He didn't wear any protective gear, just his underpants

May 27, 2015 13:30 GMT  ·  By
55-year-old in China covers himself in 1.1 million bees, sets new world record
   55-year-old in China covers himself in 1.1 million bees, sets new world record

Earlier this week, on Monday, a man in China set a new world record when he covered himself in 109 kilograms (240 pounds) of living and swarming bees. 

The previous record was held by another man in China's Shaanxi province who, in 2011, let about 83 kilograms (184 pounds) worth of bees set up camp on his body.

The new record holder had help

Technically, 55-year-old Gao Bingguo, a beekeeper living in Tai'an City in China's Shandong province, didn't cover himself in the 1.1 million bees that landed his name in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Rather, he had fellow beekeepers help him get the job done. These friends of his started by placing 52 queens onto the man's naked body and then waiting for workers to follow them, Mashable says.

At one point, they got tired of waiting for the bees to swarm on their own accord and began to literally pour hundreds of them over Gao Bingguo's arms, legs, torso and whatever other body parts still had room to spare.

If you're not one to spook easily and aren't utterly and completely terrified by bees, check out the video below to get a better idea of what the 55-year-old experienced when setting the new world record.  

Before anybody asks, no, he didn't smoke the entire time that he had bees covering him to look totally cool and badass. He did it to make sure the insects wouldn't get inside his mouth and sting his tongue or tonsils.

It wasn't easy setting this new world record

Word has it that, during the time that he had fellow beekeepers pour the army of insects over his body, 55-year-old Gao Bingguo got stung about 2,000 times. It didn't feel very pleasant, but he survived.

There's even talk about how the venom caused his body temperature to soar to 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit), but you might want to take this bit with a grain of salt as medical experts say that it's doubtful he would have survived, had this really happened.

In fact, the record for the highest body temperature ever recorded is held by a man named Willie Jones of Atlanta, US, who, in 1980, was admitted to the hospital after his body heated up to an impressive 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit).