File it under: “don’t try this at home”…tackling a treadmill with a pogo stick…attempting to jump over a car…running into fire teens across the county trying to top each other with the ultimate daredevil dares…and there’s a name for this type of stupidity.
Andrea Canning, reporting: “What is a homegrown viral video stuntman?”
Seth Leach, makes stunt videos: “Get your mom’s video camera, dig it out from the closet, and just do a stunt in your back yard…get your friend filming it. I jumped off a tree onto a table, about 20 feet high, onto a bunch of mouse traps.”
If you’d rather watch than read:
http://vp.mgnetwork.net/viewer.swf?u=fd60818cfa29102eb207001ec92a4a0d&z=JBF&embed_player=1
What’s the incentive beyond getting a few laughs? Teens like Seth leach are actually cashing in…making up to $600 per video.
Leach: “There’s a website called Break.com and every time they feature your video, they pay you some money. I started getting paychecks left and right.”
Leach won’t say how much he’s made…but claims some people are bringing in up to $50,000 a year…and there are other sites, too. One is aptly named StupidVideos.com.
Nothing quite as elaborate or daring as the stunts in the ‘Jackass’ movies…but for these homegrown stuntmen, it can be just as dangerous. Leach nearly killed himself after jumping off a 30-foot fence.
Leach: “I hit my head, it was head first, and my spinal fluid drained out of my hear and I had brain swelling.”
Canning: “Are you concerned you’re going to kill yourself?”
Leach: “Yeah, I’m not oblivious to the dangers…I know what’s going to happen.”
Canning: “And you’re still doing this, even after that?”
Leach: “Well, I have slowed my limits…”
So, what’s to stop other kids from copying him?
Canning: “How would you feel if one of these teens sees you, decides they want to do what you do, and gets killed? Would you feel bad?”
Lech: “Ummm…”
Cannning: “Or responsible?”
Leach: “I wouldn’t feel bad like it’s my fault//but with everything in life, there’s risk.
Greggornation 
Leave a Reply