The boy, who just completed the first grade at Dayton Boys Prep Academy, is the world’s youngest professional sideshow performer, according to his father, Thomas Nealeigh.
His act is lying on a child-sized bed of nails while a child, usually his 4-year-old sister, stands on his stomach. On the show, he lay on the bed of nails and had cinder blocks placed on him. He was 6 at the time of the taping.
“Some things happened during the filming of his segment that their cast and crew told us have never happened on Nickelodeon before,” His father said. “They were very excited to have him there. ... Their cast and crew were really impressed with Grennan as a performer and as a kid, too. They really genuinely liked him.”
His father runs a production company called FreakShow Deluxe LLC, based out of Los Angeles, Calif. The company was started in Xenia in 2001.
Bartlett-Nealeigh was 4 years old when he began performing on stage as part of the company’s productions.
He has performed in locations including Hollywood, Calif., Kansas City, Mo., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa., as well as locally.
Bartlett-Nealeigh said also getting slimed on the show was his favorite part of the experience.
“It was really cold,” he said of the green slime that has become Nickelodeon’s signature gift for visiting performers.
He said being on the show was a lot of fun and he wasn’t nervous.
“I think mine was the best performance,” he said.“Figure It Out” originally aired for four seasons on Nickelodeon from July 1997 to December 1999. Every “Figure It Out” episode in the new series features a panel of four stars trying to guess the talent or accomplishment of two child contestants.
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