Top 10 Youtube Daredevil Channels - TopX Ep. 6

- Flipping off our list Damien Walters, whose stunts and videos are impressive not so much for the death defying acts that he performs, but rather for the sheer physical ability he demonstrates in them. That’s not to say he doesn’t risk life and limb, but where other daredevils have videos that make you think “I could do that if I wasn’t so scared”, rarely is there something in a Walters’ video that most would be capable of performing, based on physicality alone. - A professional stuntman by trade, Damien is Mr. Flips. His videos combine free-running, parkour and gymnastics to great affect; watching stunt after stunt go by on his showreel is enough to impress even the most hardened skeptics. - What’s interesting about Damien is that he also likes to combine an interesting setting or location in his stunt. The fact that he performs many of these stunts in urban environments gives a weighty context to the tricks; flipping over a car or next to the edge of a building helps ground the stunt by incorporating elements that you as a viewer are familiar with in your day to day life.

#9: On the Roofs youtube.com/raskalovit

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- In case you didn’t guess from the channel name, this next entry may require a bit of a trigger warning for those of you who are afraid of heights. And, just so you know, it won’t be the last - As I’ve just alluded to, the guys from On The Roofs life to get up on the roofs. Who’d have thought? Basically, their deal is they like to climb skyscrapers and film the results. It’s about as legal as it is safe, as in, it’s not. But it sure is impressive if you have the stomach to watch. - What sets these nutbars apart from other tower climbers is their technical prowess. Their videos resemble slickly edited music videos, not sloppily shot camera phone clips. High quality cameras and even footage shot from drones helps their videos stand out. - This technical know-how is not just apparent in the form of their videos, but in their content as well. For example, in their “What’s Up Hong Kong”, upon reaching the top of an enormous skyscraper, they proceed to hack the video feed of the billboard found on the roof. This mastery of tech makes their videos a lot more polished and watchable than some of their contemporaries.

- While we did mention that you should try none of this stuff at home, here we come to the one exception, a channel that essentially encourages you to do just that. - One thing that almost every one of our entries has in common is GoPro Footage. If you don’t already know, GoPros are tiny, waterproof, shockproof cameras that shoot HD and can go pretty much everywhere. Being that they are the go to piece of hardware for stunts all over the world, it only makes sense that their manufacturer would set up their own channel to showcase all the crazy crap you can do with their product. - As you probably guessed, the GoPro channel is not the work of a single individual or small group, but rather the product of a large, successful company. While this loses them some points for DIY credit, they gain it back 10-fold for the insane footage their vast resources allow them to gather. - While their videos admittedly double as adds for their product, the insane amount of variety and creativity found in their videos can’t be ignored. Traditional extreme sports aside, you’ll find everything from guys flipping off of cliffs to people riding sharks, to surfing pigs in their videos. Aspiring daredevils and avid videographers will find no end of inspiration in their content.

- Storm is team of 6 from the UK that are almost all professional stuntmen that do work in feature films, television commercials and even as consultants. They’re a channel that focuses heavily on their individual performers; their show real includes personalized introductions for each runner, really pushing the individual skills of each team member. - As you can gather from their name, and no doubt conclude based on their footage, they’re a team of freerunners. Because they have such a large team with a lot of resources behind them, their videos only feature the very craziest of stunts. You’ll be hard pressed to find something in their clips that the average Joe could pull off. These guys can really jump. - One thing you’ll notice right off the bat is the gorgeous production value of their clips. Being such a well established team, they’ve clearly gathered enough resources and sponsors to create some really beautiful looking content, just in a purely visual sense. - This added production value, along with the experience in the film industry, has led to some pretty ambitious projects. For example, some of their videos are essentially short films, ones that tell stories that serve as a rather original backdrop to the insane stunts therein.

- Coming in at #6 we switch gears again to another enormous company with an enormous amount of resources at their disposal: RedBull. - As RedBull is a large company and not a specific team of daredevils or freerunners, their channel focuses on using their seemingly limitless resources to set up stunts that have never been done before, both in terms of pure danger and elaborate composition. As illegal as it is, a lot of people can break into a skyscraper; it takes bit more cash to send a guy to space. - While we did say that we were excluding traditional extreme sports, which are certainly featured a lot of RedBull’s Channel, we still decided to include them because the stunts they feature often exit the scale of what most extreme sports do. Whether it’s creating an insanely large ramp or base-jumping off of Mount Everest, RedBulls videos are a perfect example of what kind of crazy stuff you can pull off when you have all the money in the world to spend.

#5: James Kingston youtube.com/jamesmedias

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- Being a single person, James Kingston doesn’t have the resources to drop from lower atmosphere or climb mount Everest. But what he lacks in cash, he makes up for with the size of his giant balls. - While he does do a fair amount of seriously impressive parkour, Kingston has climbed his way this high on the list by …well, climbing. More specifically, climbing really tall things, and then taking selfies. - Remember when I said that a lot of these crazy people like to use GoPros? Well, James is a good example of this. Where other channels like to use camera crews and elaborate setups to make visually stunning clips, Kingston uses a simple GoPro to record first-person footage that really makes you feel like you’re there. The wide-angle lens and shaky stability add even more dizzying perspective to his terrifying shots. - If the dizzying footage he captures from his little “adventures” weren’t enough to turn your stomach, Kingston also likes to push his luck even further by hanging off of the structures he climbs, monkey bar style. Remember when we said don’t try this at home? This is what we were talking about.

#4: Chris “Douggs” McDougalls youtube.com/douggsloosedude

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- If the last entry made you queezy, this next one will either come as a relief or will make you feel a thousand times worse. That’s cuz while guys like On the Roofs and James Kingston made a name for themselves by climbing huge structures and then standing over the edge, Douggs, as he calls himself, has carved his own path by climbing huge structures and then…jumping off. - As you can see, Chris McDougall is a base jumper, meaning that his whole shtick revolves around him jumping from impossibly high places and then parachuting, or better yet, wing-suit flying his way to safety. And you, lucky viewer, get to watch it from the queasy comfort of your own home. - B.A.S.E., in case you didn’t know, stands for Building, Antenna, Span or Earth, and Chris and his buddies definitely cover all those …uh…bases. Their insanity is perhaps only rivaled by their variety, as their videos showcase that they’ve travelled the world jumping off of anything and everything they deem high enough. - He’s not just some amateur either; he’s as pro a base jumper as you’ll ever find, boasting a whopping 2,900 jumps in over 40 countries.

#3: Mustang Wanted youtube.com/MustangWanted

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- Mustang is a Ukrainian climber, who, much like James Kingston, has made a name for himself making videos designed to give you the wim-wams. Like Kingston, Mustang likes to climb ridiculously high structures and film the results, but he edges out his peers by climbing bigger, crazier strutctures and acting way, way more foolish when he gets to the top. - I say foolish because while most people often wouldn’t have the stones to look over the edge of some of these buildings, Mustang likes to do couple of chin ups off the side or maybe just hang by 1 hand. You know, for fun. - Ukrainian by decent, Mustang is obviously not his real name, and is obviously a pseudonym. The “wanted” part of his channel name no doubt comes from the fact that he definitely does not have permission to be doing the stunts he does, which has gotten him into a fair amount of trouble with local authorities. In fact, one particular stunt saw him raising a Ukrainian flag atop prominent Russian Structure, painting the spire Ukrainian blue in the process. This, naturally, did not go over too well with the Russian authorities.

#2: Jeb Corliss youtube.com/jebcorliss

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- Jeb Corliss is an American professional Skydiver and BASE jumper, who, like Chris McDougall, is a fan of the wingsuit. But, while McDougall likes to jump off of crazy things, Corliss goes a step further, he likes to fly through crazy things, or at least veeery close. - His jumps are so perilous that he’s even set a world record or two. In 2011 he became the only person in the world to have flown through a waterfall in a wingsuit. In 2013, he flew through a narrow gap between two peaks in China, something which he described as “the gnarliest thing I’ve ever done”. Understatement of the year. - It’s not all fun and games for Jeb thought. He lost a friend during a stunt in 2003, and has had several near fatal injuries himself. Although, watching his videos, you’ll probably think it’s a miracle that he’s still flying today. Before we reveal our top pick, here are some honorable mentions: HM#1 The Hoonigans youtube.com/TheHoonigans HM #2 Crazy Russians youtube.com/CrazyRussians09 HM #3 Alain Robert youtube.com/ABSYNTHEproduction

- One thing that you’ll immediately notice is the crisp, super high quality of his videos. Those of you that like to complain that our Top 10s are never in HD will love this channel, because he’s started uploading his videos in 4K. We doubt many of you have a monitor or even a TV that goes that high. - You may think that pointing out the quality of the videos first to be a bit odd, it’s one of the only common themes you can find that links this channel’s content. Although “extreme” style is definitely common throughout, the variety of stunts and activities showcased on supertramp’s channel is staggering. The world’s largest rope swing? Water Jetpacks? Ziplining across a football stadium? You name the insanity; he’s probably got crazy beautiful footage of it. - If you’re wondering why his channel focuses so heavily on visuals, that’s no accident. Devin Graham, the channels’ founder, is a cameraman by trade, something he decided to focus on after having a few too many close calls performing stunts himself. - One other thing you can find on his channel, although not specifically related to daredevil activities, is branded content for videogames. While he works with a number of sponsors, the videogame stuff stands out. These are reenactments of videogame gameplay, clearly done with the help of the developers in question, that promote varies video games. Some of these fit the daredevil bill, like real life Assasin’s Creed Parkour, Land some of it…doesn’t. Still pretty cool though. - You may notice that a lot of the stunts involved are actually not as difficult or dangerous as others we’ve seen today. That’s no accident. Graham’s stated desire is to create videos of experiences that are “larger than life” but still relatable. He wants his videos to look like things that his viewers could actually do, with an emphasis on fun over danger. It’s this relatable nature of his videos, along with the stunning quality and staggering variety that earns this channel the top spot.