The Athlete: JIMMY POUCHERT
Episode: Reverse Bungee Jump | Premiere: Jan. 29, 2007

Perry's Thoughts:
The only thing that I can say about Jeremy Pouchert's stunt is that it was amazing. Personally, it was one of the most stressful shows that I have ever been on. The team that Jimmy had put together to do this reverse-bungee BASE jump was remarkable. They had definitely done their homework, and from preparation to testing to execution of the stunt, they were flawless. But this was a very dangerous stunt with no room for error, and every day we showed up on set was a day that somebody could get seriously hurt or killed. As the week went on with the weather constantly threatening, Jimmy and his crew persevered. And on stunt day, with rain coming down and the temperature dropping, Jimmy accomplished the stunt successfully.

Eli's Thoughts:
Jimmy has been a friend of mine for over 10 years, so I was especially excited to see him and to watch the stunt he had put together: a reverse bungee mixed in with BASE jumping at the highest suspension bridge in the states. We first met at the Auburn Bridge in Northern California, along with Jimmy's stunt coordinator Marty Tilley. We went to the bridge to do a couple of jumps and to test the reverse bungee system. Jimmy had brought in professional bungee expert Doug Frutose, who has logged over 3,000 bungee jumps off nearly everything you can imagine. I was quickly impressed by the complexity of the system and how the crew worked seamlessly together. The amount of gear and hardware was hard to believe, but in no time we were watching the crew hook up the bungees to the bridge and lower them to the ground. They strapped in a set of tires weighing around 200 pounds to the system and tested the line with a pressure gauge, as well as hooked up a dual three-ring cutaway system crafted by Marty. When everything was set, they cut the tires away and off they went. They would add and subtract bungee cables to either increase or decrease the pressure. By the end of the day, they got the pressure correct and Doug agreed to get strapped in. When he cut the system away, up, up and away he went! You could tell by watching his body fling through the air that it would be easy to break your neck if things weren't just right. Once the tests were out of the way, it was off to Colorado to the Royal Gorge Bridge. The guys wasted no time getting the impressive bridge equipped with the bungee system. Jimmy and a couple "test" jumpers got over the rail and BASE jumped off the bridge. Everything looked fantastic until one of the jumpers made some bad decisions and had an extremely bad landing. Broken but OK, we got the injured jumper to safety. Everyone kept their cool and continued with the job at hand, and by the end of the day, the stunt was ready. The only trouble was weather was also on the way. In the morning, the weather wasn't looking too good. With rain on the way, we did one last test with Doug on the bungee. Everything went well and as the rain started to fall Jimmy made the call to go for it. He got set and before we knew it, he was being shot straight up into the sky! He cut away from the bungee, got his position, made a cool "wooosh," and deployed his chute. Perfect opening and excellent landing! The stunt was probably the coolest one I've seen — truly exciting and one for the books.