Man addicted to eating glass explains why he enjoys it

Usually when people have some kind of food addiction, you’d expect it to be with junk food or food in general. Or at least something you might find down the aisle in the supermarket.

A food aisle that is, not a homeware one. But for 27-year-old Josh, that’s where you’d find his addiction.

The stand-up comedian featured on TLC’s My Strange Addiction where he explained why he enjoys crunching on (and swallowing) shards of glass.

He explained how eating it isn’t part of his ‘routine’ as a performer and first explained he came across ‘glass eating’ in a book.

Josh is addicted to eating glass. (Youtube / TLC)

“It was kind of scary at first and then once I realised that it didn’t seem to be doing damage to me, it got a lot easier for me to do,” he added.

And when his fiancée Natalie first saw him eating glass she admitted she ‘thought it was fake’.

“When I found out that it was [real], I was upset and scared,” she adds.

It is very real for Josh who explained why he enjoys it so much.

“When I bite into the glass I just get like, a warm feeling, kind of get a little bit tingly,” he said.

“Normally when I look for glass to eat, I look for champagne glasses, wine glasses, light bulbs. The reason I pick these are because they’re usually a thinner glass.”

Champagne glasses are among his favourite. (Youtube / TLC)

As he took a bite, he described it as ‘very gritty'.

Admitting the ‘chewing; itself ‘sounds awful in [his] head’, he says: “But I enjoy this a whole lot. There isn’t a whole lot of taste, it’s more of a texture thing. It’s like eating horrendously sharp rock candy until you grind it down.”

In one conversation on the show, Natalie told her partner she’s ‘worried’ about him but he assured her it ‘doesn’t hurt’.

“Yeah, well, most people don’t know they’re going to have a heart attack either and they have those all the time,” she says.

Josh describes how he’s cut his lip ‘many times’ and has had ‘pieces of glass’ in his gums.

“So, there’s a very distinct possibility it could be cutting deep down inside my body.”

Although he says he tries not to do it, he ‘just gets compelled’ when he’s around other people and often does it at parties and bars.

“I love the reactions I get from people. I very rarely will do it alone,” he says. “I guess more than anything, I’m really addicted to the attention.”

While Josh may be consuming glass, it is very much warned against. Doing this can potentially be very dangerous to your health.

Topics: TLC, Weird, Entertainment, TV and Film

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_