Hearing the latest trick

Daivd Blaine's latest trick
13 April 2012

Magician David Blaine pulled his latest shock stunt today when he appeared to cut off his own ear.

Not content with his reputation as the modern-day Houdini, the illusionist decided to cast himself as the new Van Gogh.

Blaine was giving a press conference at London's Savoy Hotel to promote his forthcoming trick, in which he will spend 44 days without food while encased in a plastic box by the River Thames near Tower Bridge.

With the TV cameras rolling, the 30-year-old American opted for shock tactics in his latest bid to grab some publicity.

When a voice in the assembled press pack asked if there was a magic trick he could perform, Blaine came up with this "impromptu" display.

After someone helpfully handed him a knife, he returned to the stage and started hacking away at his left ear.

He cried out and grimaced in pain as what appeared to be blood spurted down the side of his face.

Ushered off the stage by aides, a subdued Blaine was back five minutes later to show off the damage, with a slice of his ear apparently missing.

Blaine has made a career from appearing to test his body to the limits - although cynics suggest his stunts are more to do with trickery than human endurance.

They have included being buried alive for a week, being encased inside a six-ton block of ice for nearly three days and standing for 35 hours on top of a 100ft high pole. On Friday he will begin his most ambitious project to date.

He will enter a Perspex box measuring seven feet deep, seven feet long and three feet wide, where he intends to remain for 44 days with nothing more than water to sustain him.

Billed as "the most extreme exercise in isolation and physical deprivation ever attempted", such a feat carries with it the risk of brain damage or even death.

"I consider this the most difficult thing I'm ever going to do in my life and by far the most dangerous. The damage could be irreversible. You may never see me in this condition again," he said.

"I assume that mentally I will start to lose my mind after a couple of weeks, and by day 40 it will be a nightmare.

"Everything I have done before is irrelevant compared to this. This could easily be the last thing I ever do."

Blaine's home for the next 44 days will contain only a pillow and mat, a supply of nappies, a journal, pens and some lip balm.

>He will take in water through a tube and doctors on the ground will test his urine daily for signs of kidney or liver failure.

If he makes it to the end of the stunt, he will be hospitalised and expects to spend weeks recovering from the ordeal.

Blaine explained he had chosen 44 days after learning that some prisoners in Auschwitz survived for 43 days without food, and also because his birthday is on April 4.

The New Yorker, who has been fattening himself up in preparation for the feat and expects to lose 45lbs from his 205lb frame, insisted there would be no nutrients slipped in his water supply.

He admitted that many observers would be cynical about the stunt and others would consider it "plain lunacy".

But he said: "I am a showman first before a magician. I consider it performance art. I think it's worth it for my art even if I drop dead."

Sky One will screen the beginning of the stunt live on Friday at 8.30pm and his planned exit live on Sunday October 19. It will also be shown later on Channel 4.

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