FIRE-BREATHING MUM'S HORROR SHOW

KRISTY CULLUM WAS TORCHED IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE WHILE PERFORMING ON STAGE

As she took to the stage, Kristy Cullum felt nothing but pride and excitement.

She was performing her fire tricks routine as part of a charity concert to raise money for a local hospice.

In the audience were some of her closest friends and colleagues. All their hard work and rehearsals were paying off.

But as she prepared to perform her most daring fire-breathing stunt, something went terribly wrong.

Now, Kristy, 35, has told New Idea about the horrific moment when she caught fire on stage in front of hundreds of people.

Kristy, from Hampshire in the UK, says: “I was gearing up to spit flames with highly flammable paraffin in my mouth when I spluttered. “Some of the paraffin hit my windpipe causing me to cough involuntarily. Before I knew what was happening the fuel in my mouth was alight – I’d coughed onto the blazing sticks in my hands.”

Thinking fast, Kristy spat the flames out onto her chest and used her arms to shield her airway and her eyes from the flames coming up from her neck and across her face.

“In that moment the adrenaline just kicked in for me and I knew exactly what I had to do to survive,” she says.

“The worst-case scenario would have been scorching my windpipe by breathing in the flames so I quickly spat all the burning fuel onto myself – burning my lips, chin, and chest severely but it saved my life.