We’ve long seen stunt walkers able to walk across fiery coal embers or broken bits of glass barefoot without seemingly suffering injuries. Scott Bell, who set a Guinness World Record for the longest barefoot fire-walk in 2006, and now runs an events company arranging for similar walking events during team-buildings and special occasions, is an old hand at hazardous barefoot-walking. But one surface material remains his certain nemesis: LEGO bricks.
Firewalkers risk burns and glass-walkers risk cuts whenever they do their thing, but they might agree with Scott Bell that doing the same to a bed of LEGO pieces is much worse. Why is that?
In an interview with Smithsonianmag.com, Bell offers his opinion on the greater pain caused by LEGO compared to fire or glass. The latter materials might potentially crunch under the weight of one’s foot, but a LEGO made of sturdy plastic would never give and thus dug into one’s sensitive sole.
Another Guinness holder, Russell Cassevah, has pretty much shut most serious attempts at breaking his April 2018 record of walking through a bed of LEGO bricks some 2,737 feet long. His feet were actually red and bleeding at the end of it. To that, Bell remarks, “Glass will move as you stand on it, whereas Lego, you’ll get one that will sort of stand proud and refuse to go down.”
Amazingly, children stepping on LEGOs on the floor are a lot less inconvenienced than if it were a grownup. That too is scientifically explainable: kids weigh less and exert less pressure on a brick under their foot, compared to the adults. It’s why “I hope you step on a LEGO” is a legitimate putdown for anyone past the childhood years.