So after my dose of Top Gear and double checking that Richard Hammond is alive (it’s been a terrible thought since I started reading his book…I keep thinking he is dead…how can a dead person write a book?) another programme, with Richard Hammond in, was on. And despite my brain saying “I Need Sleeeeppp.” I stayed up to watch it.
So as far as I am aware, from reading Hammonds book and watching the program, Evel Knievel, a idiotic dare devil of the 70’s who thought attempting to kill himself was fun, was Hammonds childhood hero. Hammond was somewhat of a adrenaline addict and so this dare devil was someone for Hammond to look up to.
So Hammond goes alll the way to Montana to meet this guy who is now on oxygen and very ill, most likely because of his crazy lifestyle. And all that came to mind after seeing that program was something that a friend said to me several months ago:
“Your heroes will always let you down.”
In my eyes that’s all Evel Knievel (Jeez what a name) did to Hammond. It’s hard to explain how the man acted. There were times when the guy completely shrugged off the fact that this person who had travelled from England to see him was a person. It was always what Evel wanted to do. He asked the question and he answered them all anyone else did was sit there and when he had enough he told everyone he felt ill and went home. As soon as Hammond asked something that was hard for him to answer all of a sudden Evel felt ill and he had to go.
There was one point when Hammond asked his sister if she was angry at Evel for what he did and the risks he put himself through. To be fair, the man was being very selfish. All he did was for himself he never thought of how his family felt about it – or so it seemed – but as soon as Hammond asked this all of a sudden Evel started saying he felt ill and he wanted to go.
Excuses much?
I can’t write down all the things that happened in the program that annoyed me. There are too many. But to be frank, if I was Hammond or if I was in his place and my hero treated me like that I’d totally screw. Evel was rude, selfish, disregarded anyone else’s feelings but his own. I’m pretty sure our dear Hamster was crushed to be treated in such a way and if he wasn’t then goddammit he must have a heart of steel or something.
I think what made it worse was Evel spoke as if he was the only person to ever have been in a accident or hurt them self while doing a stunt. And yet Hammond was sitting/standing next to him having been through some terrible things himself and I am assuming some questions came from personal experience and yet this stupid dare devil, even if he was totally unaware of Hammond’s crash, acted as if it was just about him.
Evel didn’t act like a man who had kids looking up to him back in the 70’s. He didn’t act like a man who had any connection with his fans or supporters in the past. He acted as if everything was about him – Hammond didn’t matter as long as Evel got to boast.
I was very annoyed indeed. If I ever met David Tennant or Richard Hammond himself, I hope they don’t treat me that way or someone is asking for a smack in the face.
i know what you mean. i have just this minute finished watching this and i feel disgusted at how Richard was treated by EK. he started well, but it went tit’s up towards the end of the programme. you can’t hit an old man and you certinaly can’t voice your own concerns if you are a presenter like Mr Hammond is, but i think we can all read his mind, after all, at the EK bash just before the ‘big jump’ happened, he stated ‘its all got too american here’
this is true american grit, true american behaviour. feck ‘em and leave ‘em
That was what i felt watching it. EK seemed really rude and inconsiderate throughout. Must have been hard for hammond to interview him.
I agree with much of what’s been posted here, but if I can play devil’s advocate for a moment…
Here was a man who many may years ago ceased to be Robert Craig Knievel and has been living as Evel Knievel in his own mind ever since. That was obvious just from watching how everyone in that town acted around him, and it’s hardly surprising given that he’s the only thing that backwater town will ever be known for. And let’s face it, given that he never really amounted to much more than a mega-media personality, how could he have not allowed himself to become totally absorbed in that world as his fame started to diminish?
The real problem with that interview is that Hammond, with all due respect to the man, really didn’t “get” small-town conservative America. Knievel was a frail old shadow of a man who was still living as a king in his own castle. Hammond could have been the queen of england and it wouldn’t have made a difference, to Knievel he was just another reporter trying to call the shots on the story he wanted. And that really is exactly what Hammond was doing…he obviously had great respect and admiration for his childhood hero and wanted nothing more than to find out more about person inside. The problem is, there wasn’t much there to discover, and what little was left was fiercely guarded with the usual suspicious, highly-protective mentality that small communities in the US often harbor towards outsiders.