Building ancient Roman weapon earns Blackfoot man’s team $20K on History Channel show
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BLACKFOOT – Brad Groesbeck is still trying to figure out how to use the money he won after his recent TV appearance.
The 53-year-old Blackfoot man recently appeared on the competitive reality series “Forged in Fire,” which aired on the History Channel (also known as History). The show revolves around building bladed weapons. The contestants, who are typically blacksmiths or woodworkers, are part of a three-person team tasked with building a certain item in an allotted time.
Groesbeck was on the show with Daniel Fagergren and Kory Heaton, both from Hurricane, Utah. They built several items together, but it was their construction of a ballista, a weapon used in ancient Rome to launch stones, spears, arrows and other objects, that earned them a victory.
His team took home $20,000, which is about $6,600 apiece.
Groesbeck tells EastIdahoNews.com he and his wife can’t agree on how to use the money.
“I was going to take her on a trip, but she wants a new refrigerator,” he says, laughing. “We’re still figuring it out.”
Though the episode aired last month, it was filmed nearly a year and a half ago in New York.
Groesbeck was invited to be part of it after Fagergren applied to be on the show. One of the people Fagergren had chosen for his team ended up going on a cruise and couldn’t make it on the day of filming. Groesbeck was a last-minute fill in.
“My friend (on the cruise) called me later and said, ‘I’m sure glad it’s you going and not me because I don’t think I could handle the pressure,'” Groesbeck says.
DID YOU KNOW…
Before the Industrial Revolution in the 1870s, the blacksmith was a “jack of all trades” who made iron and provided tools for just about every type of occupation. That’s according to Osgood blacksmith Justin McMurry. When Henry Bessemer developed a process for producing steel by removing impurities with a blast of air, blacksmiths appeared to no longer be a necessity.
From about 1870 to 1950, the blacksmith almost disappeared completely. Then in the 1970s, there was a resurgence of the trade focused on artistic production. The Artist-Blacksmith’s Association of North America was formed in 1973 to “preserve and promote blacksmithing as an art and a craft.”
Today, there are between 5,000 and 10,000 blacksmiths in the U.S., according to NPR. Of those, only 10% do it professionally.
Groesbeck has worked as a blacksmith for 29 years. He got his start making horseshoes before getting a job with a blacksmith shop in Alpine, Utah. That’s where he and Fagergren met.
They specialized in making handrails, sconces (candle holders), chandeliers and other items by hand.
Today, Groesbeck forges part-time while holding down a second job assembling drills and farm equipment.
“I’ve fixed all kinds of things for people who can’t find parts. I end up making (the parts) and putting it back together for them,” he says.
The name of their team on the show was The Flying Monkeys, which was inspired by the Hurricane Mesa Testing Facility in Utah. During the 1950s, the U.S. Air Force tested rocket ejection seats at this site. Monkeys were strapped in and launched on a 12,000-foot track at speeds that exceeded 1,000 mph.
Groesbeck and his teammates will be appearing on the show again soon, but he isn’t sure when it will air.
He is grateful for his experience on “Forged in Fire.”
“It was a great time. I really enjoyed it. The crew was really good to us,” says Groesbeck.
