Man fits himself in suitcase - Contortionist wriggling his way to stardom

His black and white suit was already enough to have eyes staring, but when Suede Barrant slithered over to a black suitcase and folded himself neatly inside it while his friend Deshae 'Bones' Raphael zipped it shut, onlookers appeared confused and excited.

Bones pulled the suitcase around for a little while before Suede crawled out. If that level of physical flexibility was not convincing enough, the 22-year-old contortionist, who goes by the moniker Flexible Suede, then wormed his way through an unstrung tennis racket in little over a minute, much to the amazement of onlookers on Water Lane in downtown Kingston on Tuesday. Some questioned if the Ocho Rios, St Ann man had any bones or joints.

A month ago, Suede had a meagre amount of followers on social media and was looking for his big break as a contortionist. In fact, he told THE STAR that many times, promoters booked him for their events and refused to pay him after his performance. However, a performance for Streets Entertainment in St Ann on December 26 changed his life. In addition to gaining thousands of followers and millions of views from a video clip of the event, Suede has also caught the attention of American's Got Talent (AGT), a televised talent show competition. The young contortionist is ecstatic.

"The producer told me that he never seen anyone like me before. I am really happy for this recognition and they are basically saying that with my permission, they would want to submit my video as they would want me on Season 18. Honestly, I know I have what it takes to win if I am given the opportunity and I know I will have the entire Jamaica supporting me," he said.

"I put a lot into that show and the crowd's reaction was out of this world. Persons were speechless. I placed the part of the video where I was going through a small tennis racket on Instagram and then I put it on TikTok and within a few days, there were just millions of views. The video literally went worldwide and I am still trying to process this. All of this is unbelievable," Suede added.

In addition to AGT, Suede said his email and social media inboxes are flooded with offers from other top companies, including streaming giant Netflix Inc, who he said is seeking him to do scary movie scenes. Another company also wants him to test the strength of their tennis rackets. However, the newfound fame has not gone to his head.

"Dancehall artistes have been reaching out to me and everything is just surprising and amazing. One of the things that I have noticed is that everyone wants to be my friend now, all of who never see me before start see mi now. But I am not impressed. More time mi check mi Instagram and a bare girl a send me DM but mi nah pay dem nuh mind because couple weeks ago dem never see mi," Suede said.

He said he has been twisting his body into strange and unnatural positions since the age of five. But he admitted that he never thought he could make a career from it.

"I was just doing it because it was fun and it kinda scare people. Twisting and bending your body in some unnatural positions is not something normal, so others who couldn't do it would be scared when they see me doing it. To some, it may seem like I just have double joints, but is not everyone can be a contortionist. This is one of the only career that you can't just get up as an adult and say you are going to do. You have to do it from you are very small as you have to train and break your body into being this flexible, so it is not easy," he said.

Daniel Browning Smith, Liberty Barros and Anna McNulty are labelled among the most flexible persons in the world, and Suede admitted that he still has lots of work to do to be among the world's greatest.

"I would say I am one of the most flexible persons in Jamaica if not the Caribbean. The response from especially the girls is overwhelming. I have a style name 'sexy gyal' where I put my hand behind me and rub myself down like there is someone behind me. When the females are screaming in the crowd and saying 'Oh my God', I feel really good," he said.