In September of 2006 we were approached by Ginger TV, to see if we'd be interested in being involved in series 3 of Jack Osbourne's Adrenaline Junkies TV show. The original intention was to film in Thailand, but due to logistical and time constraints, attention was shifted to Paris and Lisbon before a decision was made to make London the focal point. The Plan of action was to spend 3 days with with the team which consisted of Jack and 5 of his recruits (Anthony, Becky, Georgie, Kie and Lisa). Day one would be spent at Moberly sports centre teaching them Freerun basics and assessing their proficiency, before hitting the streets of London to hopefully take them on a run from St Paul's to the Southbank.
The Glyph Unit in effect
Day 1 - In the gym
On the first day UF was repped by Bam, Ez, Jashman, Kerbie, Kie, Lewis, Livewire, Pip, Sticky and Stoney, with Bam, Ez and Sticky leading the way with teaching of the basics. In-between the rest of the guys gave demo's of some of the more ambitious techniques for the cameras.
Boom.....group shot!!!
Of Jack's group it was Kie who really got into it most. Coming from a background in Ninjitsu, he was really keen to get involved. Initially, the day started off with us thinking "WTF have we got ourselves into?" as nobody other than Jack and Kie seemed to really give a shit. But after some games and a demo, the mood swung in our favour and everyone began to get into the vibe. By the end of the day we got to the point where everyone was at a level where they tackled an assault course we'd set up, surprisingly well. At the end of the day we explained to everyone that we were very happy with the effort applied and that with a little bit of on location training, they'd be ready to tackle a basic street run.
Day 2 - On the Streets
Everyone arrives at St Paul's and they are all aching like mad from the gym session (bwahahahahaha). Sticky led them through a thorough warm up before the director decided to throw everyone in the deep end and call action pretty much instantly, with no prior walkthrough. This saw a bemused group set off on a run that never seemed to end. When they finally stopped, some were having asthma attacks and were all sweating profusely. A couple of people were actually crying (bwahahahahahaha again) but as they say, the show must go on and the director quickly shouted action again and off they all trundled. Was highly amusing to see, but equally as frustrating as we wanted to see the guys stepping up to try some techniques attributed to freerun as opposed to funrun.
Jack catches some quality hangtime
By the time we reached the Southbank, things started to get interesting and we saw things being spiced up a bit. While Kie was loving every minute and Jack was getting well and truly stuck in throwing down plenty of rolls on concrete, the others weren't keeping up too well. Anthony was plain struggling with a fitness level of zero, Becky had knackered her hip, Gerogie was running on a busted knee and Lisa was just having a truly miserable time. That said, they were still trying which was all anyone could have asked of them. Jack being Jack, wanted to step up and do something with some meat and bones on, so after consulting the stunt coordinator, Jim, we set up some boxes and mats for him to launch himself onto from height. As the Parkour purists cried into their raw egg and milk drinks, screaming about roofjumps and drops, everyone laughed and shouted "Freerun".
Blue fresh home from South Africa, explains to the guys how he got jacked at gunpoint
Day 3 - The last stretch
The last day followed much the same pattern as day 2 but due to poor weather, pick up shots were the main priority along with body cam shots. As the weather got better, more action was captured and as the finale skit, Jack and Kie stepped up to try their hand successfully in cat leaping the Imax walls. All in all, the whole experience was a really good one. The crew and recruits were all really great people and a real pleasure to work with. As for Jack, he was top class and aside from really getting into the swing of things, proved to be a really nice guy who joined in with kegging, telling offensive jokes and even adopted Sticky's knack of jamming his fingers in places they shouldn't be.
Wasting no time in getting Jack glyphed up for this pose
