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American Morning

Starvation Stunt

Aired October 20, 2003 - 08:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: David Blaine is out of that box, and he's eating once again. Blaine spent the last six weeks inside of a clear box, suspended over London, living only, he says, on water.
Robyn Curnow has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's waited 44 days for this, and so has the crowd: David Blaine eventually coming down from his self-imposed hunger strike in a box by London's River Thames -- starving, weak and emotional, but the publicity-loving illusionist still strong enough to face the cameras and his fans.

DAVID BLAINE, ILLUSIONIST: And to the fans, I had the most important experiences in my life.

CURNOW: Thousands of Londoners coming to see him to the end. Much support, even though he's been bombarded with paint balls, eggs and a lot of abuse over the past six weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's inspirational for going without food for 44 days. I think he's good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amazing. There are no other words for him. But what's next? That's what I'd like to know. What's next? What's he got next?

CURNOW: Next up for David Blaine: putting on some of the weight he's lost. The scales say he's nearly 55 pounds lighter than when he entered the box, but nourishing himself too quickly could send his body into shock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he has been starving and he sits down and eats a hamburger and chips, that could actually kill him.

CURNOW: So, he'll be spending some time in a hospital, where he says doctors will slowly re-feed him.

(on camera): David Blaine might be out of his box, but he's not out of danger. Doctors will be closely monitoring his health in the weeks to come.

Robyn Curnow, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now with more.

Hey -- Sanjay. You know, we heard David Blaine say that he bulked up, some people feel like up to 205 pounds. He's lost a lot of weight, apparently. Do you believe this? I mean, does he look like a guy who has been starving for 44 days to you, medically speaking?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: He looked a little bit better than I would have thought. Typically, a lot of things happen when your body starves for that long. About 8 to 12 weeks is how long the body can go without getting any sort of food before you die. He was about 44 days as compared to 56 when people start to get into significant trouble.

Lots of things happen, Soledad. One of the things that happens is that acid starts to build up in your body as your muscles break down. Oftentimes, it's just impossible for people to move, let alone walk. And I think that was the thing that surprised me more. He did sound like he lost quite a bit of weight, around 20 percent of his body weight. Typically, 25 to 30 percent of your body weight is what somebody would typically have lost around that time. But, as you mentioned, he bulked up. So, it's a little bit hard to say.

Organs can start to fail as well. Your heart may fail. They said he had an irregular heartbeat when he was at the hospital. He...

O'BRIEN: I was surprised, Sanjay -- and forgive me for jumping in there -- but I was surprised that the first thing he could do after coming out of this box after 44 days was hold a press conference. I mean, call me a doubting Thomas here, but that seemed weird to me.

GUPTA: Yes, to even walk alone, I think, seemed a little bit surprising to me. He just didn't look that bad, even when he had his shirt off. You know, you expected a little bit more --him to look a little bit more emaciated, but not the case. So, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

O'BRIEN: I guess we'll have to wait and see.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired October 20, 2003 - 08:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: David Blaine is out of that box, and he's eating once again. Blaine spent the last six weeks inside of a clear box, suspended over London, living only, he says, on water.
Robyn Curnow has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's waited 44 days for this, and so has the crowd: David Blaine eventually coming down from his self-imposed hunger strike in a box by London's River Thames -- starving, weak and emotional, but the publicity-loving illusionist still strong enough to face the cameras and his fans.

DAVID BLAINE, ILLUSIONIST: And to the fans, I had the most important experiences in my life.

CURNOW: Thousands of Londoners coming to see him to the end. Much support, even though he's been bombarded with paint balls, eggs and a lot of abuse over the past six weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's inspirational for going without food for 44 days. I think he's good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amazing. There are no other words for him. But what's next? That's what I'd like to know. What's next? What's he got next?

CURNOW: Next up for David Blaine: putting on some of the weight he's lost. The scales say he's nearly 55 pounds lighter than when he entered the box, but nourishing himself too quickly could send his body into shock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he has been starving and he sits down and eats a hamburger and chips, that could actually kill him.

CURNOW: So, he'll be spending some time in a hospital, where he says doctors will slowly re-feed him.

(on camera): David Blaine might be out of his box, but he's not out of danger. Doctors will be closely monitoring his health in the weeks to come.

Robyn Curnow, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now with more.

Hey -- Sanjay. You know, we heard David Blaine say that he bulked up, some people feel like up to 205 pounds. He's lost a lot of weight, apparently. Do you believe this? I mean, does he look like a guy who has been starving for 44 days to you, medically speaking?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: He looked a little bit better than I would have thought. Typically, a lot of things happen when your body starves for that long. About 8 to 12 weeks is how long the body can go without getting any sort of food before you die. He was about 44 days as compared to 56 when people start to get into significant trouble.

Lots of things happen, Soledad. One of the things that happens is that acid starts to build up in your body as your muscles break down. Oftentimes, it's just impossible for people to move, let alone walk. And I think that was the thing that surprised me more. He did sound like he lost quite a bit of weight, around 20 percent of his body weight. Typically, 25 to 30 percent of your body weight is what somebody would typically have lost around that time. But, as you mentioned, he bulked up. So, it's a little bit hard to say.

Organs can start to fail as well. Your heart may fail. They said he had an irregular heartbeat when he was at the hospital. He...

O'BRIEN: I was surprised, Sanjay -- and forgive me for jumping in there -- but I was surprised that the first thing he could do after coming out of this box after 44 days was hold a press conference. I mean, call me a doubting Thomas here, but that seemed weird to me.

GUPTA: Yes, to even walk alone, I think, seemed a little bit surprising to me. He just didn't look that bad, even when he had his shirt off. You know, you expected a little bit more --him to look a little bit more emaciated, but not the case. So, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

O'BRIEN: I guess we'll have to wait and see.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.