A man revealed how he transformed into a lizard by covering himself in green tattoos and splitting his tongue in half.
Erik Sprague from Texas, otherwise known as the Lizard Man, joined Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond on This Morning to discuss his transformation and said he surgically bifurcated his tongue in the 1990s.
The 50-year-old revealed he could taste and smell his own burning flesh as the laser passed through his tongue and he began to “hallucinate” and “vomit” from the pain of the forehead implants.
Erik has spent over three decades turning into a reptile after becoming “obsessed” with shows like Godzilla.
Speaking on the ITV show on Friday, he said: ‘I became a fan of the way reptiles cross all cultures and history – no matter where you go there’s always a lizardman or reptile tail.
Erik Sprague, from Texas, also known as Lizard Man, revealed how he transformed into a lizard on This Morning on Friday.
‘You have the snake in the garden of Eden, reptiles occupy a very special place in the human consciousness and as an artist it was something I felt I could exploit.’
Speaking about having his tongue lasered to make it look like a lizard’s, he revealed that he “designed the procedure.”
Erik explained: ‘The doctor who did it wanted to do it with me as a guinea pig, this was in 1997, at that time he only charged me the cost of using his operating room which was $600 at the time.
‘It didn’t actually hurt that much to have my tongue split because they gave me an injection of lidocaine (local anesthetic).
‘What I found interesting was that I could taste and smell my own burnt tongue as the laser passed through it. The swelling was so severe that it took about a week to go down and I couldn’t speak or eat normally.
‘This is my legacy now: in the body modification community I have established this procedure and helped push it forward.’
Erik also had his teeth filed down to the point and admitted he had to relearn how to speak like himself with a speech pathologist after the procedure left him with a lisp.
Lizard Man also had five implants inserted into his forehead to create rigid protrusions.
Speaking about how he had his tongue lasered to look like a lizard’s, he revealed that he “designed the procedure”.
Erik, also known as Lizard Man, joined Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond on This Morning and said he surgically forked his tongue in the 90s.
The 50-year-old revealed he could taste and smell his own burning flesh as the laser passed through his tongue and began to “hallucinate” and “throw up” from the pain of receiving implants in his forehead.
Erik said that becoming the Lizard Man was more of a “pipe dream,” but now it has given him a career.
He spent almost 700 hours getting tattoos, had his teeth filed into fangs, and had horns implanted. He is Lizardman.
He said: “The procedure took about six hours, was done without anaesthetic and as a result it was the only time in my life that I vomited and hallucinated from the pain. You have to suffer for art.”
Erik said that becoming Lizardman was more of a “pipe dream”, but that it has now given him a career.
He said: ‘Things came together in the mid-90s, I ended up joining the circus for a couple of years, then I went solo, doing music tours for bands like SlipKnot.
“I’ve travelled to Fringe festivals all over the world, it’s changed my life, it’s given me the life I lead and I’m very grateful for that.”
Talking about the only downsides of being Lizardman, he said that sometimes negative comments can get to him.
He said: ‘Sometimes I’ll have a bad day, and if I think I can’t meet the negativity with positivity, then I’ll want to stay home.
‘I also feel like I’m in a position where people remember when they meet me, but it’s hard for me to remember everyone I meet, so it’s up to me to always have a good interaction; I feel like there’s a bit of pressure there.’