More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Home Folkestone News Article
A group of friends from Folkestone and Hythe have gained a cult following with a series of Jackass-style videos.
Jacob Rickard, Ashley Main and Brad Lloyd-Prest - all aged 22 and former pupils at Brockhill Park School near Hythe - are united by a silly sense of humour.
And to create something they would never forget, they began making a series of films of themselves doing stunts and challenges and posting them to YouTube.
The project - funded by £500 saved up in change over years - has taken them to France, Glastonbury and the Royal Military Canal at Hythe since.
They started shooting in July - and have now gained a small global audience.
Jacob said: "The money was saved up over the course of years and years in a Spiderman tin. It got full so we opened it up.
"We were talking about it for while and wanted to do something that would be worthwhile, that we would remember."
In a recent shoot in Folkestone, Ashley Main - aka "The Hat" after his appearances donning colourful headgear - was elected on the toss of a coin to wander around town dressed in a suit covered in bread... in the hope he would attract seagulls.
Sadly, the most attention he got was from the friendly bulldog at the Royal George pub by the harbour.
"We got good reactions from people in town," Ashley said. "We should just come back in summer and do it again."
And what was their favourite episode?
Ashley said: "It has to be pirates, just because it's really funny."
The episode consists of dressing up as pirates, hiring boats on the canal at Hythe and fighting with water ballons.
"Mine is probably the cling film episode," said Jacob, referring to a shoot where they bought £16 of cling film and set up obstacle courses around the garden.
Brad said: "I really enjoyed Glastonbury. We were going anyway and thought while we were there and doing the project why not include it?"
Jacob now lives in London, but the lads remain intent on making sure they came back to get a video out every week.
Ashley said: "We wanted to be a regular thing that everyone will be coming back to each week.
"The idea was to keep improving. When we're together we plan and film as much as possible."
And now they are starting to get recognition around town. Ashley said: "Someone came into where I work at Tesco in Hawkinge and said 'you're that guy'."
They say the best thing about the venture has been reaching an audience stretching from Iraq to France, Japan and Australia.
"I think that's the best bit that it went down well with people we don't know," said Jacob.
They plan to keep the remaining budget going until Christmas before starting another project.
"We won't know what to do when this budget is gone - people are expecting more things."
