Was this something youd been thinking about for a while?
All these different performers became my fantastical world and I started to think about what can really be done.
It started with holding my breath and then trying to endure the cold.
Hed say, Oh, this is real.
This is how this one did it.
This is how she endured this amount of fire.
Image via Nat Geo
That opened my thinking into, Whoa, this is incredible.
But I was like, You have to show me how you did that.
Can you show me, hey?
Image via Nat Geo
And he showed me.
It was about the idea of taking real things and combining them with magic.
He was like, This is the stuff you have to show.
And I was like, No, its very awkward.
Im uncomfortable showing this stuff.
And he was like, No, this has to be a series.
Image via Nat Geo
That was the journey ofDo Not Attempt, which has been three years in the making.
The series premieres on March 23.
Youre essentially challenging the way that we think about what magic is and what it can be.
He would just swallow the hot dogs and put them all in his stomach.
When I saw him first do it, I was obsessed with him.
But then, going to meet him, it became much deeper.
I was moved by his story and what led him to do this.
His dad wanted him to see the world and to be able to explore the world.
His dad, when he was really young, would force him to eat lots of protein.
He went there with no knowledge and no experience, and he doubled it.
He did 50 hot dogs in his first competition and changed the whole sport.
Its those techniques that I look at.
He wouldnt eat for days.
He would get rid of all the acid by using baking soda or at least take it down significantly.
And then, he would put frogs and fish in his stomach and then produce them at will.
To me, that was the coolest magic trick, ever.
Its been beyond anything that I could have ever imagined or expected.
Some people dream of puppies and kittens.
You dream of setting yourself on fire and jumping off a bridge into the water.
BLAINE: Sometimes it starts with just a simple idea.
And then, other times, its something I never even thought could be done.
When I was with Fitz in Indonesia, hes a snake performer and he rescues the snakes as well.
Watching him dance with the snake was one thing.
But then, when he kissed the king cobra, it suddenly became beautiful.
BLAINE: As a team, we’re all in it together.
When we pull something off, lots of the producers and the people that were around are emotionally moved.
When you see it, its the same thing that happens when youre there.
You forget the cold.
It was beyond my wildest dreams.
And each of these individuals really do things so specific to who they are and where they are.
Was that more impactful than you had even thought, as far as the collective experience of that?
Theyve turned that into their passion.
Their secrets were passed down or shared or developed over many, many countless thousands of hours.
I trusted the people that were leading me through it all.
BLAINE: All of that was the best part of it, breaking the comfort zone.
We had such a fast learning curve.
Normally, Ill work on something for a few years.
I do a week.
And then, I do two weeks.
We also had an incredible safety team.
I entrusted everything with the performers or the experts that I was learning from.
We pulled it off.
And there were a few things I didnt try.
In India, they pull their eyeballs out of their head using a dulled rapier.
Theyve developed that and passed it down as part of their religious beliefs.
Theyre able to do these crazy things where they defy the flesh to show that the spirit is greater.
If you do it now, youll degenerate your vision for sure.
So, I didnt even try it.
I sat in a little room with six black mambas that were rescued and that were wild.
Its best to just remain calm.
And to prove his point, he sits with six black mambas.
I sat as still and calmly as possible, and we pulled it off.
But that was the scariest thing Ive ever done.
Check out the trailer:
