Members of the church of Scientology, followed by Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise, danced frantically to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody until 4am.

The mad ritual in a "punishment cell" dubbed The Hole climaxed in violent scenes, says John Sweeney in his book 'The Church of Fear'.

Ex-sect member Tom DeVocht said that competitors faced rejection by leader David Miscavige, a friend of Cruise, if they lost a chair place, reported Sun online.

"Everybody played the game with this mental anguish. People were breaking down. It was a very eerie, strange thing," said DeVocht, a builder.

A chair was smashed in two as a winner was decided in the cell - built from two trailer homes at the sect's California HQ, Gold Base, at Gilman Hot Springs.

DeVocht claims he was a long-time friend of Miscavige, 52, until he left the weird sect in 2005. He said Miscavige, Cruise's best man at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes, hit him twice.