Nik Wallenda

Background

Wallenda is a seventh-generation member of The Flying Wallendas family of aerialists. His ancestors were primarily of German descent and have been circus performers since the 1700s; they have been doing balancing acts without nets since Karl Wallenda made the family famous for the feat in the 1920s. to Delilah Wallenda and Terry Troffer. His parents bought him a swing set when he was two. Before Troffer had even finished assembling it, Wallenda climbed up to the crossbar and did a somersault. Around the same time, he began performing with his family in their circus act. His first public performance was at SeaWorld San Diego in 1981. At age four, he started walking the wire on his own, learning primarily from his father. His parents would throw objects at him as he practiced, and even shot him with a BB gun to train him to deal with distractions. With live circus losing popularity, becoming a performer did not seem like a viable career path.

Wallenda briefly considered becoming a doctor, and was accepted into college.

Career

Nik Wallenda has produced a variety of large-scale productions for amusement parks and similar venues in several countries. The acts often feature him alongside family members, especially his wife Erendira. He notes that a safety net is no guarantee – an uncle was killed while performing despite falling into a safety net. However, he says he does not have a "death wish in any way. I plan on living and dying a natural death when I'm old." He adds that his Christian faith allows him to "know where I'm going to go when I die ... I'm not scared of dying." In 2005 Wallenda and his wife, Erendira, took their act to Raging Waters in San Dimas, California, while his mother and sister stayed at Wet 'n Wild. After exchanging several toasts, Nik stood up and stepped over his sister. As the siblings headed back to their platforms, a crane winch malfunctioned, preventing Lijana from exiting the wire. In all, sixteen members of the Wallenda family were part of Bellobration. The two had grown up together in Sarasota and had talked about teaming up for years before coming up with the double Wheel concept, drawing up the initial plans on a tablecloth during dinner in 2005. A representative from Guinness World Records was on hand to present him with a certificate documenting the achievement. The tour began with a walk at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City and ended at Carowinds, where Wallenda twice walked across the North Carolina-South Carolina state line on the high-wire. As part of the tour, he walked at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio from the front gate to the Eiffel Tower on August 15. Traveling at above the ground, it was the highest walk of his career at the time. He completed the walk in about 25 minutes as several thousand people watched.

On July 3, Wallenda wire walked over the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh as the headline act of the 2009 Three Rivers Regatta. He paused several times during the performance to kneel and wave to the crowd. At one point, he had to stop for a few minutes to regain his balance in the strong winds and rain. Although Wallenda's team had ordered an ungreased wire, it was covered in oil when it arrived. In 2010, he performed in his home town of Sarasota for the first time. On February 4, he walked from the roof of One Watergate Condominium to the roof of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel. From February 12–28, he anchored a version of The Flying Wallenda seven-person pyramid at Circus Sarasota. The ride set a new Guinness World Record for highest bike ride on a high-wire, nearly doubling Wallenda's own record from 2008. Performing without his father watching "was one of the hardest decisions I ever made in my life", Wallenda said, "but my family history and my family tradition is that the show must go on". He walked both forwards and backwards before completing the journey.

Puerto Rico On June 4, 2011, Wallenda completed a high-wire crossing between the two towers of the ten-story Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The performance was a recreation of the act that had killed his great grandfather Karl Wallenda in 1978. For the performance, Wallenda's mother, Delilah (Karl's granddaughter), joined him. The mother and son team started at opposite ends of the wire. When Delilah reached the middle of the wire, roughly the spot Karl had fallen, she sat down on the wire and Nik stepped over her before the two continued to opposite ends of the wire. At one point during the performance, Nik knelt down on the wire and blew a kiss in honor of his great-grandfather's memory.

Hanging from a helicopter On June 10, 2011, Wallenda performed while hanging from a helicopter above Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. First he hung from a trapeze with two arms, then one arm, then his legs, and finally by his teeth.

For the next couple months, Wallenda performed daily shows at Silver Dollar City with his family. The highlight of the show was a three-person "Chair Pyramid" on the high-wire. Wallenda and Jonah Finkelstein rode bicycles across the wire while Delilah Wallenda sat in a chair atop a balance bar they carried. In the middle of the performance, Wallenda would purposely act like he was losing control and move the balance bar erratically to heighten the drama. He would then shout "Watch it, Mom!" before regaining control. Wallenda later remarked "I believe people are brought into my life for a reason... I take everyone seriously because you just never know [who you are talking to]". Trevino next contacted New York State Senator George Maziarz. After Maziarz met Wallenda, he went to work at drafting a bill granting Wallenda a one-time exemption to the state's anti-stunting laws.

On the Canadian side, things went less smoothly. In June 2011, public statements by NPC board members made it clear that they were opposed to Wallenda's plan. "It's sensationalism, and that's not what the falls is supposed to be about", said Thomson.

The Discovery Channel had Wallenda under contract and negotiated with several of the major television networks for broadcast rights. Josh Elliott and Hannah Storm were chosen to host the coverage. According to Wallenda, it was the first time anyone had attached a high-wire to a barge; he remarked that the configuration made the walk "a little more unstable" than normal. He called the slip "a wake-up call" for Niagara. The May 9 event was sponsored by Ripley's Believe It or Not which was opening a museum on the harbor. When it opened in June, a feature exhibit allowed visitors to walk on a piece of the wire Wallenda had used in Baltimore.

To prepare for the Niagara event, Wallenda practiced in the parking lot of Seneca Niagara Casino for eleven straight days.

Eleven days before the scheduled walk date, Wallenda faced a new challenge. Official permits had not yet been granted in New York and park officials were threatening to cancel the event over payment issues. Wallenda's managers claimed to be on schedule with the US$225,000 the state was charging him. To avoid negative publicity, Wallenda's manager, David Simone, withdrew $75,000 from his personal account to foot the bill. Permits were issued the next day. According to Wallenda, "the U.S. side was just nasty to deal with toward the end. They were accusing us of lying and saying we weren't fulfilling the contract." The time was also advantageous to Wallenda, as half of the volume of water going over the Falls is diverted for power generation purposes after dusk. Wallenda wore a microphone for the event which allowed Troffer to talk with him, while the public listened in, throughout the walk. He slowly inched his way across the slippery wire, praying and praising Jesus Christ as he went. Later he described the first step over the falls as the toughest part of his journey. "Mentally, your mind goes, 'What are you doing?'" he recalled. Near the end, he stopped, got down on one knee, and blew a kiss to the crowd. He also set the world record for longest walk over a waterfall. The Niagara Parks Commission indicated it was unaware of such a requirement when they were considering approval. During the walk, Wallenda told his dad that he felt "like a jackass" wearing the harness. Before the crossing, Wallenda had promised that he only would remove the harness if it became a hazard during the walk. "When I first found out about it, there was no doubt in my mind I was going to take it off", he later said. "But as [the event] got closer and closer, I realized I had to honor my word. I've always said I'm a man of integrity." He also acknowledged that removing the harness would have created contractual problems with ABC.

Project costs were between US$1.2 and $1.3 million, necessitating ABC's financial support (and with it, their demand of a safety harness). "I'd dare say that never in the history of the circus industry has there been one event that costs this much", said Wallenda. The fundraising, combined with several contractors lowering their bills, helped him get close to budget. "I think people still have the impression that Nik Wallenda is going to walk away from this thing making millions of dollars, but that's not the case", he commented. Niagara Falls, Ontario, mayor Jim Diodati declared that "the stars aligned perfectly" allowing the event hit its "full potential". Initial estimates put the show at a peak rating of 7.7, representing almost 13 million viewers during the last half-hour of the program. Viewership peaked at around 16 million.

It was ABC's highest rated Friday night program since November 2007, and the highest non-sports summertime program on any of the major networks in six years. The rating possibly represented the highest summertime viewership for any program in history there. In Canada, the program averaged 3.9 million viewers, with viewership peaking as the walk ended with 6.8 million watching.

The morning after walking Niagara Falls, Wallenda drove his family to the airport so they could rejoin the Fabulous Wallendas Famous Family Circus in Branson, Missouri. On June 27, Janice Thomson said plans were in the works to install plaques near Table Rock and on White Water Walk. Dyster said to forgive the alleged debt would amount to "a gift of public funds". His lawyer, John P. Bartolomei, said Wallenda was only responsible for money spent by the city in the park itself, which had already been more than paid. He also noted that Wallenda's contract was with the state parks commission, not the city itself. On July 24, the city council passed a resolution encouraging Dyster to stop pursuing the alleged debt by a 4–1 margin. Dyster responded by stating he was legally obligated to continue his efforts, remarking "Since the council didn't establish the fee I'm not sure if the council can forgive it". He did, however, say he would ask the state comptroller for second opinion. "We take great pride in being a zero-impact operation", he said prior to the event. The research indicated that 38,000 people gathered on the American side of the falls to watch the act, 41% of which were from out of town. Among the out-of-town visitors, 52% came specifically to see Wallenda.

On the Canadian side, no official effort was made to calculate the economic impact, although Enigma Research said the event "might have done better" than the $21.5 million the company estimated before the event.

Nik Wallenda: Beyond Niagara

A reality show, originally titled Danger By Design, following Wallenda and his family premiered on The Science Channel on June 18, 2012. The Science Channel declined to comment on the decision. For Wallenda, it was back to business as usual. "I never want to get complacent", he said in a press release. "I could get hurt just as easily on a wire here as walking over Niagara Falls." Ultimately, he completed the half-hour walk without any visible difficulty. Large crowds were reported for the public event, with attendance estimates ranging from 100,000 to 150,000.

The beach walk was done to promote Wallenda's new show, "Beyond the Falls: Nik Wallenda and the Wallenda Family Experience", which premiered at the Tropicana Resort on August 12. The show featured Nik, wife Erendira, mother Delilah, cousin Blake, and about a dozen other performers in a variety of circus acts including contortion, quick-change artistry, and juggling. Michael Richter served as the lead clown and the show ended with the Wallendas doing a bicycle pyramid on the wire. The show was production designed by his designer Brian Sidney Bembridge. Amy Rosenberg of The Philadelphia Inquirer described the show as "an old fashion vaudeville variety act" and remarked "I dug the show and so did all the little kids around me".

Balance On June 4, 2013, Wallenda's memoir, Balance: A Story of Faith, Family, and Life on the Line, was published by FaithWorks. It concludes with the Niagara Falls crossing. "One of the challenges of writing a book", Wallenda commented, "is there's things you probably don't want people to know about you ... It was very emotional telling these stories at times ... It is a challenge to reveal your life story." According to the United States Geological Survey, the Grand Canyon geological area includes the Little Colorado River Gorge.

Wallenda originally obtained permits to walk across the canyon in 2008, and planned to make the trip as early as 2009. When the opportunity to cross Niagara Falls arose, the Grand Canyon walk was put on hold. Shortly after crossing Niagara Falls, Wallenda said he would try to make the Grand Canyon crossing "within a year". In August 2012, he said that he was "98 percent" certain that the walk would take place in May or June 2013 and said he would get "something in writing" that no safety harness would be required for the walk. On March 18, 2013, Wallenda announced that he had come to terms with The Discovery Channel for television rights.

Little Colorado River gorge near Grand Canyon National Park. To prepare for the winds, Wallenda walked a wire twice daily along the banks of a Sarasota river with fans watching.

At , the walk was the highest of Wallenda's career, about seven times as high as the Niagara crossing. He covered a distance of approximately in 22 minutes, 54 seconds, using a wire.

Skyscraper Live Spectators watch as Wallenda walks the rope from Marina City (right) to the Leo Burnett Building (left) in Chicago.

During a live interview on Skywire Live, Wallenda said for his next feat he would like to walk between the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building in New York City.

Wallenda was unable to get permission to do the walk in New York City, but, in April 2014, announced he was scouting skyscrapers in Chicago, Illinois for a televised tight walk event for the Discovery Channel. Wallenda said he was very interested in tight walking between the Willis Tower with another nearby skyscraper. In the special, Wallenda completed two tightrope walks, setting two new Guinness World Records: one for walking the steepest tightrope incline between two buildings (19 degrees) and the other for the highest tightrope walk while blindfolded.

Volcano Live On March 4, 2020, Wallenda successfully walked across the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua, his longest stunt in terms of time on the wire.

Before Nik's stunt, his wife Erendira performed an aerial routine over the mouth of the volcano. The couple had decided to add the extra performance the morning before the event, with Nik expressing nervousness before his wife took to the wire. Like her husband, Erendira donned a gas mask and a pair of goggles for protection from the volcanic fumes.

During his walk, ABC required Wallenda to use a guide wire, to the chagrin of some viewers.

Despite the required safety equipment, Wallenda was visibly buffeted by the wind and had to slow down to catch his bearings several times during the walk.

During the last part of his ascent out of the crater, Wallenda removed his protective equipment to address the crowd.

D'Youville College: Health Professions Hub Grand Opening On June 17, 2021, Wallenda highwire walked at D'Youville College in Buffalo, New York for a grand opening ceremony of the Health Professions Hub. The stunt was a 320-foot walk on a wire 5/8 inch thick between D'Youville's Montante Family Library to the new Health Professions Hub Building. The wire was positioned 5-stories high and designed to be a tethered walk. However, Wallenda stated that the tether got stuck near the end of the walk and removed the tether to free walk the final steps. Wallenda stated, "I was just in the library and I found a key on the floor ... I guess I'll take the shortcut" then he proceeded to walk the highwire from D'Youville's Library to the Health Professions Hub building. "There's a lot of expectations on my end", he says, adding that he wants to "[reinvent] the circus".

Personal life In 1999, Wallenda proposed to his future wife Erendira (née Vasquez, from a famous Mexican circus family), while on a wire high during a performance in Montreal, Quebec. Having just performed a seven-man pyramid act with his family, he stayed on the platform while the family descended. He walked to the middle of the wire and got down on one knee, proposing to Erendira in front of 25,000 people. Faith is "the most important part of my life", he says.

Wallenda and his wife have three children. Before every wire walk, Wallenda joins his family in prayer and he always wears a cross as he performs. He remarks, "The Bible says pray without ceasing and I'm always praying." He denies that his stunts "test" God. "To test God would be to never train, never practice, and then to walk across the Grand Canyon; or to jump off a building, or throw myself in front of a truck", he says. Wallenda says he tries to live "an upright life" and be a good example. Despite his success, Wallenda wants people to think of him as just a regular guy. "I want people to like me, just for who I am", he says. "What you get is a regular person. I want people to relate to me."

Wallenda believes that through hard work, one can achieve anything they desire. "I think [challenges are] what life is about", he remarks. "We all go through challenges. But once we get through them, we look back and say look how much our lives have changed by going through that challenge."