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"Mad" Mike Hughes may have blacked out and that's why he failed to deploy backup parachutes moments before his fatal rocket crash ... TMZ has learned.

Mike's rep, Darren Shuster, tells TMZ ... the daredevil's launch got off to a terrible start when his parachute got snagged by a ladder next to the rocket. Mike needed a ladder because he didn't wanna be lifted into it, as they had initially prepared.

When the parachute got snagged, Mike's ground control crew radioed Mike and ordered him to deploy his backup parachute. There were 2 backups on the rocket. Problem was ... the ground crew never got a response from Mike.

Shuster tells us Mike's crew believes he may have blacked out with the rocket taking off at around 500 MPH. Shuster believes if Mike blacked out, it could very well explain why he never deployed his backup chute.

The timing for deploying the backup chutes was also critical ... Mike would have had to deploy the backup before he hit his apex because if he was descending at too high of a speed, it would have ripped a hole in the chute. But, Mike never got the chance.

As we reported ... the amateur rocket-engineer launched himself in the air with a self-made rocket that crash-landed. The incident was captured on camera after it was highly publicized.

Mike was attempting to get as close to space from Earth as possible -- known as the Karman line, about 62 miles above Earth's surface without the use of advanced tech.

'90 Day Fiance' star Alex Brovarnik leaped into action and became a real-life superhero while vacationing with his wife, Loren, in the Bahamas ... saving a man from drowning.

The former reality TV star -- whose journey from Israel to the States was documented during season 3 of the show -- was out in Nassau over the weekend when he spotted a clearly intoxicated young man make his way out to the water and begin to go under.

What happened next was nothing short of incredible ... he literally pulled the guy's limp body back to shore and began trying to help him regain consciousness as a crowd formed. In video of the heroic moment, you can hear the cameraman cheer him on. Rightly so!

Loren wrote of the situation, "My husband was watching a guy who was beyond intoxicated, who was with his 'friends' who just stood there and watched! The man went into the water and about drowned!"

She continued, "We are meant to be in a place in time for a reason! Alex and his friend Sean were meant to be at this beach, at this exact time because if not, who knows what could have happened!" Sounds like the dude eventually came to -- Loren says his life was saved.

Loren and Alex are one of the few success stories from the show. They're married, obviously, and are currently expecting their first child together. Alex also finally got his citizenship all these years later.

Bernie Sanders is on the go all the time -- which seems to have given him a momentary case of a campaign brain fart as he accidentally boarded the wrong jet.

The Democratic front-runner was spotted Saturday making his way off of a private Gulfstream between campaign stops in South Carolina and Massachusetts -- the latter being where he held a rally at Boston Common ahead of Super Tuesday.

Fact is ... the S.C. primary looks like it's gonna go to Joe Biden, as he's well ahead of everyone else in the latest polls. Looks like Bernie's cutting his losses and moving on.

As for this little mix-up here, it's kinda funny. Bernie's been flying all over the country for different campaign events -- so the guy's definitely busy and has a preoccupied mind at the moment. Mistakes like this (getting on the wrong Gulfstream) are bound to happen.

Some have criticized Sanders for flying private at all -- seeing how he rails against billionaires and elites. In fact, earlier this month ... he was spotted boarding a private aircraft while Liz Warren got on her own jet as they both flew back to D.C. from different locations just 36 minutes apart. The implication ... they coulda flown together, spared the air, etc.

Down in South Carolina, someone alleged he had as many as three Gulfstreams to himself to get somewhere just a couple hours away. Unclear if that's true, but here's something to keep in mind.

Oprah took a tumble during a speaking tour stop ... and then ditched the two things that appeared to be the cause.

The TV juggernaut was at the Forum arena Saturday in L.A. as part of her 2020 Vision speaking tour, and the topic of discussion on the monitor behind her was "Wellness: All things in balance." Welp, it looks like balance worked against her, 'cause she lost hers.

She was talking about her definition of wellness, which included balance. She says, "Wellness to me means all things in balance. And balance doesn't mean all things are equal or at peace at all times." Oprah then went down hard, but seemed okay. She said, "Wrong shoes!"

Video of the immediate aftermath was also posted on social media, and yeah ... it looks like the shoes she was wearing (heels, maybe) were responsible for the collapse. Again, not to worry, everyone -- O was, in fact, okay in the end, and it appears she even swapped those pesky trippers for some more reliable ones eventually.

Not before going barefoot for a bit though! Some users got pics of Oprah walking around the stage on her own two feet for a bit, with one person even saying she danced to "Old Town Road" at one point.

A beauty vlogger is under fire after she posted a video in which she bragged she beat the hell out of her 2-year-old daughter for ruining her makeup ... adding her hand hurt from the beating.

The "influencer" is Michelle Grace, and people are now calling for an intervention or at the very least a Child Protective Services check  ... but Grace is defending her actions.

Here's what happened -- Grace shared a video titled "My Toddler Ruined My JSC Alien Palette|Now I'm sad..." on her YouTube channel, and went on to say "My 2-year-old just got her ass beat" ... all while her child can be heard crying in the background.

Grace continues by explaining her daughter found her Jeffree Star Cosmetics eye-shadow palette and another palette and ruined them ... even though she's told her in the past to not do such things. Reminder -- the daughter is 2.

By the way ... Grace grouses she doesn't know what to do ... she says it's like she has to put her makeup in a safe to keep it away from her child. Well, that's a better solution than beating her.

That's not all ... Grace later reiterates how badly she "beat the crap" out of her child to the point she injured her own hand.

Though the beauty vlogger's fans are shocked, concerned and appalled ... Grace defended her parenting skills and later on Twitter, said her girl is intelligent and knows right from wrong, and justified the physical discipline as teaching a lesson.

Grace also claimed her hand hurt before the incident ... and some of her daughter's crying was due to taking her iPad away.

She added ... "And I know a lot of parents might not agree with me ... but I don't normally, I don't normally spank my child, unless I really have to, and usually, it's just a pop. And it barely hurts. She cries for like, five seconds."

"The Most Magical Place on Earth" became the wettest place for a group of theme park guests who got caught on a sinking vessel ... the park's famous Jungle Cruise.

One of the boats at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando started taking on water, which meant everyone onboard had to trek through the water, and try to climb to dryer conditions.

As you can see, there wasn't much wiggle room, but it's an amusement park -- no one was in danger of drowning here. Just a soaking inconvenience.

As you can see ... the Jungle Cruise waterways are pretty shallow.

The boat, named the "Bomokandi Bertha," reportedly sank around 12:30 and caused the ride to be shut down for nearly 2 hours. During that time the wet passengers were safely unloaded -- no injuries, besides wet socks -- and the boat was towed away.

Ya gotta hope everyone at least walked away with FastPasses for their troubles. Titanic this ain't. In fact, kinda reminds us of another "dangerous" river crossing.

Famed tightrope walker Nik Wallenda's not the least bit shaken about his upcoming volcano stunt after another daredevil's recent death -- 'cause he says life or death is just his thing.

We got Nik out Thursday in NYC, and wondered if he's at all concerned about walking over the very active Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua next week. That will come on the heels of daredevil "Mad" Mike Hughes' fatally crashing a rocket in California.

Nik, who last summer tightrope walked 25 stories over Times Square, says there's no doubt he's risking his life but this is the business he was literally born into, and risk is just his reality. That being said, Nik admits he has some logistical concerns ... with the volcano itself.

He says the acidic gases it emits add a layer of stress. Nik, who is training with wind machines and an oxygen-deprivation mask, said the volcanic gases could pose a real threat to the wire. Then there's the heat, but oddly he's less worried about that.

Cedric The Entertainer says the cop who arrested a 6-year-old girl over a school tantrum did more damage than he may realize -- because the kid's probably scarred for life.

We ran into the comedian Wednesday at LAX and asked him to weigh-in on the arrest of Kaia Rolle in Orlando last year -- a disturbing incident that was captured on bodycam footage and just recently released to the public. Cedric didn't hold back on how messed up it is.

He spells it out pretty clearly ... treating children like adults, especially in a legal setting, is absolutely wrong -- and a much different approach should've been taken by all involved.

More importantly, though, he tells us part of the reason youth grow up not trusting law enforcement might have to do with the fact stuff like this can actually happen. He seems to be implying that cops themselves set the tone when they pull these kinds of stunts.

If you haven't seen the video yet, brace yourself ... it's quite upsetting. You see 2 officers -- one of whom has been ID'd as Dennis Turner, who was subsequently fired over this -- enter a room where Kaia is being read a book by a school official. She's then taken out to the police car with a zip tie used to hold her hands behind her back ... and she's fully bawling.

Apparently, cops were called in this case because Kaia had allegedly assaulted some of the campus workers ... but that's no excuse to take her in like this, so says Cedric.

If you've ever wondered how Amazon can get packages to people so damn fast, get a load of this ... it might just answer your question.

TMZ got footage of a remote location just east of L.A. where the online retailing giant stashes hundreds of delivery vans ... literally at the ready in a hillside dirt parking lot. Check out the clip, it's an impressive sight ... rows upon rows -- each at least 100 deep -- of vehicles parked side-by-side.

BTW, this isn't Amazon going rogue and plopping its fleet in a random open space -- like much of L.A.'s real estate lately ... Jeff Bezos is paying for this space. Although, he didn't buy this one yet ... Amazon's just renting.

Ya gotta figure Amazon has similar hidden storage spots all over the country.

Naturally, that might lead to more criticism of Bezos himself, who's been grilled lately for not being quick enough to offset Amazon's massive carbon footprint on the environment. Ya still gotta give him credit for recently starting a new Earth Fund with billions of dollars of his own cash.

Lil Nas X got his week started with what looks to be a brand new music video -- and like he has in the past ... it seems he's about to wow us with a crazy production.

The rapper was filming Monday atop a parking structure in Downtown L.A., where a set had been built resembling an intricate tree house of sorts. It ain't your usual kid-built MacGyver job either ... the "houses" almost look like apartments.

Check it out ... you see people coming in and out of the entrances, including LNX who had an interesting outfit on -- blue coat, brown pants, and polka-dotted shirt underneath. Feels like this thing could get pretty wacky.

Remember, Lil Nas is known for his over-the-top music vids -- which are top-notch and pull out all the stops on visual effects, props, set design, costumes ... and of course, animals.

His most successful song and video to date is "Old Town Road," which has racked up over 440 million views on YouTube. His other videos haven't really come close to that, but they're just as highly produced and elaborate. Based on what we see here, he's keeping that going.

The big question, of course, is what song this could possibly be for. He already did videos for his 3 big singles off his debut EP, "7," and has recently teased "new bangers" in 2020.

Joe Burrow's NFL career might be over before it even began ... and it's all because of his small mitts!!!

Of course, the Heisman winner and projected #1 overall pick's small paw dilemma was revealed prior to the NFL combine this week ... with his hand measuring 9 inches from thumb to pinky -- which would tie for the smallest QB hands since 2008.

Now, the tiny hands didn't stop Burrow from leading the LSU Tigers to a perfect season and posting some of the best QB numbers the sport has ever seen ... but people like to freak out over this kinda stuff.

Burrow decided to break his silence over the reports on Monday ... and he faced the music with some good, old-fashioned comedy gold!!!

"Considering retirement after I was informed the football will be slipping out of my tiny hands. Please keep me in your thoughts," Burrow tweeted.

The monster is back in Jesse James' garage ... he's returning to reality TV after a 14-year hiatus with a reboot of his hit show.

Jesse is coming back to Discovery Channel with a brand new season of "Monster Garage" ... and he's coming in hot too. We're told the garage will be filled with upgrades, including some cutting-edge technology ... and a renewed passion for creating mind-blowing vehicles.

In the 14 years since "Monster Garage" ended, Jesse's been traveling the world, expanding his skill set in forging and blacksmith work -- learning from some of the best in the biz -- and now he's ready to unleash his new talents.

The first run of "Monster Garage" went like this -- Jesse and his 5-person team would modify vehicles into multi-tasking machines. For instance, there was a PT Cruiser that doubled as a wood chipper, a school bus that turned into a pontoon boat, and a police car that could morph into a donut shop.

It was cool stuff back then, but now Jesse says he's excited to step back into the garage to push the limits even more by showing what his team can do when they refuse to quit.

The reboot premieres later this year ... get ya popcorn ready!!!