Is everybody in America famous? That’s the feeling you get upon learning that today’s crazy story of the Colorado-based boy who was thought to be whisked away inside a giant balloon and has now been found inside his home was also a contestant on ABC’s Wife Swap. According to the AP, the six-year-old child Falcon Heene, previously the subject of a manhunt across Colorado, was on last year’s Wife Swap with his parents Mayumi and Richard Heene and his two brothers Bradford and Ryo. The family was featured on Season Five, highlighted for their obsession with storms and their practice of pulling their children out of school to take them on storm chasing missions to prove Richard’s theory about magnetic fields and gravity. Their episode aired in March.
Talk about it on PopWatch:
Balloon Boy TV coverage: Pass the popcorn!
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This balloon incident reeks of publicity stunt to me. Fame hungry family, outrageous balloon incident, and a swift call to tv news stations.
Edit: He’s been found but is now the subject of a manhunt?
He needs his butt kick,
The family was actually on Wife Swap twice. They were on the second time as part of some viewer’s favourite and who you’d like to see them swapped with kind of deal. It’s the parents. They’re self centered, egotistical maniacs who shouldn’t be trusted with the proper care and raising of a gerbil never mind three sons. There isn’t a single doubt in my mind that they simply lost track of the kid while out on another of their ridiculous, hare brained schemes.
I predict lots of hugs, spankings, groundings, and no christmas for these kids. The parents will with a 90% chance be payign the bill for all the chaos.
There is something more to this story. I smell a publicity stunt.
AGREED! Something’s up. No pun intended.
I’d bet they won’t spank their kids but they might be broke and sidelined from weatherchasing for awhile with the bill they’ll get – at least, the bill they SHOULD get – for taking so much of the emergency personell’s time in their city which could have been spent elsewhere. That’s one expensive game of hide and seek but if the end result is the kids can actually stay in one place long enough to go to school, I’d be happy.
I’m stunned. I remember seeing that family on Wife Swap. They are smart, loving, science and nature enthusiasts, and avid thrill seekers. Unfortunately, they are also self absorbed “free willers” thriving under the rule of the dad while mom is the ever vigilant slave. They didn’t learn a thing from the wife swap even though the dad said that they would make some changes such as being on top of his parenting and not letting the kids run wild. I bet the family they swapped with are having a field day watching this over the news.
Oh the exuberance of childhood.
How ’bout a video?
ABC needs to cancel Wife Swap for giving loony, publicity-seeking families attention. The news media should be ashamed for covering this non-story, and the family should be punished for their disgusting behavior in pulling this hoax.
Bet ABC had a hand in coordinating the “balloon accidental release” – I smell ratings coup!!
I say cancel 24 hour news service – there won’t be such a desire or need to cover stupid people, and we would just get ‘newsworthy’ news. All 24 hour news has done is to glorify stupidity!
If something would have happened to that kid, it would be the idiot parents’ fault! Their experiment could have cost that child’s life! Horrible parenting!
Nothing was going to happen – it was all a major coordinated stunt to (1) promote the family and (2) promote the stupid show they were on – $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ makes the world go around
The Heenes just always have something to say about tohers. And its disappointing to see that his Asian wife Mayumi has picked up on talking down on other families.
THey see themseves obvioulsy as some elete family from the rest by the way they just talk down, make fun of other peoples occupation.