Alice Cooper holds freak show auditions in London

Shock rocker Alice Cooper has held auditions in London to find a freak show act to join him onstage at Halloween.

After calling for hopefuls to send in videos of themselves, Cooper selected 11 finalists to audition in front of him and a panel of judges.

The singer pointed out that acts like these are nothing new: "You have to remember before TV, before radio and before movies, this was entertainment. They'd get in side shows, travel all over the country and do this kind of thing."

One of the contestants was Syban, a ballet dancer who pierced herself with feathered needles to turn herself into a swan.

Other acts drove nails and knives into their noses, stapled themselves in the arms.

The winning acts will join Cooper for his Halloween Night of Fear live shows at the Roundhouse in London on 31 October and 1 November.