Let’s not forget that no one on-screen in that specific scene other than the host (John Hurt) was aware that the character was swapped for a neck-down prosthetic, so every single reaction by each actor was genuinely horrific in that they each “saw” a prop explode out of a human body. IIRC, the director went on to pay for counseling for most (all?) of said actors after the fact.
Let’s not forget that no one on-screen in that specific scene other than the host (John Hurt) was aware that the character was swapped for a neck-down prosthetic, so every single reaction by each actor was genuinely horrific in that they each “saw” a prop explode out of a human body. IIRC, the director went on to pay for counseling for most (all?) of said actors after the fact.