Nik Wallenda tightrope walk over gorge draws 13m viewers

Little Colorado River Gorge, Arizona: Aerialist Nik Wallenda’s tightrope walk over a gorge near the Grand Canyon drew nearly 13 million viewers to the live television broadcast.

The Discovery Channel said on Monday that the quarter-mile stunt at the Little Colorado River Gorge was among the most highly viewed shows in the station’s history.

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It also prompted 1.3 million tweets on Sunday, making it one of the top trending topics.

Wallenda took 22 minutes to cross the two-inch-thick steel cable, 1,500 feet above the dry river bed. He did it without a harness or safety net.

The well-known daredevil contended with the wind and repeatedly called on God to calm the swaying cable.

He wore a microphone and two cameras, one that looked down on the river bed and one that faced straight ahead.