Bradley Walsh and his son Barney pack their bags for more adrenaline fuelled adventures as their ITV series Bradley Walsh & Son: Breaking Dad, returns for a second series...
Actor and presenter Bradley Walsh and his 21-year-old actor son Barney are hitting the road again for a new six-part series of their ITV show, Bradley Walsh & Son: Breaking Dad.
Just over a year ago, Doctor Who star Bradley and Barney enjoyed an epic US road trip from Los Angeles to New Orleans filled with adrenaline-fuelled activities including a hair-raising sky dive!
As Bradley approaches his 60th birthday he’s keen to relax but Barney wants to live life on the edge and plans another trip his dad will never forget. Diving with sharks and hover boarding are just some of the activities on the action packed itinerary which begins in Florida Keys and sees the pair head through Georgia and north along the East Coast.
Here The Chase host Bradley tells us about the thrills and spills, and re-lives the terrifying moment he found himself surrounded by sharks….
What made you want to do a second series?
Bradley Walsh: "You never see your son or daughter in that sort of environment because they normally go off and do it with their friends! It was fabulous being together. The bit that’s not so enjoyable is having stuff sprung on you because I do get anxious! It’s not so much like being taken out of your comfort zone…it’s more like being punched on the nose!"
You go diving with sharks. How scary was that?
BW: "Even snorkelling gives me the jitters because you never know what’s in the water so my anxiety was quadrupled! My friend foolishly sent me an Instagram thing an hour before showing a shark getting into the cage with the diver, so I was really bricking it. I’m not the greatest person with a snorkel anyway, a couple of times I took a whole mouthful of seawater and really started to panic. All I could hear, and I’m sure the sharks could hear it as well, was me screaming! I was shouting all the time telling them to go away, although my words weren’t quite ‘Go away!’"
There was some extra drama thanks to a camera Barney had, wasn’t there?
BW: "Yes. I didn’t know that if you take a camera into the water it sends off a tiny electrical pulse which actually attracts sharks. Barney had the camera and I thought ‘Great, he’ll get some lovely footage’ having no idea the electrical pulses were actually bringing them towards us. As soon as he got into the water and I saw what was happening I thought, ‘Jesus I better go after him!’ Although I don’t know what I’m going to do exactly...try and fight off a shark? Try and defend him! It was terrifying!"
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Even driving that big motor trailer looks terrifying…
BW: "We started off in Key West and trying to get that RV around Key West was really hard work. Just like last year, I was very nervous about driving it at first but after a while I got pretty confident although every time we went under a bridge or a tree I would duck! I just couldn't help it. Last year I backed into an overhead cable. They had to leave that bit out of the show."
Was there anything really fun this time that you enjoyed? You have a go at hover boarding across the water don’t you…
BW: "Yes, that’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do ever since seeing the Green Goblin hover boarding in the Spider Man films. I kept crashing into the water and the helmet I was wearing was so heavy I got a headache. We also went to a lumberjack tournament. I loved that because I got to dress as a lumberjack and I looked quite fetching in that outfit I have to say. But flannel shirts in 50 degree heat…. it was it was so hot! Why don’t you just get yourselves light- weight cotton ones lads?"
What travel essentials do you always pack?
BW: "Jelly shoes for when I walk in the water, you can’t beat them. It’s deadly out there and you don’t know what’s on the sea floor. I travel very light, just a few pairs of socks and pants, five t-shirts and then I wash it all as I go along. I don’t have a problem with doing the laundry, it’s self-sufficient and I quite like it. I’ll also do the ironing because I’m an old soldier, that’s what I do."
What was the first holiday you remember as a kid?
BW: "I remember going to Butlin’s in Clacton with my nan and granddad. That was my big holiday, they used to take us every year, my cousin and myself. My grandfather’s name was Barney, that’s who Barney is named after and my nan was Marion. I learned to play snooker at Butlin's although I'm not very good. We’d have ice cream floats on coke and watch all the shows. I absolutely loved it!"
Bradley Walsh & Son: Breaking Dad starts on Wednesday 8 January, 8pm on ITV
