(Spoiler alert: Do not read on if you haven’t seen Sunday’s episode of “Game of Thrones.”)
The creative minds behind “Game of Thrones” claimed that last night’s episode broke a new record by setting the most people on fire in an entertainment production.
“In one battle scene we set more stuntmen on fire than have ever been simultaneously set on fire,” showrunner David Benioff told Entertainment Weekly in April. “Our stunt coordinator really wanted to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for this.”
A spokesperson for Guinness told TheWrap that the record category is not recognized by the organization and therefore, it is not a monitored record.
“One sequence has 73 fire burns and that itself is a record,” the show’s Emmy-winning stunt coordinator, Rowley Irlam, said. “No film or TV show has ever done that in a whole show, let alone in one sequence. We also set 20 people on fire at one time, which is also a record. I think in ‘Saving Private Ryan’ they had 13 on a beach, and on ‘Braveheart’ they had 18 partial burns. Because of the nature of our attacking animals, we had the liberty to expand on that.”
According to EW, the stuntman is covered with fire-resistant clothes, a cooling gel and a mask. Once they are set on fire, they have to hold their breathe until the shot is complete and the fire is extinguished — taking about 30 seconds.
“It’s totally different from going underwater in your bathtub and counting the seconds in your head,” Irlam added. “If somebody bumps you and you breathe in by accident you will breathe in flame.”
According to Irlam, the most dangerous part is after the fire has been extinguished: “The most dangerous thing is re-ignition. There’s a good minute of everybody staying down afterward as you’re still very flammable at this point.”
Sunday’s episode saw Daenerys Targaryen finally taking the Lannisters to battle after she realized she was losing the war. She surprised the Lannister army while they were transporting gold back to Kings Landing after taking Highgarden, and the Dothraki warriors (and Daenerys’ dragon) took down a majority of the opposing side. Even Jaime Lannister seemed to have fallen victim to Drogon, but the episode left off on a cliffhanger.