A Windsor man is taking his talent from the ring to national television.
Mixed-martial Arts (MMA) fighter Chucky Mady, who has already made a name for himself with his martial arts prowess, is now appearing on City TV's "Canada's Got Talent." His talent isn't mixed-martial arts, though. It's ripping open drink cans with his mouth.
Mady, 33, had his first appearance on the episode that aired Tuesday night, ripping open 41 beer cans within a set period.
He told Windsor's Country morning host Morgan Ryan that he had a way to focus on his attempt while doing it for the CGT judges.
"I taped 24 cans in one colour so I wouldn't have to keep counting them in my head, and the rest were a different colour," said Mady. "So I knew once I passed those cans that were one colour, I knew I broke my record. So I didn't have to count. I just focused on doing my thing."
His previous record of 24, which placed him in the Guinness Book of World Records, was shattered with 41 on the show, and it won over three out of the four judges. Mady said one judge he hoped to reach was Howie Mandel.
"I knew Howie loved world record attempts," said Mady. "So I'm like 'why not?' He's one of the main judges, so he'll have some say, and he'll persuade some of the other judges if they don't like it. And Lily [Singh] loved it."
While Mady has the documentation to show Guinness he broke his record, he had another motivating force behind him. Mady suffers from alopecia, which is a condition resulting in hair loss, and he said he endured bullying in school because of it.
"I was picked on as a kid," said Mady. "I have alopecia areata, which is an autoimmune disorder that keeps me from growing hair. I had bald spots so I just shaved my head, and I was picked on. So, that gives me my competitive drive to do better and do more. I was the underdog story."
Mady posted on his Instagram account on Tuesday night that he was moving through to the semifinal round. See how far he'll go when "Canada's Got Talent" airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on CityTV, its website, and app.
