Man who ‘transformed himself into a lizard’ reveals he could ‘taste and smell his own tongue’ when getting it surgically forked

A man has revealed how he transformed himself into a lizard by covering himself in green tattoos and splitting his tongue in two.

Texas native Erik Sprague, also known as Lizard Man, spoke to Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond about his transformation on This Morning, revealing that he had his tongue surgically forked in the 1990s.

The 50-year-old revealed he could taste and smell his own burning flesh as the laser passed through his tongue and he began ‘hallucinating’ and ‘vomiting’ from the pain of having implants inserted into his forehead.

Erik spent more than thirty years trying to turn himself into a reptile after becoming ‘obsessed’ with shows like Godzilla.

Speaking on the ITV show on Friday, he said: ‘I became a fan of the way reptiles cut across all cultures and history: wherever you go there is always a lizard man or reptile tail.

‘You have the snake in the Garden of Eden, reptiles occupy a very special place in human consciousness and as an artist I felt I could exploit that.’

Speaking about lasering his tongue to resemble that of a lizard, he revealed that he “designed the procedure.”

Erik explains: ‘The doctor who did it wanted to do it on me as a guinea pig. That was in 1997. At that time, he only charged me the cost of using his operating room, which was $600 at the time.

‘Splitting my tongue wasn’t actually that painful because they gave me an injection of Lidocaine [local anaesthetic].

‘What I found interesting was that I could taste and smell my own burning tongue as the laser went through it. The swelling was so bad that it took about a week for the swelling to go away, and I couldn’t talk or eat normally.

“This is now my legacy, in the body modification community I started this procedure and helped move it forward.”

Erik also had his teeth filed down to perfection and admitted that he had to relearn how to speak like himself with a speech therapist after the procedure left him with a lisp.

The Lizard Man also had five implants placed on his forehead to create stiff bumps.

When he told how he had his tongue lasered to resemble a lizard’s, he revealed that he ‘designed the procedure himself’

Erik, who is also known as Lizard Man, joined Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond on This Morning and revealed he had surgery to split his tongue in the 90s.

The 50-year-old revealed he could taste and smell his own burning flesh as the laser passed through his tongue and he started ‘hallucinating’ and ‘vomiting’ from the pain of getting implants in his forehead

Erik said becoming Lizard Man was more of a ‘utopia’ but now it’s given him a career

He spent almost 700 hours tattooing, had his teeth filed into fangs and had implants given to give him horns. He’s the Lizard Man

He said: ‘The procedure took about six hours, it was done without anaesthetic and as a result it was the only time in my life that I had to vomit and hallucinate and it was a result of pain. You have to suffer for your art.’

Erik said that becoming Lizard Man was more of a dream, but now it has given him a career.

He said: ‘Things came together around the mid-nineties, I ended up joining the circus for a few years, then went solo and organized music tours for bands like SlipKnot.

‘I’ve attended Fringe festivals all over the world. It changed my life, it gave me the life I live and I am very grateful for it.’

When discussing the only downsides of Lizard Man, he said that the negative comments can sometimes get to him too much.

He said, “Sometimes I have a bad day and if I think I can’t respond to the negativity with positivity, then I prefer to stay home.”

‘I also feel like I’m in a position where people remember when they meet me, but I find it difficult to remember everyone I meet. That’s why it’s up to me to always have a good interaction. I feel like there’s a certain pressure there.’