Hamish & Andy are an Australian comedy duo made up of comedians Hamish Blake and Andy Lee, supposedly well known for their crazy stunts. The pair have an Australian Channel 9 series called Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year, that — from what I can best tell — seems like a cross between Karl Pilkington’s Idiot Abroad and Jackass, in which the two comedians do dumb sh*t while exploring exotic locations.
So on last night’s season finale of Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year: South America, the Hamish part of Hamish & Andy decided to take part in a coming-of-age ritual employed by Amazon tribes in which the subject sticks his hands into gloves full of venomous South American Bullet Ants. When Bullet Ants sting, which they can do hundreds of times in a matter of seconds, they release a venomous toxin which apparently causes “the worst pain known to mankind.”
Uhhhh, yeah. After watching the video of the stunt, I would not doubt it. After two hours in excruciating pain, Blake had to be transported to a hospital by boat where he was administered IV pain killers, antithistamines and anti-inflammatory drugs. This is what his hands looked like, 24-hour later:
Here’s the video, not for the squeamish or faint of heart. It starts out pretty funny, and then … Let’s just say I was clutching my hands and full body cringing. I guess he’ll think twice next time he thinks about sticking his hands into gloves filled with basically the real world equivalent of Tracker Jackers.
No thank you.