An Idaho man sacrificed his eyebrows to break the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive flaming torch juggling catches on a unicycle.
David Rush, who already held several Guinness World Records titles for both unicycling and juggling, said he was “brimming with unearned confidence” when he decided to take on the previous record of 37 catches.
“Nobody puts the real hazard in the official rule books,” Rush wrote online. “The moment you pedal a unicycle forward while juggling torches, the forward momentum creates a draft that blows the flames straight back into your face.”
Rush said he quickly singed off his eyebrows and the hair on the backs of his hands during his first attempt to juggle flaming torches on his unicycle.
He decided to spent some time practicing with unlit torches and set his official attempt for Halloween 2025.
“I set up the cameras, dipped the wicks, lit them, mounted the unicycle, and immediately dropped every single torch on the concrete,” Rush said. “I picked them up, dusted them off, hopped back in the saddle, and dropped them again. Failure in under three seconds. But I say all the time, failure does not define you, how you respond to it does.”
He finally found his groove on his third attempt, managing 175 catches to more than quadruple the previous record.
Video from Rush’s attempt was reviewed by Guinness World Records and he is now the official holder of the title.
