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You have to be completely bonkers to build an apocalypse bunker beneath your back garden.
Or to look at it from the other side, you could be that creative genius who has had the foresight to build a safe shelter in case the world gets wiped out in an epic disaster.
Whatever your views are on this, one thing’s for certain – YouTuber Colin Furze’s metal-encased digs look pretty cool – especially after being kitted out with other inventions like an ejector bed and Assassin’s Creed hidden blade and rope launcher.
The 36-year-old former plumber built the bunker in partnership with Sky 1 for their new show You, Me And Apocalypse. And we were just dying to know more about it…
1. Why would you build a secret bunker (that’s not so secret really) underneath your garden in Stamford, Lincolnshire?
It’s a kind of childhood dream. We lived next door to a quarry where we used to build underground dens. We’d find a hole and get some corrugated iron and cover it.
So this is like an adult version of that – a lot better obviously.
However, I can’t make YouTube videos and hope nobody watches them. If I had built the bunker in the middle of a field (in a secret location), no one would have cared about it.
The fact that it is at the bottom of a domestic back garden is what makes it more interesting.
2. How big is this bunker and, more importantly, will it actually survive a nuclear attack?
It’s 16ft x 20ft and can hold up to 20 people quite easily.
And it’s also quite solid and is basically a steel box reinforced with 60 cubic metres of concrete. Then you’ve got soil in there on top of that.
Would it survive a direct bomb hit? I do not know but if you have one just over the road, I think it would be alright.
3. So were there any unexpected surprises… after all, you were building an apocalypse bunker?
I was surprised with how little top soil I had in my garden.
There was just an inch of top soil and it was all solid rock below that. And that meant the whole digging process took a bit longer than we thought.
Other than that, there weren’t any unexpected surprises – we never found any skeletons of dinosaurs or anything.
4. What did your neighbours think of your mammoth project?
Surprisingly, they were quite supportive.
I was a bit worried at the start. We had diggers on the site and a lot of the digging was done in August – in the middle of summer when people would be out sunbathing in their gardens.
It was the construction phase I was most concerned about, but now that it’s done no one can really see it. The landscape hasn’t changed – the only thing visible are just the vent pipes.
I had a lot more visitors during the construction – clearly it sparked a lot of interest. People came knocking at the door, some of whom I hadn’t seen for years!
5. It must have cost a lot to build the bunker…
It WAS expensive. Put it this way – I haven’t had the house valued yet so I don’t know whether it will have added enough value to the house to warrant doing it.
So let’s just say its more than a bag of fish and chips.
6. Did you find the project daunting at times?
I think the most daunting moment was when the hole was finished.
I was looking at this massive hole and thinking ‘Oh my god, this is huge! I am at the point of no return here’.
It seemed a lot bigger as well – like when you throw a tent on the floor it looks very big, but when you put it up, it’s actually not that big.
7. How did you do go about building your bunker?
It was quite simple really. Literally, what you do is you build a massive hole with a steel box in it.
It’s unlike any other of my inventions where you actually have something that has to work – where there are all sorts of different mechanisms.
Building control officials came from the local authority to inspect it.
But this in simple terms, it is just a metal box in a hole.
8. Where did you do your research?
Research? I didn’t do anything… (laughs Colin)
9. Did you get any help?
I had my mate Rick helping me a lot. It’s not really one-man job.
The sheet steel we were using were a 100 kilos each.
We had somebody else come and dig the hole, and obviously the cement company who dropped the cement in, but it was Rick and myself who did most of the work.
It took us two-and-a-half months to finish the project. You could do it in 34 days but, obviously, I was doing it knowing that the world wasn’t going to end.
10. So what’s the bunker like now?
It’s a slightly Colin Furze museum. Some of my inventions are in there.
We are not in an apocalyptic situation so this is basically the ultimate man cave – with a flat screen TV, surround sound, gaming consoles and because you can make all the noise and no one can hear you, there is a drum kit.
The toilet isn’t very private – but I guess that wouldn’t matter if it was the end of the world. It has a generator as well as a water supply.
However, I don’t want to rely on fossil fuels for the main power so that’s something for me to look at next year.
11. Are you tied to your house now?
Well… I don’t think I would ever sell it.
The worst case scenario is that I would rent it out to somebody. I would also keep the keys to the gate and the shed so I would get down there if I needed to.
But yes, the bunker does tie me to that house pretty much.
12. Are you part of a YouTube community?
I am bit of a loner on the internet really, nobody else really does what I do.
There isn’t any ‘making crazy inventions’ community.
13. So you see yourself as a rather niche YouTuber?
Well, you could look at it as actual skills being involved in creating the videos – it’s not just talking to the camera and waving your arms around.
And I think that’s why there’s only one person doing it, you know.
Not dissing the vloggers or anything, but my, some of them have got an easy job.
But I like what I do. Am pleased that it’s good, people enjoy it and there’s a bit of creativity in there. I’m not copying anyone else, so yeah, I am very, very happy with what I am doing.
14. Will you open the doors to the public?
Nah. I have thought about it but I don’t want people trampling through my garden.
After all, this is my house and I live here.
There will be some calls and maybe an open day or something, but who knows.
15. Will your next invention top THIS?
Well, I am a random sort of person. I made a bed that chucked you out in the morning. And then I went and made something completely different.
You don’t worry about wanting to top it, you just keep on doing what you like to do.
My next invention might probably skew off in another direction and might not be as big as building a bunker, but hopefully it will be something cool.
You, Me and the Apocalypse airs on Wednesdays at 9pm on Sky 1. Check out Colin’s bunker videos here.
