By his own admission, John Haze has a pretty unusual job. A professional fire eater, he is the founder and director of the Circus of Horrors. His show features sword-swallowing, voodoo acrobats, face-piercing and other stomach-churning, bizarre human acts — all performed to rock music.
Mr Haze, aka the “Undead Ringmaster Doktor Haze” has taken his circus to Chile, Uruguay and, most recently, around the UK. He is considering a stint in Israel.
Mr Haze tells People: “Lots of people do jobs they don’t really like and live for the weekend. I am the complete opposite. I love my job and hate not working. I have been all around the world with it.”
Mr Haze, who founded the Circus of Horrors in 1995, says he was born in a circus. “My dad was a lion trainer. I ran away from the circus to have a bash at rock’n’roll and the Circus of Horrors is an amalgamation of all that.” He has since appeared on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV and at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. He also does barmitzvahs.
The circus does not feature animals. Instead, acts include the fork-tongued Hannibal Helmurto, who swallows a sword with a camera attached to the tip; and Professor Daniel Von Henry, able to open a beer bottle with his eye.
Is it not dangerous? “It’s a calculated risk — no more dangerous than being a motor racing driver,” says Mr Haze. But, in the words of the website, the show is “not suitable for chavs, sissies, closed-minded bigots and people of a nervous disposition”.