NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – “Nitro Nicole, she’s fiery, she’s got a little kick to her, she does the head spins,” Nicole Sanders the “Human Cannonball,” says jokingly about her alter ego.
“Nitro Nicole” literally gets shot out of a cannon. It’s part of her act at “Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey” circus.
“You can’t say you met someone who gets shot out of a cannon quite often, right? It’s kind of a unique job description. It’s really unlike any sensation I would equate it to. Almost an extreme ride at a park,” says Sanders.
“Nitro Nicole” travels at a speed of 66 miles per hour and lands 73 feet from where she started.
She’s athletic and fearless and you can add brains to all that brawn, too.
Sanders has a degree from “Loyola University” in New Orleans. She majored in psychology and double minored in Spanish and ballet and still visits the dance department from time to time.
It’s almost as if there’s nothing “Nitro Nicole” can’t do.
The sky’s the limit.
“Little girls especially come up to me and say ‘oh you’re so pretty.’ I say thank you so much, I am pretty but also I’m very strong and courageous because I get shot out of a cannon,” says Sanders.