Apologizing to families whose houses were damaged during a ballistics experiment, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman promise not to use cannons at the Alameda County Sheriff Office's bomb range again.
- Dec 8, 2011
AceShowbiz - "MythBusters" hosts have made a quick action to show remorse after a ballistic test filmed for their show hit two homes and a minivan in Dublin, Calif. On Wednesday, December 7, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman visited families whose houses were damaged during the cannon experiment that went awry.
"I can't imagine how angry I would be if this happened to me," Savage said after expressing their apology to a family whose wall was holed by a misfired cannonball. "We do nonstandard things all the time and we've been doing them safely for nine years ... this is the worst thing we can imagine happening."
"Honestly, the feeling of embarrassment is not something we're indulging in right now. We feel for the families and the people affected by this," he added. They also promised to make repairs and said that they won't use cannons at the Alameda County Sheriff Office's bomb range again.
Calling it "a wake-up call," Savage said they haven't figured out how the cannon missed the aimed target and hit the houses at local neighborhood. "Some people watch our show and think that we're reckless. Others watch our show and they see we take safety seriously. The fact is, the latter is the case."
Savage and Hyneman themselves were not present during the cannonball experiment that was filmed on Tuesday, but their colleagues Tory Belleci, Kari Byron and Grant Imahara watched as the cannon was fired at the Alameda County Sheriff's Department bomb range. At that time, they wanted to "see if other materials could be fired out of a cannon and be as effective as a cannonball."
The cannonball "was supposed to go through several barrels of water and through a cinder block, and then ultimately into the side of the hill." However, it hit something that caused it to shoot over the hillside and into the residential neighborhood below. The 30-pound cannonball then smashed through two homes and hit the window of a parked minivan before it came to a stop. No one was injured during the accident, though.
In a statement released after the mishap, Discovery Channel which airs the Emmy-nominated show said that "Beyond Productions is currently assessing the situation."
