Magician David Blaine at age 27, wearing only a pair of pants and boots to protect himself, was frozen alive inside...

...a 6-ton van-sized block of ice, one of the biggest in the world. It is 8ft tall, and completely sealed shut (it lost nearly 1/3 of it's weight in the end).

He was encased between two 8x6x6 ft. halves of the ice. Blaine's body contour was cut into it, welded together, so that Blaine can stand up right with little room to scratch his nose. His only lifeline was a tube running through the ice, carrying air and water, and a catheter to urinate. A medical team was standing by, monitoring his vital signs, throughout the ordeal. He worked out eye signals in case of emergency.

Blaine was on display in Manhattan's Times Square at the heavily trafficked corner of 44th St. and Broadway. The site was open to the public during the entire time of the challenge so people can walk in, take pictures, and touch the ice. It was in full view of his security guards, friends, and anyone who wanders by.

The rest of the show features prerecorded stunts filmed on location in Italy, Israel, and Indonesia.

He was incarcerated at 9 a.m. on Monday, November 27, 2000. His goal was 58 hours. David Blaine: Frozen in Time aired at 10 p.m. est. Wednesday, November 29, 2000, on ABC. He was released at the end of the special.

"The mythic magician Harry Houdini has been an inspiration for my work," Blaine said. "In his 1922 movie, The Man from Beyond, there is an image of Houdini frozen in ice, although he never actually tried this challenge. That movie premiered at the Times Square Theater at 42nd and Broadway, so I wanted to be frozen in time here in Times Square."

"What David hopes his stunts to accomplish is to bring all kinds of people together, act out for them their common fears" - he lets them look as long as they like - "and help them see their common humanity," says William Kalush, Blaine's closest friend and collaborator. "Seeing someone do something exceptional gives us hope."