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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
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 FIRST PERSON 
27

How I Helped Plan the Balloon Boy Hoax

Scheme was a campaign to return to reality TV: researcher

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(Newser) – Balloon boy Falcon Heene's father, Richard, planned the hoax because he wanted to return to reality TV, claims a former research assistant. Heene "was often driven by ego and fame," Robert Thomas says in an interview with Gawker, which the website acknowledges it paid him for. "He was all about controversy, hoping to whip up something significant enough to eliminate our reality TV competitors."

"Richard had an ongoing dialog with someone at ABC who helped  produce Wife Swap," on which the family had appeared twice, Thomas says. Heene apparently believed that shape-shifting aliens were controlling the government, "and the only way to get the truth out there was to use the mainstream media to raise Richard to a status of celebrity, so he could communicate with the masses."

Richard Heene's balloon is held for evidence in the Larimer County Sheriff's evidence area in Fort Collins, Colo., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009.
Richard Heene's balloon is held for evidence in the Larimer County Sheriff's evidence area in Fort Collins, Colo., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009.   (AP Photo/Will Powers)
Richard Heene and his 6-year-old son, Falcon, emerge from the family home in Fort Collins, Colo., Oct. 15, 2009.
Richard Heene and his 6-year-old son, Falcon, emerge from the family home in Fort Collins, Colo., Oct. 15, 2009.   (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Graphic gives some details about the construction of the Heene family's balloon
Graphic gives some details about the construction of the Heene family's balloon
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Larimer County, Colo., sheriff Jim Alderden announced that the "balloon boy" incident was a hoax.   (ArshaAsterakibigfan)

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27 comments
VIEWING:
 
Cat-Lover
Oct 18, 09 3:20 PM CDT
Now I want the agencies abused by this hoax to bill Heene for all expenses incurred so that taxpayers aren't stuck with this. Take his house if necessary -- since so many others are losing theirs for no reason, let him lose his for a reason! Reply
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+13
IN RESPONSE:
Dictator
Oct 18, 09 3:30 PM CDT
um people are losing thier houses because they pick houses that are out of thier salary range... there is one reason for you.
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0
IN RESPONSE:
BeatBlaster
Oct 18, 09 4:02 PM CDT
Yeah.... "losing theirs for no reason" - sorry - people ARE losing their houses for a reason and unfortunately a common reason seems to be that people bought a home that was really outside their means. No one just loses their house for no reason. If that were the case I think we'd be even worse off now.
Vote up! Vote down!
+8
IN RESPONSE:
cochiserocks
Oct 18, 09 5:46 PM CDT
True dat - the whole point about a recession is that a bubble just burst - and that bubble feeds on credit - and credit can only ever be a short term thing.
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+4
IN RESPONSE:
proud_prude
Oct 19, 09 12:25 AM CDT
I think Cat-Lover is referring to the fact that millions of ordinary Americans who were victimized by unscrupulous mortgage brokers and bank appraisers are losing their homes and no one stepping in to bail out them (or even to provide assistance such as lower interest rates) on the scale that investment bankers have been guaranteed their bonuses and jobs.
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+7

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