Saturday, January 22, 2011

It was fine until I ran into the glass wall... says the tennis court streaker with 1 million hits on YouTube


A British builder who became a global internet sensation after footage of his disastrous attempt at streaking was put on YouTube has spoken of his embarrassment.

Tom Annandale, 28, a site manager for a building firm in Manchester, stripped while on holiday in Spain and planned to run around a tennis court.

But Mr Annandale, who is single and from Wilmslow in Cheshire, had not realised that the court was enclosed by a glass partition.

Now scroll down to see the video (Warning: Graphic content)

Court in the act: Tom Annandale approaches the tennis court
Ouch: The streaker unwittingly runs into the glass

Court in the act: Tom Annandale approaches the tennis court then unwittingly runs into the glass

Ouch: Builder is thrown backwards
Tom is left with a bruised body and ego

Game over: He is thrown backwards and left with a bruised body and ego before running away

A friend filmed him running straight into the glass wall and bouncing off on to his backside. The footage of him falling down and running off in shame has been viewed more than a million times since it was uploaded on to YouTube by a friend 12 days ago.

The clip, entitled ‘Streaker Fail’, left fans pondering the identity of the streaker.

Unmasked: Streaker Tom Annandale, 28, a site manager from Wilmslow, Cheshire

Unmasked: Streaker Tom Annandale, 28, a site manager from Wilmslow, Cheshire

‘When I did the streak, it was our first day on holiday. We’d been down the beach surfing and we were having a few beers by the pool,’ Mr Annandale told The Mail on Sunday.

‘Everyone was tired but I thought, if I do a streak round the tennis court, it will make the lads laugh and get everyone up for a night out.

‘I knew that it was on video but I have a proper professional job and didn’t really want it out there.’

Mr Annandale explained how the streak went wrong.

He said: ‘I didn’t realise they were playing in an enclosed court. I am 6ft tall and weigh 16 stone and set off full pelt for my streak.

‘It was fine until I hit the glass wall. I split my forehead, bruised my shoulder, knocked my knee and was in agony, but the worst part was the embarrassment.

‘I had these stunned tennis players looking at me, all the lads laughing, so I just got up and ran off.

‘It’s very embarrassing as professionally I am a project manager for a construction company and have about 65 men on site in Manchester.

‘Obviously, if I’d realised there was a glass door on that tennis court, I’d have opened it first.’

Mr Annandale graduated with a business studies degree from Worcester University in 2003 and spent a year as a rugby player in the US for the Huntington Beach team in California.

Susan Boyle set a YouTube record in 2009 when her Britain’s Got Talent performance of the Les Miserables classic I Dreamed A Dream was watched 93.5 million times in 11 days – receiving 18 million more views than Barack Obama’s inauguration address.

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