COURTESY OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FOR DISNEY / NHAT QUANG LE
Overcoming Obstacles According to Jenkins , the obstacles plussize travelers face often come down to five things : the lack of accessibility , comfort and resources in addition to weight limits and size restrictions . To illustrate these challenges , Jenkins shared a story . “ A dream of mine was to go great white shark diving , like doing the cage diving in South Africa ,” he said . “ And so , I looked it up , and I saw there was a requirement that you had to have on a wet suit . And I know why ; because the water is freezing … but I was like , ‘ I ’ m pretty sure they ’ re not gonna have my size .’” Jenkins called the tour operator and , after failing to get in contact with them , took matters into his own hands by purchasing a wet suit online . He was amazed by the range of sizes , and it sparked a realization . “ They actually have a lot of extended-size wet suits out there ,” he said . “ So , what I ’ m now trying to show is that you can make these small modifications that will allow more people to go on these things … Go buy one or two extended sizes or three or four extended sizes so that now there ’ s the option for people .”
Jenkins wants tour operators and the travel industry to understand plus-size travel is an untapped market with limitless potential . “ I ’ m coming from this angle of like , ‘ hey , there ’ s this untapped market , this marginalized group of people that have money and are willing to spend their money ,’” Jenkins said . “ But they ’ re just missing out because the things that they wanna do , or these places that they wanna go , it seems like they ’ re not for them because there are no accommodations being made for them . If you made these accommodations , small adjustments , you ’ d actually have more people that will be able to join and do these different excursions , be able to book that trip and things like that .”
Looking at the changes that need to be made , sometimes it really is as simple as tour operators purchasing extra wet suits . But there ’ s also a conversation that needs to be had . “ We can change and steer the conversations to where when we are making stuff , when we ’ re designing things , that we have plus-size people in mind ,” said Jenkins . “ I ’ ve done a lot of consulting before I started doing the show , and the one thing I realized very quickly when I was meeting with these brands , a lot of these CEOs and marketing people was like ,
COURTESY OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FOR DISNEY / LUJAN AGUSTI
Jenkins tries his hand at fly fishing in Ushuaia , Argentina .
‘ Oh , you know what ? I never thought about plus-size people .’” But , by designing with plussize people in mind , a world of possibilities unfolds . “ People and humans are innovative ,” Jenkins said . “ It ’ s very easy for them to figure out a way to do something safe .” Jenkins pointed to zip lining as an example saying , “ If you plan , when designing the thing , for it to hold more weight , then plus-size people would be safe and able to do it .”
Finding Inspiration For those who haven ’ t tuned in to “ Never Say Never ,” the show follows Jenkins as he travels the world in search of experiences that push his limits and challenge him to live outside his comfort zone . From whitewater rafting in New Mexico and sumo wrestling in Japan to conquering the Adirondack Mountains and sailing rough Patagonian waters , Jenkins finds himself in incredible situations . “ One of the biggest takeaways that I got ( from the show ) was that I was resilient ,” said Jenkins . He went on to share that even though he knew what he was getting himself into , talking the
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