David Blaine Breaks World Record for Holding Breath

David Blaine took on a Zen-like appearance in the water tank as the minutes ticked by during his attempt to set a new breath-holding record. Oprah Winfrey, however, was anything but calm.

She fidgeted in her chair, pursed her lips, placed her head in her hands, and kept seeking reassurance from the doctor at her side about the 35-year-old magician's persistently high heart rate.

"I'll be glad when it's over. I don't like suspense," she told the audience during a commercial break.

Soon enough, Winfrey - and Blaine - could breathe a lot easier.

Submerged in a water-filled sphere on the stage of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" during a live broadcast, Blaine held his breath for 17 minutes and 4 seconds. That bested the previous record of 16 minutes and 32 seconds, set Feb. 10 by Switzerland's Peter Colat, according to Guinness World Records.

Blaine had a smile on his face soon after his head rose above the water and he took several deep gulps of air. Within about a minute, he was able to hold a microphone and tell Winfrey, "I feel great," later adding that breaking the record was a fulfillment of "a lifelong dream."

CHICAGO - He spent 44 days suspended from a glass box by the River Thames in London. He was buried alive for a week in a see-through coffin in New York.

Magician David Blaine's latest feat of endurance likely will last less than 17 minutes, but he's planning to do it in front of talk show queen Oprah Winfrey — and her audience of millions.

Blaine on Wednesday will try to break the world record for breath-holding during a live broadcast of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," less than two years after going into convulsions during a similar attempt.

The time he has to beat is 16 minutes and 32 seconds, a record set Feb. 10 by Switzerland's Peter Colat, according to Guinness World Records.

Even though Blaine has sometimes attracted thousands of spectators to what he likes to think of as his "performance pieces," he told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it will be a challenge to break a record requiring him to remain still and calm amid the hubbub of a live studio audience.