COBRA king!

David Blaine kisses a deadly snake in his new globetrotting magic showcase

- IAN MACEWAN

He's been buried alive, shackled to a rotating gyroscope and suspended from a crane in a glass box for 44 days with no food. Now, US magician, mentalist and endurance performer David Blaine is on a mission to showcase and learn from performers around the world who have mastered their own dazzling variety of mind-blowing feats.

Despite the show's title including the warning 'do not attempt', Blaine simply can't resist having a go at the stunts himself which means a pretty steep learning curve as opposed to his usual painstaking preparations.

‘I woke up in the middle of the night thinking: “Oh my God, what if somebody tries to copy something?”’ he explains. ‘And that was when I decided the title needs to be the disclaimer. But for me, the only time you grow is by breaking your comfort zone.’