Escape artist to ape a fish for a week, Houdini later

Inspired by magician Harry Houdini, performance artist David Blaine has entered a huge 8 feet tall plastic bowl filled with water at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York. Blaine will remain in the sphere for a week, after which he will try the death-defying stunt of breaking his 150-pound metal shackles and coming out, all without air supply for nine minutes.

The 33-year-old said he was inspired by Houdini and wanted to do a stunt like him. “As a kid I was always obsessed with Houdini, who always did underwater stunts. He would get shackled up and put into swimming pools and he would escape before he drowned.

And those images always sparked an interest,” Blaine said. As for the risks, which include hypothermia, loss of consciousness and in extreme conditions even brain damage, he doesn't seem too worried. “As well as holding my breath for nine minutes, hopefully, I will have to escape from all these chains. And if not, I will drown and we'll see something pretty insane,” he joked.

For now, the record for the longest duration for which a human had held his breath is 8 minutes, 58 seconds. Blaine will try to top that to set a new world record. The escape drama will be aired lived in the United States.

To prepare for the stunt, Blaine trained with US Navy Seals for learning to stay underwater without oxygen and even lost considerable amount of weight so his body consumes less oxygen. Pipes will be attached so he can breathe for the week that he is underwater and also for excretion and urination. “My system is completely empty and I did that so there's no waste that has to ever come out, so that in the sphere I don't have to use the bathroom. I have a catheter in case I have to do a number one but I don't intend on doing anything else,” he said.

To prevent hypothermia, the temperature of the water in which Blaine is suspended would be kept at around 37 degrees Celsius to maintain his body temperature. Earlier, the master of weird stunts has performed feats like being in an ice block for 61 hours, being buried in a transparent coffin for a week and going without food for 11 weeks while suspended in an acrylic box atop the River Thames in London. His London feat did not go down too well with the locals, but Blaine is positive his home town New York will offer better support.

“I love New York. This is my hometown. So the idea of creating an aquarium that was a sphere and putting it in the middle of New York was more than anything I could ever have dreamed for in my entire life. I feel very lucky,” he said.

Isn't there anything that scares the illusionist? “My only fear is the unknown,” Blaine finished.

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