Diamond is the latest of a number of foreigners who have approached the village in recent years and asked to participate. These have included the British artist Sebastian Horsley, who got as far as having the nails banged in, but then fell off his cross as his foot rest gave way. He went on to stage a controversial exhibition of photographs, footage and paintings associated with his experience, and has been quoted as saying: "Christ was crucified to save mankind, I was crucified to save my career. Both of us failed."

A temporary ban on foreigners was actually imposed in 1996 after a Japanese volunteer, Shinichiro Kaneko, used footage of his crucifixion to make a sado- masochistic pornographic video.