Being broadcast by both Channel 4 and
Sky Television, Blaine's Above the Below
latest stunt involves him attempting to survive without food for 44 days.
Few can fail to notice it's four days longer than Christ is said to have spent
in the wilderness, but it hardly mkes for good television; a cross between
Big Brother after the
last eviction has taken place and Coma Watch, and nothing which hasn't
been done before or more impressively. In 1997, Vernon Kruger, a South African,
spent 67 days in a small barrel on top of a 70 foot pole; Blaine's near 150
cubic feet of living space is luxurious in comparison. And this is not the
first time Blaine is living in the shadows of those better than he is.
St Simeon's 45 years up a stone column makes Blaine's recent
pillar stunt of just 34 hours look pitiful. Arulanantham Suresh
Joachim of Sri Lanka, managed to last over 76 hours, and all while balanced on
one foot.
Going without food for 44 days is equally unremarkable, especially as
Channel 4
reveal that the "water only" diet Blaine will survive on will be lashed with
glucose. Many people have survived for longer than the 44 days he aims for,
both by way of fasting and as a means of political protest, or without choice,
for medical reasons or otherwise.
And just what is in that bottle he keeps by his side, which he wouldn't let
anyone near before he entered his plastic box ? In fact, without any
independant checks on what he's taken into the box with him, or was already
there, we can't possibly tell if his lip balm is full of salt or what other
food stuffs, vitamins and additives he has disguised as non-edible items. Who
knows what goodies have been hidden in his sleeping bag or are masquerading as
the wet-wipes and toilet roll which he's admitted to or has been clearly seen
with. Maybe the inside of the box has been coated with some sustaining nutrient
which he can subtley touch and lick off his fingers later, as some have
suggested.
Just because he won't come out looking like Elvis Presley after a burgerfest,
and will undoubtedly have lost weight, doesn't mean he's going to suffer any
more than anyone else does on a diet, and he spent ages bumping up his body
weight and reserves in advance anyway.
As always, Blaine, and the so-called medical staff in his pay, publicise and
exagerate the risks he faces to attract people to his shows, yet he is well
known as a magician and illusionist. We have no proof that he is
actually living as he claims and that it's not all a scam, as other 'amazing
tricks' he's pulled-off in the past have turned out to be. It is no surprise
that the Guinness Book of Records are uninterested in his stunt, that some
bookmakers won't take bets on whether he will succeed or not, and many have
proclaimed that his starving for publicity project belittles those who
have undertaken, even died, as a result of hunger strikes for political
purposes.
When Gandhi undertook his hunger strikes, it was to change the face of the
world, and for the benefit of those he represented, and the story of Jesus
spending 40 days and nights in the wilderness has had a profound effect on
many. Blaine's efforts look shabby and self-serving in comparison.
As many have said about his endeavour; if he wants to show the world what he is
made of, he should perhaps try living in a third world country where starvation
is a way of life, and people have to put up with that for every day of their
hard existence.
Others have been equally cutting, suggesting that he should, "Get a 'real job',
and try bringing up three kids on the minimum wage".
Great scorn has been poured onto Blaine for his London stunt, which many see as
pointless, uninteresting, and a scam anyway. More senationalism than substance.
That he has reportedly secured 5 million GBP in
television rights sits badly against the 20 million raised for charity by
events such as the BBC's Children in Need which goes to those
who suffer real hardship, and don't voluntarily put themselves in such a
position.
It is not surprising then that many have turned on Blaine and his latest
project, and have appeared to set out to make his life a misery, or make him
fail. If he wants a real challenge, it appears that this is exactly what some
people are going to give him. If he wants his filthy lucre, they're going
to make him earn it.
Blaine has been harassed from the ground since minutes after he entered the box,
by crowds which have ridiculed and insulted him. His box has been pelted with
eggs, bananas, and even bottles, while some individuals set themselves up with
golf clubs and used Blaine's box for target practice with their golf balls.
An incredibly boring night-time event on television has been turned into almost
compulsive viewing as the sound is turned up to hear almost continual
background cries of, "You w--ker", "Wake up !", "Want some chips ?", and the
odd calling of, "C--t !". While apparently urinating in the tube through which
means doctors will assess his physical state, a shout of, "Look ! He's having a
p--s ... No, wait; he's having a w--k !", roars through the London air.
Like those who watch Grand Prix racing in the hope of
witnessing a spectacular crash, many are now tuning in to see what attempt to
disrupt Blaine's night takes place, and what creative obscenity may be hurled.
Seeing if Blaine can be woken up has become more important to many than
whether he survives his self-created ordeal.
From the first reported harassment, when someone who was bored with watching
the live coverage took a drum down to the site with the intention of
putting some life into proceedings, a steady stream of enterprising individuals
have set off to make Blaine's life miserable. The event is no longer about
Blaine's stupifyingly boring ordeal in the box, but the inventiveness of those
who would see it come crashing to the ground, metaphorically, although I suspect
some would love to see that physically happen too.
Blaine may have expected the Brits to have stood there, mouth agape, or fainting
from sheer disbelief at the feat he claims to be undertaking, as is want to
happen in America, but he appears to have
underestimated the cynicism of the British, the distaste and dislike of being
taken for a ride, and the ability they have shown to wrestle the focus of the
event into their own hands. Blaine's one man show has become an interactive
event we can all become involved in.
From playful ridicule, name calling and general noise designed to keep Blaine
awake, there have been moonings from squaddies, tits-outs from the lasses,
sadistic taunting with food, and
numerous items thrown at his cage. Laser pens have been shone at him, which
caused mighty guffaws when it was reported that Blaine had been truly frightened
because the appearance of a red dot on his body made him think he'd been
targeted by a sniper. The fact that many find this event highly amusing, rather
than truly frightening, is indicative that Blaine has set himself up for a fall,
and many expect him to take it; riding it out is what they want to see Blaine
do, or more correctly, fail to do, not some half-assed scam he actually wants to
undertake.
Not two weeks into his six week challenge, and already one person has been
arrested and charged in connection with disrupting Blaine's attempt to survive;
reportedly climbing the crane from which Blaine's box is supported to
attempt to severe the rope holding it up or cut
off his water supply. This is perhaps the most serious attempt to disrupt
proceedings so far, but the only violence has been from Blaine's security
when they assaulted, and injured, an attendee who was allegedly going to throw
lemons. Although Blaine's girlfriend, Manon von Gerkan, earlier threw her own
egg at one of those throwing eggs at Blaine, it was apparently accepted, and
agreed to, as a reasonable response by the culprit.
Blaine, with heavy-handed reactions from his security team, has created himself
some serious enemies, although it is likely that they
object more to what he is doing than hatred of the man himself, leading to the
area below his box being fenced off, security increased and the police being
forced to keep an eye on proceedings to keep the most serious attempts at
disruption at bay.
In turn, this means that those intent on disrupting Blaine, have had to become
more creative, and the challenge is on to do something which really sticks in
the mind of the audience watching. Everyone knows that pulling off an astounding
stunt which gains favour from the public will get as much publicity as Blaine's
own activities, and that's a good incentive for people to put themselves on
the map of television stardom, even if it lasts no more than the de-facto
15 minutes.
How far people will be prepared to go, and where the boundary is for what is
reasonable and what is not, is not known and has not been tested before. There
is a potential for serious harm to be caused to Blaine, which may exceed the
tempering of the mitigating response that, "he was asking for it". But one
question must be, who is really to blame for such events unfolding ?
Blaine stood up and declared that he would take on adversity, and that's what
he's being given. He contrived to create a challenge which he labelled an
adversity, which many say it isn't, and have set about creating real adversity
for him to overcome. In many ways, they've done nothing more than call his
bluff. Many in the audience have revealed that they are there simply to make
the man fail. It is interesting to note that those involved in incidents are
reported to be mainly middle-class, thirty-somethings, not gangs of bored
teenagers with nothing better to do; these people should be well aware of what
they are doing, and it appears that their actions have been thought out, and
not just spur of the moment gestures.
And how much of the response evoked has been designed to occur, simply to make
the event something better than a 1,000 hours plus of brain-dead, dull and
tedious television ? How would you go about getting millions of subscribers to
recupperate the cost of television rights when all you have on offer is 24/7
coverage of someone sitting in a box ?
Without the incidents witnessed, the film being made of Blaine's endeavour
would be about as exciting as watching paint dry. That might be fine for fans
of Andy Warhol's film making, but not the wider audience needed to line Blaine's
pockets with more dosh. Are we just watching more of the scam at work ?
In Blaine's defence it must be said that his previous stunts have been as
inanely boring as this one, so there would be little need or desire to
manufacture events which could easily spiral out of control. No matter how the
confrontations have arisen, it certainly looks like Blaine and his entourage
have lost their grip on the situation, and the task in hand.
On his task, Blaine said, "We are all capable of infinitely more than we
believe. We are stronger and more resourceful than we know, and we can endure
much more than we think we can. In truth, the only restrictions on our capacity
to astonish ourselves and each other are imposed by our own minds". Well, that's
being put to the test.
Amongst the many problems that Blaine alleged he would face, to make his
undertaking seem more precarious and risky than it actually is, he
admitted that his mental state is most likely to suffer more than anything
else, and psychologists have concurred.
He is already reported to be hearing "distinct voices" - that's the people
below shouting abuse at you David - and he's less than a third of the way
through his challenge.
Why he's communicating with the outside world is a mystery when he said there
would be no such communications, and he's also been seen talking with his
girlfriend and film makers capturing the event; he's even played a game of
chess with a member of his audience, shouting out his moves. He originally
said he wouldn't have any distractions either, which is a bit ironic given
where he had his cage placed, lit up, and the obvious need to have an audience
for the event. It
all really adds up to proving the event is the lie that it really is, so we
can't be sure if Blaine really is turning mad already, or simply making it up
as he goes along.
No matter, the audience will be doing their damnedest to drive him insane,
whether he wants that or not. If he leaves his glass cage prematurely, or as
a gibbering wreck, then those against him will claim to have won. If he
survives his ordeal, despite such an achievement under the circumstances, he
will have to face up to the fact that there were so many determined to see him
fail.
This is Blaine's first major stunt outside America, and he may well decide
it will be his last. Many would say, "Good", to that, "Go back to America,
where they lap up this ludicrous rubbish".
No matter what, he will be millions of dollars richer, for doing little more
than sitting in a box, and that is perhaps what has really annoyed so many
people.
