By Chelsea Hirsch for the New York PostOriginal Source: thesun.co.uk

THE Jackass crew mesmerised and shocked the world with their hilarious and, at times, truly dangerous stunts.

The likes of Johnny Knoxville, born Philip John Clapp Jr, became superstars in the process but it led many of them down a path of alcoholism, drug dependency and even suicidal thoughts.Knoxville conceptualised Jackass in 1998, pitching a story to several publications in which the then-27-year-old would test different self-defence tactics on himself.Jeff Tremaine, then a 32-year-old Big Brother magazine editor, greenlit Knoxville’s idea and asked him to film the process.A year later, a 19-year-old Bam Margera released Landspeed: CKY with Brandon DiCamillo.In the movie, Margera performed stunts in his hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania, alongside the CKY (Camp Kill Yourself) crew, which included Ryan Dunn, Rake Yohn and Chris Raab.t gained traction in their skateboarding community, and in 2000, they released a second film, CKY2K.MTV picked up the show, and Ehren "Danger Ehren" McGhehey, Stephen "Steve-O" Glover, Jason "Wee Man" Acuña and Preston Lacy were added to the cast.Margera’s mother, April, saw how the show’s seemingly instant success changed the dynamic for her son and his friends.“When that show came to town, it pushed everything we already knew about CKY and filming in the house to...click here to continue reading