This could be David Blaine’s most hair-raising stunt ever.
The magician embarked on his latest endurance spectacular in Chelsea last night, donning a metal suit and standing between seven Frankenstein-style Tesla coils to get blasted by a million volts of electricity for 72 hours.
As he stepped into the potentially deadly device at 8:40 p.m., Blaine shouted out what could be his last words.
“I thank you all for your support and patience,” the showman said. “Thank you to everyone that made this possible.”
Moments later, an assistant switched on the juice, and a crowd of 400 burst into applause.
“I kept expecting something to go wrong because it’s so dangerous,” said Kyomi Smith, 28, a waitress from the Upper East Side. “It’s definitely not something you see every day.”
Techno music blasted and black lights illuminated Blaine as the bolts of electricity zapped his outstretched hands.
“The music is pretty loud,” said Broek Johnson, 33. “I would hate to be living nearby at night.”
Like in his other stunts, Blaine vows not to eat or drink during the test-of-will event on Pier 54 at 11th Avenue and 14th Street.
Blaine will urinate through a tube connected to him inside his metal suit. He has been on a liquid diet in preparation for the stunt.
The seven $1 million coils will blast him constantly with electricity. His whole body, except for his face, will be protected only by the suit, which is called a Faraday cage. The event is sponsored by Intel.
He has to be sure not to touch his face for fear of making a circuit. But as long as he can stay still, the metal covering will keep him safe — even his privates.
“Well, he’s already had a daughter; luckily he’s already had kids,” joked Paul Hoffman, president and CEO of Liberty Science Center, who has been serving as Blaine’s science adviser.
Blaine will be monitored by a doctor, who will be raised up in his own Faraday suit to check on him.
The physician, Stuart Weiss, said that no one knows how the electrical charge will affect him, since no one has ever been blasted by Tesla coils for 72 hours.
Blaine said he has practiced the stunt a few times, and he once got a shock when he leaned his head back.
“It was like being punched in the head by a bare-fist fighter,” he told the paper. “When I start it will be the first time. Until now I have done it in total for a couple of hours.”
Blaine’s “Electrified” stunt is just the latest New York City feat of fortitude for the magician, who stood at the top of a 100-foot pillar in Bryant Park for 35 hours in 2002, and was encased in a block of ice in Times Square for 63 hours in 2000.
This event is expected to end Monday night.
Additional reporting by Matt McNulty