Doofus Of The Day #663

Today's winner, like yesterday's, comes from England.

Children at a shopping centre in Reading saw Santa Claus make an unusual entrance after his beard got stuck in the rope he was abseiling down.

Steve Chessell - from 11th Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers - spent 40 minutes suspended 15ft in the air before being rescued by his colleague Marc Hilton, as hundreds at Broad Street Mall looked on.

The 32-year-old arrived to cheers but laughter broke out when it emerged he had become stuck.

'Say "hello Santa!". Ho, ho, ho hello Santa,' the shopping centre's announcer had said. 'He always likes to make an entrance. He's used to coming down chimneys, but we've never seen this before.'

. . .

Stephanie Maynard, the shopping centre's marketing manager, praised Chessell for his professional approach to playing Father Christmas.

'He could have just taken his beard off and let himself down but he was such a professional and he didn't want to let the children down,' she said.

'He lost his footing as he came through the hole in the ceiling and there was a sudden jolt and he got caught in the clip on the rope.'

There's more at the link.  Here's a video clip of Santa's unfortunate arrival.

What would have been even funnier is if Santa had ridden one of his reindeer down the rope, and the latter's antlers had gotten tangled up.  Perhaps they can try that next year.  Talk about being on the horns of a dilemma!



Peter