Duct Tape, Explosives, & 300 Water Balloons

[OBie]

So I was at the Renaissance Festival yesterday and this guy called Dextre Tripp was doing his "Danger" show. Intrigued, my daughter and I stopped and ended up sitting down. He kept telling the audience that everyone would have a chance to be involved in the show 'in a big way'.

So he gets to his final trick which featured - you guessed it - duct tape, explosives and 300 water balloons! I have to say, it was the first time I'd ever seen anything like it - and I've been seen plenty of Ren Fest shows in the past.

Here's how it went. He had a pre-made slab of two rows of firecrackers mounted on a square of duct tape (said it was the equivalent of 2 sticks of dynamite) held together by - duct tape. He then had an audience member use duct tape to attach the explosives to his torso - wrapping the duct tape completely around him! Then, audience members were asked to come forward and get 2 water balloons each and stand on either side of the stage. He was going to climb up a free standing ladder and balance (he had done this earlier), light the firecracker string, and then, on a signal, the audience was to let fly with the 300 water balloons to put the fire out/cool him down/save his life. It was pretty cool.

[megan]

That is completely brilliant. Love the photos of it!

[WesternGuy]

I guess everyone has to have a hobby! This would not be mine.

Interesting sequence of images though!! :thumbsup:

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[Dylan8i]

the really funny trick would be to get every one to NOT throw the baloons and watch him freak out!

[OBie]

Thanks all. He joked as he was asking for donations as we filed out, "Whoever leaves me a 20 gets to pull the tape off!"

He told the crowd, "Kids, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I do danger!"

[susaan]

Cool...especially the first one,where the guy in front has his fingers in ears

[Frog]

Good shots of the action but don't you wish you had a D90 with you?

[OBie]

@ susan - that was a complete accident, but I like that one too!

@ Frog - HAHA!! But of course!! I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking, "Hmmm, I wonder what the life of the D50 is? Surely it must be time for me to upgrade..."

[SmartWombat]

Ah, small crackers.
Unless dynamite has gone wimpish and lost its power over the years (could they dilute dynamite with something?) no way those crackers are equivalent to a couple of sticks,
Cleanup ought to have been fun as a firecracker is "instant autumn" if you're using the 1500 or 2000 shot genuine Chinese article.

Nice trick, particularly not falling off under the assault of water balloons.
And well captured.

[OBie]

He told the audience that it was equivalent to 2 sticks of dynamite, but it didn't seem like it (not that I would know anything about 2 sticks of dynamite). They actually seemed pretty tame. In fact I was waiting for them to really explode to take a picture. All I got was a small spark on one that looks like his skirt is on fire, and the one above. Ah well - if it had been huge I suppose he couldn't keep on doing it!

[xwingkiller]

i love that guy.