David Blaine was supposed to pull a string to fire a rifle and the bullet was to be caught by a metal cup in his mouth

David Blaine Shoots Himself in the Throat During a Magic Trick Gone Wrong: 'I Was Sure That I Was Dead'

David Blaine is known for his death defying stunts — including being buried alive for a week or frozen in ice for three days — but this one hit a little too close for comfort.

The magician, 43, performed a bullet catching trick live at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in November, but it wasn’t until his show Beyond Magic aired last night on ABC that he revealed that the stunt had gone seriously wrong.

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Blaine was supposed to pull a string to fire a rifle and the bullet was supposed to be caught by a metal cup in his mouth. However, the cup slipped off the grooves that attached it to a mouth guard shielding his gums.

“Time just started to move really slow,” Blaine narrated as the action unfolded. “When the bullet struck the cup, there was a high-pitched ringing in my ears and I felt an impact on the back of my throat. I was sure the bullet went right through my head and that I was dead.”

He continued, “Suddenly I became aware of the pain and it brought me back. At that moment I realized that the mouth guard had shattered again, and I was alive.”

A medical worker on the scene said the magician had a laceration in his throat, and he was taken to a hospital — but not before he thanked the crowd.

Although his friends and assistants swore never to help him perform the dangerous trick again, Blaine seemed unfazed by his brush with tragedy.

“If I was going to die, I’d like to die pretty quick,” Blaine says in a voice over.

“On stage with a gun pointed at you?” a man responds.