'Balloon family' Wife Swap episode scrapped
Re-run of 'balloon family' appearance in Wife Swap episode pulled from US TV schedules
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Wednesday, 21, Oct 2009 10:58
By Matthew Champion.
The cable channel which acquired the rights to Wife Swap re-runs in the US has said it will not show an episode featuring the family embroiled in the alleged balloon boy hoax.
Richard and Mayumi Heene face charges of conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and attempting to influence a public servant over the supposed disappearance of their son in a helium balloon last week.
After six-year-old Falcon Heene was discovered to be hiding in his parents' attic and nowhere near the 'weather balloon' his father had created, detectives and viewers expected a hoax.
Full story: Balloon boy 'was hiding in the attic'
Falcon appeared to give the game away in a live interview on CNN when he said "you guys said we did this for the show" when asked why he did not come out of the attic when he heard his parents calling.
Local sheriffs have claimed Mr and Mrs Heene orchestrated the entire episode to secure themselves their own reality TV show, having appeared on ABC's Wife Swap in the past year.
On Wednesday the cable channel Lifetime pulled a scheduled re-run of their episode, which was due to air on October 29th.
"It was on the schedule long before the incident," a spokesperson said.
"Once we found out [it was allegedly a hoax] we decided to pull it off the air. At this time, we don't have any plans to air it in the near future."
Viewers can still see a preview of the episode on YouTube, however.