AMC reality show Freakshow follows a real freakshow Venice Beach, CA, and instead of just focusing on drama, it really shows in the ins and outs of this special type of performance art.
The Thursday night episode of the show was centered around a special Sword Swallowing Event. Sword swallowing regulars Morgue, Murrugun The Mystic, and Brianna Belladonna all prepared special stunts. Murrugun decided to do the “Rocket Sword,” a motorized sword that would go down his throat so fast that if he doesn’t bite down fast enough, he risks puncturing the bottom of his stomach. He’s the first person in the world do ever do something like this. Morgue was going to swallow a huge ball first, followed by a sword. When he performs the stunt, he actually turned the sword once it was in. Brianna was going to swallow three swords instead of her usual two, and owner Todd Ray’s 20-year-old daughter Asia Ray wanted to learn how to do the craft for the show.
Asia on her sword swallowing ambitions: “I just think it’s so cool to have this appearance of being cute and classy and then whippin’ out all these crazy stunts that make guys pass out!”
Sword swallowing is not a trick, and is very dangerous. Swallowers are actually pushing a metal sword down their esophagus into their stomach, and learning to do this kind of thing in a short amount of time is no easy feat. Brianna let Asia in on some of the things she should expect, including having her stomach acid come up through her nose, a lot of pain, and finding that it gets easier with time as the muscles involved get stronger.
Training to swallow swords starts with swallowing coat hangers to eliminate your gag reflex and help your body get used to the act. It’s also good because it can bend easily if something goes wrong (and, obviously it doesn’t have a blade.)
Asia was told to practice over and over every day until she got it down. You have to apply some pressure to the sphincter, a muscle that easily opens when we’re enjoying a nice meal, but needs a little help when we’re trying to shove a long metal object into our stomachs.
Asia’s dad Todd was worried about his daughter learning sword swallowing, but he fought his first instinct to stop her from doing and instead urged her to be safe while helping educate her about the background of sword swallowing.
Asia Ray
Tood showed Asia pictures of one of the most famous female sword swallowers Edith Clifford, saying of Clifford “She really proved to men that ‘Not only are we equal, but I can do what you can’t do’ at a time when women couldn’t even vote.” He even gave Asia an Edith Clifford button to wear for good luck.
Edith Clifford
These types of stunts are fascinating, but are inspirational at their core. As Brianna points out, when we witness someone do something we thought was impossible, it can change our perspective on how we live our own lives. We’re not all going to try to swallow swords, or be acrobats, but we might be motivated to push ourselves a little further, and dream a little bigger.
Follow Brianna Belladonna on @BriBelladonna
Catch Freakshow Thursday nights at 9:30 on AMC.
