‘Savage’ Dai is building bridges in bid to win £200k
“IT TOOK me the entire first day to realise how far away we were from anything,” said Carmarthenshire TikTok star David ‘Dai’ Davison about his stint on the second series of Channel 4’s The Bridge, which is currently airing.
The 36-year-old lorry driver who had previously described himself as a “Karl Pilkington-type character, moaning about most things in life,” slowly realised his experience on the Vietnam-set challenge show was almost certainly going to be very different to his day-to-day life in Llanelli – and he was ready to cause a stir with his opinionated nature, which his fellow teammates describe as “savage.”
In the eight-part series, which returned on June 7, 16 strangers compete for the chance to win £200,000.
The group has to face the ultimate test of physical ability, mental skill and teamwork in Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.
Going head-to-head, two teams have to build a bridge over 1,000ft of water in just 12 days to reach the cash which lies below a tower on an island between both beaches.
But only one person from the winning team can take home the huge amount of money.
For David, who has been entertaining on TikTok for the past few years with his TomJonesWales account, where he posts hilariously Welsh observations about life, there was only one reason why he wanted to take part in the show.
“The prize money was huge,” he said.
“It was also advertised as an ‘exotic location’. I didn’t know where I was going until I got to Heathrow Airport and when I was told Vietnam, I thought it was in South America at first.”
David, 36, also stressed that he was “glad it wasn’t Love Island or [he’d have] stuck out like a sausage at a vegetarian disco with [his] beer belly”.
And prior to appearing on The Bridge, David thought that his opinionated nature and inability to think before he speaks would get him into trouble.
At one point in the series, David’s attitude is even described as “savage” by his other teammates.
“I caused a bit of a stir out there but at least I can say that I was myself,” he said as he summed up the experience of filming The Bridge.
In one scene in the series, the
Welsh TikToker complains to Keira that “there’s people trying to make a f ****** cuppa tea for two hours whilst I’m slaving out here” as he became frustrated that the rest of his team were not working as hard as him.
It was a “strange” experience, he recounted, adding: “Cameras in my face 24/7 and a microphone on at all times, food was rationed, I didn’t sleep the entire time and it was like being in a pressure cooker at some points.”
The filming could sometimes be 20-hour days in the boiling heat, so tempers must have frayed. But he shied away from revealing too much, adding: “Our team did very well, I can’t reveal too much obviously but I was proud of them all.”
David, who has more than 238,000 followers on TikTok, isn’t the only Welsh contestant on this year’s series of The Bridge.
He is joined by North Walian,
Keira, who had her left arm amputated when she was 21. Of working with her, he said: “Being with Keira was amazing. She was one of the strongest people there and the one I was closest with.”
He added that he “wasn’t sure what to think of North Walians” but was very pleased after meeting 24-year-old Keira. “I kind of had to get on with her or she would of just spinning heel kicked me in the face,” he joked.
David said that should he be victorious and win a cash prize, he would treat his family, adding he would “enjoy it with family and friends and treat [his] daughter to whatever she wants. And I’d also like to go see Wales in the World Cup, live”.
■ All episodes of The Bridge: Race to a Fortune: Series 2 are now available to watch on All4. It also airs weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays on Channel 4.