Think your job is a real pain? It’s nothing compared to the careers of professional animal handler Rob “Caveman” Alleva and wildlife biologist Adam Thorn.
The two are starring in a new History Channel series, “Kings of Pain.” Their goal is to create history’s ultimate pain index by traveling the world to get bit and stung by some of the most dangerous animals.
The eight-episode series, which debuts Tuesday, features the duo getting stung or bit by, among others, the Nile monitor lizard, the fire urchin, the giant Asian centipede and the reticulated python.
In the clip above, Alleva allows himself to get stung by the executioner wasp, a species of insect native to Central and South America with a legendary sting. He said there’s little hard information about it, but “the few people that did report getting stung say it’s excruciating.”
In the clip, Thorn holds the wasp close to Alleva’s skin so that the bug can do its work.
Spoiler alert: The executioner wasp is very good at its job.
“Ohhhh, that’s sharp. Instant, like instant, pain. Look at it ― it’s already welting up,” Alleva said, adding that the pain “comes in waves. It’s actually getting worse.”
He described the feeling as “a throbbing type of pain.”
The executioner wasp is “a firecracker,” Alleva said, and its sting “like the first time you eat tacos in Mexico, it burns.”