October 17, 2009 7:20 PM
Colorado balloon boy's dad: Heene planned a hoax
Gawker is carrying this exclusive:Exclusive: I Helped Richard Heene Plan a Balloon Hoax
For the first time, 25-year-old researcher Robert Thomas reveals to Gawker how earlier this year he and Richard Heene drew up a master plan to generate a massive media controversy using a weather balloon. To get famous, of course.
Thomas spent several months earlier this year working on developing a reality science TV show to pitch to networks - the "show," Thomas says, that Falcon was referring to when he told CNN "We did it for the show." Among the ideas that Heene, Thomas and two others came up with for their reality TV proposal -- and one that he says most intrigued Heene -- involved a weather balloon modified to look like a UFO which they would launch in an attempt to drum up media interest in both the Heene family and the series he was desperate to get on the air. Still, Thomas never imagined that Heene would involve his six-year-old son in what he is certain was a "global media hoax" to further Richard Heene's own celebrity. Thomas' story of his time with Heene, based on an interview with Ryan Tate, follows below. It's a fascinating account and after he publicly offered to sell his story, we paid him for it.
Read it at Gawker.
I said I smelled a rat.
Posted in Current Affairs | Permalink
Comments
Did the boy say that his father told him to hide in the attic? I never heard that. If that is true, then all bets are off. Then I would say that the father is probably guilty. The one hold-out though is that the experts believed him because of his body language.
The truth is going to come out.
[Falcon said "We did it for the show" during an interview with Wolf Blitzer that night,]
Posted by: Sue from Buffalo | October 17, 2009 8:42 PM
Aside from Child Protective Services, I think these kids would best be served if we all ignored the crud out of this story. This attention is what the father wanted, and it's exactly what he's getting.
Posted by: Elle | October 17, 2009 9:17 PM
I think the father and mother need some reality checking - like what's up with taking your young children into the eye of a tornado ?
reality check:these parents need to attend Parenting 101
Posted by: Rick | October 17, 2009 11:19 PM
