Professor Splash (born March 8, 1961) is the show name of Darren Taylor. Taylor is an American show diver from

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. He is well known for breaking high diving records using small pools. He holds the ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' for highest shallow water dive. Taylor has been on

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

's ''

Stan Lee's Superhumans ''Stan Lee's Superhumans'' is a documentary television series that debuted from August 5, 2010 to September 17, 2014 on History. It is hosted by Marvel comic book superhero creator Stan Lee and follows contortionist Daniel Browning Smith, "th ...

'' and explained the form of his famous dive. Taylor appeared on Discovery Channel's ''

Time Warp Time travel is a common theme in fiction, mainly since the late 19th century, and has been depicted in a variety of media, such as literature, television, film, and advertisements. The concept of time travel by mechanical means was popularize ...

'' and set a world record dive captured on slow motion cameras. In 2011, Professor Splash appeared on NBC's ''America's Got Talent'' as a part of the auditions that took place in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. He received a "yes" from all three judges and advanced to the Las Vegas round. From the Vegas round, he advanced directly to the live quarterfinals without having to perform. In the quarterfinals, he jumped 36 feet 7 inches into the water, setting a new ''Guinness'' world record. From that height he hit the water traveling at approximately 53 km/h (33 mph). He was chosen over Seth Grabel in Judge's Choice, advancing into the semifinals. He was eliminated in the semifinals and did not advance to the top 10. Professor Splash was the only performer in 10 seasons to set two Guinness records. He appeared on ITV's ''Red Or Black?'' in the U.K. at Wembley Arena, ''Red Or Black?'' Kiev, Ukraine, Outrageous Acts of Science on

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, man ...

and "''Minute of Fame''" in Moscow, Russia. He was also on ''Česko Slovensko má talent 2012'' (another version of ''Got Talent''). Professor Splash would come out of retirement to participate in the second season of the

Go-Big Show ''Go-Big Show'' is a televised American competition series that premiered on TBS on January 7, 2021. In contrast to other talent shows, ''Go-Big Show'' focuses on bigger scale performances featuring monster trucks, horse riding and large stag ...

were he come in second place.

References

America's Got Talent contestants American male divers Living people Male high divers Sportspeople from Denver 1961 births {{US-entertainer-stub