How Dirty Sanchez became so much more brutal than Jackass after xyz stunts
Dirty Sanchez pushed the boundaries of dangerous stunts far beyond anything seen on Jackass, with the death of star Michael ‘Pancho’ Locke serving as a reminder of the outrageous MTV series.
The 47-year-old's family and friends said in a tribute on Friday (6 November) that Pancho's 'brilliance we are sure will still shine through far wide high low and across the seven seas'.
“He lived an incredible life and lit up the world with his charm. Rest In Peace brother, your legend will never cease, it will only gain momentum,” it read.
The Welsh professional stuntman and skateboarder became a cult favourite alongside Mathew Pritchard, Lee Dainton and Dan Joyce when the British show launched in 2003.
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The show went on to become one of MTV: UK’s most successful ever, leading to a movie and several spin-offs.
The stunts carried out by the four lads were far and away worse even than Jackass’ paper-cut, bull, or pogo stick challenges.
And Dirty Sanchez: The Movie was the site of the two worst stunts the British men ever did.
One of these involved Pancho getting liposuction without any anaesthesia, with the other guys drinking the fat from this out of a jar.
Another saw Pritchard cut the tip of his pinkie off with a mini guillotine to ‘regain his pride’ at the end of the film. The original plan had supposedly been to cut off half his pinky before the studio stepped in, negotiating with the crew to allow them to cut off ‘just’ the tip of his finger.
In an ‘oral history of Dirty Sanchez’ by WalesOnline, Dainton specifically namedrops Jackass as a reason they knew the show could work, saying: “The Jackass guys had been doing exactly the same things in America at the same time as us, so after they jumped to MTV we knew there was scope for us to do something too.”
Dainton explained how the show came about in an interview with Vice, saying: “I’d taken redundancy from my job as a carpenter for the local council, and I’d always wanted to make a proper skating video, so I used that money to buy a camera and my friend filmed us.
“We were bored in the evening so we got pissed and did stupid shit like smashing bottles over our heads, and basically filmed the whole night of messing about.
“We looked back at the footage and were laughing so much that we decided to make a skateboarding video with some stunts included in there.”
This video went viral in the days before viral internet fame was common, selling 3,500 copies before the BBFC banned the video.
Pritchard also explained that arguably the most gruesome stunt they ever did landed him in hospital, saying: “We were playing Trivial Pursuit.
“Basically, whoever lost had to have a drill through the skin between their thumb and index finger – it was too graphic to show on TV. [I lost and] it gave me septicaemia, and I was in the hospital for a week.”
In a recent podcast appearance on the Dodge Woodall podcast, Dainton actually confirmed that a second Dirty Sanchez movie was in the works for next year, but with a slightly more ‘wholesome’ tone as most of the cast are now fully sober.
Additional words by Anish Vij.
Topics: Jackass, MTV, TV and Film, TV, Film
Michael Slavin
