# Pitting David Blaine - lying already about stunt **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 8, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344 "2003-09-08T18:09:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gingersnap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f04885/32.png) [@gingersnap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gingersnap)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/1 "2003-09-08T18:09:21Z")
David Blaine, the American street magician, claims that he “will go without food and will **only** have access to water fed through a tube for the 44-day stunt” So what’s that water bottle doing in the box w/him? You can clearly see the bottle in this picture: [http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030906/lthumb.1062848867.britain\_street\_magician\_xlst102.jpg](http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030906/lthumb.1062848867.britain_street_magician_xlst102.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/2 "2003-09-08T18:24:57Z")
Related article: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv\_and\_radio/3085590.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3085590.stm) > [@](#): > > At 2127 BST on Friday, in the shadow of Tower Bridge on the banks of the Thames in London, Blaine climbed into a small glass box to begin more than six weeks of voluntary starvation. > > By 2130 Blaine was in the box, smiling, waving, writing in his journal and swigging from his water bottle as the flashbulbs popped. ---
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/3 "2003-09-08T18:25:52Z")
Maybe he fills the bottle up with water from the tube? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/4 "2003-09-08T18:29:02Z")
44 days? After about two I’d already be eating my hair. So what’s the deal… he’ll be on display for that long? I’d imagine that with a crowd outside his box that some hot dog vendor will pull his cart up to do some business. 44 days is a long time to look the other way. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/5 "2003-09-08T18:29:51Z")
I thought he was allowed water. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/6 "2003-09-08T18:31:27Z")
Does he at least have a book? How is he dealing with relieving himself? ---
**Author:** ![gingersnap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f04885/32.png) [@gingersnap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gingersnap)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/7 "2003-09-08T18:41:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*I thought he was allowed water. \*\* Of course he must have water, humans can only survive a few days without it. My beef is with the **claim** that he will “ **only** have access to water fed through a tube”. Obviously that is not true. **NYR407** : Note that the article says “fed from a tube”. One doesn’t “feed” a water bottle. Nit-picky maybe. But right from the first minute, Blaine is blatantly contradicting the claimed terms of his own stunt. Making me very skeptical of the rest of the claims. My guess is that we’ll hear of nightly visits to the box by his staff, and the claim will be that they are doing “maintenance” on the box. In reality, they’ll probably be slipping him Supersized Triple CheeseBurger Value Meals, books on tape, etc. And/or swapping him out for a body double, as he most likely did with the “frozen in ice” stunt. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/8 "2003-09-08T18:42:33Z")
'Nother article: [http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=439431](http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=439431) > [@](#): > > Apart from a pipe to feed pure water into the box and another to take away Blaine’s urine, there will be no access. > > His health will be monitored by doctors testing the urine to ensure his kidneys and liver are functioning. Any other call of nature will be dealt with by the nappies he will wear for the first few days. He’s allowed water but it’s not clear if he’s supposed to be just drinking from the pipe or not. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/9 "2003-09-08T18:46:13Z")
**Gingersnap** , David Blaine is a _magician_. Of _course_ he’s lying about how he does his tricks. That’s what magicians _do_. And he’s damn good at his lying, too. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/10 "2003-09-08T18:47:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gingersnap \* > **Of course he must have water, humans can only survive a few days without it.** No shit, really? My point was if he’s allowed water, who the fuck cares if it’s coming out of a tube, a bottle, or a monkey’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/11 "2003-09-08T18:48:43Z")
As for how he’s doing it: suggestions I’ve read is that the water he’s drinking will contain a nutrient solution, or that he’s smuggled food concentrate in with his clothes, or that his “lip balm” is actually food concentrate (44 days without food, and you’re worried about CHAP STICK?). Obviously a stage magician is going to cheat; the fun is either in buying into the fantasy, or in puzzling out how he’s cheating. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/12 "2003-09-08T18:49:22Z")
> [@](#): > > NYR407: Note that the article says “fed from a tube”. One doesn’t “feed” a water bottle. Nit-picky maybe . . . Nit-picky “maybe”? There’s some doubt in your mind as to whether the riveting question of if he drinks directly from the tube, like a great big hamster, or puts it in a bottle first, is, in fact, “nit-picky”? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/13 "2003-09-08T18:51:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Does he at least have a book? > > How is he dealing with relieving himself? \*\* I don’t recall hearing anything about being allowed any entertainment like a book or CD player. As for relieving himself, he claims that he has diapers for his solid waste and some sort of tube for urine removal. He hasn’t been able to stop eating before he went into the box because his doctors told him he needed as much weight as possible before he started his stunt. I don’t know what to think of him. Seems like a glory-monger to me. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/14 "2003-09-08T18:51:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DanielWithrow \* > **As for how he’s doing it: suggestions I’ve read is that the water he’s drinking will contain a nutrient solution, or that he’s smuggled food concentrate in with his clothes…** … or perhaps he knows where his towel is? ---
**Author:** ![Aries28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Aries28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aries28)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/15 "2003-09-08T18:57:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ruby \* > \*\*I don’t know what to think of him. Seems like a glory-monger to me. \*\* Seems like an idiot to me. There are enough people starving in the world through no choice of their own and this dumbass is doing it on purpose as a “trick?” What does this prove? Pitiful. ---
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/16 "2003-09-08T19:00:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jodi \* > \*\*Nit-picky “maybe”? There’s some doubt in your mind as to whether the riveting question of if he drinks directly from the tube, like a great big hamster, or puts it in a bottle first, is, in fact, “nit-picky”? \*\* Thanks **Jodi** , I could not have said it better myself. I actually was having the same thought of Blaine as a giant hamster. Now if he starts running in a big wheel for exercise… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/17 "2003-09-08T19:13:54Z")
I can’t think of anything I’d want to watch less than some attention whore sitting in a box shitting himself. Bleh. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/18 "2003-09-08T19:21:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aries28 \* > \*\*Seems like an idiot to me. There are enough people starving in the world through no choice of their own and this dumbass is doing it on purpose as a “trick?” What does this prove? > > Pitiful. \*\* Didn’t think of this, good point. ---
**Author:** ![gingersnap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f04885/32.png) [@gingersnap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gingersnap)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/19 "2003-09-08T19:26:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*No shit, really? > My point was if he’s allowed water, who the fuck cares if it’s coming out of a tube, a bottle, or a monkey’s ass. \*\* The point is this: He claims he’s only getting water by being **fed** through a tube. Yet there he is grinning and swigging something out of a water bottle, in full view of everyone. Wonder what else he has in the box? Powerbars and paperbacks don’t take up much room… ---
**Author:** ![TaxGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TaxGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaxGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344/20 "2003-09-08T19:27:03Z")
Guin: Nail on head, chicky. (It’d make one hell of a sig line, too 🙂 ) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-david-blaine-lying-already-about-stunt/200344.md?page=2)