The annual Punkin Chunkin competition on The Science Channel hasn’t been so annual over the last few years. After not taking place in 2014 and 2015, the 2016 event was supposed to be a grand return to form for the event where people try to chuck pumpkins as far as they can with homemade contraptions and catapults. Alas, the highly anticipated return to television won’t come to pass this year though, even though the event has already been filmed. At the taping on November 6th, an employee working on set was injured and as such all plans have been scrapped to air the competition at all.
The World Championship Punkin Chunkin Association apparently was not included in the decision on whether or not the event would be shared with a broad audience, as all statements about the cancellation have come directly from The Science Channel’s spokesman. The official comments from spokesman Paul Schur include,
“In light of the unfortunate incident at the Punkin Chunkin event on Nov. 6, Science Channel will not air ‘Punkin Chunkin’ as originally planned. We are sending our hopes and prayers for a full recovery to the injured woman, her family and loved ones.”
The name and official job title of the employee hasn’t been released, but it is believed that she was a producer on the special and from the details that have emerged her injury sounds incredibly scary and unnerving. As Variety reports, an air cannon being used by one of the participating teams malfunctioned which sent a metal plate flying through the air and collided with the unnamed victim’s head.
There is no word on why it took multiple weeks after the accident took place during the Delaware taping for the people behind the event to make the decision not to air the footage.
(via Variety)
