Magician David Blaine started a three-day illusion Monday, hanging upside down over New York's Central Park, in what some believe may be his most dangerous stunt ever.Blaine, 35, was lifted upside down over Central Park's Wollmann ice skating rink, and plans to remain there, hanging by his ankles from a wire for 60 hours.
The magician, who has spent 72 hours enclosed in ice, gone 44 days without food in a glass box, spent a week under water, and been buried alive for days, told reporters that hanging upside down for three days will be his hardest challenge to date.
"This is the most difficult for sure. The others, you could get into them soon after the start, but this one is tough from the beginning".
He is attached at the waist and by two steel harnesses connecting his boots to the wire. For two nights and three days he will not eat or sleep. The metal frame from which he is suspended is four stories high, but Blaine can be lowered to ground level to communicate with the press and doctors.
Doctors are worried about the effect of the stress on Blaine's internal organs and blood circulation. He will not be eating, and will take in liquid through a straw, and will only be able to urinate through a catheter.
ABC television purchased live coverage rights to the Central Park event and is planning a two-hour prime time show on Wednesday evening featuring Blaine's illusion and his return to solid ground.
Blaine's assistant and agent Regina Dantas said she and the rest of Blaine's crew become worried each time he takes his magic to the edge. She commented to reporters:
"The doctor and his assistants are petrified. The outcome of his magic is always a big question mark, a big question mark. David is fearless. Death, I think, means something different to him."
In fact, several doctors have commented that this type of trick is very dangerous because the heart relies on gravity, to some extent, and is not used to pumping blood up to the feet as it will in Blaine's case. Blood may also drain to his head raising the risk of stroke or blood hemorrhage.
Doctors also say Blaine will have to contend with a restricted ability to breathe, because his diaphragm will be upside down with the weight of his intestines pushing upon it. And a lack of proper blood flow to his legs, if profound, may cause muscle tissue to die off as it is starved of oxygen.
But something tells us that with a major television network buying the advertising rights, and cameras at every angle, that everything will be just fine and Blaine will grab a lot of attention and money from the deal.
Watch David Blaine Start His Upside Down Illusion
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