k9tales catches up with Gerald Lewis - aka Gerry ‘The Player’ – star of the Extreme Shepherding YouTube hit to talk to him about life as a celebrity…

Welsh farmer and sheepdog trials competitor Gerald Lewis is baffled and quietly amused by the international media attention he has been receiving following the overnight sensation of the Extreme Shepherding video.

The video, made by London-based The Viral Factory as a viral advert for Samsung, has been hitting the headlines around the world as millions log on to view it.

“I never expected this to happen, it’s got a bit out of hand really,” said Gerald at Llanddeusant sheepdog trial.

“I’ve had endless phone calls and some interesting texts. My kids are taking the mickey all the time.

“People have been amazed at what working sheepdogs can do. There’s an American film crew visiting me for an Animal Planet feature this week and I’ve had the BBC’s The One Show on the phone.”

Gerald’s road to stardom all began back in February with a phone call from neighbour Bernard ‘The General’ Llewellyn.

A location manager had visited Bernard, who lives at Carreg Cennen Castle, to discuss filming the advert. They needed someone with good working border collies so Bernard contacted Gerald.

The filming took place over two days on Carreg Cennen land using Bernard’s sheep. Gerald worked his trusty companions Spot, Pip and Flash to help create the baa-rmy video.

“The film crew were really good. They had all sorts of crazy ideas, but we worked with them and did our best. The dogs did most of the work,” said Gerald.

“It’s good advertising because it draws attention and has also created a lot of interest in the people taking part.”

The advert sees a giant sheep walking the hillside, a night-time game of 1970s video gaming classic Pong, a recreation of the Mona Lisa and ends in a bang with a fireworks display – all using a total of 43,200 LED lights and a dash of technical wizardry.

It wasn’t just the sheep that were lit up like woolly Christmas trees. The dogs also had to wear LED jackets for the night scenes.

Gerald said: “I didn’t think the dogs would accept the jackets while they were working. We had to get smaller batteries and move them from the underside of the jackets to the collar and on their backs. Then they were fine, it didn’t bother them at all.”

Part of the filming for the Pong feature was done in the daylight, but didn’t make the final cut.

“We filmed bits of the Pong game in the light. It took a bit of doing to get the ‘bounce’ right,” said Gerald.

“There was a bit I was really chuffed with. I saw it being played back on the monitors and thought ‘that’s it, it’s perfect’ but they didn’t use it in the end!”

As darkness descended the flock of sheep was reduced to around 50 for the next bit of filming.

Gerald added: “It was interesting working in the dark. You could see the sheep lit up and the dog, but you didn’t know which way the dog was facing!”

For the fireworks display the crews wanted Gerald’s dogs to run straight through the sheep to scatter them and create the look of exploding fireworks.

“I had to work out how to get the dog through to get the right effect,” said Gerald.

“So I stood at 12 o’clock with the dog at 6 o’clock and called it through to shed the sheep. Then we moved around in a circle, calling the dog through each time until the crews had got what they needed. It was great fun.”

Responding to his celebrity status Gerald added: “I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn’t know what to expect. I think I can handle the fame – it’s a bit of a sideline!”

If you are one of the few people who haven’t seen the Baaa-Studs and their hilarious Extreme Shepherding film, click here.

Read the report from Gerald's Llangadog sheepdog trial here.

View the pictures of Gerald and the competitors at this year's Llangadog trial here.