Video cameras and logs will both roll during the annual Kaslo May Days Logger Sports this month.
TV personality Andrew Younghusband — known for hosting reality shows including Canada’s Worst Driver and Canada’s Worst Handyman — will participate in several events as part of a new Discovery channel series, Tougher Than it Looks.
“I think it will be exciting and put Kaslo on the map again,” said Kathy Freeman, an event organizer.
She received an email over the winter from she show’s producers inquiring about the event, and the possibility of Younghusband competing as a “pseudo lumberjack.”
Kaslo Logger Sports has been held annually since 2008 and usually draws about 60 competitors from BC, Alberta, Washington and as far away as Ontario for events including axe throwing, log rolling, and tree climbing.
Younghusband is expected to take part in ten of the 27 events over two days, May 21 and 22. He’ll also head into the field with Sunshine Logging to shadow an actual logging operation.
Younghusband is no novice when it comes to forestry-related feats: he holds the Guinness record for opening the most bottles of beer in one minute with a chainsaw (23 and he’s going to demonstrate how he does it).
A production crew is expected in Kaslo today to look around the competition grounds and village and meet with organizers to discuss the shoot.
The episode is expected to air this fall, although the exact date hasn’t been set. Proper Television, the production company behind the series, wasn’t available for comment this week. However, a news release in January said the series will see Younghusband “tackling the hardest, weirdest, and most dangerous activities he can find in an attempt to beat the experts at their own respective games.”
It’s not the first time Kaslo Logger Sports has benefitted from this sort of attention. In 2009, following an online contest, the village was among ten communities included on the TSN Kraft Celebration Tour. Anchors Jennifer Hedger and Darren Dutchyshen broadcast from Kaslo, which also received $25,000 towards improving the logging sports grounds.
