David Blaine Magically Breaks Record

Out with the Old

David Blaine is known for his amazing illusions. Among one of them, the man levitates. Outside with nary a tree or building in site and nothing above him but blue skies. It's that kind of illusion that Blaine pulls off that are so inexplicable, they have to be magic, right? Well, we'll never know.

What we do know is that by holding his breath under water for a reported 17 minutes and four seconds, David Blaine is the new world record holder for breath holding. The old record was a paltry 16 minutes and 32 seconds set by a Swiss diver.

Live on Oprah

Blaine performed the trick during a live taping of the Oprah Winfrey show. Seeing a man immersed in a glass bubble filled with water has to be almost as fun as seeing Tom Cruise jump around like the mad man that he is (doesn't everyone just long for the good old days of the Top Gun Tom Cruise? It's time to call Goose and Iceman for an intervention already). Anyway, back to Blaine's breath holding.

Apparently, he revealed to Oprah that he was attempting to reach his personal goal of 23 minutes. A stunt he attempted once before back in 2006 after his Drowned Alive stunt before doctors pulled him out of the water due to health concerns. Another revealing moment was when Oprah asked him what he was thinking about while not breathing for nearly 20 minutes - Blaine looked at Oprah and not skipping beat, replied "You."