Dean Gunnarson

Dean Gunnarson is an award-winning Canadian escapologist. He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.^[1] He is noted for a series of large scale spectacular stunts done for television.^[2]

Gunnarson's most notable television appearances include the NBC special The World's Most Dangerous Magic, for which he escaped from a straitjacket while hanging upsidedown 726 feet above the ground from a trapeze suspended from the Hoover Dam. He has also appeared in the NBC special, Magic in The Magic Kingdom, filmed at Disneyland in 1988, and in The Spectacular World of Guinness Records, hosted by David Frost.

He has successfully conquered many challenges and obstacles by taking his daring escapes to incredible limits. One of his most recent television specials, "World's Most Dangerous Magic II" on N.B.C., Gunnarson faced his greatest fear as he escaped suspended upside down over a swamp of 130 hungry alligators in the Florida everglades covered in chicken meat and blood.

Gunnarson narrowly escaped death in October 1983 during a stunt in which he was handcuffed and chained and nailed into a coffin which was then submerged in the Red River in Winnipeg. The stunt went wrong as the coffin was lowered into the water, leaving him unable to escape. He was eventually pulled from the river and freed by the support crew, at which point he was not breathing and had to be resuscitated by paramedics. The incident led Johnny Carson to refer to Gunnarson on The Tonight Show as "that crazy Canadian".^[3]

Some of Dean's other television appearances include The Nashville Network's popular "Statler Brothers Show," the Disney Channel and Family Channel, where he is a favourite family entertainer. He also has appeared on many shows on the Discovery, TLC, Travel, and even the Food Channels. One of Dean's personal career highlights was opening for Aerosmith at their CD Release Party of "Nine Lives" in New York City.

Gunnarson was the first recipient of the Houdini Award on the Magic Stars television show in Tokyo, Japan. He became the youngest person and first Canadian to be awarded the U.C.T. "Humanitarian of the Year" for his devotion to raising money for various charities after being chosen out of 185,000 people nominated in North America.^[4]

Major stunts

• Buried Alive Where he dug himself out of a grave, after being buried on Friday 29 October 2010 and escaped 31 October 2010 to coincide with Harry Houdinis date of death.

• Cement Tomb Escape- Gunnarson was handcuffed and chained and buried alive under 2 1/2 tons of wet cement 31 October 2008. http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2006/10/31/gunnarson-escape.html
• Houdini's Milk Can Escape for the Search for Houdini television special on Halloween Night, 1987 - he was a last minute replacement for James "The Amazing" Randi, who was injured just before his scheduled live performance.
• The "Challenge at Hoover Dam" straitjacket escape on The World's Most Dangerous Magic - 30 August 1998
• "Gator Bait" on The World's Most Dangerous Magic 2 - 2 May 1999 - escape from a straight-jacket and chains while hung upside down by his toes from a trapeze above 130 hungry alligators at Gatorland in Florida.
• "Airplane jump" for the 500th episode of the Japanese television show Naruhudo! The World - Chained with handcuffs and locked in a strait jacket and thrown from an airplane 13,500 feet in the air Gunnarson had one minute of freefall in which to release himself and open his parachute.^[5]
• Tractor Pull- Chained between two 450 -horsepower tractors and had to escape before Gunnarson was pulled to pieces (9 June 2007)^[6]
• "Car Crusher Escape" for the television show "The Spectacular World of Guinness Records," hosted by David Frost. He was handcuffed and chained into a 1970 Cadillac -- his neck chained to the steering wheel, his legs to the brake pedal, and his arms to the doors.

References

1. ^ "Philip's Magical Paradise". http://members.autobahn.mb.ca/~ggilbey/philips.html. Retrieved 2007-03-05. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ ""TV appearances" on Gunnarson's "alwaysescaping.com" website". http://www.alwaysescaping.com/TV-Appearances.html. Retrieved 2007-03-05. 
3. ^ ""Submerged Coffin" page on Gunnarson's "alwaysescaping.com" website". http://www.alwaysescaping.com/coffin.html. Retrieved 2007-03-05. 
4. ^ ""Quick facts" on Gunnarson's "alwaysescaping.com" website". http://www.alwaysescaping.com/QuickFacts.html. Retrieved 2007-03-05. 
5. ^ ""Airplane jump" on Gunnarson's "alwaysescaping.com" website". http://www.alwaysescaping.com/airplanejump.html. Retrieved 2007-03-05. 
6. ^ http://www.alwaysescaping.com/Articles/Tractor/Yahoo-NEWS-Tractor.pdf

 6.http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/CanadaAM/20061031/escape_artist_061031/

Further reading

James Randi, The Magic World of the Amazing Randi, pub. Adams Media Corporation (September 1989), ISBN 978-1558509825

External links

• Dean Gunnarson's official website
• Events Edge Entertainment and Speakers Bureau
• Dean Gunnarson's entry at the Internet Movie Database (note misspelling of his surname)
• Gunnarson's entry in a list of famous Manitobans.
• Listing for Magic Of Canada #1, Volume 50 (*Video)
• Buried Alive

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