Human Wrecking Balls


Human Wrecking Balls was an American television reality show that premiered on November 12, 2008 on G4 television network.

Details

Martial Artists and breaking champions Craig and Paul Pumphrey demolish everything from boats and cars to houses using only their bare hands. For each challenge, they join forces with a team of experts in material science and engineering to review the object of their destruction from every possible angle before taking it apart, using physics and know-how to determine the most effective approach. The duo also enjoys a little friendly competition throughout the challenges. Each Human Wrecking Balls episode revealed the final outcome of the Pumphrey’s ripping and smashing, as well as the various experiments they put to the test.
Each episode contained a "Challenge" in which the Pumphrey brothers compete to either do or not do the episode's "Big Break". The big break was what Chad considers to be the most difficult thing for a human to break. The only time the winner of the challenge got to do something other than the big break was in "Trashing Hotel California" when the winner got to throw the television out the window. The first Episode of Season 2 saw a different format, where the loser had to do the "Big Break".
The show was renewed for a second season, featuring 10 episodes, which premiered November
The show's future was uncertain after the second season. It was ultimately not picked up for a third season by G4.

Filming

Each episode of Human Wrecking Balls takes roughly two full days to shoot, as Dawn Swain said in a 2008 interview with Ken Tuccio that:

The actual filming of each episode takes 2 full days. There is quite a bit of editing that goes on to condense it to 30 minutes. The episodes that were filmed inside a building, like the office, the hotel, and the movie theater, take much longer due to the confined space. For each new area the guys "break," the cameras have to be re-arranged, the lighting re-configured, and the crew moved to get just the right shot. The office, for example, took just about 30 hours to tape.

Cast

Season 1

Episode NumberOriginal AirdateEpisode NameChallenge
1-111 Nov 09"Chopper Crunch"Dismantle a Helicopter
1-218 Nov 09"Hometown Havoc"Home Demolition
1-325 Nov 09"Pain at the Pump"Destroying a Gas station
1-402 Dec 09"Carnival Calamity"Level a Carnival
1-509 Dec 09"Rock the Bus"Trash a Bus
1-616 Dec 09"Razing the Barn"Bull doze through a Barn
1-723 Dec 09"Lights! Camera! Destruction!"Tear down TV sound stage sets
1-86 Jan 10"Arcade Armageddon"Flatten a game room
1-913 Jan 10"Post Office Pummel"Destroy a Post Office
1-1020 Jan 10"Fast Food Ferocity"Put a Fast Food Restaurant on a diet