Monday 1 May 2006

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Former Games Master presenter to front No More Nails' next ad campaign?

Long story short: Dominik Diamond was planning to join a fanatical bunch of Filipino Roman Catholics in a bona fide re-enactment of Big J's crucifixion, pencil-length nails and self-flagellation to boot, though had a change of heart at the 11th hour.

I had to re-read this story half a dozen times before it sunk in when I first spotted it over the Easter period. It's easy to imagine primitive tribes people - those who live in caves and resolutely believe you can drop off the edge of the globe by sailing to the place where the ocean appears to end - getting mixed up in this sort of voodoo, but surely not Dominik Diamond? Not the same chirpy, level-headed guy who used to introduce - with a wry, mocking smirk - the deadly serious, nerdy contestants who went on to battle it out in computer game challenges.

Perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised; judging by the warm reception 'Passion of the Christ' received at the box office, a great many Christians whole-heartedly embrace the culture of sado-masochism. They may not all wear head-to-toe leather jumpsuits and shackle one another in chains, but they sure do love an unrelenting, feature-length, gory flogging.

Dominik explains why he decided against taking his wacky pilgrimage to the next level...
"At all times in this journey I have been guided by my God in ways I could never have predicted. Having experienced the humility of bearing my own cross through the streets, I felt my God wanted me only to pray at the foot of my cross."
Ah so Dominik was totally up for it; in fact, he was practically forced to rein in his enthusiasm as it would be immensely disrespectful to act against god's wishes.

It genuinely fascinates me that justifying his jolting reaquaintance with reality became a pride-protecting issue. Is there anyone out there (loony extremists aside) who wouldn't have been capable of empathising with his aversion to having dirty great big nails hammered through his limbs without the aid of anaesthetic of any kind? It's not as though he wimped out of stroking the Andrex puppy for fear of being savaged.