The man building a nuclear bomb shelter for Kim and Kanye

If you’re the kind of person who purchases a nuclear bomb shelter, then society probably classes you as one of three things: filthy fucking rich, clinically insane or just well-prepared.

In the 2016 box office smash 10 Cloverfield Lane, John Goodman’s unhinged everyday American builds one right below his farm, kidnapping two strangers just before the apocalypse kicks in. However, according to Clyde Scott – a 38-year-old outspoken Texan, who owns Rising S Bunkers, the “largest underground shelter company in America” – these “outdated” stereotypes are starting to fade.

Thanks to a Trump-led America, he says everyday Americans are now waking up to the fact owning a shelter is a “necessary” part of life and claims that since Trump’s inauguration his orders have risen by up to 400 per cent. Scott, who builds underground bunkers for everybody, from doctors to Kanye West and Kim Kardashian (yes, you read that correctly), says you’d be crazy not to invest in one. 

Hey Clyde. So talk me through how one arrives in the nuclear bomb business?

Clyde Scott: I was born into a family of “preppers”. A prepper is someone who always thinks ahead and prepares for the worst-case scenario, alright? Now, I was in the storm shelter business about 12 or 13 years ago, and I had a woman ask me to build her a storm shelter, but she said she wanted something 40-feet long. She wanted the whole works – bathrooms, beds, sinks, camera systems – and it got me thinking, she isn’t wanting no ordinary storm shelter, but a survival shelter. A light bulb went off in my head and from that day forward I have been so busy I can barely keep up. 

So what kind of shelters do you guys offer? 

Clyde Scott: The lowest end that I sell is $45,000 and that’s delivered and installed anywhere in the US. That’s what I call an eight-foot by 12-foot mini bunker. It has water filtration, air filtration, blast valves, sinks, showers, toilets, a camera system, a solar energy generator. But, in all honesty, what I build just depends on how deep someone’s pocket is. We can build a $100m shelter if someone wants it. My higher range starts at $8m and those shelters have Jacuzzi tubs, a swimming pool for exercise and are about 40 feet long and 15 feet wide. Did you hear about Kim and Kanye getting one built? Yeah, that’s one of ours. I’m sure Kim’s will have a pool too. But look, my clientele goes up way higher than her.

“Did you hear about Kim and Kanye getting one built? Yeah, that’s one of ours. I’m sure Kim’s will have a pool too. But look, my clientele goes up way higher than her” – Clyde Scott

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West doing breaststroke while nuclear holocaust breaks out is an interesting concept... 

Clyde Scott: Here is the deal, it is hypocritical when you see Hollywood (doing stuff like 10 Cloverfield Lane). Here is why: so many Hollywood stars have their managers call me and order them bunkers, then they get on TV and go with the mainstream media and they ridicule us. They are hypocrites!

I had one project in Texas. This guy has a giant house on a golf course in a gated community. I built an underground shooting range in his nuclear bunker; “just for practice” is what he said. I know Trump has several bomb shelters. I didn’t make any of them but I might be doing some add-ons for his one up in Colorado.

So Trump is preparing to go underground? 

Clyde Scott: Absolutely. I’m 95 per cent sure World War 3 is coming and here’s why: Trump appointed "Mad Dog" James Mattis as his secretary of defence. He’s the biggest warmonger in history. We’re what, 21 trillion dollars in debt? The reality is they cannot tax us any more so the answer is “let’s go to war”. It’s pretty easy to figure out. 

Since Trump has been in office our sales have gone up 300 per cent to 400 per cent and that’s because people know he won’t back down. If Iran, China or Russia threatens us, we will most likely go to war and nukes will be used. Our national deficit is so bad, and you and I both know what makes money – it’s total war.

“My advice for people in the US...is to go down to Colorado Springs and invade the government’s 400,000 sq ft bunker” – Clyde Scott

Say this actually happens and the bombs start to fall. How can you prove your bunkers actually work? 

Clyde Scott: Our blast valves and air filtration are very easy to test. In fact, we use the same air filtration and T.E.D.A. carbon that the military uses. So the technology we build with has already been tested successfully thousands of times, probably, millions of times, by the US government. 

I’m broke and can’t afford one of your bunkers. Any advice?  

Clyde Scott: I would buy dry food, even if you don’t have a money for a bunker. Here is what you do, this technique is called “Caches”. Go to a hardware store, buy some six-inch diameter PVC pipe, which is that plastic pipe used for construction in sewers. I want you to glue some ends on them and make them four foot long. Get a threaded cap to go on the end of it, and fill it up tight so it won’t leak water. Go on the internet and order military-level dry foods and water. Buy it, dig holes in different areas of your property and stick the pipe in there stuffed with food and water. Look, if the power shuts off tomorrow in the UK, you won’t find food in the grocery store. You’d starve. You can’t say you’ll go and kill a cow, as people will already be doing that. It will be chaos. 

Thanks for the advice. So is the stigma around bomb shelters fading? 

Clyde Scott: I have done stuff for every kind of celebrity you can imagine, but I’d say my average customer is just your working man, who has a family that he wants to prepare for the worst. Look, if you buy your groceries for the week ahead then you’re already a prepper. There really isn’t much of a difference.

My advice for people in the US, and you can quote me on this, is to go down to Colorado Springs and invade the government’s 400,000 sq ft bunker. Do whatever you’ve got to do. Take over it. Why is the life of a politician more valuable than life of a working man? It is not. Guess who paid for their bunkers? We did. You did.