Julia vs Joey
Two New Stunt Service Productions: A Glimpse Behind the Scenes
In early 2024, One Inch Dreams Rigging executed two new stunt service productions in Northern Germany and the Netherlands. Utilizing our certified industrial climbers, a slackline stunt was performed at Landschaftspark Duisburg, and a climbing challenge took place at the Excalibur Climbing Tower in Groningen, Netherlands, Europe's tallest artificial climbing tower.
Two parallel highlines suspended at a height of 30 meters, each equipped with an innovative overhead safety system, allowed Josef Buchholz, known as Joey’s Jungle, and Julia Beautx to traverse a distance of 100 meters without prior training, competing against each other for the new ORF format "Julia vs Joey."
The task was not only to ensure the safety of the VIPs but also to maximize the beauty and uniqueness of the exposed locations. The TV production company "Bildergarten Entertainment," a subsidiary of ITV Studios, commissioned One Inch Dreams Rigging for the design and construction of the challenge, along with a unique safety concept.
"Securing Joey and Julia on the slackline bridge and the ability to quickly and safely extract them from the system at any time, if necessary simultaneously, was one of our greatest challenges in developing this stunt," summarized Alexander Schulz, Head Rigger, and Safety Manager at One Inch Dreams. Marinus Spatzier developed the safety concept, utilizing special prototypes of the self-developed Hooist winches. These allowed for an "escape" scenario for the cast at any point during the challenge. The use of a 12mm full Dyneema support rope and a specially designed ultralight slackline ensured maximum safety and agility with minimal stress on anchor points.
Our equipment partner, Stubai Bergsport, supported the project with its entire equipment portfolio. Despite adverse conditions such as heavy snowfall and icy surfaces at Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, as well as wind speeds exceeding 70 km/h in Groningen, the high-wire work was conducted safely.
"Wir balancieren in unfassbarer Höhe | Julia vs Joey | Episode 1" garnered over 250,000 views just days after its release.