News broke yesterday that world renound magician David Blaine claims he will stay up for 11 1/2 days to beat the world record for sleep deprivation. The current record is 11 days or 266 hours straight. The tentative date for the unimaginable trick is this May 2008. Even though this seems like it is a long way off, betting odds are already being taken. Online entertainment giant Bodog has stated David Blaine is currently at 1/3 odds he wont make it , and 2/1 odds he will be able to accomplish the sleep depriving feat. The betting odds originally opened at 1/16 for NO and 8/1 on YES so clearly the early action was in favor of Blaine breaking the record. I think there should be another bet on how long he will sleep after, LOL.
Some obvious health concerns have been made aware of, the biggest and sadly enough, the real ticket seller is the possibility of death. Sleep deprivation can kill, or have serious damage on the brain. When Blaine sat down to talk with Cindy Adams of the New York post he said, "It has been tried before. In 1959 Peter Tripp stayed awake for 8 days, but it resulted in permanent brain damage. In 1964, 17 year old Randy Gardner did it for a High School Science project. He lasted 11 and a half days, but recovered fully. No Damage." Bottom line, this could be the last trick this magician has up his sleeve or further his career as an entertainer.
Blaine has performed three death defying stunts in the past and has come out fine. He has went with out food for one month while suspended in a box over Londen, stayed frozen in a case of ice for nearly three days in Times Square, and spending 35 hours on a pillar 100 foot up in the air. He walked away from those, but will he walk away from this?
Another question that arises is how will he train for this stunt due to the lack of research on the issue, which is surprising because sleep deprivation is used as a interrogation/torture tactic but many countries including the United States of America. What I want to know is, how much Red Bull and caffeine will Blaine need to stay awake? We will soon find out in May when he takes on the stunt and the World Record!
BodogLife.com has posted celebrity betting odds on whether or not David Blaine can pull off his next feat of staying awake for more than 11.5 consecutive days:
- NO: 1/3
- YES: 2/1
