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6 Minute English

Why are billionaires building bunkers?

29 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What are the reasons billionaires are building bunkers?

0.031 - 26.086 Unknown

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. S-pankki. Suomen mutkattomin pankki. Säästäjäpalvelun tarjoaa S-pankki Oy. Tutustu lisää s-pankki.fi.

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26.322 - 55.735 Unknown

Huhujen mukaan jotkut käyttävät siipiveikkojen kastikkeita kuin ketsuppia. Ja meiän ne tieten väärässä ole. Nimittäin siipiveikkojen kastikkeet sopivat makaronlaatikkoihin, takoihin, salaatteihin, you name it. Niin ja tieten myös niihin siipiin. Uusimpana tulokkana kauppojen hyllyltä löytyy siipiveikkojen manga-apaneerokastikki. Makea ei liian ja pienen pienellä poltteella varustettu kaveri. Testaappa. Siipiveikot. Aivan jäätävä jinglet.

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58.672 - 79.968 Neil

Hello, I'm Georgie, an English teacher and presenter at BBC Learning English. I want to tell you about a new series I've made all about speaking. Beating speaking anxiety helps you fight your fears of speaking English. Each video tackles a different fear, like the fear of making mistakes, the fear of not understanding people and the fear of public speaking.

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79.968 - 106.428 Neil

Find practical tips and see speaking activities in action with real learners. Find Beating Speaking Anxiety on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil and today we're joined by Hanna from the What in the World podcast.

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106.546 - 120.907 Unknown

Hei Neil, on mahtavaa olla takaisin. Neil, luuletko, että olet hyvä valmistautumassa tulevaisuuteen tai toivottavissa tapahtumissa? Varmasti hyvä, luulen. Se riippuu siitä, millaista tapahtumaa me puhumme.

121.058 - 144.785 Unknown

All kinds of events. Now, I think I'm pretty organized, but I only have enough food to last me about a week. And today we're talking all about preppers. A prepper is someone who believes that disaster is likely to happen soon, and so they prepare for it. A prepper might learn survival skills, or they might build a bunker, an underground shelter.

Chapter 2: What is the prepper mentality and its significance?

144.785 - 168.443 Hanna

Yes, and recently many famous billionaires from the tech industry have made the news for building luxury bunkers. So what these bunkers need to do is to keep you safe from danger, but they're also like something out of a spy film. They're huge, and they've got cool features like gyms or home cinemas. They allow someone to live a comfortable life while staying safe from danger.

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168.443 - 197.924 Unknown

A very comfortable life. We're going to be talking about these luxury bunkers, the people building them, and what they're so afraid of. But first, Neil, I've got a question for you. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is building a property in Hawaii, which is reported to include a huge underground bunker. So Neil, how much is he reportedly spending on the project? Is it A.

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197.924 - 215.66 Unknown

Well, Hanna, I don't know, but he's a pretty rich guy, so I think 100 million. Well, I will reveal the answer at the end of the programme.

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215.845 - 235.319 Unknown

Hannah, you've been looking into these luxury bunkers like the one Mark Zuckerberg is reported to be building on What in the World. What have you discovered? Well, I was joined by BBC reporter Natalia Jimenez to talk about preppers. And I started off by asking whether she had ever considered building a bunker and preparing for disaster.

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235.319 - 260.632 Natalia Jimenez

I love this question because I've actually been thinking about it for a while. Fun fact. Have you? You're a prepper. When you watch TV in the US, when you turn on a kind of US TV channel, what happens is that there's usually some ads about freeze-dried food. I'm not kidding. They pop up quite regularly. And it's all about kind of the prepper mentality. What are you going to do when the apocalypse happens?

260.632 - 287.328 Hanna

Natalia has thought about building a bunker and getting prepared, because she sees adverts for freeze-dried food that would last a long time on TV in the US. When she talks about the adverts, she says, I'm not kidding, which means I'm not joking. Natalia says that these adverts are part of the prepper mentality. A mentality is a person's way of thinking about things, so the prepper mentality would mean thinking about things like a prepper.

Chapter 3: How do luxury bunkers reflect social status among billionaires?

287.564 - 310.278 Unknown

Part of the prepper mentality is to question what you would do if the apocalypse happens. An apocalypse refers to a serious event which causes destruction and change. So lots of people do think about preparing for bad things. Natalia's thought about it. And for tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, they're able to spend a lot of money preparing for disaster.

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310.548 - 331.135 Natalia Jimenez

So, do you think they know something we don't? What are they preparing for? Let's hear from Natalia again, speaking to me on What in the World. So the reasons include nuclear attentions, AI risk, climate disaster, essentially any world-ending event. But secondly, it's also a mark of security.

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331.135 - 355.3 Natalia Jimenez

sosiaalinen suhteen, joten ei välttämättä, mitä tapahtuu, ei välttämättä, mitä tapahtuu meidän puolesta, jos olet tekniikkabillionaari, voit elää sitä kestävästi ilmoittamatta, ilmoittamatta elämästäsi ilmoittamatta, ilmoittamatta suhteen, jota sinulla on, joten koska nämä tekniikkabillionaarit ovat periaatteessa rakentamassa tulevaisuuden, se fakti, että he ovat niin epäileviä siitä, kuulostaa itseään.

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355.435 - 383.313 Hanna

So, while tech billionaires are worried about things like climate disaster or AI, Natalia says that luxury bunkers are also a mark of social status, or status as we would say in the UK. Someone's status is the amount of respect or importance given to them by other people. With their bunkers, tech billionaires would be able to survive without compromising their luxury lifestyle, that means without lowering their standard of living.

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383.92 - 413.519 Unknown

OK, so now I need to know the answer to that quiz question you gave me, Hannah. Yes, Neil. So my question was, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, is building a property in Hawaii, which is said to include a huge underground bunker. How much is he reported to be spending on the project? Well, I think I gave option C, which was a hundred million dollars. You're right, Neil. The property is said to include a large underground bunker, although Zuckerberg says it's just a little shelter.

414.093 - 439.945 Hanna

OK, it's time to recap the language we've learnt during the programme, starting with prepper, someone who thinks disaster is likely to happen soon and so prepares for it. Kidding means joking. Your mentality is the way you think about things. An apocalypse refers to a serious event which causes destruction and change. Your status or status in society is the amount of respect and importance other people give you.

Chapter 4: What fears are driving tech billionaires to prepare for disasters?

440.333 - 464.11 Unknown

And if you compromise something, like your lifestyle, you lower the standard of it. That's it for this episode of 6 Minute English. But Hannah, where can people find more What in the World? Well, you can listen to us wherever you get your BBC podcasts, or you can watch us on the BBC World Service YouTube channel. Just search for What in the World in the studio, or click on the link in the notes for this programme.

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464.228 - 479.99 Hanna

And don't forget to test what you've learnt in this programme with the quiz on our website bbclearningenglish.com. Goodbye for now. Goodbye. And if you're a prepper, good luck.

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489.17 - 504.34 Unknown

Maailma on täynnä hälyä. Koti kaipaa tikkurilla mutea. Mute on syvämattasisustusmaali. Se luo kauniin sametinpehmeän mattapinnan, joka vaimentaa visuaalista hälyä. Tikkurilla mute. Maalaa rauhallisuus kotiisi.

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