Exclusive Japenese TV Stunt

27th July 2011

When a Japanese TV team wanted an extreme hot air ballooning stunt for their high profile TV show, they contacted world reknown crazy stuntman Mike Howard who in turn brought the project to the only Company he would trust with a ballooning stunt – Gloucestershire based Exclusive Ballooning.

Mike already has tremendous pedigree for stunts including appearances on Oprah and a ratified Guinness World Record for the highest ever beam-walk between two Exclusive Ballooning balloons at 24,000 feet which was featured on the primetime ITV show.

This stunt saw not two but three balloons take off from a site in Stroud strapped together – something that hasn’t been done before in the UK. At an altitude of around 3,000 feet, the first balloon was released which contained one of the Japanese TV film crews. The second and third balloons remained connected via a three inch beam. The Japanese TV celebrity then got out of the basket and carefully walked the six metres between the balloons with nothing but a 3,000 drop beneath him. The stunt was repeated several times to allow for several TV camera angles walking both forwards and backwards.

All three balloons then climbed to 7,000 feet before releasing the TV stars with professional skydivers safety back to the ground. The balloons were piloted by Mike's father Jim Howard - a former director of Cameron Balloons and Exclusive Ballooning Operations Director Andrew Holly and Operations Manager Dave Groombridge.

“I’ve done so many exciting and wacky stunts but to be able to do this one over home soil was an extra buzz. The view of the Severn Vale from 7,000 feet tonight was amazing and we can’t wait for the program to air so we can show you the amazing footage” – Mike Howard

"We've done several beam walks with Mike including with Richard Branson and also one at 24,000 feet but this time the addition of the third balloon gave us a new buzz. Our prime concern at all times is safety but that doesn't mean we don't have fun doing it! From a pilot perspective, the bit that gets your heart rate going is when you separate the balloons as they swing out at around a 45 degree angle" - Andrew Holly

"Crikey" - Dave Groombridge

The program is due to air in Japan in September and our own astonishing video footage will be published at that time via our website.

Exclusive Ballooning Japanese TV stunt Beamwalk over Stroud, Gloucestershire 2011