SURVIVING the Wheel of Death was all in a day's work for this Echo reporter.

Roped to a giant rotating metal wheel, I clung on to the bars as Nuno, the youngest of the Granadeiro Brothers, sent it spinning around the Big Top.

He did this by running in a human-sized hamster wheel' attached to the end of the eight-foot-long, 360-kilo wheel.

When I volunteered to sample Paulo's Circus star attraction in the Dorchester showground, I did not know what to expect.

"Have you written your will and said goodbye to your family?" was the last question I heard as the metal contraption began moving.

Pedro Granadeiro, 35, had every reason to joke having spent the past 14 years skipping and jumping on the wheel in which I was now strapped, with rubber shoes' as his only safety precaution.

Like a rollercoaster the ride gathered speed, hitting the 10-metre high point only to fall and do it again, and I held on tightly to avoid whizzing around in my seat as well as the wheel.

On every turn Nuno, 31, asked if I wanted to stop but I refused to give in and emerged, five spins later, feeling pleased but relieved.

Of course it helped to know that these men perform tricks on the wheel every day without safety nets or harnesses.

Ringmaster Paul Carpenter said: "It is actually the most dangerous of all the circus acts. Because it's moving around, they can't really control where they fall.

"They literally risk their lives twice a day."

Nuno lost his balance one night in 1996, and landed half on the ring box, but got away with just bruising and was straight back on, only to fall again, get back on and finish the show. He said: "In the past 20 years three guys that we know have died on this wheel, one is in a wheelchair and there's a guy with a robot leg - you can get very serious injuries."

The Portuguese brothers had to go against their parent's wishes to attempt the act.

Nuno said: "Our mother Nina used to be a trapeze artist and fell twice - so she knew the risks of working in the air.

"We were doing an Argentinean folklore act at the time, and one day we got the prop up and started getting the timings."

He added: "It's like a dance - you need to get the timings right and know how to start and stop, get the balancing right and get faster and faster. Even today I'm still learning."

Pedro, the eldest and lightest brother, performs on top of the smaller wheel with Nuno in the larger wheel in an act that keeps people on the edge of their seats.

Pedro said: "When you see the show and see the reaction of the crowd, we make people scream. It's dangerous for us to get too comfortable but we can't be too afraid."

Having performed in Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, Ireland and the UK, the Granadeiro Brothers will be touring with Paulo's Circus until the end of the season and then plan to try Germany or Italy.

Always in demand, it took Paulo's Circus four years and much public request to come back to the county town.

After the show finishes in Dorchester this Monday (May 14), it can be found at Pottery Field, Sandford, Wareham from May 17-20.