Shelby Stanga
Update 7/1/2013: While little information exists regarding The Legend of Shelby Stanga, we have been able to confirm that it is true. Shelby Stanga’s Facebook page has confirmed that he WILL be getting his own spinoff starting August 6th.
What ya’ll think about this? From Dirk Hoogstra, Executive VP and general manager of HISTORY, “We have this guy who has been a great character within Ax Men and we’ve given him a shot at his own series. His name is Shelby Stanga, and the show is called “The Legend of Shelby the Swamp Man”, which we love as a title. He’s an amazing character. He’s another one of these guys who lives off the grid, lives off the land, has all kinds of crazy things that he does to earn a living. He’s a dreamer and a schemer,” Hoogstra says, “a backwoods entrepreneur always trying to figure out how he’s going to get his next buck.” Gonna put the Stanga on us on August 6th!
So there you have it people!, it doesn’t get more official than that!
Original story: The Legend of Shelby Stanga
Let me step out of my Josh suit for a second and be frank with everyone: If you’re not a fan of Ax Men on the History channel then you’re no friend of mine. Alright. Now that that’s out of the way and I’ve surely offended all the girly-men, it’s just me and my fellow lumberjacks. Since all of us here are Ax Men fans, I’m sure you all like to spend your time between seasons doing what I do, watching YouTube clips of your favorite moments from past seasons. I inevitably end up watching the crazy antics of my favorite Ax Man, The Swampman Shelby Stanga.
I’m not so naive as to believe everything that happens on the show is 100% real. In fact, I’d say the overwhelming majority of it is staged. However, when they head down to the bayou to see what Shelby is up to, I get a little excited. I have to believe that man is every bit as nutty in real life as he seems to be on TV. From the crazy things he says, to the strange people he recruits to help him pull logs, Shelby is the most interesting, fun part of the show. Without him, I probably would have stopped watching a long time ago.
So I’m watching some clips of Shelby doing his Shelby thing, when I come across this:
Imagine my surprise and utter joy! Shelby’s getting his own show?! All Shelby, all the time?! I was giddy as a schoolgirl! I hadn’t seen this commercial before! I immediately did some googleing to find out more. And this is where it gets strange folks. I can’t find a shred of evidence that this show exists! I know my internet skills are comparable to those of a 98 year old paraplegic Amish woman, but it’s not hard to type “the legend of Shelby the swamp man” into the search bar. There’s no info on the History Channel’s website. Nothing on Imdb. Wikipedia turned up zilch. I’ve watched hours of programming on the History Channel since discovering the YouTube clip, and still have not seen the commercial.
So what do you think? Is this some elaborate hoax? Is it a government conspiracy? Did Elvis really shoot Kennedy? I get the feeling this is just the beginning of (queue dramatic music)
The legend of The Legend of Shelby the Swampman?!?!!??!!
(Also, you’ve got to love a show where they use the phase “get wood” all the time. Heh. Gets me every time.)
