DAVID BLAINE - DAVID BLAINE BEGINS UPSIDE DOWN CHALLENGE IN NEW YORK

DAVID BLAINE BEGINS UPSIDE DOWN CHALLENGE IN NEW YORK

David Blaine is hanging upside down in New York City having commenced his latest feat of endurance.

The Brooklyn-born magician is to be suspended 60 feet above the Wollman ice rink in the Big Apple for 60 hours in a new stamina challenge.

Having completed a number of endurance stunts - including spending seven days underwater, 44 days without food in a glass cube and 72 hours encased in ice - the 35-year-old has begun his latest task in a bid to emulate his idol Harry Houdini.

Medical experts have said the challenge - which Blaine described as his "most difficult for sure" - could cause irreparable damage on the illusionist's circulation and internal organs.

After being suspended upside down from a four-storey high metal frame, Blaine said he was "doing all right" but felt that his head was "about to explode".

While he will answer nature's call through a catheter and take liquid through a straw, Blaine will neither eat nor sleep until the completion of his task on Wednesday evening.

"The others you could get into them soon after the start," he said of the endeavour. "But this one is tough from the get-go."