32 Stuntmen Lit Themselves on Fire to Prove They Could Set a Meaningless World Record

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If you've got enough imagination and guile, Guinness World Records will find you. It seems the bar for brazenly foolish stunts has only gotten lower, while the accolades consistently get higher: There's the man who dunked his cookie in a mug of tea via bungie jump, the man who smashed 124 coconuts with his bare hands in under a minute, and the steroidal freak who smashes his body into ice blocks for fun. All of these people are Guinness World Record holders.

Now, it seems stuntmen are lighting themselves on fire in an effort to break more meaningless records. Thirty-two stuntmen congregated in Cape Town, South Africa to light themselves on fire in May, in an effort to set the record for most people performing full body burns, and boy were they successful.

The stunt was organized by Paradigm Shift Special Effects, which threw its employees into the fire and had them walk in multiple lines like a Walking Dead tribute. All the performers wore flame-retardant clothing and were followed by a "helper" who carried a fire extinguisher.

Previously, the record for "Most people performing full body burns stood at 21 and was achieved during an event at the Hotcards Burn in Cleveland, Ohio, USA on 19 October 2013," Guinness writes.

Regardless of the futility and overall pointlessness of such a stunt, watching a group of men willfully burn each other alive and then celebrate the triumph is undeniably entertaining.

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Sam Blum is a News Staff Writer for Thrillist. He's also a martial arts and music nerd who appreciates a fine sandwich and cute dogs. Find his clips in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club and Esquire. He's on Twitter @Blumnessmonster