Drowned Alive!

May 8, 2006 7:35 PM

David Blaine living underwater for a week. How was it done? I don't have enough info on the stunt, so pardon my ignorance. Was the sphere uncovered the entire time? If it was covered at any point, why?
posted by sharksandwich to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

Magic.
posted by ND¢ at 7:39 PM on May 8, 2006

He breathed oxygen underwater thanks to his scuba rig. He was fed liquid nutrients through a tube, and there was some kind of vacuum system for waste removal.

In other words, basically what ND¢ said.
posted by emelenjr at 7:44 PM on May 8, 2006

Response by poster: I know he had an air supply. I'm asking about the feasablity of doing that underwater for a week. He was obviously attended to many times. I just wondering about the possibility of him being switched out with a double at any time. You'd think with a feat of this magnitude, there'd be a camera trained on the sphere for the entire time.
posted by sharksandwich at 7:48 PM on May 8, 2006

What effect would this have on his skin? He'll have pruney fingers for months!
posted by imposster at 7:52 PM on May 8, 2006

He'll have pruney fingers for months!

I'll say!
posted by Robot Johnny at 7:57 PM on May 8, 2006

Blaine probably couldn't switch himself out of the sphere since people were allowed to get up close and personal with him 24/7. He did switch himself out for the box thing in London (?), because it was high in the air, far enough away for trickery.

The article here describes some of the problems encountered during his soak.

Essentially David Blaine puts himself through excruciating circumstances to remind us of our own willpower, that we can do anything we want if we set our minds to it. Nahhhhh, he's just a pruney tool.
posted by user92371 at 8:05 PM on May 8, 2006

I've seen people with hands and feet like that after a day in the bush. I think it only happens on parts of the skin that are thicker. My understanding was that the bubble was in the public and visible at all times. I also believe the temperature of the water was regulated to match or come close to his own body temperature. I know that at some points instead of wearing just a scuba breather he had a full helmet deal so that he could talk to people, I'm guessing he got to use it at least once a day. And not to derail, but I caught the ending and as impressive as it was to see him hold his breath for seven minutes, it was still not the nine he claimed he would do and a big let down. Anticlimactic for sure.
posted by furtive at 8:10 PM on May 8, 2006

Penn and Teller's instructions after describing a "trick" in which the magician appears to eat a handful of bugs were something like, "Instructions: Just eat the bugs. It won't kill you."
posted by nicwolff at 8:34 PM on May 8, 2006

To embiggen the derail:
From the BioLab archives -
"... What actually happens in the tub or pool is that the dead, keratin-filled cells imbibe the water (just like soaked beans or paper towels) because of capillary action and swell (definitely not osmosis, which, as a form of diffusion, is powered by thermal energy, not the cohesive forces of the water molecules). This causes the stratum corneum to occupy a greater surface area. Because it is attached thoroughly to the tissues below (and they have not
changed), it must wrinkle to account for the greater surface area. The stratum corneum on the palms and soles is much thicker than that on other parts of the body and so imbibes lots more water and makes the wrinkling more evident. When you see your fingers and toes wrinkle up after long exposure to water rest assured that the skin is just doing its job of intercepting water that would otherwise invade your body by an inappropriate route. ..."
posted by imposster at 8:43 PM on May 8, 2006

user92371: How do you know that Blaine switched himself out of the box in London? I hadn't heard about that until you mentioned it.
posted by natan at 1:01 AM on May 9, 2006

He was wearing specially designed gloves with lotion in them, they had to be changed at one point.
posted by fire&wings at 3:15 AM on May 9, 2006

On the plus side, I was on the Broadway bus the other day, heading to a meetup as it happened, and as we passed Lincoln Center, the entire bus got into a huge scornful laugh-a-thon at what an idiot the guy in the aquarium was. He caused some major stranger-bonding.

Seeing as that's not an answer, I'll direct you here for more info and links.
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:07 AM on May 9, 2006

Natan: I read it somewhere, can't find it. Occasionally someone would check on the box in the dead of night and they would lower the lights on the box; that's apparently when the switch occurred with an assistant who was there to clean the box of thrown debris or whatever. But then, even if did or did not occur, so what, really. In the end, it was The Amazing Feat of The Hungry Guy Who Was in a Box. Followed by The Amazing Feat of The Wet Guy Who Was in a Sphere.

Coming in August: The Amazing Feat of The Baby Powder-Encrusted Guy Who Was in a Ovoid Solid, Sort of Like an Eyeball I Guess.
posted by user92371 at 9:12 PM on May 9, 2006