The original Mythbusters ran for a whopping
14 seasons, and during that time, the public
fell in love with both the busting and the
busters.
Because of that widespread love and popularity,
you might think you know all the secrets behind
the making of this explosively entertaining
show.
But there are a few secrets the cast kept
to themselves after the cameras stopped rolling,
just waiting for the right fans to discover.
Originally, Mythbusters was going to be quite
literal, exploring well-known urban legends
and actual myths.
Over time, though, they dropped that idea,
becoming more focused on what their viewers
would like to see.
Hence, some of the fan-favorite episodes explore
whether certain movie scenes could realistically
happen, or whether MacGyver could actually
escape certain death time and time again.
While these are definitely sillier concepts
than the original premise of the show, in
a world dominated by improbable blockbuster
movies and amazing, potentially fake, YouTube
clips, the Mythbusters had plenty of material
to work with.
And if they ever come back, they'll still
have plenty to work with, because we're just
as confused now as we were then.
"The labor involved in building this ball
was intense."
The Mythbusters were never strangers to destroying
things.
Invariably, testing various myths turned into
an excuse to blow something up.
However, there was one time where they used
their destructive power to hide something
from the fans, instead of sharing it with
them.
At the Silicon Valley Comic Con in 2016, Adam
Savage talked about their investigation of
an "easily available material and its supposed
explosive properties."
The discovery:
"...was so explosive that we destroyed the
footage, and agreed never to say what we learned.
Seriously."
Apparently, the tech-savvy team determined
that destroying the footage was the only way
to ensure it didn't pop up on YouTube a few
years down the line, causing amateurs everywhere
to go and blow themselves to bits.
"It was absolutely terrifying."
Over the years, Adam Savage has become a brand
in and of himself, known the world over for
his madcap personality and penchant for destructive
mythbusting.
Appropriately enough for the zany host, Savage
made his television debut as a cartoon character
on Sesame Street.
Savage's father was behind many of the 30-second
animated bits that ran in-between other Sesame
Street programming way back in the day.
This led to a job where Savage's father had
to produce 10 animations about children who
were interested in figuring out how things
work.
Fittingly enough for a future Mythbuster,
young Savage was tapped to be the voice of
one of the two children featured in these
spots.
"I'll show you how a faucet works, Sheila."
For most of the Mythbusters crew, mastering
the art of crazy explosions was mostly a matter
of keeping fans happy.
After all, most of them had backgrounds in
modeling, engineering, and robotics for the
movie industry.
But the team had a secret weapon in the form
of Tory Belleci.
When he was giving a speech to the Davidson
County Community College, Belleci let slip
that, at the tender age of 11, he was not
only learning how to make his own Super 8
films, but making his own flamethrower, and
even pipe bombs.
While these are the kinds of skills that would
probably get most modern children put on a
governmental watch list, they served as valuable
experience for the young man figuring out
how to use the resources around him to achieve
explosive entertainment.
"You wonder why you always see him getting
hurt."
Normally, the Mythbusters are paragons of
safety.
Not only do they give that firm "do not try
this at home" warning to their viewers, but
they operate in conjunction with local law
enforcement and emergency services to make
sure their mythbusting doesn't do any real
damage.
But one screw-up was a doozy, involving the
team nearly destroying somebody's home!
The team was testing myths related to homemade
cannons and had set up water vats that were
supposed to safely catch the cannonballs,
so nothing dangerous happened.
Unfortunately, a cannonball blew through the
cinder-block wall on the set of the show.
It ended up going on a rather amazing journey,
in which it flew through somebody's front
door, up their stairs, through their bedroom,
and out of their house before jumping a thoroughfare,
hitting the top of another home, and coming
to a final rest by slamming into a minivan.
Fortunately, only the minivan was hurt.
"Well, it radically altered our entire safety
procedure."
Because their show is supposed to be based
around rigorous scientific testing, the public
is likely to assign a certain weight to endorsements
the 'busters make.
So, most of the Mythbusters team have shied
away from any kind of corporate involvement
or sponsorship.
All of this serves to partially explain why
Grant Imahara received a lot of online criticism
for his appearance in advertisements involving
McDonald's products.
The ad campaign featured Imahara "mythbusting"
McDonald's myths, saying that chicken nuggets
aren't made from "pink slime" and that, contrary
to bizarre rumors, McRibs don't contain eyeballs
or lips.
"Are there lips and eyeballs in there, Jimmy?"
However, the ads were weirdly specific; people
who had never heard bizarre myths about eyeballs
in their food were now, well, eyeballing their
food choices more carefully.
And the media had a field day, criticizing
Imahara for selling out in the wake of being
fired from Mythbusters.
"There's no mystery.
I've seen it with my own eyes.
I've been there."
In 2014, the Mythbusters were making headlines
in a much more negative way than usual.
Rumors swirled that the two main Busters Adam
Savage and Jamie Hyneman, always such a successful
team onscreen, actually hated each other offscreen.
Savage clarified that the two consider themselves
as professionals who share a highly specific
job, and they manage to get over any differences
they may have in the name of accomplishing
this goal.
As Savage put it:
"We disagree about the small details every
single day—on almost every single detail.
But we don't really disagree about the big
stuff."
It's interesting to imagine, then, that some
of the "playful" insults they toss each other's
way on the show may actually have a real bite
to them.
"What, you gonna let me show you up on television?"
"You want to get whacked in the head with
a phonebook?"
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