Bungee jumping resumes at Stratosphere

Grace Leong

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 11:51 a.m.

Two Californian television producers -- Road Rules Productions Inc. and Bunim/ Murray Productions -- won a court order Wednesday allowing them to complete filming of a bungee-jumping competition off the Stratosphere hotel-casino tower.

A Stratosphere official said the event resumed Wednesday after the hotel-casino cancelled the competition on Tuesday afternoon because of concerns about wind conditions. Only four of 12 scheduled jumps had been executed by then.

The jumping, which began Tuesday morning from the 660-foot level of the Stratosphere, is the first of 10 tightly scheduled nationwide events kicking off the Real World/Road Rules Challenge 2000, a program being produced by Road Rules and Bunim/Murray for MTV.

The Challenge is made up of two six-member teams from MTV's "Real World" and its adventure show "Road Rules." The winning team gets $100,000 in prize money.

A Clark County District Court lawsuit said Bungee Safety Consultants Inc. and Bungee Masters Inc., which organized, prepared the equipment and oversaw the bungee jumping activities, allegedly became concerned that wind conditions were unfavorable after the fourth jump on Tuesday, and therefore postponed further jumps until weather conditions were acceptable.

The suit said the National Weather Service's forecast for Wednesday showed ideal wind conditions.

The two television producers said they were informed on Tuesday afternoon that Stratosphere's chief executive thought the jump had gone on for too long and did not look safe and that he was concerned about potential lawsuits. Stratosphere security personnel were allegedly sent to stop the event, the suit said.

The plaintiffs alleged Stratosphere's claim that it may face lawsuits was unfounded because they had gone beyond the call of duty to make the jump safe and controlled and indemnified the hotel-casino from any liability for injury or damage.

As agreed on Monday, in return for permission to "photograph, cablecast and videotape record" the bungee jump event, the plaintiffs would provide Stratosphere with advertising and promotional opportunities, and provide $22 million in primary and excess liability insurance coverage for the event, with the defendant also insured under the policies.

"My clients just want to finish the challenge, and they have worked this out with the hotel," said Randall Jones, the plaintiffs' attorney. "But I can't tell you yet whether the suit will be dropped."