Does the idea of being trapped in a giant inflatable ball with 100,000 bees strike fear into your heart? What about being trapped in said ball and allowing said bees to land on your face? If you’re a little squeamish about the idea, it’s possible that ‘bee bearding’ isn’t for you. Juan Carlos Noguez Ortiz seems to have no problem with it though. The beekeeper broke the Guinness World Record on Wednesday when he wore a beard of bees for 61 minutes at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto.
Ever wondered what 100,000 bees looks like? #BloodHoney pic.twitter.com/Ow7GwoZrKw
— GAT (@gatpr) August 30, 2017
How do you get a bunch of bees to just hang out on your face for an hour? Bee bearding is accomplished by putting the queen bee in a small cage attached to your chin and the other thousands of bees will swarm around her. Yeah, we’re freaking out too.
Ortiz beat the previous record of 53 minutes, 34 seconds using bees from the Dickey Bee Honey Farm in Cookstown, Ontario where he works. The same bees were used in the upcoming movie, Blood Honey, for which this stunt was promotion.
You must Bee kidding!: Man attempting to wear record number of bees at Yonge-Dundas Square https://t.co/sqYka8TNem pic.twitter.com/Pa8GMglLzY
— CP24 (@CP24) August 30, 2017
‘It’s just funny–watching the bees all over your face,’ Ortiz told CTV news, ‘I wanted to show people that they don’t have to be scared of the bees.’ We’re not sure that he accomplished that.
Peter Dickey, master beekeeper at the honey farm, assisted Ortiz in the record-breaking.
‘We brought 100,000 bees with us, so there are more bees with us today than ever. But we brought the gentle ones so that is very important when we are doing bearding,’ he said.
A Guinness World Record Event at #YDSquare this week!
Wearing a head full of bees to promote the film BLOOD HONEY https://t.co/47znM9gv1X pic.twitter.com/QXhEebqJaa— Yonge-Dundas Square (@YDSquare) August 28, 2017
It’s pretty cool that this record is now held by a Canadian, but we can’t say it made us less afraid of bees. This Twitter user pretty much sums it up.
I don’t think I can say nope enough regarding this.
— Derp Link Does: (@jthe111) August 30, 2017