Project Damocles

Here we go again. Seems like most of my news this year has been about Guinness World Records, so it's only fitting that I should see the year out with one last record-breaking adventure: a few weeks ago I set the record for the heaviest object to be sword-swallowed. I wanted something spectacular so I decided to up the ante on my signature act The Jackhammer Swallow by swallowing his big brother, a 38kg demolition hammer.
This created all sorts of technical difficulties - the bit was 25mm thick (1 inch), I couldn't lift 38kg above my head and if I did figure out a way of getting it up there and down my throat, how was I going to stop it from falling over and splitting me open from the inside? To make matters worse, I wanted the hammer to be running. I mean, why bother, unless you're going to do the thing properly, right?
After a couple of months development I settled on winching the hammer into position mechanically then lowering it down manually until I was carrying all the weight. Two guide tracks stopped the hammer from falling out of alignment when I took my hands away. Guinness regulations stated that I had to support the weight of the hammer for at least three seconds for the claim to be valid. This kind of act often can't be trained for too close to showdate because of the risk of small injuries that would render the show impossible. I did the final test swallow two weeks before and then started training my neck and face for the weight. A few days before the show I drove to the RTL studios in Cologne, Germany, where the show was going to be filmed live.

You can see the result here.

You can see in the video that the hammer jammed on the guides and by the third attempt I started to think it wasn't going to happen, especially when I realised I was struggling to lift the weight. I found the force for one final push and the runners thankfully ran freely on the guides. A few more seconds of pain and the job was done: the fourth record this year.

Time to rest! See you all next year for more adventures.