Alex Honnold completed the unbelievable feat of free climbing the 101-story skyscraper Taipei 101 for the Netflix Skyscraper Live. But Honnold revealed he received an “embarrassingly small” paycheck for the death-defying stunt.
Speaking to The New York Times, Honnold candidly shared that the paycheck was less than what he and his agent would have wanted for climbing one of the tallest buildings in the world. But he claims he still would have done the climb “for free,” had he been allowed to.
“Actually, if you put it in the context of mainstream sports, it’s an embarrassingly small amount,” he said. “You know, Major League Baseball players get like $170 million contracts. Like, someone you haven’t even heard of and that nobody cares about.”
He did not share the specific amount he received for the feat, but the Times reported he was paid mid-six figures.
Honnold said it was “less than my agent aspired to.”
“I mean, I would do it for free,” he added. “If there was no TV program and the building gave me permission to go do the thing, I would do the thing because I know I can, and it’d be amazing. I mean, just sitting by yourself on the very top of the spire is insane.”
He explained, “And so, you know, if there wasn’t the whole spectacle around it, and I just had the opportunity to go do it by myself, I’d be fine with that. I would do that, but in this case, there is a spectacle. I’m not getting paid to climb the building. I’m getting paid for the spectacle. I’m climbing the building for free.”
After the live Netflix event was postponed due to local weather conditions, Honnold successfully completed the climb Jan. 25 without a rope or any safety equipment in roughly an hour and 31 minutes, according to BBC. Honnold said this may be “the biggest urban free solo climb ever,” per CNN.
Honnold may be the first person to free climb the building, but Alain Robert was the first to climb the building, with ropes, when it first opened in 2004.
“It’s amazing, I’m sure I’ll be glowing for days, it’s incredible,” Honnold said after the climb. “You spend so long thinking about it and imagining it’s possible, but then to actually do it always feels different.”
Skyscraper Live is streaming now on Netflix.
