George the Giant takes big risks

George the Giant hasn't always been big. He made it to the age of two before his mom had to start taking along his birth certificate to prove his age. Today, at age 39, he's using his height — he's 7-foot-4 — to boost himself into a career in show business. Billing himself as "Your friendly neighborhood freak for hire" George McArthur lies atop nails, sticks long pins through his cheek, lights off firecrackers strapped to his chest and walks on glass. He's set a record in the Guiness Book of Records for breaking the most concrete blocks while lying on a bed of nails. He's appeared on The Tonight Show and invited Jay Leno to stand on his head while he lies on pieces of broken glass. He's been in films, cast mostly as — surprise — a friendly giant. He most recently made it to the top 40 on "America's Got Talent," with his "Pinata Man" stunt and "Silly Straw" act (he actually drinks milk through a straw that goes in one nostril and out the other one.) The Silly Straw bit made judge Sharon Osbourne gasp and hide her face. The Pinata Man bit — McArthur was chained up, hanging upside down and trying to escape while youngsters whacked him with sticks — didn't impress them or the Internet audience. "The judges hated it," said McArthur. "I was surprised at their reaction. I thought it was a good bit." McArthur isn't fazed by the negative reaction. He's learned over the past 17 years that some stunts work and others don't. Whatever the public opinion of a particular stunt may be, McArthur's antics have kept him on stages and employed pretty regularly over the years. Some stunts actually hurt. McArthur has cut himself, bruised his ribs, squirted blood across the stage and scraped his throat badly enough that he couldn't eat for a week. "What I do is dangerous," he said. "I'm very aware of it." At the same time, he loves what he does. Many of his stunts can be found on youtube.com or on his Web site, georgethegiant.com. "After I came back from my mission (to Sydney, Australia) in 1990, I started facing my fears by doing things that got me going," said McArthur. His brother was badly burned after burglars broke into the family home and lit him on fire, so McArthur started doing a fire-eating act. He started bungee jumping to overcome a fear of heights. He swallows swords and does escape routines because he finds the stunts challenging. "I'm a sideshow performer who does lot of stunts based on my fears and my love of puzzles," McArthur said. "I just like to do stuff that's odd and unusual." He claims he doesn't take unnecessary risks. "I don't want to die," he said. "I'm known as a paranoid safety nut." McArthur is a devout Mormon who grew up in Bakersfield and married his 4-foot-10-inch wife, Stacie, in the San Diego temple in 1998. They live in the Bakersfield 5th Ward. He serves on the activities committee — but hasn't scheduled any stunt nights, yet. They have no children but are planning to adopt. When he isn't escaping from chains, blowing dry ice smoke rings, sleeping on a bed of sharp nails or stapling money to his bare chest, he's a security guard and a primary teacher. He hasn't been a Scout leader in his ward yet but he is an Eagle Scout, so he knows about trying to sleep out in sleeping bags that only come to his chest. He doesn't have any problem keeping order in a primary room full of 12-year-olds. "The kids don't argue with me," he said. Just recently called to the primary nursery in his ward, 2-year-olds there now have something to look up to.