There aren’t many careers where a day at the office might mean swimming with sharks — at night.
Or where a career highlight involves smashing a compact car between two semi trucks in a high-speed head-on collision.
But for MythBusters Grant Imahara and Tory Belleci explosions, cheese cannons, ear wax candle lighting and a diving suit-wearing meat man (must be seen to be believed) are just part of the job.
The two 40-year-old Californians have what legions of young TV viewers consider the best job ever and they were in Red Deer on Saturday to share their inside stories and behind-the-scenes glimpses with a sellout crowd at the Red Deer College Arts Centre.
Imahara drew the short straw on the shark swim. And he hasn’t forgotten it.
“As if swimming with sharks weren’t enough, doing it at night, with and without a flashlight, where you see just dark shadows moving around you. That’s pretty scary.”
Scariest moment for Belleci. How about wakeboarding behind a cruise ship? Sorry, not even close. Try dressing in red and climbing into the ring with a bull to see if the colour enraged it enough to charge.
“That was probably one of those moments where you’re just staring at this thing and he’s looking at you and you’re like, ‘OK, who’s going to move first.’”
The explosives were left at home for Saturday’s event, but there were plenty of clips from the show that airs on the Discovery Channel.
“What we are doing is just trying to get people excited about science because people have this idea that science is people in lab coats,” said Belleci in an interview before the show.
“And we’re here to say that science is in every kind of agency and we are just this one industry, the entertainment industry, that is kind of putting science in the forefront and saying, ‘Hey, it’s fun and exciting.’”
The co-hosts have known each other for years. They worked on the most recent chapters of the Star Wars saga. Imahara was one of handful of operators of R2D2 and Belleci built models of pod racers and other spacecraft.
The pair knew MythBuster hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from their work in the movie industry and that connection led to an audition invitation. What started out as a one-year gig has now turned into a show that is in its eighth year. “It’s crazy. Nobody expected this success,” said Belleci.
Wainright Grade 12 student Molly Norris got the two to sign her T-shirt and is a big fan. Her teacher shows the episodes in class all the time, she said.
“I just think it’s so interesting the fact that there all these experiments and myths that you have heard about and always wondered about and they put it into perspective and show you what’s true and what’s not,” said Norris, who won a special visit with the MythBusters as part of a team that participated in a robot challenge at the college. “It’s just so cool how they do it and how everything works.”
Grade 5 Calgary student Jonah Heyman summed up the appeal of MythBusters.
“They make learning science fun.”
The MythBusters were invited to Alberta as part of the Science Happens Here program organized by Science Alberta Foundation.
The goal of her non-profit organization is to get children interested in math and science.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com