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Freddy Pittman
Freddy
Pittman was born and bred in Australia. From an early
age he was fascinated with Aussie wildlife and regularly
used to bring home snakes and spiders to play with,
probably in part to frighten his sister.
Following
a 'Funnel-web in the teacher's draw incident', he
left school determined to make his mark on the world,
working all over Australia in jobs such as Jackaroo
and Deep Sea Fisherman.
It
was while he was stuck in Kalgoorlie, trying a spot
of mining and unable to leave because of, shall we
say, a misunderstanding with the police...that he
came up with an idea to introduce the joys of 'Aussie
bushtucker' to the rest of the world. Munching on
kangaroo stew and witchetty grubs with the locals,
he realised that most people were missing out on something
truly fantastic. Deciding then to learn and teach
all he could about it, he spent 4 years at university
gaining a degree in science and communications.
Arriving
in England for the first time, he soon got distracted,
and in a scenario that mirrors 'Barrie McKenzie's
Adventures' in the 1970's film - he was offered a
feature role in a series of advertisements for the
launch of '7UP lite'. Says Freddy: "Yea, they
had me looking like a total wally. I was wearing tartan
trousers with a midrift top, and singing 'Drink that
brand new 7UP lite boy' to the tune of 'Play that
funky music' while dancing in a lift! From then on,
I couldn't go for a beer without the whole pub breaking
into song and doing the 'liftdancing' impressions!
After
leaving the UK in a hurry, Freddy travelled around
the world and again became passionate about bushtucker,
eating giant waterbugs and scorpions in Thailand and
roasted tarantulas in Venuzuela. Upon returning to
Australia he saw an advertisement for 'The World Insect
Eating Championships' to be held in the UK in 2005.
He saw this as an opportunity to introduce Aussie
bushtucker to the Poms, and to emulate his Aussie
sporting heroes' successes all at the same time.
Freddy
set about creating the world's-first 'Insect-Eating
Boardgame', and also went into heavy training for
the championships, living on a diet of locusts, wichetty
grubs and ants.
After
shipping 300 kilos of dry-roasted Australian insects
to the UK to be included in his revolutionary game
"The Bushtucker Challenge", Freddy returned
there to take on the world in one of the weirdest
World Championships ever contested. He competed against
entomophagists from countries including Brazil, Canada,
Spain, Italy and the USA, powering through to the
final against a hard drinking Pommy Publican on the
same day the Australian cricket team was crumbling.
Footage
from the now legendary final was shown on over 200
channels worldwide with Channel 10's Jessica Rowe
reporting: " Forget the Ashes. Our sporting honour
has been restored with an Aussie beating the world's
finest....bugeaters."
Following
the momentous win, Freddy launched "The Bushtucker
Challenge" to huge acclaim in the UK with National
newspapers rating it - "...The most perfect game
ever invented" and "Likely to cause the
most extreme reactions since the advent of strip poker!"
He soon became the darling of the chat shows, getting
the hosts to munch 'Slow Cooked Crickets' and 'Zoophoba
Worm Omlette' - becoming known in the UK as 'Bushtucker
Freddy'.
Upon
returning to Australia, Freddy was booked by Sam Righi
to support 'The Pat Cash Allstar Band' on their Sydney
tour with his unique blend of audience-participation-insect-eating
and stand up routines.
Freddy
now runs World Champ TV Productions and is currently
travelling Australia filming a documentary, and he
still enjoys the occasional witchetty grub.
Website
Freddy
Pittman official website - Bush Tucker Challenge
Profiles
Guinness
World Records
Australia
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