Death-Defying Ratings: How Daredevils Are Making a Big TV Comeback

From the Hollywood Reporter: Nik Wallenda knows death haunts every step he takes on the high wire. As the great grandson of Karl Wallenda — the German emigre and patriarch of the Flying Wallendas who perished in 1978 on a wire badly strung between two towers of the Condado Plaza hotel in San Juan, Puerto…

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Taking on Niagara Falls on tightrope

From Stuff.co.nz: Nik Wallenda can’t visit a new place without envisioning a wire strung high above his head: Linking buildings, landmarks, nations. Even as a 6-year-old at Niagara Falls with his parents, he pictured walking a tightrope over the raging, whitewater maw. Now 33, the seventh-generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas, is ready to…

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Wallenda may face falcon attack

From Niagara This Week: Could a Flying Wallenda meet a flying falcon? There’s a “good possibility’’ a pair of nesting falcons at Niagara Falls could attack daredevil high-wire walker Nik Wallenda as he attempts a crossing over the famous waterway on June 15, say Mark and Marion Nash, spokespeople for the Canadian Peregrine Foundation. Wallenda,…

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Gumbel will (did) interview Wallenda on HBO

From the Buffalo News: Nik Wallenda, who is planning to walk a tightrope across Niagara Falls this summer, will be featured on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” on HBO at 10 p.m. today, State Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, and Assemblyman John Ceretto, R-Lewiston, said Monday. Wallenda will be interviewed about his upcoming walk and will…

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EXCLUSIVE: Wallenda wants to establish permanent entertainment home in Niagara Falls

From Bullet News Niagara: Daredevil Nik Wallenda wants to establish a permanent theatre in Niagara Falls where he and members of his family can put on tightrope or aerial shows and other forms of circus entertainment. “I’ve always said I want to make Niagara Falls my second home,” the Florida-based Wallenda told Bullet News on…

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Governor OKs tightrope walk over falls

From the Buffalo News: The Flying Wallenda who wants to cheat death with a tightrope walk across Niagara Falls will get his wish, at least with the blessing of New York state. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation today permitting Nik Wallenda’s bid to walk 1,800 feet across the falls on a two-inch wide steel…

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Niagara Falls high-wire plans could go haywire

From the Toronto Star: A daredevil’s plan to be the first person in a century to walk a tightrope across Niagara Falls may take a tumble even though it’s just gotten off the ground. Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation member of the Flying Wallendas, a family of tightrope performers, is hoping to fulfill a lifelong dream…

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Wallenda gets OK to cross the falls

From the Buffalo News: The walk is on — at least as far state legislators are concerned. It might be rare for the State Legislature to approve something that legitimately can be called death-defying, but final approval was given Wednesday permitting a member of the legendary Flying Wallendas to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope….

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