Magician David Blaine exclusive interview | On discoveries in India, AI and magic, and living dangerously Premium

David Blaine defies death with extreme magic stunts, pushing the limits of human endurance worldwide

Near brushes with death are his métier. Defying death, his hobby. 

He has held his breath underwater for 17 minutes, not eaten for 44 days, was buried under the earth for seven days, lived inside an ice block for 63 hours, stood atop a 100-feet pillar for 35 hours and of course, levitated more than once. Regurgitating frogs, sticking rods through his arm, and whipping out cards from his gut are a few of his pastimes.  “Just watch, do not attempt,” David Blaine reminds us.

The ‘extreme magician’ has lived dangerously his whole life. 

And this American’s feats have for long been the subject of obsession for millennials worldwide, televised and marketed for greedy consumption — few can forget the tense moments when he emerged from an ice cube, shivering, completely rattled, to be immediately rushed to the hospital. [He would later admit that it took him more than a month to recover, and vowed to never attempt something as dangerous as that]. But that was a lie, for by then, a ‘modern-day Houdini’ had been born. 

Today, at the age of 51, he still lives life on the edge.  

Over the last two years, David travelled the world in search of those like him or better than him; those who skirt the line between magic and learned skill. In his latest National Geographic reality-challenge show intentionally and aptly titled Do Not Attempt, the magician once again becomes a student, in the quest for feats that defy magic as he travels across Brazil, Southeast Asia, India, the Arctic, South Africa, and Japan.

It is once again a numbers game. Over the two years of filming the show, he has kissed a king cobra for three seconds, lay covered in 59 scorpions, lit his head on fire for 53 seconds, swam under three feet of ice, jumped 59 feet from a bridge while he was on fire, and meditated with six black mambas.