This is one trick even eager eight year olds wouldn’t be too keen on trying: attempting to catch a bullet with your mouth. But that is precisely what celebrity magician David Blaine did two months ago and he nearly paid with his life.
Blaine talked about the incident when his show Beyond Magic aired on British TV channel E4 on January 7. The trick was performed in front of an audience of 20,000 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in November. It involved Blaine trying to catch a bullet fired from a rifle with a metal cup fixed in his mouth and a gumshield protecting his teeth. When the bullet was fired, the gumshield shattered on impact and the cup slammed back into Blaine’s throat.
Video: magician David Blaine shoots himself in mouth as bullet trick goes wrong https://t.co/9wQVsKTZXd
— fox8news (@fox8news) January 8, 2017
Describing the incident, Blaine said “When the bullet struck the cup, there was a high-pitched ringing in my ears. I was sure the bullet went right through my head and that I was dead.” However, he only suffered a lacerated throat. While his friends have said they won’t help him repeat the stunt, which he has performed three times since 2010, Blaine is determined to attempt it again on his upcoming world tour.
Over the years, Blaine has built a reputation for performing outrageous, high-risk stunts and acts of endurance. This includes being trapped in a tank filled with water for seven days in 1999 and being encased in a block of ice for more than 60 hours. In the latest episode of Beyond Magic, Blaine also regurgitated live frogs, but it will forever be remembered for the gun trick that nearly killed him.