wonder what happened to them afterwards. In May 2014, roughly 8 months after the documentary went live, The Sun gave its first update on both Sha Smith and Nat Taylor, for whom business was

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booming as a result of the episode. Just 3 months after The Sun posted their update, Vice uploaded a new documentary titled Underground Bare Knuckle Boxing in the UK, where at around the 21-minute mark, a shirt can be spotted in the

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background reading Sha Smith the debt collector. Sure enough, there was Shaun hosting bare knuckle boxing matches, which he'd been promoting at the front of his gym, with the poster also revealing he'd begun his own fighting company called Ultimate BKB. Shaun stated,

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"We're the only gym in the UK that has a bare knuckle academy, so we get interest from all over the world. It's only getting bigger and bigger," leading Shaun to receive a deal with Netflix filming a three-part series in 2017 called Bare

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Knuckle Fight Club. "It's it date. When I was in prison, if someone had told me that I would end up on Netflix and have Hollywood types on the phone, I would have told them to f off." Although simultaneously, Shaun didn't want to come

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across as a celebrity gangsta who traded on a notorious past. Despite this, Shaun released a book titled Debt Collector, which received pretty decent reviews on Amazon before trying to launch another company called Guerilla Kong Clothing, which was dissolved 2 years later. In the

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process, Sha rebranded from the Muscle House Gym to a more personalized Smithy's Gym. Afterward, Sha fell out of the public spotlight only to return a year later with some pretty tragic news. On the 14th of November 2018, the

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Liverpool Echo published an article reading, "A blaze ripped through Sha Smith's gym in the Bucy area of Warrington in August." The Echo understood someone forced their way into the building and then doused the gym in petrol. The blaze

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destroyed thousands of pounds of equipment and gutted much of the interior. Police have said that the fire was believed to have been deliberately started. Although given his name, job, and history, Shaun seemed pretty unsurprised about what had happened. "I don't know who

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it is. I don't care who it is. You know, people want to do silly antics, going out, being people's GS and cars, then so be it. That got done 20 years ago. It won't stop me. I'm here for go. I now own a building,

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and it's like the Phoenix R from the ashes." His life had become so crazy people began to comment they should really make a movie based upon Sha's life. Truly fascinating, and it seemed Dwayne The Rock Johnson had the exact same idea. The

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Liverpool Echo stated Mr. Smith says he's now involved in advanced stage negotiations with production companies and agents who are interested in dramatizing his life story. One of the people who saw it was Dwayne Johnson, who is The Rock. He liked it and asked Vice

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about acquiring the rights. Vice Studios in LA rang up, and we sold them the rights with a view to them selling them onto The Rock. Although the movie was never made, with Shaun again disappearing from the public, sparking an even crazier

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rumor. Shaun is dead now. Lucky him. He doesn't need a face. Harsh winter of 2022, CU high gas price and inflation. While another user wrote Sha's already dead, FYI. However, these comments were apparently baseless as in mid 2023 he'd returned with two unexpected

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podcast appearances where he'd provide some pretty crazy updates. On Matt Leg's podcast, he explained he was clean from all medications. "I haven't had none of them tablets now for 18, maybe 20 months, and I feel later." While on James

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English's podcast, Shaun revealed he was embarrassed by the documentary's title, and they called it UK Scariest Debt Collector, which is embarrassing. It shouldn't have been the UK Scariest Debt Collector. It should have been the UK's Mediator, but TV people

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being TV people, sound better, doesn't he? And he therefore never even seen it. "I've never watched it. I've never, I won't watch this. I've never watched the Vice or YouTube." However, the most interesting part about these two podcasts with the

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updates Shaun gave on his associates from the show. Toward the end of the documentary, Nat Taylor explained that he'd finally been diagnosed with unstable personality disorder, and as a result, he was feeling confident about his future. "I feel a lot more positive

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and more confident that I'm going to nail it this time, that I'm going to beat my demons." The narrator concluded by stating that was clean and doing well, which sadly didn't last forever. "Oh Nat, I don't really see him now. Um, he got, he

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got a bit of jail. He come out of jail. He took his own off, he took his ear off, he took his all ear off, yeah, swallowed it, yeah, swallowed it. He went in a real D place." Although Shaun then added that he's

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now doing extremely well and doing good. Brilliant boxer, he's working back with his brother, he's off the drugs, he's training, which is supported by an unverified comment reading, "For all those interested, Nat now has a beautiful girlfriend and two boys. Happy ending, I

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guess. That guy went through hell." In addition to Nat Taylor, Sha said that slapping Stu for selling steroids led to him turning his life around. "Oh, the kid who was slapped, the one with the tattoo, 'cause that slapped on his life, that

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we got the tattoo is gone. He's got a normal job now." However, his friend Davey Fallon had a much sadder ending. After enjoying a day with friends at the Glastonbury Festival, Davey went to his girlfriend's apartment and tried to

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climb through the bedroom window after an argument but lost his grip on the windowsill and fell, unfortunately leading to his death. Four kids, F only, only like 114 B head, that only made worse after Shaun was blamed for the incident and

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you k.

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to Tony is Tony dead yet anyone have any idea if Tony has since been caught what happened to that Tony fella in the end Sean catch up with him bro I don't think Tony is coming back Googling Tony's name

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yielded no results with the only alternative being to sort through hundreds of comments in the hopes of finding somebody that that had any idea what had happened to him instead we accidentally discovered a gold mine a full explanation from Tony himself hi

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I'm Tony and I would like Vice to get a hold of me so I can tell the truth about Shawn and that documentary just thought I'd say I never left town and I've seen shaa multiple times and nothing has

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happened I didn't have him off the truth is I was selling steroids for him he says he's drug-free might be now but not when I knew him he's moved out of Warrington himself CU of death threats I've got no hard feelings did me a favor

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cuz I've got my own gym now and teach so much more stuff now my side of the story is we were selling roids in the gym and sha wanted more money and said I'd ripped him off and I hadn't so he told

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me to leave the gym and I did and move down the road and I'm still there 13 years later and doing well things I've made a short video asking Vice to come and interview me and find the real truth

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about the hardest debt collector the said video has seemingly now been deleted however his other videos confirm that this is in fact Tony by instead Googling his YouTube named Anthony Smith it shows that Tony did in fact open his

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own gym called Spartan boxing and if he's telling the truth about everything else it would explain why he and Shawn had such an intense reaction to the other guys selling steroids in their gym because Tony and Shawn already were

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toward the end of the documentary sha stated Tony's had me offer 32,000 which is a lot of money to which Tony responded with there was no betrayal did you not notice Shawn never says what I owed him money for implying that Shawn

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had something to hide Tony's fabric ated betrayal might have instead been orchestrated by Vice however there was something about that ending that always felt a bit too perfect

Topics:Sha SmithUK debt collectorVice documentaryMuscle House GymNat Taylorbare knuckle boxingsteroids scandalmental healthdocumentary updateUK underground boxing

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