EX-ARMY HERO SWOOPS LIKE A
The show sees dad-of-two Andy take on what he admits were some of the biggest challenges of his life as he turned to science, cutting-edge technology and ingenuity to help him conquer Mother Nature.
He travelled to Canada, America, Norway, Spain, Iceland, Italy, Austria and Japan in a bid to mimic the impressive talents of creatures including the Mako shark, peregrine falcon, gorilla, Darwin’s Bark spider, hummingbird, grasshopper and Pompeii worm.
Andy, who has a degree in zoology and is a member of Mensa, said: “I came up with the idea for the show seven years ago when I started working in television.
“Animals are capable of the most incredible things and I wanted to show what a human would have to do to try to recreate those skills.”
The first episode of the series was
broadcast on Tuesday and showed Andy off the coast of California using underwater jet packs and hoverboards to try to mimic the speed and jumping skill of one of the planet’s f iercest predators, the Mako shark. He failed. Other episodes see him taking on the climbing brilliance of a gecko by attempting to scale a 170ft, all-glass building in Boston, and trying to outrun an ostrich. Andy, who has also worked on programmes including The One Show and Coast, said: “Not many people know about the Pompeii worm, but it lives in deep underwater volcanoes and is very heat resistant. “I wanted to show how I could increase my heat resistance, so I started off doing some fire-walking in my bare feet, then did some fire training with the Manchester Airport Fire Service who set a mock plane on fire. “We ended up at a furnace near Birmingham – it looked like something out of the 19th century industrial revolution – and I was standing in a 1500- degree fireball with a special breathing tank and wearing a specialist fire suit. “When we were filming, I was totally focused on all that I had to do – although I do remember being surprised by the intense light of the fire.” For another challenge, Andy takes on the peregrine falcon, which can dive through the sky at speeds of up to 240mph. Andy, an experienced free-fall parachutist, knew he would need help to increase the speed at which his body would fall, so he called a rocket scientist friend who designed jet rockets he attached to his thighs. He said: “That was perhaps the most dangerous challenge as we designed the technology we needed ourselves. “When you are actual ly falling at such an incredible speed, you don’t really feel it – but you feel it when you start to put on the brakes. “A beeper went off in my ear when it was time for me to s t a r t s lowing down – which you