A COMPUTER specialist from Southampton will be trying to fake his way to success on television tonight, as he attempts to pass himself off as an experienced stuntman.
Mathew Davies is starring in Channel 4's hit show Faking It, in which the experts will be attempting to turn the 31-year-old into a death-defying action man in just four weeks.
In the programme, two specialists in the field of training TV stuntmen had just four weeks to turn the office worker from Shirley into a believable James Bond stand-in. The aim was to fool the panel of experts judging him at the end of the show.
Mat, who works for Skandia Life, applied to have his life transformed after watching the last series of the show, believing it was an opportunity too good to pass up.
He said: "We started off by doing some gymnastics work and trampolining, which to be honest, I was appalling at.
"Then we had to put together a fight scene, learn some stunt driving, practice firing guns and of course learn how to fall down stairs and off buildings convincingly.
"I have a terrible fear of heights and I knew that for the final run I had to fall from a 30ft building onto an airbag, which is probably the best laxative I have ever heard of."
However Mat was full of praise for the trainers - one of whom was a scary former army PE instructor - whom he said never gave up and pushed him as hard as they could to try and ensure he succeeded at the task.
The final challenge was a 007-style chase involving all the disciplines he had been taught, from careering around a road in a BMW to diving off the building.
Did he succeed?
Well for the moment he is not allowed to tell us, so you will just have to watch and find out.
Faking It is on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm.
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