Fraud Exposed as Fraud
March 20th, 2008 by Roderick Russell
Nigel Hardman, a 40-year-old “illusionist” from England was recently charged with eleven counts of cheating the benefits system (aka collecting unemployment, for those in the States) after his “act” brought him to the attention of authorities.
Performing – and I use that term very loosely – under the name Prince Razaq, he is said to have presented “death-defying” stunts such as sword swallowing, fire eating, walking on broken glass, escapes from straitjackets and standing on a bed of nails. Investigators apparently became curious regarding his claims of “too ill to work” - for which he was collecting benefits - after seeing him perform on the television show The Big Breakfast, clearly demonstrating that he was, well, not too ill to work!
I could care less about his cheating of the benefits system – that’s something that the authorities are now on top of. What really gets my goat is that this fraud is a fraud in so many ways, and a complete hack in terms of performing, yet he nevertheless grabs the attention of society! The papers – and granted we are talking about the Daily Mail here – genuinely used the term “death-defying” in describing his “feats” and claim that he swallows swords. I haven’t seen any video or pictures of him with a sword in his mouth (if you have some, send them this way!) so I can’t say for certain, but given that the straitjacket he uses is a gimmicked jacket and not a genuine one (industry insiders will be able to tell very quickly at a mere glance), and the fact that he is such a ridiculously laughable performer – wearing a turban, curled toe shoes and a cheesy vest nonetheless – I can’t help but suspect that his sword swallowing too is fake. As a full-time professional sword swallower myself I’m proud to know just about every other sword swallower out there, and though I can’t keep tabs on every single one, this bloke has never crossed my radar. He’s cheesy, not entertaining and not genuine – yet he still gets air time. He’s still described as death-defying. It boggles my mind. But then, look at the state of television in general, I suppose…
Actually, perhaps he can cite his performance fraud to wiggle out of the benefits fraud charges! After all, it was Warren Spencer, the prosecuting attorney, who said:
Despite this [collecting benefits for being too ill to work] he did death-defying feats such as sword swallowing, lying on beds of nails and bathing in broken glass.
I’d be happy to testify that this guy is a fraudulent entertainer and that his performance contains absolutely nothing life threatening! It might help to remove the stain that he’s left for other performing artists!
Link to Daily Mail article here.
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tags: benefits system, daredevils, fraud, nigel hardman, prince razaq, sideshow, sword swallowers, sword swallowing
