Binside TV: DAVID BLAINE

It's pretty hard to believe the "magician" David Blaine has made his living and massive fortune from staging silly stunts for media attention.

Blaine's latest spectacle in Central Park involves him hanging upside down from his ankles while passersby stare at him. Is this the end of an era? Are people going to finally tell David Blaine that he's a cheater and not doing what he claims because he is seen standing upright and taking breaks. Watch ABC news coverage with Diane Sawyer of David Blaine's "Drowned Alive" stunt.

David Blaine’s attempt to hang upside down for 60 hours is being rubbished after curious New Yorkers arrived at Central Park’s Woolman Rink to witness the unusual event and found him standing upright.

The sometimes magician and self-described “endurance artist” has been regularly caught standing, being looked over by a doctor, during the three-day-long “Dive of Death”.

After discovering the 35-year-old with feet firmly on a platform, and seemingly breaking his promise to drink while hanging and urinate through a catheter, journalists and bloggers have brought back memories of the disdain surrounding his 2003 London stunt, in which he spent 44 days in a Perspex box, by penning scathing criticisms of his effort.

Entertainment Weekly blogger Vanessa Juarez posted an account of an unsatisfying lunch hour spent in Central Park: “When I got there, Blaine was taking a break. He was thirsty. And it was time for the doctors on hand to check his vital signs. So there he was: standing upright, drinking bottled water.”

“Finally, after 15 minutes or so, Blaine went back to being upside-down. There wasn’t much to see. He just hung.”

Similarly unimpressed witnesses filled internet pages with bilious comments labelling him a cheat alongside pictures of Blaine the right (or wrong) way up.

“This is like being on a hunger strike for 22 hours a day. You know, taking two hours off for lunch and dinner break. Oh, and coffee and snacks,” wrote one.

Another fumed: “I arrived at 9am this morning to find him on the platform, and he stayed there for 20 minutes. I watched the time. And while this was happening, I asked a security guard what he thought about it. He told me, ‘yeah, it's kind of cheap, isn't it?’ I asked him how many breaks he'd seen him take this morning, and the guard told me ‘Three, maybe four, since Eight when I arrived.’” source

New Yorkers get a bad rep for bad behavior but we're surprised that Americans haven't taunted David Blaine like the UK public who couldn't stand him when he pulled off one of his dumb stunts while hanging in a glass box near the Tower Bridge in London. People in the UK would understand that watching a 35 year-old man hang from his ankles like he's swinging from a schoolyard gym is not entertainment. David Blaine's stunts have boosted New York tourism. His last "Drowned Alive" stunt staged at Lincoln Center drew massive crowds while he was floating in a 3 ton water tank. Courtney Cox-Arquette and David Arquette were some of the celebrities who visited David Blaine while he was submerged in the bubble.

After 12 days of being suspended 30 feet (nine metres) above the ground next to London's Tower Bridge, Blaine's odds of succeeding have been lengthened from 2/9 to 4/9. He has been taunted by members of the public and several tabloids, who have played tricks ranging from stripping off to grilling food below him.

And, according to the press, his persecution is set to continue.

The Sun newspaper reported that a website for gay men has asked its users to throw sausages at his box, while the Daily Express said a man would sit in another perspex box below him, allowed to drink anything he likes - except water.

On Tuesday, a man was charged with criminal damage and threatening behaviour after allegedly trying to cut the water line going into the illusionist's box.

And on Wednesday, press photographs showed a man bleeding from the face after a confrontation with a security guard.

A spokesman for Blaine, 30, said two people were "throwing missiles" from shopping bags when a security guard tried to remove the bags. source