NORWICH – A Norwich boy will be featured on the ABC show, America's Funniest Home Videos Sunday.
In the submitted clip, Ryan Baker, who was a 5-year-old at the time, can be seen shoveling snow along the Sheldon Street sidewalk in front of his home as his mother Sarah Baker records the effort.
The clip will run at 7 p.m., Oct. 31 on ABC.
At one point Ryan, puts his snow shovel to the walkway in front of him and begins pushing it with both his hands on the handle. Ryan picks up speed and as he’s racing down the sidewalk his shovel’s blade suddenly catches an uneven surface and comes to an abrupt stop. Ryan then collides with the handle and is “pole vaulted over the shovel like superman,” and crashes into the snow, said his father, Jim Baker.
The scene was filmed right before Christmas last year.
“He didn’t get hurt, he lands in snow laughing,” said Sarah. “I showed the video to family members and everyone kept wanting to watch over and over. They kept telling me I should send it in to America's Funniest Home Videos. I sent it in in February and they picked it on Feb. 25.”
Jim says he still laughs just thinking about the scene.
“When I was out shoveling he’d come out to help and I saw him doing the same thing he was doing in the video and I told him not to do that because it might get caught, and that’s exactly what happened in the video. When he’s older, I’ll remind him, ‘I told you so,’” he said.
“I think it pretty amazing,” Baker said. “A kid in our small town does something funny like this and it’s caught on camera at just the right time. Now it’s going to be on national television, and everyone in the country will a chance to see it.”