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David Blaine- ‘Above The Below’

Recently, an American magician called David Blaine was suspended in a box above the River Thames in London, surviving only on water, for forty-four days. He called it ‘Above The Below’. David Blaine became famous for his magic a few years ago when he approached people in the street and did magic tricks with them and quickly became recognised worldwide for his amazing talent.

He claimed that the idea for ‘Above The Below’ came when he received a gift of a butterfly, framed in clear plastic. "I thought it would be amazing to see a human being framed in a glass case", he said.

There was the danger whilst he was in the box that he may start to lose his mind or suffer from hypothermia. Afterwards he could even suffer from long-term problems such as brain damage and kidney failure. When asked if the risks were worth taking he replied; "I think it is worth it for my art even if I drop dead."

The main reason given for the spectacle was that he was motivated by the possibility of pushing our perceived boundaries, saying: "We are all capable of infinitely more than we believe. We are stronger and more resourceful than we know, and we can endure much more than we think we can. In truth, the only restrictions on our capacity to astonish ourselves and each other are imposed by our own minds."

David Blaine was paid around £4m in television rights from Channel 4 and Sky One to screen ‘Above The Below’, and I believe as well as grabbing world wide attention this was the main reason he put his life at risk, and endured forty four days of starvation and isolation.

‘Above The Below’ wasn’t the first time he had put his life at risk. He has previously been frozen in ice and buried alive underground in a box for a large period of time, but came out without any long-term problems.

However, this challenge was far more dangerous than anything he had ever previously attempted. Blaine prepared for the stunt by putting on weight by eating more, hopefully increasing the body's supply of essential glycogen and delaying it from starting to break down its own muscle tissue.

When Blaine finished his time in the box he had lost around four stone in weight and unsurprisingly could hardly walk. He said that he had learnt a lot about himself during his time in the box and would like to thank all his fans for their support.

Although Blaine lost around four stone during his forty-four days in the box he must have been able to access some sort of food or mineral supply as many believe he could not survive for that amount of time on only water.

This begged the question, did David’s water have glucose in or did his lip balm have nutrients in as nobody could believe that he could survive forty four days without food. Blaine strongly denied having any type of food in with him. The water was tested for glucose and it was discovered that it was pure water without any trace of glucose. Although the water was pure, it doesn’t prove there was no trace of nutrients or glucose in the box with David. Unfortunately nobody was aloud to obtain a urine sample from David as this would test if he had taken anything else apart from water. Therefore it is up to you decide whether David Blaine is innocent or guilty of having any form of food in with him during his forty-four days of isolation and starvation. Or was he even there?

What do you think?
What is your opinion on David Blaine?