Thursday, May 17th, 2012
David Blaines latest public stunt on ABC on September 24 was a massive disappointment in the ratings.
The street magician pulled off what others called a spider-man maneuver. Hanging upside down amid Central Park’s Wollman Rink for 60 hours.
Slightly delayed due to President Bush’s address, Blaine only pulled in 7.7 million viewers. It lost more than half of its Dancing With the Stars lead-in audience of 15.6 million.
This is not the first time the Brooklyn native has pulled off
something this crazy. His list of stunts include: 63 hours encased in a
block of ice, buried alive for seven days, and we also saw him hold his
breath for a record-breaking 17 minutes and 4.4 seconds. As a reward
for all his troubles, Blaine has been officially nominated for the
first ever Houdini Award. He edged out a lot of renowned magicians for
the nomination, including Criss Angel, David Copperfield, and the duo
of Penn and Teller.
While some critics describe the endurance artist
as attention-starved, it still doesnt remove the fact that he typically gets
viewers to tune-in. During his guest appearance on Oprah, ratings
increased significantly.
