human guinea pigs (6/8)

Dan, Ollie, Nicky, Mike and Kirby are the Human Guinea Pigs – five best mates who take pleasure in performing outrageous stunts. In today’s programme, Kirby tries to beat the world record for doing car spins whilst eating doughnuts; the boys have their blood sucked by leeches, and Dan’s ‘spare tyre’ undergoes a test to find out just how much fat it contains.

Having grown up together with a shared fascination with hurting themselves, the Human Guinea Pigs are now putting their stupidity to good use to solve a range of scientific conundrums. Along the way the boys are assisted by Professor Stuart Milligan, who pushes them to their limits in the pursuit of knowledge. As the guinea pigs are submitted to various tests, the professor explains what is happening to their bodies using animated images.

In tonight’s edition, foolhardy Kirby attempts to set a new world record in an unlikely field. He is keen to perform a ‘doughnut’ – a stunt whereby a car spins around 360 degrees with its back wheels rotating around its front tyres, leaving a circular mark on the ground. But to make the trick even more interesting, pun-happy Kirby wants to do as many doughnuts as possible whilst eating actual doughnuts. Will this play on words land Kirby a place in the record books for the most doughnuts consumed while doing doughnuts, or will he simply end up with a bad case of car sickness? The professor and the gang keep an eye on events from a safe distance to see how Kirby’s body reacts during the stunt.

Elsewhere, the boys test a long-running medical belief by subjecting themselves to a treatment involving leeches. For centuries, the finest medical minds in the world placed faith in the restorative powers of these slimy blood suckers, with the first known medicinal use of leeches dating back to Ancient Egypt. It was thought that leeches helped drain ‘impure’ blood from the body, although these days doctors have found they are best used in operations to re-attach limbs. But what will these blood-thirsty little parasites do for the professor’s gang of intrepid guinea pigs? The boys apprehensively consent to find out.

Also this week, Dan agrees to be a good sport when he allows the professor and the team to poke around his ‘spare tyre’. Just how much fat is to be found in the flesh around his tummy?