David Blaine, the American illusionist know for his death-defying tricks, gives a taster of his latest stunt, 'Electrified' Reuters

This Friday, David Blaine will be hoisted on to a six-metre (20ft) platform where he will stand, without food or rest, for three days and nights, dressed in 12kg of chainmail as people watching on the internet zap him with one million volts of electricity.

It is a rather more complicated feat of endurance than the magician lying in a coffin for seven days or being entombed in blocks of ice for 63 hours or lounging in a glass box above the Thames for 44 nights. But one simple question remains: can Blaine die?

"I hope not," says the 39-year-old from New York, where Electrified, his latest piece of performance art, is staged. "The dangers are the things you don't anticipate." Blaine has not performed a big stunt for more than three years – his last was clowning around with great white sharks in 2009 – because of his 20-month-old daughter. When his girlfriend, Alizee Guinochet, became pregnant, he postponed a gulf-stream-assisted voyage across the Atlantic in a bottle because it might take eight months. Surprisingly, he admits to being "a little more cautious about the long-term effects" of his stunts since becoming a father.

While Blaine is protected by his suit, which conducts electricity, if he reaches through the open cage-style helmet around his head to scratch an itch, he will electrocute himself. "It's only the equivalent to seven Tasers," says Blaine in a somnolent drawl. "But it's continual – snap, snap, snap – and then you go into cardiac arrest. At the same time, I have a chance of surviving."

If he is electrocuted, technicians will instantly shut down the tesla coils, which stream the electricity around him. Blaine is also supported by a pole so he won't be thrown by the charge on to the pavement below – another concession to fatherhood, he says.

Despite the abusive interactivity of his previous stunts – crowds tormented him by dangling burgers before his glass box – he is a glutton for punishment. Electrified will be streamed live on YouTube in partnership with Intel, and at pop-up locations in London, Beijing, Toyko and Sydney where "fans" can direct the metallic orbs shooting electricity around Blaine. So, basically, he is inviting trolls to torture him? "I'm torturing myself," he says. "In London I more or less provoked their interaction. This time, I'm forcing their interaction. They can shoot more electricity at me, they can turn it down, they can play music. The people being able to do all that is a nice distraction."

His biggest fear is not malevolent internet crowds but hallucinating from sleeplessness, rubbing his eyes and giving himself a shock. He hopes his daughter in the crowds will help keep him alert. "She's so smart, she comes to some of the rehearsals and she totally gets it," he says.

• David Blaine's performance will be projected live at The Truman Brewery, London E1, from 7pm this Saturday; visitors will be able to control 1m volts of electricity and communicate with David Blaine from 9pm - 10pm.