Wallendas Successfully Cross High Wire 25 Stories Over Times Square

Daredevil siblings Nik and Lijana Wallenda managed to cross a 1,300-foot long wire—that was just 3/4 inch wide—25 stories above Times Square on Sunday night.

Not that it was smooth walking the entire way across: Nik Wallenda revealed, "My pole started to slide down," at one point. "It freaked me out for a second," he said.

Both Wallendas were wearing harnesses and carrying 38-pound poles.

Nik and Lijana Wallenda are part of the Flying Wallendas, a family of daredevil performers who have been showing off their nerves of steel for generations. While Nik Wallenda has completed many walks—like across the Chicago skyline, over Niagara Falls, and the Grand Canyon (kind of)—the family suffered a tragedy when an eight-person pyramid collapsed, with members falling 25 feet, during rehearsals for the 2017 Circus Sarasota. Video of the terrifying fall was released earlier this year, and it turned out that Lijana Wallenda broke almost every bone in her face.

A Good Morning America segment teased how Lijana Wallenda was back on the high wire for the first time to prepare for the Times Square walk—a five-block walk between 1 Times Square and 2 Times Square—and reveling in her mental state: "Her physical and mental recovery is a daily struggle... Her confidence is now shaken in doing something that was once second nature." (This prompted me to yell at the TV, "THEN WHY IS NIK MAKING HER DO THIS?")

Jezebel's Anna Merlan remarked upon the ghoulish nature of ABC's promotion of the walk: "In the days leading up to the walk, ABC, which televised the stunt, sent out two press releases reminding people that Something Bad Could Happen. 'It’s hard enough crossing Times Square on the ground, try it 25 stories up,' said Karey Burke, president, ABC Entertainment, in the first one... ABC News, in covering the event staged by their own network, mysteriously suggested that the production crew 'has experienced problems with the rigging process,' a sentence that was never explained and smelled a tiny bit like an attempt to build additional hype."

(Merlan also pointed out there seemed to be some proselytizing as well, with both siblings referencing their Christianity during the walk, seemingly to the audience. Nik: "We’re so blessed to be in these positions, thank you Jesus. Lord, set them free from their fear, fear that holds so many back." Lijana: "In the name of Jesus, I’ve got this." She also sang biblical hymns and hugged televangelist Joel Osteen as soon as they finished the walk.)

This walk comes nearly six years after then-Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Nik Wallenda could not do an aerial walk in New York City. The pronouncement came after Wallenda's Grand Canyon walk, and Kelly said at the time, "I don’t think it’d be wise in this city. We have thousands of New Yorkers who certainly can be put at risk... It’s dangerous to cross the Grand Canyon, and obviously, there’s water at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Here, we have thousands of New Yorkers." Hey, now it's de Blasio's New York, baby—anything can happen!

As for his next big stunt, Nik Wallenda is now considering an "active volcano" for a future walk.