‘They all fell like dominoes’
Teen’s video to be featured on America’s Funniest videos
The rest of the world is about to get a peek at a hilarious moment from the big event of the year in New Waterford.
Grade 9 Breton Education Centre student Aaron Mcmullin captured a video of the Breton Education Centre Bears’ grand entrance onto the gym floor during the New Waterford Coal Bowl Classic in February.
The video from the annual high school boys’ basketball tournament was found to be so funny that it’s one of the three finalists to be featured on the May 6 episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos.
“The team ran through the paper (cutout), entering the gymnasium like they always do, the floor was wet and they all fell like dominoes,” Mcmullin said.
Mcmullin, of River Ryan, is a Coal Bowl fan and had decided to video the home team’s traditional entrance.
“I just think it’s really cool when the
Bears first run out and I wanted to show it to Mom later,” he said. “My phone was dying at the time; it was only at two per cent.”
Just 17 seconds into the video, the mishap occurred, with the feet going out from under one player and the rest of the team following suit.
“Everyone was laughing in the gym,” he said. “The players got up right away, so we knew everyone was good to go.”
Mcmullin posted the video on his Facebook page and by the time he got home it was already up to 1,000 views.
His mother Gloria loved it and suggested he send it to America’s Funniest Home Videos, which he did that evening. About three weeks later he got a phone call from one of the show’s producers.
“The call came from Los Angeles. I was freaking out in my room.”
To air the video, America’s Funniest Home Videos needed permission of the players’ parents, which Mcmullin co-ordinated through the school.
Mcmullin was told he was a finalist, and would be flown in for the show.
On March 16 he landed in Los Angeles with his sister Kari Mcmullin, 24.
“Everything was paid for, from the flights, rooms, meals and even passports.” The taping took place the following day. Mcmullin said the studio was a lot of fun and colourful and host Alfonso Ribeiro was really nice and funny. Mcmullin’s video was the first one played on the show. They were purposely seated in the back row.
“They don’t show the finalists until the end so they hid us for the entire episode and then brought us out.”
Mcmullin is not allowed to talk about the outcome until the show airs.
First place receives $10,000, second place, $3,000, and third place, $2,000.
Bears coach Greg Campbell said it was great news to hear the video was going to be on the show.
Campbell said on the night in question someone had spilled a soft drink on the floor and there were major efforts to clean it up.
“It had a fresh coat of varnish and then when you put a liquid substance on it, basically it made the floor like ice.”
Jordan Hennessy, a Grade 12 student at Breton Education Centre and a member of the Bears basketball team, said the team seems happy about the video being on such a well known and popular television show.
Hennessy was the first in the video to go down. Everything happened quickly, he said.
“All I remember is running and then sliding into the chairs. It wasn’t until I stood up and looked back that I realized everyone was down.”
Michele Nasraway, executive producer of America’s Funniest Home Videos, said producers and writers screen all the video clips in the episode to choose the three finalists and Mcmullin’s stood out because it was unusual.
“We had not seen something like that before, where 12 players come out and fall like they are in a Charlie Chaplin film,” she said. “It had the most important criteria in it — it made us laugh.”
The show receives 4,500 to 5,000 videos a week and has close to two million videos in its library.
The video can be viewed at www.capebretonpost.com.