I’m staring at a terrifying-looking contraption in a park round the back of Channel 4. Presenter Tim Shaw has customised a swivelling car seat, attached to which are two industrial-strength leaf blowers. The thing is rooted to the ground by a metal frame; leather straps will hold down each limb of whichever human ends up in the seat. It looks like something from Saw.
You may have seen a primitive version of this setup on YouTube, where clips involve one leaf blower and an office chair, and invariably end with someone flying off, and a woman screaming; Tim Shaw’s new show Experimental is an attempt to push viral clips like these to their natural conclusions. “If you spin anything fast enough it will destroy itself,” Tim cheerfully reports.
“I refuse to do this again,” insists Shaw’s sidekick Buddy, the human being who was spun at almost three revolutions per second during filming, and was subsequently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress by a therapist and endolymphatic hydrops by a Harley Street doctor. “I’m not doing this again, ever.”
I sit in the chair. With the leaf blowers turned off, Tim spins the frame. I feel sick after about 10 seconds. “I’ve worked out that you could use this as a penis enlarger,” Tim helpfully informs me, and he does have form in this area: he added half an inch to his own appendage during a previous Channel 4 show, and that’s just one of many eyebrow-raising entries on his CV. Remember the Kerrang! Radio host who was suspended after he broke into his boss’s house while the family was out, trashed the place then jumped out of a cupboard, live on air, to surprise the family when they arrived home? That was Tim. Remember that Absolute Radio DJ who told Jodie Marsh live on air that he’d leave his wife for her, only to later find that his wife, listening at home, had listed and sold his car on eBay for the Buy It Now price of 50p? Also Tim.
This may paint a picture of the world’s worst human being, but this afternoon Tim Shaw turns out to be unexpectedly charming, not to mention complex. His life has been spent inventing, welding, fixing and gluing things. In his teens he created a collapsible walking aid as part of a GCSE project; it went on to sell commercially. Other creations include an ice-cube tray and a new system for brake lights. As an engineer who understands basic principles of cause and effect, was Tim surprised when Kerrang! suspended him? “I’m interested in what happens when you do certain things,” he says. “It’s cost me my marriage. It’s cost me friendships, too.” He motions towards Buddy. “I hope it won’t cost me this one.”
“It will,” Buddy says.
It seems as if Buddy is joking, but as we talk more the convoluted dynamic of this pair’s friendship – which began eight years ago after Buddy was a guest on Tim’s radio show – makes me wonder exactly what’s going on. Buddy enjoyed playing tennis on the wings of an aeroplane, he reports, but he still doesn’t seem comfortable with the fact that while filming another stunt Tim dropped him off a 17-storey building. “I’m battling with myself the whole time,” Buddy says. “I don’t want to let Tim down.”
The pair’s relationship thrives on co-dependency. Buddy, for instance, says that before Tim came into his world, life “wasn’t going anywhere – but every time I’m in these life-threatening situations, I feel alive. Tim puts me in these situations. Tim gives me the opportunity to live life to the full.”
“But without you, there’s no me,” Tim insists. “You’re the only person I know who will get in that machine.”
I ask Buddy if he feels Tim has exploited the fact that Buddy doesn’t want to let his friend down. But there’s another question: how much does Buddy really trust Tim? There are some awkward pauses. “I’d hope you wouldn’t put my life at risk,” Buddy eventually tells Tim. “My girlfriend hates you. She’s the one who sees me just burst into tears.”
“I don’t like hearing these answers,” Tim says.
What would happen if Buddy died during the show? Would Tim screen it? “Fuck!” Tim shouts. He thinks for a moment. “Yes I would. Absolutely.” He looks at his friend: “Sorry, but yes I would.” This tense exchange is punctured by the fact that over Buddy’s shoulder I can see a 5ft stuffed bear being strapped into the death machine. We break off our chat to see the contraption in action: the leaf blowers roar and the chair begins to spin. Channel 4’s health and safety lady doesn’t seem very impressed. Perhaps she has a point: when the machine gets to about 100rpm one of the leaf blowers flies off, narrowly missing us. A woman screams. The experiment is over.
“I love seeing the principles being demonstrated,” Tim shrugs. “I want people to watch Experimental and go: ‘I sort of remember that from school.’ If I’m honest, I don’t think there will be a series two; I’m expecting them to say, sorry Tim, the show’s too fucked up. But we’ve had an amazing time doing it.”
“Nobody can ever take this away from us,” Buddy agrees. Whether he’ll ever recover from Experimental is another question for another time.
Experimental airs Sunday 26 July, 8pm, Channel 4
