David Blaine astonishingly broke the world record for breath holding today on Oprah. Suspended in the same sphere he used at Lincoln center two years ago for his week long stint underwater, he held out for 17 minutes and 4 seconds, a full 1/2 minute longer than the last record set less than three months ago by Swiss free diver Peter Colat.

Part of Blaine’s preparation for the stunt involved sleeping in a low-oxygen tent for a month. The tent replicates a high altitude environment and helps build red blood cells and increase oxygen transport throughout the body. He also went to the Caymen Islands and practiced free diving, which is where you swim deeply into the water without a mask. He helped his body to endure for so long without air by breathing pure oxygen for up to a half hour before he went underwater, which is allowed under Guinness rules.

The AP Reports that he told Oprah it was “A lifelong dream” after he emerged from the tank. He added: “I can’t believe I did that.”

Blaine became known for his on-the-spot magic tricks in his David Blaine: Street Magic show which aired 10 years ago on ABC. He has since moved on to public endurance feats including being suspended in a spinning sphere for two days in 2007, living in a water globe in Lincoln Center for a week in 2006, going without food in a Lucite box over the Thames River in London for 44 days in 2003, getting enclosed in a block of ice for three days in 2000, and buried in a coffin for a week in 1999. With this latest stunt he’s shown that he’s not just a masochist exhibitionist and that he really has the chops to break a very difficult world record.

I didn’t believe Blaine would be able to do this as he seemed to make it his mission just a few months ago, but he pulled through. As Ali G would say: “Respect.”

Here’s a quick video without sound. I’ll update the post with a better one that includes his remarks to Oprah as soon as it’s available. There are also two video blogs on YouTube which explain his preparation.

Update: Here’s the video of Blaine completing the challenge. His heart beat was raised throughout, and his doctor was worried that he wouldn’t be able to finish because he was using up more oxygen by not being able to lower his heart rate. Toward the end his heart rate slowed and started beating irregularly:

David Blaine is shown at the Tribeca Film Festival’s Redbelt premiere on 4/25/08, thanks to PRPhotos.

David Blaine told NY Post columnist Cindy Adams last December that his next public feat of endurance would be to try and attempt to break the world record for staying awake without going insane. His last stunt, in May, 2006, was spending a week inside a water globe displayed at Lincoln Center as crowds lined up to get a chance to press their hands against the glass. He tried to top off his human sea monkey experiment by holding his breath for the longest time for someone who had already been underwater for a while or something, which would have been 8 minutes, 58 seconds. He lasted for 7 minutes and 8 seconds before he started having convulsions and had to be pulled out. Doctors said he suffered liver damage from all that time underwater and that it’s a wonder he didn’t have more serious long term neurological problems.

Somehow Blaine decided to revisit that stunt instead of trying to stay awake, and this time in order to break the record after walking on land he has to hold his breath for an incredible 16 minutes and 32 seconds. He’s going to attempt it live on Oprah today, and has supposedly prepared for months. He’ll breathe pure oxygen for 23 minutes before entering into a “human aquarium” on stage.

I saw a very physically fit and well prepared diver fail at breaking the breath-holding record on live television on the German show “Wetten, Das?” two years ago when the record was set even lower, and I doubt Blaine can do this.

The underwater breath-holding record is an incredibly competitive one
A German diver, Tom Seitas, broke the record in August of 2007 live on the Regis & Kelly show, holding his breath for 15 minutes and 2 seconds.

Seitas has since been bested by a Swiss guy who did it for an incredible 16 minutes and 32 seconds less than three months ago.

According to medical experts, former record holder Seitas has the genetic advantage of having lungs that are 20% larger than the average person. He also credits his success to maintaining complete stillness to preserve oxygen.

It just doesn’t seem like Blaine can do this, especially considering the fact that he claimed to be going for a completely different record just a few months ago. He says he’s ready, though, and that having an audience will help motivate him to break the record.

We’ll have to see how he does today. He’s got to do something to keep himself in the news.

[Details from AP Report. Photos from Blaine’s stunt in May, 2006]

David Blaine is trying to remain relevant in the field of public endurance feats that he stupidly popularized. When you starve, drown, get buried alive, frozen, and spun around for days, it’s hard to top yourself, but Blaine is going to try. The worlds most celebrated modern masochist is going to attempt to break the world record of staying awake for more then eleven days, and he plans to do it standing up:

“I’m dropping 30 pounds,” he told me. “I do two hours every day on the treadmill. I’m on a raw diet that includes brown rice. No red meat. No animal products besides cooked fish.

“It’s been tried before. In 1959, Peter Tripp stayed awake eight days, but it resulted in permanent brain damage. In 1964, 17-year-old Randy Gardner did it for a high school science project. He lasted 11½ days but recovered fully. No damage. A guy in London tried but fell short. Another did 19 hours [sic] but slept two hours each night, so that doesn’t count. Also he was seated in a rocking chair. If I do this thing, which you claim I’m doing, I’ll do it on my feet. Standing up.

“After 36 hours of sleep deprivation it’s like being drunk, 72 hours and paranoia sets in, Day Four the mind goes into hallucinations and you’re dreaming while awake. The problem is there’s no way to know how to offset brain damage or to train for this because there isn’t sufficient research. I believe the first guy’s mistake was not being in great physical condition. Also he used stimulants to keep awake, which I assume did him in.

[From Cindy Adams’ column in the NY Post]

On November 1st, Blaine blogged that he would begin his next challenge in May, 2008 and that he was training for it and eating mostly raw food.

This is the guy who thought he could break the world record for holding his breath after he spent a week underwater. He seems to routinely overestimate his ability. How much can you prepare for not sleeping for a week and a half? Does it make a difference if you’re thin and fit? Doesn’t that seem like the kind of thing you’d need to be both physically prepared and genetically predisposed to accomplish?

The longest I’ve ever stayed awake was for three days in college, and it was probably more like two and a half days. It’s hard to remember as it wasn’t an entirely natural experience. It’s uncomfortable and makes you crazy not to sleep. David Blaine is just a little crazy to even attempt it. He somehow has escaped unscathed from all the trials he’s put his body through, but you can’t help but think that his brain has been affected or he wouldn’t think it’s a good idea to keep pulling stunts that push his body to the limit. Maybe if the news cycle wasn’t so fast Blaine could take a break for a year.

David Blaine is shown on 11/12/07 at “A Salute to Our Troops,” thanks to PRPhotos.

David Blaine somehow offends and bores me at the same time. I find his stunts offensive because I have a chronic health problem and he puts his health at grave risk to get attention. At the same time, his stunts are formulaic and predictable. He brings his body to the limit and either that’s the stunt or he ads a twist by including some cap off that further challenges those limits. It’s not like the stuff he does is easy and he deserves credit for being willing to go through with it. It’s just dissapointing to me how much he hurts himself when he could be doing more entertaining magic.

His last trick of living in a human fishbowl in New York City’s Lincoln center was said to have given him liver damage and to have resulted in rashes and a loss of sensation throughout his body. When he failed to hold his breath for long enough to break the world record it wasn’t surprising and came off as rather pitiful.

Now he’s set to live in a spinning top in the air for two days that will leave him vulnerable to cold, rain and snow, and to top it off by trying to escape.

On Tuesday, Blaine will be locked spread eagle into the gyroscope, which will then be hoisted 15 metres (50 feet) into the air and spun at up to eight revolutions a minute until Thursday, when he will try to escape…

Blaine said one of his biggest concerns in the challenge, besides not eating or drinking, would be dizziness.

“Just to make it more difficult on myself, I added a motor (to the gyroscope), so even when I’m sleeping there’ll be continuous movement. … I think I’m going to have to stay awake the whole time,” he said.

“This one’s exciting for me. This one’s a fun one,” he said.

The gyroscope will also leave Blaine exposed to the elements, with the performer saying that he only hoped it wouldn’t rain or snow while he dangles above a vacant lot near Manhattan’s Times Square.

The event is being sponsored by Target in conjunction with The Salvation Army, which will give 100 needy children a shopping spree when the stunt is finished regardless of whether Blaine is successful or not.

Blaine announced in mid May after his failed underwater stunt that he was going to live in the Tanzanian jungle with just a film crew to document his idiocy. Focus groups must have rejected that idea since we never heard another word about it.

David Blaine does not want to die known as the man who failed to break the world record for holding one’s breath after living in a snow globe in Lincoln Center for a week. He wants to be known as the man mauled by lions on reality television:

He probably feels like he failed or whatever, and “let the people down” as his physician said, but the guy got a lot of attention and he really gave it his all. It’s only been a week since he got out of the bubble. He’s probably afraid of slipping into obscurity.

His last gig was bringing magic to libraries as the spokesperson for the 2006 New York City summer reading program, so his fears are well founded.

He sound have kids and then he will realize how immortality is attained - through genetics.

David Blaine surprised no one by not being able to break the world’s record for holding one’s breath underwater after spending a week beating the crap out of his body by living in a water globe in Lincoln Center for people to gawk at.

He started spurting bubbles nearly two minutes short of the record, and divers came to his pitiful rescue:

Blaine has suffered liver damage, loss of sensation in his body, and rashes all over as a result of his deal with the devil. The long term effects of gambling with his health for publicity have yet to be determined.

I saw the highlights of the stunt on German TV, and it really made me uncomfortable. Just thinking about it while Blaine was underwater made me uncomfortable.

Blaine couldn’t have expected to break the world record for holding one’s breath, but he had to show how far he was willing to go. It was too far indeed.

I don’t wish David Blaine any ill will, and I really hope he gets out of the bubble alive and without permanent brain damage from oxygen deprivation. He’s a total fool, though, to bring his body to its breaking point and then expect to top it off by holding his breath longer than people who are in top form and have trained for years - while he’s breaking out of a bunch of chains!

Blaine’s skin is predictably peeling off from his week-long underwater stunt, and now he’s experiencing excruciating pain throughout his body. Doctors says his muscles are breaking down and that he “might never be the same again” and could develop a seizure disorder:

The bottom line is that David Blaine is making a ton of cash in a deal with the devil that could leave him with permanent health problems.

There are plenty of real people who live with chronic pain and disability. David Blaine thinks it’s ok to gamble with his health for fame and fortune. He’s about to find out that it’s not worth it.

Update: the status of Blaine’s breath-holding stunt for his two hour ABC special tonight, to air at 8:00 pm, is uncertain:

Pictures from Flickr: [via] [via] [via] [via] [via] [via]

David Blaine held the kick off press conference today at Lincoln Center for his week of living in a snow globe. As if it’s not entertaining enough for us to watch Blaine be a human goldfish for a week, he’ll attempt to escape from a bunch of chains and then try to break the world record for holding his breath:

I really doubt he’ll break the world record for holding your breath underwater. That’s got to be next to impossible fr someone who’s already worn down like that. It would have been good enough if he just lived in the water sphere for a week - he doesn’t have to throw the stupid chain stunt and breath holding into the mix.

So when Blaine dies, whenever it is, his obituary will include the fact that he lived in a coffin for a week, in a see-through box without food for 44 days, and in a water globe for seven days. I would prefer that mine says that I’m survived by my children. Really, the guy is an attention hound and is going to seriously hurt himself.

David Blaine is pretty cool when he’s doing magic. His low key personality and willingness to approach anyone make his brand of street magic unique and realistic. I saw a special on cable that featured Blaine levitating a foot off the ground. The different groups of people who saw him do it up close really believed that he had some kind of supernatural power.

When the novelty of street magic wore off a few years ago, Blaine started pulling Houdini-type capers. He was buried in a coffin in New York city for a week in 1999, enclosed in a glass of ice for three days in 2000, and stood on a platform for two days straight in 2002. Blaine tried to bring his stunts to new masochistic heights by encasing himself in an acrylic box over the Thames River in London without food or entertainment for 44 days in the fall of 2003. The stunt was successful but foolish and Blaine drew mixed reviews for his public sacrifice. Drunken Londoners ridiculed him and hurled food and beer at his see-through box.

Blaine now plans on living in an aquarium for seven days in New York City’s Lincoln center.

The guy is trying to cling to his fading star by pulling yet another outrageous stunt. It’s unnecessary and stupid, and if he wants to make a pile of cash he can surely tour Vegas instead of toturing himself for our entertainment.

It’s obviously incredibly hard to hold your breath for that long under water, especially after your body is totally worn out from being submerged for a week. I saw a super-fit guy who had been training for years try to break the record for holding your breath under water on “Wetten Das?” He fell a half minute or so short of the record when he was distracted by Bon Jovi flirting with his girlfriend on the other side of the glass.

Blaine has supposedly been training with the Navy Seals for the stunt, but we doubt he will successfully hold his breath for that long.

His last gig was as the spokesperson for the 2006 New York City summer reading program, though, so you can hardly blame him for trying to remain relevant.

Here is Blaine “bringing magic to libraries” as part of NY’s summer reading program: