He leans back for a wild laugh.
Sean Evans, a professional roller coaster and YouTube content creator, revealed that he makes six figures from his daring lifestyle despite being afraid of heights.
“I’m always there shaking and shaking. I always have butterflies in my stomach — but once that roller coaster hits its first drop, the fear goes away in that moment,” the UK resident told PA Real Life.
“But approaching a new journey, I’m back to square one, nervous again.”
Evans, 33, admitted his fear of rides started when he went on his first coaster, Corkscrew at Alton Towers Resort, during a school field trip. The thrill of the roller coaster wasn’t enough to convince him to do it again, so he avoided riding the amusement park for years.
However, during the pandemic, he found himself watching a lot of theme park videos, which piqued his interest in roller coasters.
“In closing, everything we knew was inside our house, so I was looking at people who had traveled abroad, gone to theme parks and attractions, and I realized the escape that a theme park brings,” Sean said.
The content creator launched a YouTube channel called “Lift Hills and Thrills” focused on his adventures exploring theme parks around the UK. The channel has more than 20,000 subscribers.
“It’s not necessarily the ride itself, but the fact that you can walk into a themed environment and be completely drawn in,” he confessed.
Evans embarked on his new thrill ride, which required him to try different amusement park rides like roller coasters, despite the vertigo in May 2021. Vertigo “causes dizziness and makes you feel like you’re spinning when you’re not,” he explained. Cleveland Clinic.
Since then, the UK resident has visited around 50 theme parks, riding around 130 coasters and set a park record by riding Nemesis at Alton Towers 64 times in six hours. He even conquered Europe’s tallest roller coaster, Red Force, at over 367 meters high, at PortAventura World, Spain.
“I wanted to do something that would make my channel stand out, being a new channel, and someone before had been riding the Nemesis all day and had 63 laps, so I did 64,” he said.
“I basically turned a hobby into a full-time job and I get paid pretty well for travel and fun, which many would say is living the dream,” he added.
Evans, who works between 9am and 3am, claims he is “living the dream” and that his job “doesn’t feel like work” because he is doing something he loves.
One of his most viewed videos, featuring him on Velocity’s trip to England’s Flamingo Land Resort, earned him about $4,000.
Before going to theme parks, he does extensive research on the rides to compare heights and turns and prepare for what to expect.
Even with his research and roller coaster riding experience, fear still grips him when it’s time to ride the beast.
“I think it’s always worse in your head, so I tried to prepare myself mentally,” Evans said. “I was casually talking about how scared I was or swearing at the person next to me, as it’s just my coping mechanism.”
Although the theme park expert has traveled all over the UK, taking in as many rides as his vertigo can handle, he’s about to expand his exploration abroad to visit Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Florida and Universal Studios Singapore .
“I’m talking about things I’m passionate about, sharing what means a lot to me,” Evans said of his hobby-turned-career.
He encourages others to conquer their fears and remember that they can overcome them.
“Have a mental conversation with yourself, try to compose yourself and know that you’re going to be fine,” he added.
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Image Source : nypost.com