Man who climbed 101-story building with no safety gear reveals 'embarrassing' fee he received

When it comes to daredevils taking their lives in their hands, Alex Honnold is something of a modern Evel Knievel.

Much like those who tune into NASCAR racing just with the sick hopes of it ending in a fiery crash, droves of people tuned in to watch Honnold climb one of the world's tallest skyscrapers...without any ropes.

Netflix has already made a move away from the likes of Wednesday and Stranger Things with its Jake Paul fights, but going in an even more extreme direction, it decided to show Honnold's attempt to free solo climb up the infamous Taipei 101. As the name suggests, this towering colossus soars some 101 stories into the air.

The description for Skyscraper Live hyped up this death-defying feat, reading: "No ropes. No fear. Free solo legend Alex Honnold risks it all in a high-stakes, live ascent of one of the world's tallest skyscrapers in Taipei, Taiwan."

Although it was already delayed due to bad weather, Honnold eventually took part in this hair-raising stunt as the world watched with bated breath.

For those expecting a pretty monstrous payday if you agreed to take part in such a dangerous climb, Honnold told The New York Times that he actually received an 'embarrassing' paycheck for taking part in Skyscraper Live.

He does admit that he would've scaled Taipei 101 for free, but that's not the point.

Discussing his paycheck with the New York Times, Honnold confirmed: "It’s less than my agent aspired to. I mean, I would do it for free.

“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 went on to explain he is technically climbing the skyscraper for free, but it's only because of the spectacle and Netflix's involvement that he's getting anything: "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."

Even though we know it's not about the money, we can only imagine what he might've earned if he monetized the video for YouTube. Even though Honnold wouldn't disclose exactly what he got paid for Skyscraper Live, he simply said: "It’s an embarrassing amount."

When pushed to give an actual sum, he continued: "Actually, if you put it in the context of mainstream sports, it’s an embarrassingly small amount. You know, Major League Baseball players get like $170m contracts. Like, someone you haven’t even heard of and that nobody cares about."

When questioned whether it was $10 million,Honnold shot it down and concluded: "No! So in that case, yeah — an embarrassingly small amount."

The outlet says two people close to production claim Honnold was being paid somewhere in the 'mid-six figures', although Honnold's own words would suggest otherwise.

Despite apparently not getting a lot for Skyscraper Live, it doesn't seem to matter to Honnold, who is widely regarded as one of the best rock climbers in the world.

Taipei 101 isn't his only claim to fame, and long before Skyscraper Live, Honnold's record-breaking stunts saw him climb Yosemite National Park's El Capitan in 2017. This was then turned into the Oscar-winning Free Solo in 2018.