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Scottish Sun
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Who are Richard & Mayumi Heene? ‘Balloon boy' parents who convinced world their son Falcon was trapped in an inflatable
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BACK in 2009, Richard and Mayumi Heene were the masterminds behind a devious deception involving their son Falcon. They told authorities that the six-year-old floated away in a silver helium balloon shaped like a UFO — here's everything you need to know. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Richard and Mayumi Heene told authorities their son floated away in a helium balloon Credit: ABC 3 The Heenes with their three kids in 2009 Credit: Reuters Who Are Richard & Mayumi Heene? Richard and Mayumi Heene were the couple at the center of the infamous "Balloon Boy" hoax that captivated the world in October 2009. The incident unfolded in Fort Collins, Colorado, when the Heenes claimed their six-year-old son Falcon floated off in a homemade, helium-filled silver balloon shaped like a flying saucer. On October 15, 2009, Richard and Mayumi alerted authorities and the media, stating that their son Falcon was trapped inside the runaway balloon. The spectacle was broadcast live, with millions watching as the balloon drifted for nearly two hours, covering roughly 70 miles before landing northeast of Denver International Airport. When the balloon was finally recovered, Falcon was not inside. Authorities launched a frantic search, fearing he had fallen out. Falcon was later discovered hiding in the attic of the family's home, safe and unharmed. Balloon boy lie unravels Suspicion quickly arose about the authenticity of the parents' story, especially after a CNN interview in which Falcon. When asked why he was hiding, the then six-year-old said: 'You guys said that — we did this for the show.' Investigators quickly concluded that the Heenes orchestrated the event to attract media attention and boost their chances of landing their own reality TV program. Influencer Haley Kalil aka Haylee Baylee breaks silence on sick death rumor with hilarious self-written obituary The couple previously appeared on Wife Swap, while Richard had pitched several reality TV concepts, including one about investigating scientific mysteries. Legal consequences Both parents eventually confessed to their roles in the hoax. Richard pleaded guilty to attempting to influence a public servant — he was sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to pay $36,000 in restitution. Mayumi pleaded guilty to false reporting and received a 20-day weekend jail sentence. The couple also faced eight years of probation and were required to perform community service. Motivation behind the stunt Richard is described as a self-styled inventor, storm chaser and aspiring reality TV personality. 3 Dozens of emergency responders and two Colorado National Guard helicopters tried to rescue Falcon Credit: Handout He met Mayumi, originally from Japan, at an acting school in Hollywood, and they married in 1997. The couple ran a film-editing business and were known for their eccentric pursuits, including storm chasing and UFO hunting, often involving their three sons — Falcon, Bradford and Ryo. Aftermath Despite their guilty pleas, the Heenes have maintained their innocence, claiming they were pressured to confess under threat of Mayumi's deportation. In 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis pardoned both Richard and Mayumi Heene. The family has relocated to Florida. Trainwreck: Balloon Boy A documentary directed by Gillian Pachter revisits the notorious 2009 Balloon Boy hoax. The film is part of the Trainwreck anthology series, which explores headline-grabbing disasters and media frenzies from around the world. Episodes of Trainwreck started dropping on Netflix on June 10, 2025, with Balloon Boy available for streaming from July 15.
The Irish Sun
17 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Who are Richard & Mayumi Heene? ‘Balloon boy' parents who convinced world their son Falcon was trapped in an inflatable
BACK in 2009, Richard and Mayumi Heene were the masterminds behind a devious deception involving their son Falcon. They told authorities that the six-year-old floated away in a silver helium balloon shaped like a UFO — here's everything you need to know. 3 Richard and Mayumi Heene told authorities their son floated away in a helium balloon Credit: ABC 3 The Heenes with their three kids in 2009 Credit: Reuters Who Are Richard & Mayumi Heene? Richard and Mayumi Heene were the couple at the center of the infamous "Balloon Boy" hoax that captivated the world in October 2009. The incident unfolded in Fort Collins, Colorado, when the Heenes claimed their six-year-old son Falcon floated off in a homemade, helium-filled silver balloon shaped like a flying saucer. On October 15, 2009, Richard and Mayumi alerted authorities and the media, stating that their son Falcon was trapped inside the runaway balloon. The spectacle was broadcast live, with millions watching as the balloon drifted for nearly two hours, covering roughly 70 miles before landing northeast of Denver International Airport. When the balloon was finally recovered, Falcon was not inside. Authorities launched a frantic search, fearing he had fallen out. Falcon was later discovered hiding in the attic of the family's home, safe and unharmed. Balloon boy lie unravels Suspicion quickly arose about the authenticity of the parents' story, especially after a CNN interview in which Falcon. Most read in The US Sun When asked why he was hiding, the then six-year-old said: 'You guys said that — we did this for the show.' Investigators quickly concluded that the Heenes orchestrated the event to attract media attention and boost their chances of landing their own reality TV program. Influencer Haley Kalil aka Haylee Baylee breaks silence on sick death rumor with hilarious self-written obituary The couple previously appeared on Wife Swap, while Richard had pitched several reality TV concepts, including one about investigating scientific mysteries. Legal consequences Both parents eventually confessed to their roles in the hoax. Richard pleaded guilty to attempting to influence a public servant — he was sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to pay $36,000 in restitution. Mayumi pleaded guilty to false reporting and received a 20-day weekend jail sentence. The couple also faced eight years of probation and were required to perform community service. Motivation behind the stunt Richard is described as a self-styled inventor, storm chaser and aspiring reality TV personality. 3 Dozens of emergency responders and two Colorado National Guard helicopters tried to rescue Falcon Credit: Handout He met Mayumi, originally from Japan, at an acting school in Hollywood, and they married in 1997. The couple ran a film-editing business and were known for their eccentric pursuits, including storm chasing and UFO hunting, often involving their three sons — Falcon, Bradford and Ryo. Aftermath Despite their guilty pleas, the Heenes have maintained their innocence, claiming they were pressured to confess under threat of Mayumi's deportation. In 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis pardoned both Richard and Mayumi Heene. The family has relocated to Florida. Trainwreck: Balloon Boy A documentary directed by Gillian Pachter revisits the notorious 2009 Balloon Boy hoax. Read more on the Irish Sun The film is part of the Episodes of Trainwreck started dropping on Netflix on June 10, 2025, with Balloon Boy available for streaming from July 15.
The Independent
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
In the wake of Adolescence, should we call time on mainstream TV's diet of gentleness?
There is no denying the essential appeal of Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash. As seen in new BBC reality show Stacey & Joe, their home life is almost exactly as you'd imagine – a bit chaotic but full of warmth and sweetness too. But this mediated narrative of fishing lakes, al fresco dining and avocado toast in bed does feel like the latest expression of a trend that's been building in terrestrial television for a while now. It's a sort of performative cosiness; a default setting of placid, beige gentleness. Happy tears and hugging. There's an earnestness about lots of primetime TV now that would have been seen as gauche 20 years ago. When reality TV was born, it soon tested its limits and established its boundaries. Big Brother (and its celebrity variations) headed for the extremes fairly quickly. In reality TV (as in much of the comedy of the late Nineties and early Noughties), there was an unseemly taste for harshness, for cringe, maybe even for cruelty. There were millions of takers for the barely submerged sneering of Little Britain, for the neck-snapping wince of Wife Swap, for the voyeuristic horror of The Jeremy Kyle Show. If normal people were going to be represented on TV, it seemed they'd better get used to being the targets of mockery. And they'd better be ready to sing for their supper. It's significant that during that period, Britain's underlying signs were stable. There was an assumption of prosperity – the UK economy enjoyed a remarkable 40 consecutive quarters of growth between 1997 and 2008. Since then, as a nation, we've been on what a prime time TV commissioning editor might describe as 'a journey'. The financial crisis. Austerity. Brexit. The pandemic. War in Europe. More austerity. Much of this turmoil has been underpinned by a sense of political failure – and worse still, of political betrayal. There's been a sense of society losing its bearings. We don't really know who we are anymore. And accordingly, a comforting, unifying narrative has been more important than ever. The Great British Bake Off arguably started this trend, kicking off in lockstep with austerity in 2010; pretty much a 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster in the form of a TV series. Similar shows have joined it in the schedules: The Great British Sewing Bee and Britain's Best Woodworker tell a similarly wholesome story of modesty, ingenuity and capability. Strikingly, even the eliminative reality show de nos jours (The Traitors) is an essentially friendly affair – of course, there are arguments and deceptions, but all within the parameters of what is universally understood to be a parlour game. In the world of reality TV, decisions about casting and decisions about tone are intertwined. The brilliance of The Traitors lies partly in its choice to stick with the normies. Most first-wave reality TV shows started codifying and curating themselves and their participants incredibly quickly. This meant that before long, we were watching a series of people auditioning for ongoing careers in the ecosystem of reality TV – rather than a reflection of ourselves and people we knew. But now, we've come full circle and arrived at a sort of mediated normality. Obviously the contestants on The Traitors owe a debt to their Big Brother forebears, but it feels like the casting couch is currently facing away from the garish and the extreme and towards the familiar. Stacey Solomon is a perfect example of this – a woman who rose to fame via The X Factor before establishing herself as a cheerful avatar of common sense, dispensing earthy insights on Loose Women; helping struggling families to declutter in Sort Your Life Out. She's basically the nation's dream next-door neighbour. We've decided we want to be pleasantly surprised rather than shocked by the people we see on television – in Channel 4's shopping precinct, ivory-tinkling free-for-all The Piano for example, the emergence from the crowd of a lad in jeans and a hoodie who can play like a dream suddenly hits harder than almost any other narrative imaginable. It's the theatre of the everyday. And now, it's everywhere. Recent episodes of Dragon's Den have felt notably gentler; there are Ukrainian refugees getting a helping hand from the Dragons and a man who somehow makes a living teaching dogs to swim. There's The Dog House, a show which feels almost pornographic in its cuteness. Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse continue to dish out genial wisdom from the nation's riverbanks. Andi Oliver's Fabulous Feasts is almost guaranteed to end in happy tears, as Oliver visits hard-pressed corners of the land and treats pillars of the various communities to glorious tables of food and gale-force gusts of goodwill. Is there any harm in this? Up to a point, of course not. Many of these programmes are, on their own terms, a delight. Times are tough, and while TV is an opinion former, it also reacts to public need. Kindness is never a bad thing and for the last decade and a half, it has felt in desperately short supply in other areas of public life. But can giving people what they want get in the way of giving them what they need? As previously noted in these pages, a show like Adolescence feels like a fierce shot across the bows of, in particular, the BBC and Channel 4. This is exactly the kind of television that, even a decade ago, they would have made. Not only that but it would have been assumed that, given their public service mandate (and the obligations that come with it), only they could have made it. But could we be entering an era when, thanks to a combination of funding constraints and political timidity, terrestrial broadcasters cede ownership of the challenging and the potentially controversial to the streamers? We'd better hope not. If the BBC and Channel 4 have a purpose, it surely involves leading the national conversation. As things stand, there's a danger of this small screen gentleness turning into something like default passivity. The kind of sweetness exemplified by Stacey & Joe is fine – but only as part of a balanced diet.
The Guardian
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
TV tonight: the follow-up to Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland
9pm, Channel 4Dan Reed's documentary about Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who alleged they were sexually abused as children by Michael Jackson, rocked the world in 2019. This follow-up film delves into their 10-year legal journey to get Jackson's estate to accept their claims that they were abused, while lawyers share insights. The documentary ends on an astonishing note, and not just because it shows the opening of a hit Jackson musical in the West End of London. Hollie Richardson 8pm, BBC OneAs usual with this series, the trials of the Noel family in east London are super-relatable: their house is nice and their hoarding of clutter isn't extreme, but with two small kids, both parents working/studying from home and limited square footage, their tat is getting on top of them. Jack Seale 8pm, Channel 4 This gentle reality series has shades of 00s classics such as Wife Swap and Brat Camp. The Elmgreen students are settling into life in small-town Arkansas, while their American counterparts relish living in south London. But revelations about guns, religion and race leave some of the teens feeling edgy. Hannah J Davies 9pm, BBC OneThe high-school drama has upped its game in recent series: coercive relationships, female health not being taken seriously and dementia are some of the topical issues confidently handled. Plus, there's some big action, as a teacher's hair is set alight in class. HR 9pm, Sky AtlanticIl Duce (Luca Marinelli) wins a landslide victory in the penultimate chapter of this horribly timely drama. 'Prepare my funeral oration,' winces socialist opposition leader Giacomo Matteotti (Gaetano Bruno), after denouncing the violence of the blackshirts in parliament. 'Hope and love will not diminish,' Matteotti writes to his future widow. Let's pray he's right. Ali Catterall 9pm, Sky HistoryActor, professional footballer, gameshow host … and Egyptologist! While training to be an engineer, before getting into showbiz, Bradley Walsh became fascinated by the pyramids – convinced that they couldn't have been built by ancient Egyptians 4,000 years ago. In this three-parter, he investigates alternative theories. HR Women's Champions League football: Real Madrid v Arsenal, 5.30pm, TNT Sports 1 The quarter-final first leg. Man City v Chelsea is at 7.30pm on 19 March.
