Ranking The ‘Jackass’ Crew Based On How Often They’ve Flirted With Death While Performing Stunts

Johnny Knoxville and the rest of the beloved Jackass crew shocked the pop culture world earlier this year when they announced that a fifth film in the franchise, and its last, would be hitting theaters this summer. Titled Jackass: Best and Last, you can put the house on the stunt work icons wanting to go out on a high note.

The first episode of Jackass premiered on MTV in the year 2000 and consisted of 25 episodes across three seasons. Movies were then released in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2022. With the release of Jackass: Best and Last, that will amount to a quarter-century and hundreds of hours of physical abuse and mortal risk that most of us regular people can’t even imagine happening to us accidentally, let alone on purpose.

But for all their antics, what defines Jackass isn’t the crew’s humor, but their bravery, as they put their bodies, hearts, and minds on the line for the sake of entertainment, to make people laugh. For a series known for its juvenile humor, it’s a conversely remarkable and noble ethos.

To celebrate the release of Jackass: Best and Last later this month, we decided to rank the top five Jackass guys based on how often they’ve flirted with death over the last 26 years.

Ranking the Top 5 Jackass crew members based on how dangerous of stunts they’ve performed over the years

5. Preston Lacy

Not to discount Preston Lacy’s stones — perhaps small in stature but mighty in spirit (he’s been in his birthday suit on camera multiple times) — but as the crew’s resident big fella, that means there are simply roles only he can fill. To Lacy’s ultimate credit, he always does.Consistently used as the crew’s human projectile — whether he be the one in the air or the one to be landed on — and has crushed, launched, and generally beaten up in a way that’s unique to him compared to his crazed compatriots.

Top 3 Most Dangerous Stunts:

3. The Bungee Jump — linked to Wee Man and launched off a bridge
2. Human Ramp — skateboarders and a moped launched over a ramp placed directly on top of him
1. The Field Goal — Josh Brown kicks a football toward his face

4. Chris Pontius

Chris Pontius might actually be the most underrated, at least as far as putting themselves in harm’s way is concerned, member of the team. While some of his most famous stunts involve his apparel — Party Boy and dressing as the Devil — his catalog of “stunts that could potentially end in disaster” is surprisingly deep. And that’s not even counting his work on Wild Boyz.

3. Whale Shark Gummer — he and Steve-O filled their trunks with shrimp and went diving to attract whale sharks.
2. Toro Totter  — getting gored by a bull while sitting on a seesaw
1. Mountain Lion Slap  — face-to-face with a potentially deadly big cat

3. ‘Danger’ Ehren McGhehey

His nickname is Danger, after all, which — after largely seeming like one of the more-bullied members of the Jackass crew — is undoubtedly a sign of respect among a group whose livelihoods are literally that very thing.

Top 3 Most Dangerous Stunts:

3. The Merry-Go-Round — being thrown off a car motor-powered merry-go-round at high speed, headfirst into the ground
2. The Big Tire Race — rides down a hill inside a giant tire with Dave England
1. The Bear Stunt — covered in honey and salmon while a grizzly bear attempted to bite both his hand and his privates

2. Steve-O

Ironically, Steve-O’s greatest flirtation with death came when the cameras weren’t rolling, as the now famously 18-years-sober former Wild Boyz star had a well-chronicled battle with addiction.

Getting sober in 2008, Steve-O’s last three Jackass movies — Jackass 3, Jackass Forever, and the upcoming Jackass: Best and Last — have come during his sobriety, proving that Steve-O’s daredevil ways remain even without the substances: on Jackass: Forever, he was hospitalized with Johnny Knoxville doing a treadmill stunt and broke his collarbone in a separate stunt that was ultimately cut from the theatrical release.

Perhaps the most infamous instance of Steve-O’s pre-sobriety ways came in Jackass: Number Two‘s Fish Hook, in which he pierced his own cheek with a fishhook and dove into shark-infested waters. The movie prior, he walked a tightrope over alligator-infested waters.

Top 3 Most Dangerous Stunts:

3. Poo Cocktail Supreme — launched into the air inside of a poo-filled porta-potty
2. The Fish Hook — pierced his own cheek with a fishhook and dove into shark-infested waters
1. The Marching Band — jumping onto a full-speed treadmill in a marching band uniform sent him to the hospital in a neck brace

1. Johnny Knoxville

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. There’s a reason why Johnny Knoxville is the king of Jackass and the face of the franchise, and it’s not only because he’s nearest in the crew to having movie star looks and charisma: Knoxville has earned his place atop the heap.

Knoxville has said it himself — he’s been “almost dead five or six times” and logged 16 concussions confirmed across the franchise, and likely suffered more that went undetected.

His commitment to being the boldest Jackass member — and the toll that takes — was never more evident than in Jackass Forever, as his latest bull stunt, “The Magic Trick,” left him with a broken wrist, broken rib, concussion, and brain hemorrhage.

Top 3 Most Dangerous Stunts:

3. Department Store Boxing — got knocked out by Butterbean and gashed his skull
2. Riot Control Test — shot in the stomach with a less-lethal projectile; the crew explicitly told him a chest shot would likely kill him.
1. The Bull Stunts — self-explanatory