Fire, fights, flips: Just another day at new 'stunt camp'

HAINES CITY (FOX 13) - Are you fit, fearless, and ready for the adrenaline rush of your life? Then John Zimmerman’s Stunt Camp may be just what the doctor ordered.

Zimmerman, a lifelong stunt performer who has more than 130 movie and TV credits to his name, just opened the camp. Thursday, he, his friends, and staffers previewed what participants will experience.

They wrapped Mike Ortiz, known as an all-around stunt guy and exceptional trick rider, in layers upon layer of fire-resistant clothing and slathered him up in protective goop -- then set him ablaze. He staggered as the flames grew bigger and eventually covered his entire body. He fell to the ground, and a millisecond later, members of the safety team extinguished him by spraying carbon dioxide on him.

“It gets hot,” Ortiz told FOX 13. “And if you’re not careful, it will melt the skin off your body.”

Michele Waitman, a pint-sized picture of health and fitness, jumped on the back of the guy three times her size. He began swinging as others joined in the choreographed fight. 

Waitman has been an athlete all her life, and at 52, she has no plans to slow down now.

“I like to play, and I like to stay young,” she said. “I plan to keep doing it as long as I can.”

We also saw other hair-raising, adrenaline-pumping stunts: People falling from a 40-foot tower, flipping in the air, and eventually hitting an air mattress below. A guy working on the flying trapeze. Another one in a body harness being thrust backwards 30 feet or more as if he had been thrown because of an explosion.

Zimmerman says the camp is expected to lure two types of people: Young folks looking to break into the entertainment industry, and others who just want to experience the camp for bragging rights.

Sessions will run a week. The first one is in January, and will run $1,500.

LINK: For more information go to www.stuntcamp.us