People become record holders for various reasons.
It’s mostly due to some extraordinary talent or skill. For example, some people can eat dozens of powdered donuts in a couple of minutes, or control a soccer ball while on the roof of a moving car. It all amusingly reflects the world’s diversity.
In today’s video, there’s a man who can stretch his skin to amazing lengths and not feel any pain!
Meet Gary Turner, who currently holds the Guinness World Record for the stretchiest skin.
Turner has been holding his “stretchiest man” title since 1999.
Yes, you’ve read that correctly—Gary Tuner from the United Kingdom has set the record over two decades ago.
He was born in 1971, with very loose skin. It later turned out to be a rare genetic disorder called Ehlers Danlos syndrome, a condition that affects ligaments, skin and internal organs.
From what doctors explained to Turner, the collagen, which strengthens and determines the elasticity of the skin, is very defective in his case.
It led to further loosening of the skin, which is why this incredible fellow can stretch it a lot without feeling any pain.
Although his talent makes him unique, Turner has also experienced multiple situations of bleeding and bruising that wouldn’t heal very quickly.
That’s why he had to quit football and his job on a building site. Luckily, he was able to come up with a job where all the stretchiness came in handy. He works as a sideshow performer and is known as the Elastic Man.
Because he has set the unusual record, Gary was invited to the Guinness World Records show in 2009, where he stunned the audience with all the unbelievable things his skin can do.
As we’ve previously mentioned, Turner works as a professional performer and his act includes pulling his skin into all sorts of incredible contortions. We know it sounds incredible, but you’ll see it for yourself in the video.
As soon as he steps on stage, the show host explains about his condition and asks turner to demonstrate a few things.
With that, Turner takes the skin of his neck and stretches it so far that he was able to cover half of his face with it. The man can make a facial mask out of his skin! It’s awesome and scary at the same time.
We were a bit relieved to see Turner smiling from ear to ear the entire time—he certainly doesn’t look worried or in pain!
According to the measurements taken on the show, Turner’s stomach can be stretched to a length of 15.8 cm—which is more than six inches!
A doctor joined them on stage and took out his specially designed surgical ruler, and the hosts began stretching the elastic Turner.
The audience was amused and shocked all at once!
Some people were cheering and some of them seemed a bit scared—especially when he stretched his eyelids, the skin from his knees and his chest skin!
In 2005, the Elastic Man was also a member of The Circus of Horrors.
Gary also performed in the short film He Took His Skin Off For Me, and ultimately we’re happy to see that things are going well for him.
The video got almost 50 million YouTube views! We wish him the best of luck—and let’s hope that Turner’s condition will only bring him interesting performance gigs, without any health problems.
Watch the unusual video in the link below:
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