Britain's Got Talent was flooded with complaints at the weekend after a daredevil was shown on the talent show swallowing a sword.
Andrew Staunton looked straight through the judging panel as he graced the stage, ignoring Simon Cowell's greeting before he started his act.
The silent massage therapist was then joined by an assistant, before skulking down to a platform right in front of the judging panel of Simon, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli. He clambered on before unravelling a red velvet sheet to reveal a large sword.
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With paramedics on standby, Andrew then tied his hands behind his back with rope, before bending over and cocking up the blade with his mouth. He then slid it down his throat, before standing upright and allowing gravity to pull it further down.
After his trusty assistant removed the sword, he bowed and made his way back to the main stage. But his act was far from over, brandishing another three blades before beginning to swallow them all at once. At the halfway point, his assistance re-appeared with a frying pan - and started bashing the blades down further.
With the judges forced to look away in horror, and hosts Ant and Dec visually in shock - Andrew attached a weighted rope to the swords, before tossing it away from him to pull them from his mouth. For his grand finale, he called upon the help of 52-year-old Amanda - requesting that she attach two chains to her belt, before suspending her with his eyes.
After his stunt was complete, the judge said: "I only saw the first part of your act because believe me I had my eyes shut for the rest of it. We've been doing this show for 16 years and we've never seen anything like it," while Simon agreed: "Nothing."
He went on: "I say this as a compliment, it was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in the history of Got Talent."
The Mirror reports that after the performance, Ofcom reported 71 complaints received through the show which 'were related to a sword swallowing act'. And many other viewers took to social media to vent their disgust.
One wrote: "I think the sword guy was too much for a family show. I do not think it was appropriate at all and worries me that youngsters may try something like this themselves," while a second, added: "Amazing but appalling multiple sword swallower on #BGT. I’m not sure what the alleged paramedic in attendance could have done in the event of an accident …"
A third, penned: "Setting yourself on fire and sword swallowing is really not talent at all it’s just stupidity, neither is half the people that’s on here, the other half are great but I think the ones that’s not really do make a bit of a mockery of it all #BGT."
What did you make of the performance? Let us know in the comments.
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