N.B. man pogo jumps into the bigtime on Britain's Got Talent show
Duncan Murray of Burton, near Oromocto, has jumped onto screens on two different continents now.
The 23-year-old recently appeared on Britain's Got Talent, after appearing on the Canadian version of the popular show, performing eye-popping tricks on a pogo stick.
Murray launched himself nearly 10 feet in the air, doing back flips and leg kicks on the stage in front of a live audience.
He then asked the show's two hosts, Ant and Dec, to come on stage.
Murray had them stand side by side and proceeded to pogo-jump high over top of them — an astonishing feat.
"As much as I'd like to say, 'Oh I thought of this for months and practised, I trained,' it was totally impromptu," Murray told Shift of his performance.
Murray says his long-term goal is to be a pogo-stick performer in Las Vegas. (DuncanPogo/Instagram)
He said he hadn't been on a stick for two months prior to his performance because of the Canadian winter.
"I kind of just planned it out in the hotel room the night before," Murray said.
He earned a standing ovation and a "Yes" from all four judges and is now waiting to hear whether he has qualified for the semi-finals.
He was first featured on Canada's Got Talent as part of a trio in April 2023, with extreme pogo athletes Micheal Mena and Harry White.
WATCH | Local pogo performer gets a 'yes' from Simon Cowell:
This time around, Murray was asked by Britain's Got Talent producers to do a solo act.
"They kind of found me," he said. "They messaged my guy at Xpogo for some pogo talent to go overseas and it just so happened that I fit the bill."
Murray said performing as a solo act is "totally different" and a much bigger challenge.
"When you have multiple people, you can kind of take breaks ... but I did the whole thing solo and that is super exhausting," he said, "When you get tired, the risk just goes up and up."
Murray's performance on Britain's Got Talent earned him a standing ovation from the judges. (Submitted by Duncan Murray)
In his five-year career as an extreme pogo-stick athlete, he has earned two Guinness World Records.
Murray achieved the record for the highest single jump on a pogo stick at 6.57 meters, or 21.55 feet, and for the fewest pogo-stick jumps in one minute, at 37 jumps.
How it started
Murray said he got his first pogo stick as a child and performed tricks with it at his Grade 5 talent show.
He eventually outgrew that stick and lost interest in the sport for a couple of years, but regained his passion in 2019.
"I graduated high school and spent all the money I got from graduation on this super air-powered pogo stick and I've been doing it ever since," he said.
Unlike the pogo sticks you might remember from childhood, this one does not have a spring.
Instead, the sticks required for doing extreme sports are pneumatic, meaning they are hollow inside.
"I fill it up with a valve, just like you would a car tire, so it's a giant air shock, essentially," said Murray.
The sport is still not very well-known, with just a small community of about 30 pogo-stick athletes around the world.
His long-term goal is to be a pogo-stick performer in Las Vegas, but he's also still in school.
According to his website, duncanpgo.com, Murray is also a student at the University of New Brunswick studying "Sport & Recreation, and Business Administration."
