#120 - Chicken, Carrots, and A Side of Rat Poison. How One Dinner Overseas Nearly Ended His Life w/Zach Hanson

July 13, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

A Poisoned Dinner, a Failed Spy Career, and the Lessons That Followed

Zach Hanson woke up in an ambulance after a woman he'd been dating for a few weeks served him chicken laced with rat poison. She had cooked him a meal in a glass dish, gotten a heated phone call in Armenian, said she had to go, and left. He ate the chicken, went to bed, and the next thing he remembered was being too weak to move. Two police officers from the Tbilisi police academy where he taught English found him in his apartment Monday morning after he failed to show up for work. He spent eight days in a Georgian hospital with peeling wallpaper and a nurse in a little hat while the driver lit a cigarette and floored it to the hospital. The blood tests came back as some form of rat poison. He never saw the woman again.

The Spook Path That Never Materialized

Hanson grew up in a middle-class family in South Carolina and Georgia, the son of an engineer and a stay-at-home mom. The message from childhood was singular: go to college. His grandmother gave him a hundred dollars for his twelfth birthday and told him that was how life worked — follow the path, get a degree, and everything would be fine. He believed it.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Opening Hook: The Poisoning Story** - The episode opens with the shocking climax: Zach Hanson was poisoned with rat poison by a woman he was dating in the Republic of Georgia.
2 (04:43) **Life Philosophy: Kids, Divorce, and What You Really Want** - Zach and the host connect over the transformative power of fatherhood and the lessons learned from failed marriages.
3 (07:25) **Origin Story: The College Trap and the Path to "Spook"** - Zach describes his conventional upbringing and the societal pressure to attend college, which led him to pursue a degree in Political Science with the goal of becoming a spy.
4 (13:55) **Life in Russia: Culture, Combat, and Organized Crime** - Zach details his two years in Russia, shattering American stereotypes and describing his brush with the Russian mob.
5 (24:12) **The CIA Application and a Beatdown in Kyrgyzstan** - After returning from Russia, Zach applied to the CIA but failed the interview process; he then took jobs overseas to gain experience, which led to a violent mugging.
6 (31:38) **The Poisoning Incident in Georgia** - Zach provides the full, detailed account of being poisoned by a woman he met online in the Republic of Georgia.
7 (44:59) **Austrian Diplomacy and a Free MBA in Saudi Arabia** - Zach’s next move was to Austria to work in anti-terrorism policy, an experience that disillusioned him with diplomacy and led him to pursue a free MBA in Saudi Arabia.

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Show Notes

What started as a dream of working in international intelligence turned into something straight out of a movie.

To watch this episode in studio, visit: https://youtu.be/893hj4NnaC0

Zach Hansen lived throughout Russia and Central Asia, worked alongside the U.S. Department of State, traveled the world, survived being detained overseas, and eventually woke up in an ambulance after allegedly being poisoned with rat poison by someone he trusted.

In Episode 120 of the Wild Chaos Podcast, Zach shares the unbelievable story of surviving betrayal, navigating foreign countries, experiencing Russian culture firsthand, nearly pursuing a career in intelligence, and ultimately discovering what really matters most—faith, family, fatherhood, and purpose. Along the way we discuss:

• Being poisoned overseas

• Living in Russia

• Trying to become an intelligence officer

• Russian culture vs. American media

• Organized crime encounters

• AI before it became mainstream

• Why college isn't always the answer

• Homeschooling

• Fatherhood

• Faith

• Building a meaningful life after failure

If you enjoyed Zach's story, be sure to check out his book at www.zacharyhanson.me, where he shares more of his experiences living overseas, pursuing purpose, and the lessons that shaped his life. You can also follow Zach on Instagram @letmedielearning for insights on faith, family, leadership, and lifelong learning.

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