Cowichanians wax poetic and land on TV

Three local lads have waxed their way onto America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Chemainiacs Simon de Laat, David Wohland, and Duncanite Jared Smith, all chasing filmmaking careers in Kelowna, used video skills from Chemainus high school to produce their entry on AFHV’s Assignment America.

It demanded waxing exploits for $10,000 prize money.

The boys didn’t win the dough but got on the popular show in August.

Their appearance shot in L.A. airs Oct. 5 on the ABC network.

The threesome’s poetic waxing was shot in January featuring four scenes in 1 1/2 minutes.

Grocery-store staffer Smith, 23, is seen getting various parts of his body waxed, then pulled off in wacky ways.

“Jared gets waxed in all the clips as the rat of our experiment,” said audio-visual worker de Laat, 22.

“He’s by far the hairiest of the three of us.”

Wax on Smith’s chest is yanked off via a string tied to de Laat’s car.

Wax on his upper stomach is pulled off by a string attached to bicycle while a string attached to a skateboard removes wax on his lower-stomach.

Finally, wax on Smith’s back is pulled off via a rope when a weight is tossed off a roof.

“I feel a little used but in a good way,” admitted Smith.

“It wasn’t that painful; I guess girls just complain more about waxing.”

Added landscaper Wohland, 22, “We found some stuff (wax) that doesn’t need to be hot.”

De Laat confirmed watching waxing action in the cornball flick The Forty-Year-Old Virgin didn’t inspire him and his buddies, but they have watched AFHV since they were kids.

The guys praised encouragement of their filmmaking talents by Chemainus secondary teachers Irene King and Ron Nunweiler.

“They were probably the biggest influences for all three of us,” said Smith.

“Pretty much all of our Grade 11 and 12 was making movies for various projects.”

He and the boys were the first AFHV entrants to score tickets to L.A. to appear on the show, plus some spending money.

“That’s better than the prize money,” said Smith.

They’ve bought new high-definition camera gear to continue making films through their company stillManic.

De Laat’s mom, Anyes, is proud of the boys who also won an award back in high school for shooting an anti-smoking video.

“Watching them grow up and follow their dreams is heartwarming as a parent.

“I told them ‘Go share your gifts with the world’ and it’s so beautiful watching them do that.”

Some of their waxing antics appear on youtube.com/user/stillManic.