Top 10 Jackass Stunts Gone Wrong

“Jackass Number Two” (2006)
Playing with bulls is no joke. The Toro Totter saw Knoxville, Pontius, Dunn, and Bam on a four-way seesaw. A bull was then released into the ring, prompting them to dodge the raging animal by raising and lowering the seesaw. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the stunt to go off the rails. Dunn fell off and was immediately chased by the bull, who proceeded to slam into his back. Bam bailed without his partner and Pontius fell off not long after, leaving Knoxville all by himself with the violent animal. He was thrown around like a ragdoll, and it’s a miracle that he didn’t get seriously hurt. You know it’s bad when Pontius isn’t laughing and Steve-O is covering his mouth in shocked concern.

“Jackass” (2000-02)
The show is positively tame when compared to the movies, but the cast still saw their fair share of injuries. Case in point - Bucket Cars. This stunt saw Bam and his buddies riding down a hill in wheelbarrow-like carts and going off ramps. Bam was pushed off a shoddy-looking wooden ramp and flew out of the cart, with his back landing on the hard lip on the way down. His pain was obvious, and he immediately declared that his tailbone was broken. Dunn, ever the great friend, simply laughs it off and makes a quip about humans not needing tailbones anymore. Bam’s immediate diagnosis was right, as the footage then cuts to him in the hospital receiving a rather crude x-ray depicting his broken tailbone.

“Jackass 3D” (2010)
Here, we have the infamous jet engine stunt from “Jackass 3D”. The premise was simple in execution, but definitely not in budget - stand behind a jet’s powerful exhaust and do silly things, like try to catch a football traveling at mach-10. Or hold an umbrella and jump off a trampoline. That is exactly what Loomis Fall did, and it resulted in a pretty nasty injury. Director Jeff Tremaine told MTV that Fall broke both his hand and collarbone performing the stunt. It’s definitely one of the more serious injuries that a “Jackass” performer has ever endured, which isn’t exactly surprising given the nature of the stunt.

“Jackass Number Two” (2006)
Sometimes a prank fails before it even gets off the ground. In this case, quite literally. “Jackass Number Two” looked to resurrect the popular “Keep God Out of California” prank from the show, which sees Pontius dressed as the Devil and walking through crowded streets while proclaiming his hate for God. The bit begins hilariously enough, with Pontius being launched out of a hole. However, he landed on his head and the skit sort of just fell apart. Pontius wasn’t very committed to the bit, slurred words, and stumbled around while mistaking the number of states. In the end, he simply stated that he was “f-ed” before walking away, ending the skit after thirty seconds.

“Jackass” (2000-02)
Skateboarding is dangerous enough. Never mind blindfolded skateboarding. Danger Ehren rides through a skate park while blindfolded and wearing a stunt suit, and while he continually falls, he suffers no serious injuries. That is, until he decides to drop-in on a 4-foot vertical ramp. He doesn’t so much ride the ramp as he does fall straight to the ground, his full weight bearing down on his right arm. The kids’ audible gasps says it all. The footage then cuts to Ehren recovering from the fall, his reddened hand physically twitching. Ehren credits it to “the nerves in [his] hand” going haywire. Whatever is causing it, a twitching limb cannot be good.

“Jackass: The Movie” (2002)
The first movie was significantly crazier than the show, and it didn’t take long to prove it. One of the first bits was Golf Cart Antics, which saw Knoxville, Bam, Dunn, and Brandon DiCamillo riding golf carts around an abandoned course and performing goofy stunts. Dunn decided to drive over a pig statue, but it ended up flipping the cart and sending both him and Knoxville crashing to the ground. Knoxville got it the worst, as he was caught inside the cart and landed on his head. Luckily, and somehow, he was not seriously injured in the crash.

“Jackass Number Two” (2006)
The concept of The Brand is simple - Dunn heats up a phallus-shaped branding iron and pushes it into Bam’s butt cheek, leaving behind a funny imprint. Unfortunately, Dunn proves way too cautious and Bam jumps around too much, resulting in a slew of different shapes and figures. Dunn ends up branding Bam four different times, much to Bam’s pain and frustration. Furthermore, the brand ended up giving Bam a nasty infection. When he ends up showing his mother three days later, she’s so shocked that we’ll spare you the gory images. There was really no winning here.

“Jackass: The Movie” (2002)
For the first movie, Johnny Knoxville decided to take on professional boxer Butterbean inside a random department store. Butterbean has been professionally boxing since 1994, weighs over 370 pounds, and has 58 wins by knockout under his belt. Knoxville is Knoxville. The fight goes as well as one would expect. It lasts mere seconds and ends with Knoxville unconscious, quite literally snoring on the ground.. It left him truly dazed, and he can barely comprehend what he’s seeing upon waking up. Knoxville later told GQ that he suffered a concussion and experienced vertigo for some time after the fight. At least it gave us one of the all-time great Knoxville lines - “Is Butterbean OK?”

“Jackass Number Two” (2006)
One of the most memorable stunts in “Jackass” history, the Big Red Rocket failed through no fault of a stuntman’s own. Rather, Knoxville was nearly taken out via an unfortunate mechanical failure. The rocket exploded while taking off, sending a piece of shrapnel hurling out the side and into the water. As Knoxville later shows, the shrapnel was mere inches away from his chest, with a few degrees here making all the difference. Luckily, Knoxville takes it all in stride, even laughing after telling the camera what the outcome could’ve been.

“Jackass Number Two” (2006)
The closing number of “Jackass Number Two” resulted in a slew of accidents and injuries. (xref) Preston Lacy was hurt after flying 20 feet into a camera stand. (xref) Knoxville was crushed by a prop building after panicking and moving away from the cut-out window. But perhaps the worst fate befell Ryan Dunn. Dunn and Bam were yanked off their feet by a horse, and Dunn injured his shoulder in the landing. The injury resulted in a life-threatening blood clot, as the clot was situated near his heart and brain. The treatment and stress caused Dunn to become depressed, and he withdrew from the public eye for multiple years. It showcases both the physical and mental toll that “Jackass” has taken on its stars.