One of my favorite shows is Nat Geo’s World’s Toughest Fixes. Tonight and next week, Sean Riley heads to Las Vegas where he’ll be helping to repair three famous locations in the city including one of my favorite places, the Stratosphere’s X-Scream.
We have a preview of tonight’s show and next week’s as well.
WORLD’S TOUGHEST FIXES: FIXING VEGASThursday, May 20 at 9PM ET/PT“As a rigger, these are my favorite kind of jobs – that combine the soft science of art and the hard science of physics.” – Sean RileyRiley travels to Las Vegas to help high-flying Cirque du Soleil solve a real showstopper of a problem … one of the world’s largest, most technologically advanced stages is broken. To make the repair, Riley and team have to lower the 80-ton stage and take a look inside — a process never before attempted. While in Sin City, Riley helps repair some of most amazing spectacles on the Strip, including the world’s largest video screen (four blocks long!) and high-tech water cannons in the Bellagio fountain. For these men and women, failure is not an option. The show must go on!Las Vegas, Nevada, United States: Riley and Ka’s Technical Director Erik Walstad testing out the sand cliff deck. (Photo Credit: (c) NGT)Las Vegas, Nevada, United States: The post and beam catwalk in the Ka Theatre. (Photo Credit: (c) NGT)
Video “Cirque du Soleil Stage Repair” – Cutting-edge engineering makes Cirque du Soleil’s performances possible.
Video “Bellagio Foundation Fix Up” – The massive fountain at the Bellagio needs some repairs, so the team goes inside to see how it operates.
WORLD’S TOUGHEST FIXES: EXTREME HEIGHTSThursday, May 27 at 9PM ET/PT“It takes a special breed of person to work all the way up here. You’ve got to be part tradesman, part acrobat and just a little bit crazy.” – Sean Ril
eySean Riley is an expert rigger, but in this episode he is going to new heights. He’ll hang over the edge of Las Vegas’ tallest building to fix the X-Scream, a thrill ride on the Stratosphere. One of the critical safety measures needs replacing, and Riley joins the ride’s head of maintenance on the very edge of the track, 800 feet above the ground, to make the fix. Then he’ll dangle 500 feet over the side of the Hoover Dam to retrieve trash. And just upriver from Niagara Falls, he’ll hang over an unstable, overgrown cliff to eliminate loose rocks. This is truly a job where you don’t want to find yourself between a rock and a hard place.Video “Sky High Roller Coaster Fix” – Sean Riley and engineer Steve make a precarious roller coaster repair 900 feet over Las Vegas.
Video “Extreme Heights” – In New York’s Finger Lakes region, wind power is big business — and Sean Riley has to climb sky high to help make this repair.
And I’ll point out that Sean will be live blogging each episode as they air on Nat Geo and you can go here to check it out.
