On April 30, 2008, Blaine appeared live on The Oprah Winfrey Show in a water-filled sphere, announcing to try and set a new world-record in the longest breath-holding category, after failing to surpass the then-current record in his previous attempt Drowned Alive. Since his original attempt, a new record of 16 minutes and 32 seconds had been set by Peter Colat of Switzerland on February 10, 2008. Before his latest attempt inside the 1,800-water-gallons-sphere, Blaine spent 23 minutes inhaling pure oxygen, packing his lungs with extra oxygen just before the breathing tubes were removed. Up to 30 minutes of so-called "oxygen hyperventilation" is allowed under guidelines.

Ultimately, Blaine held his breath for 17 minutes and 4.4 seconds to set the world record, according to Guinness World Records, surpassing Colat's previous mark of 16 minutes and 32 seconds. This was Blaine's first Guinness record.

During the interview with Oprah Winfrey after coming out of the sphere, Blaine stated: "I really thought I was not going to make it." He also claimed that he had managed it by staying in a meditative state which was helped by the stage lights reflecting off the sphere. According to Blaine, besides the pressure of performing on television, the heart-rate monitor happened to be close enough to his ear so that he heard its beeping, and he had to keep his feet locked in holds at the bottom of the sphere — instead of just floating freely, as he did in the pool on Grand Cayman months earlier. Back then he said he was so relaxed he "wasn’t even there" during most of the breath-hold. But when he emerged from the sphere today, he told Oprah, "I was pretty much here the whole time"

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