After causing a nationwide stir on Thursday, the balloon boy is safe at home today -- and thanks to Wife Swap, we know exactly what home is like for Falcon Heene.
It is widely reported that the family at the center of the balloon drama has appeared on the reality show Wife Swap. The attention-loving Heenes left quite an impression on Wife Swap viewers, when their chaotic home life was revealed on the show.
ABC described the Heene family on the Wife Swap web page:
The Heene family from Colorado live life on the edge. Wife Mayumi (43) and storm scientist Richard (45) take their three kids, Bradford (8), Ryo (7) and Falcon (5), out of school to go on storm chasing missions to prove Richard's theories about magnetic fields and gravity. If conditions are right, Mayumi wakes her family by shouting "Storm Approaching, Storm Approaching!" into a bullhorn. The family sleep in their clothes so they can leap out of bed and into the storm-mobile. Richard calls Mayumi his 'ninja wife'; she maintains equipment, drives the storm-mobile, films tornadoes and waits with the kids while Richard jumps on his motorbike, heads into the eye of the storm and launches rockets to measure magnetic forces. At home the family are as chaotic as a twister: the kids have no table manners and throw themselves around the house, and while Richard devotes every moment to his research, he expects Mayumi to cook, clean and run the house without any help.
The Heene family's Wife Swap episode produced trainwreck moments worthy of being mocked on The Soup (clip shown here). And when ABC conducted a poll to decide which two families would return for the show's special 100th episode, the Heene family had been so memorable for viewers, they were chosen to do another swap. Their second episode of Wife Swap also highlighted their adventurous lifestyle.
But did all the nationwide attention from the show leave the Heene family hungry for more? Many of the people who prayed for "the balloon boy" on Thursday now believe it was all a Heene family hoax for publicity. In an interview on Larry King Live, Falcon was asked why he had been hiding in the attic while he heard people calling for him.
"You guys said that we did this for the show," the six-year-old boy said to his father. Busted? Hmm. It looks like after Wife Swap, the Heene family's life may have turned into one big reality show.
Photos by ABC
Comments
God bless the honesty of children. I wept and prayed for that little boy yesterday as I am sure a lot of people did.
I am truly glad he is alive! The parents should be prosecuted for exploiting their children and for tying up valuable rescue resources that might have been needed somewhere else. If nothing else, they should have to pay for all the time, labor, and equipment used in tracking and in the “rescue” attempt.
I am so unhappy I think they should also have to pay for all the time people wasted spent watching in horror when it was all a sick PR scam.
People like this need to held accountable for their stupidity. The cost incurred by people with this “it’s all about me “attitude, deserve to be charged and accountable for the costs incurred.
what kind of parents are they?!
i agree those parents should pay for the time and money it took the reporters and the police to follow the balloon. i am disgusted as well to think that anybody would want recognition like that. i am glad as well that the child was not in the balloon and that he was not injured in anyway. i thought for certain he fell off the balloon and was almost in tears until they found him. definatly would charge the parents for their immaturity.
I got to see the wife swap when I did I felt those kids should be taken away from them the poor kids had to sleep in there clothes and were them god knows how long they had to were the same ones and they never ever got to take a warm bath and were pjs to bed and never had a real nice childhood i know this was just a way for them to get more media attention cause after the wife swap they new there would be no more lime light so they had to think of something the father needs a full psych evaluation and the mother to that was evadent on the show wife swap….my mother was in tears for that little boy and she just had a four bye pass done on her heart im sorry those kids deserve to have a normal family that does not use there kids there are lot of people that cant have there own and would love to foster them im one of them trying to become a foster parent because i can not have kids the state does nothing to bad parents untell its to late and the babys and kids are dead ..the STATE need to pull there head out of the sand and comedown on these bad parents
They should be taken away from thes 2 nut cakes while they Maybe still able to “fix” thes boys. I would take them in a heart beat!! I raised 2 and they are exceptional well adjusted young men.
Lord Please watch these 3 boys and keep them protected.