Purdue alum's TV show features Rube Goldberg machines

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Zach Umperovitch, a 2011 Purdue alumnus, recently debuted "Crazy Contraptions," a competition show that focuses on the fun and intricate engineering involved in Rube Goldberg machines.

Rube Goldberg machines are chain-reaction machines where a task is accomplished in an overly complicated way. These machines are named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, whose cartoons would often depict tasks being done in convoluted manners.

Umperovitch is a Rube Goldberg Machine expert who first began posting his contraptions on YouTube channel 12 years ago. Today, he is a co-host and judge on "Crazy Contraptions," a show of his own invention.

"So someone had called me in 2020 having seen my YouTube channel," Umperovitch said. "...I get a lot of calls, I get a lot of external projects building these machines for companies, and people have asked me if I wanted to do a show. And (the offers) were always half-baked. This person was willing to listen to me and we communicated for nine, 10 months."

"Crazy Contraptions" debuted its pilot episode on April 29 on UK's Channel 4. While filming and airing takes place in the UK, the show will come to North American audiences in the coming weeks.

"There's been a little bit of a problem with Channel 4 'cause, originally we'd say 'Yes, allow (other) countries to view it.' Now, they're kind of like 'eh,'" Umperovitch said. "It's going to be out on Discovery+ soon, within the next month."

Umperovitch got his Purdue bachelor's degree in geology and geophysics in 2011 and his master's degree in 2014. He explained his experiences at Purdue greatly influenced his interest in chain-reaction machines which eventually lead to the creation of "Crazy Contraptions."

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"Being a student at Purdue for eight years, all years, I was a part of the Rube Goldberg competition," Umperovitch said. "My second year, I actually took over the Purdue Society of Professional Engineers. Having won a national championship there, and then I moved on to actually running the competition. At Purdue, I broke two Guinness World Records for building the longest machine ever with my team.

"And that's really what started getting the notoriety of being able to do these bigger projects. The calls started coming in from that. But it certainly was everything about Purdue having the competition hosted there, being able to do my studies as well as having the ability to build these machines on campus that really made all this possible."

Umperovitch also recently had a hand in the opening scene of the "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" (2022) film. In the beginning of the film, Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik builds a Rube Goldberg machine to take down invading enemies. Umperovitch created the design for the on-screen machine.

"It's at the very beginning," Umperovitch said. "It's where Dr. Robotnik is stuck on the planet. It's just made out of pure mushrooms and rocks. I think it's literally in the first minute of the movie."

The remaining episode of "Crazy Contraptions," seven in total, with air weekly on Fridays at 8 p.m. BST. While a second season of the show is "99%" confirmed, Umperovitch also has additional plans on the horizons. 

"In the background of all of this, I'm in the middle of writing a how-to book on how anybody can build these machines," Umperovitch said. "...Our scheduled release is Fall 2023. There's gonna be 24 brand new machines featured in this book. And I have to get them done by Summer."

Margaret Christopherson is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email her at mchristopherson@jconline.com and follow her on Twitter @MargaretJC2.