# Smelly man gets out of box
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 19, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414 "2003-10-19T22:03:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/1 "2003-10-19T22:03:43Z")
Blaine’s out.
An entirely underwhelming spectacle IMO - lots of hooha about turning the box on its side (ooh, the drama), then him staggering out crying, muttering some incoherent psychobabble, then being taken away in an ambulance.
He definitely looked a whole lot skinnier. According to the people who weighed him he’s lost four stone (56 lbs).
I don’t deny that he must have suffered terribly, but I don’t think the suffering was particularly noble or praiseworthy. I also hope he recovers fully. But at the end of the day… meh.
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### Author:  [@scotcho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotcho)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/2 "2003-10-19T22:57:15Z")
i agree - meh seems to sum it up.
Scotcho
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### Author:  [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/3 "2003-10-19T23:01:31Z")
The show was terrible. Live sequences mixed with recorded shite that looked like they got a young confused David Lynch to do them, Blaine with blood streaming down his face throwing cards at the screen and the like.
Very boring stuff really. He did look quite a bit thinner. Is 4 stone the expected weight loss for this stunt but he did seem quite sprightly taking all things into account. One of the Irish hunger stickers died on his 46th day(most lasted 60+)
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### Author:  [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2003, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/4 "2003-10-19T23:04:48Z")
Grr I really should preview.
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### Author:  [@Trucido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trucido)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/5 "2003-10-20T01:01:58Z")
Doesn’t that sort of stunt seriously affect you for the rest of your life? I’ve read bits and pieces about the Turkish hunger strikers who were never the same after long periods of fasting. The whole setup can’t have been terribly good for his metnal health, which I don’t think was in such great shape to begin if (if it was, he wouldn’t have done the stunt).
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### Author:  [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/6 "2003-10-20T02:39:45Z")
I heard that it wasn’t him the whole time, that they would switch him out with other people at night. Wonder if thats true or not. Either way, it’s pointless.
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### Author:  [@Honeydew\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honeydew_1)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/7 "2003-10-20T07:59:30Z")
I doubt his mental health at the best of times…
Can you imagine the pong off him? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww
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### Author:  [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/8 "2003-10-20T08:06:17Z")
Eeeww…
I also have to agree with the sentiment of meh. What a load of, well, meh.
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### Author:  [@Halfpint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Halfpint)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/9 "2003-10-20T10:42:42Z")
Another meh . . person here, if I could actually summon up the enthusiasm to utter a meh . . .
Although this [link](http://www.goatmusic.org/images/44dayslater.jpg) made me smile
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### Author:  [@Pergau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pergau)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/10 "2003-10-20T11:44:47Z")
I only watched about 3.5 minutes of it (the length of an ad break on another channel) but I thought I heard a lot of booing as he was put on the stretcher.
Meh
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/11 "2003-10-20T12:02:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by roadkiller \*
> \*\*I heard that it wasn’t him the whole time, that they would switch him out with other people at night. Wonder if thats true or not. Either way, it’s pointless. \*\*
There’s some question over his weightloss [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=218408). Also his beard doesn’t seem thick enough.
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/12 "2003-10-20T12:43:40Z")
Lots of sheep in this thread, aren’t there? And I’m one of them. Meh. Didn’t go to see him, didn’t throw abuse or eggs at him, didn’t care while he was up there, don’t care now. Meh. Sums it up really.
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### Author:  [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/13 "2003-10-20T12:57:36Z")
I didn’t see it on teevee but I spoke to a young guy at lunchtime who went along last night. According to him the crowd was divided between those who came to genuinely support Blaine (the ones at the front), those who came to mock (loud chants of ‘Throw him in the Thames’, etc.) and those who seem to turn up for ‘events’ that are on teevee because they are . . . . ‘events’ on teevee.
Also lots of families with teenage girls, who seem to like this sort of thing. Plus a surprising humongous number of foreign language students who can, one imagines, can share the experience with the folks back in . . . Okinawa and . . . Dubrovnik.
I don’t know what ‘meh’ means so I’ll stick to my tried and tested ‘wanker’.
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Magic8ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Magic8ball)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/14 "2003-10-20T17:58:06Z")
Umm… Whats all this about? I watched a David Blane magic trick video in my phsycology class, so I know he’s a performer type person(I was high and it was VERY trippy… he was actually FLOATING OFF THE GROUND!!!) but I have no idea what this whole box thing is about. Anyone?
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### Author:  [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/15 "2003-10-20T20:41:42Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jjimm \*
> \*\*There’s some question over his weightloss [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=218408). Also his beard doesn’t seem thick enough. \*\*
Fiona Looney on _The Panel_ just now: “No way did he lose four stone…I would be irate if I starved myself for that long and only lost that much. And what’s with the beard? He ought to look like one of the Dubliners now!”
BTW Dublin’s mayor is on the programme too, and says he declined to invite Blaine to repeat the stunt here… for Blaine’s sake.
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### Author:  [@french\_frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/french_frog)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/16 "2003-10-20T21:04:00Z")
yep \*\* roadkiller \*\*, it wasn’t him at nigth. It was David Copperfield 😉 And the guy that actually exited the box was a Taliban from Guantanamo.
What a waste of time ! He should have spend his days on the dope MPSIMS 😃
Meh.
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-man-gets-out-of-box/208414/17 "2003-10-20T21:08:01Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Miss Magic8ball \*
> \*\*Umm… Whats all this about? I watched a David Blane magic trick video in my phsycology class, so I know he’s a performer type person(I was high and it was VERY trippy… he was actually FLOATING OFF THE GROUND!!!) but I have no idea what this whole box thing is about. Anyone? \*\*
He isn’t really floating off the ground - it’s all smoke and mirrors and string. Or something.
[Here’s](http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/D/david_blaine/index.html) his stunt website - 44 days liviing only on water in a perspex box by the Thames. Meh.