The Niagara Falls Parks Commission announced in mid-February that it would allow seventh generation daredevil Nik Wallenda to tightrope walk across the Falls, but now it seems that the walk is not going to be death-defying as we had hoped.
ABC will be televising a three-hour primetime special of the walk, so out of consideration for their viewers they want Wallenda to be tethered to the rightrope.
“It seems as though that’s what I’m going to be doing,” he told The Associated Press as he prepared to walk a practice wire outside the Seneca Niagara Casino.
“I’m upset. I’m not used to it,” he said. “I’ve never worn a tether before so it’s just something else I have to contend with when I’m out there.”
ABC’s spokeperson Jeffery Schneider has said that safety measures were part ABC’s plans all along, but we think the walk would be more exciting if Wallenda wasn’t tethered to the rope. Tethering Wallenda to the tightrope takes away from of the danger and excitement that is supposed to be the point of him performing the stunt.
We’d like to point out that just yesterday morning an unidentified 40-year old man was added to the short list of people who have jumped over Niagara Falls unprotected and survived. The man is the third person in the last decade to survive the plunge over the Falls.
If he can survive the fall, well then believe Wallenda could too.
What do you think? Should Wallenda walk over the Falls tether-free?
