Jonathan Goodwin (born 20 February 1980) is a retired escapologist and

daredevil Daredevil may refer to: * A stunt performer Arts and media Comics * Daredevil (Lev Gleason Publications), a fictional 1940s superhero popularized by writer-artist Charles Biro * Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), a Marvel comic book superher ...

Early life

Goodwin was born in

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the count ...

, Pembrokeshire,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, and grew up in Robeston Wathen. He attended the since-closed Tasker Milward Voluntary Controlled School in Haverfordwest.

Career

He first appeared on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

TV programme ''Dirty Tricks'' and has subsequently appeared in TV specials '' The Seven Stupidest Things to Escape From'', and ''Deathwish Live'' as well as

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

's '' One Way Out'' and ''How Not to Become Shark Bait'' in which he allowed himself to be attacked by a Caribbean reef shark. Goodwin returned to Discovery Channel in 2009 for a ten-part series of ''One Way Out'' which also starred engineer Terry Stroud. He also appeared in an episode of the Channel 4 programme '' Balls of Steel'', with his father helping him with a stunt. On 11 September 2012, it was announced that Goodwin would be appearing in his own series on

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through ...

Watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached ...

, entitled ''The Incredible Mr. Goodwin''. The show included a wide variety of stunts, from

free climbing Free climbing is a form of rock climbing in which the climber may use climbing equipment such as ropes and other means of climbing protection, but only to protect against injury during falls and not to assist vertical or horizontal progress. T ...

skyscrapers to "extreme

planking Planking may refer to: * Planking (fad), an activity consisting of lying face down—sometimes in an unusual or incongruous location * Plank (exercise), an isometric core strength exercise * Planking, a form of indirect grilling * Shad Planking, ...

", and started airing in early 2013. It was also shown on UKTV's

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

and on

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ...

beginning in July 2013. On 9 March 2013, Goodwin appeared on ''

The Jonathan Ross Show ''The Jonathan Ross Show'' is a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2011 and airs on Saturday evenings following the conclusion of Ross' BBC One chat show, ''Friday Night with Jona ...

'' and performed the stunt of lying on a single nail and having a

breeze block A concrete masonry unit (CMU) is a standard-size rectangular block used in building construction. CMUs are some of the most versatile building products available because of the wide variety of appearances that can be achieved using them. Tho ...

broken on his chest with a

sledgehammer A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, often metal head, attached to a long handle. The long handle combined with a heavy head allows the sledgehammer to gather momentum during a swing and apply a large force compared to hammers designed t ...

. In April 2019, he appeared on the 13th series of ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially ...

'', and made it to the finals performing "buried alive", the first time this stunt had ever been attempted on a stage. In 2020, he appeared on ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribu ...

'', where he finished as a semifinalist.

Injuries

In October 2021, Goodwin was hospitalised following injuries sustained during a

stunt A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery sp ...

rehearsal for '' America's Got Talent: Extreme''. The

was supposed to see Goodwin escape a

straitjacket A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with long sleeves that surpass the tips of the wearer's fingers. Its most typical use is restraining people who may cause harm to themselves or others. Once the wearer slides their arms into the ...

while upside-down 30 feet in the air, suspended between two cars. Instead, he became crushed between the cars as they caught fire. Goodwin sustained many injuries, including third-degree burns, a broken spine, a severed

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spin ...

, and two broken

shoulder blades The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on either ...

. He shattered both legs and lost a

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; bloo ...

. He was released from hospital in February 2022 but was left paralysed from the waist down, requiring the use of a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries (paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebra ...

Personal life

Goodwin is divorced and is engaged to actress

Amanda Abbington Amanda Abbington (born Amanda Jane Smith; 28 February 1974) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Miss Mardle in '' Mr Selfridge'' and Mary Watson in '' Sherlock'', the BBC adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes st ...

. They had been social media friends for a decade, but met only after her split from Martin Freeman. Goodwin proposed marriage within 30 minutes of their first meeting, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Jonathan 1980 births Living people Escapologists Britain's Got Talent contestants British stunt performers People from Haverfordwest America's Got Talent contestants