A magician was left with horrific burns after a TV host set him on fire in a stunt. Wayne Houchin, 29, is pursuing legal action after the presenter abruptly tossed a fistful of flaming liquid at him.
He is getting legal advice over the incident during the November 26 taping of show Closer to the Stars in the Dominican Republic.
Authorities will then decide to bring criminal proceedings against host Franklin Barazarte.
Wayne, who claims Barazarte’s actions came out of the blue, said:
“The attack was intentional. The host didn’t trip and accidentally spill it on me”.
“He intended to pour flaming liquid on me.
“The host’s intentions will play a role in the severity of his punishment but that’s for a court of law to decide”.
Wayne, from Chico, California, told how he travelled to the Dominican Republic with his wife and two other magicians and expected to be interviewed and to perform magic on the show.
But the host announced that he wanted to give him a “blessing”, Wayne claimed.
Barazarte then told one of the other magicians to hand him a bottle of Agua de Florida, a flammable cologne used in Santeria rituals. Barazarte asked Wayne’s wife to pour the cologne into his cupped hands and told the magician to pick up a lighter on the stage and light the fluid.
Wayne said: “At this point none of us had any idea what the host planned to do. We had no reason to suspect beforehand that he would perform a stunt”.
When the liquid in his cupped hands caught fire, the host poured it on Wayne’s head and rubbed it into his face. The show never aired but an iPhone video taken by a member of the magician’s crew shows him writhing in pain on the studio floor.
Wayne said his wife Frania and fellow magician Bueno were traumatised by having helped the host attack him.
http://youtu.be/eYfAJAP0nWA
