Professor Splash (born March 8, 1961) is the show name of Darren Taylor. Taylor is an American show diver from
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
. He is well known for breaking high diving records using small pools. He holds the ''
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' for highest
shallow water dive Shallow diving is an extreme sport, whereby enthusiasts attempt to dive from the greatest height into the shallowest depth of water, without sustaining injury. It is typically associated with traveling circuses along with the strongman, performing ...
. Taylor has been on
The History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Dis ...
's ''
Stan Lee's Superhumans
''Stan Lee's Superhumans'' is a documentary television series that debuted from August 5, 2010 to September 17, 2014 on History. It is hosted by Marvel comic book superhero creator Stan Lee and follows contortionist Daniel Browning Smith, "th ...
'' and explained the form of his famous dive. Taylor appeared on
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 ''
Time Warp'' and set a world record dive captured on slow motion cameras.
In 2011, Professor Splash appeared on
NBC's ''America's Got Talent'' as a part of the auditions that took place in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. He received a "yes" from all three judges and advanced to the Las Vegas round. From the Vegas round, he advanced directly to the live quarterfinals without having to perform. In the quarterfinals, he jumped 36 feet 7 inches into the water, setting a new ''Guinness'' world record. From that height he hit the water traveling at approximately 53 km/h (33 mph). He was chosen over Seth Grabel in Judge's Choice, advancing into the semifinals. He was eliminated in the semifinals and did not advance to the top 10. Professor Splash was the only performer in 10 seasons to set two Guinness records.
He appeared on ITV's ''Red Or Black?'' in the U.K. at Wembley Arena, ''Red Or Black?'' Kiev, Ukraine,
Outrageous Acts of Science
''Outrageous Acts of Science'' is a science program shown on Science Channel in the U.S., featuring a fast-paced countdown of the top 20 internet videos in each episode. The series first aired in the UK on Discovery International with the title ' ...
on
Science Channel
Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, man ...
and "''Minute of Fame''" in Moscow, Russia.
He was also on ''Česko Slovensko má talent 2012'' (another version of ''Got Talent'').
Professor Splash would come out of retirement to participate in the second season of the
Go-Big Show
''Go-Big Show'' is a televised American competition series that premiered on TBS on January 7, 2021. In contrast to other talent shows, ''Go-Big Show'' focuses on bigger scale performances featuring monster trucks, horse riding and large sta ...
were he come in second place.
References
America's Got Talent contestants
American male divers
Living people
Male high divers
Sportspeople from Denver
1961 births
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