'I take no prisoners': Former circus ringmaster's long path to Dunedin politics

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Dunedin News

From reporter Hamish McNeilly:

What does a circus background and a black belt in taekwondo mean for a city councillor?

‘’It means I take no prisoners.’’

That’s the answer from Mandy Mayhem-Bullock, 49, who was one of four newly-elected councillors in Dunedin.

‘’But I’m dropping the ‘Bullock’, I’m just going to be Cr Mayhem.’’

Mayhem was a stage name from her five years with Ridgway Circus.

Months after the tragic death of her partner, who died in a crash on the Desert Road, the then-25-year-old Bullock received a call saying the circus was in town, and they were looking for a clown.

In Wellington, Mayhem-Bullock had been working as Slaphappy the Clown, and also working as a driver, escorting the likes of singer Peter Andre.

She and her late partner had plans to start their own circus, and so she took her chance and joined.

‘’We had all lost our dreams and went on the road.”

As soon as she joined, the current clown left to be a fireman along with his girlfriend – the ringmaster.

Mayhem-Bullock was promoted to ringmaster, which included holding up a newspaper while the whip cracker whipped it to shreds, or having a cigarette whipped from her mouth.

‘’Quite often I’d get smacked on the bridge of my nose ... it stings and makes your eyes water,’’ she said.

Another part of the show involved a man throwing knives, two at a time, in her direction.

‘’One time a knife ricocheted out of the board, and went straight down and stuck into my shoe.

“I pulled the knife out and then squelched around with my blood filling up my shoe.’’

The job also involved her becoming a business partner, driver, agent, education officer, and buddy to Sonny the chimpanzee.

The circus used to breed animals, such as lions and chimpanzees, but that became increasingly problematic. Animal rights groups regularly protested but it was difficult to find a solution as the animals could not be reintegrated into the wild or given to a zoo, Mayhem-Bullock said.

After five years she left the circus and returned south, first to Oamaru and then to Waitati, north of Dunedin.

Her life in the circus helped shape her politics, travelling to many small forgotten towns gripped by poverty.

‘’I saw a lot of New Zealand,” she said.

Mayhem-Bullock, who was born and raised in Dunedin, said she was in the top class at Otago Girls’ High School, alongside future lawyers, doctors and accountants, but she was “a misfit”.

‘’I wore Doc Martens and old ripped petticoats and pyjama pants on mufti days.’’

She trained to be a teacher, but stopped studying to focus on taekwondo, the Korean martial art, and holds a third Dan black belt.

She was aiming to represent New Zealand at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where taekwondo was a demonstration sport, but the significant costs prevented her.

Now she was a mother-of-five, or as she puts it, ‘’three from my womb, and two I gave away’’.

She has two daughters, aged 19 and 6, and a 17-year-old son. After her son was born, she was an egg donor twice for her lesbian friend.

‘’We had to go to Australia, because that was pretty unheard of,” she said.

She has an open relationship with both children, aged 14 and 13, who live in Wellington.

Back in Waitati, known for its alternative community, she became involved in the Waitati Militia, which was established in opposition to the Vietnam War 50 years ago.

She later married Lee Bullock, who hails from the island of Guernsey, and the couple have a 6-year-old daughter.

Her family were victims after their miniature horse, Star, was stabbed 41 times in 2019.

Her stepping stone to the Dunedin City Council was when she was elected to the Waikouaiti Coast Community Board, which she served for six years.

While she was unsuccessful with her council campaign last election, a $5000 loan from her mum helped her obtain hoardings and advertising on the back of a bus.

Her focus for the campaign was ‘’wellbeing’’.

‘’We are in unprecedented times, people are under the pump, and they are feeling the pressure financially.’’

Mayhem-Bullock said she got on well with mayor-elect Radich, and was looking forward to working with him.

Apart from her new role as a councillor, she had her 50th birthday to plan next month.

That would include a freak show and a guest appearance from someone called, ‘’Charlotte, the three-tittied woman’’.