6-Nov-14 – The ratings are in. At its peak, as daredevil Nik Wallenda walked blindfolded between towers at Marina City, 6.72 million people in 220 countries were watching on Discovery Channel.

Another 65,000 were watching along the Chicago River, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Skyscraper Live With Nik Wallenda is Discovery’s most-watched show so far this year. It is their second-most-watched show since 2010, surpassed only by Wallenda’s walk over the Grand Canyon last year.

The first walk, from Marina City’s west tower to Leo Burnett Building, started at 7:35 p.m. Central Time and ended at 7:42 p.m. The second walk, from Marina City’s west tower to its east tower, started at 8:01 p.m. and ended at 8:03 p.m.

Wallenda’s official times on the wire were 6:51 for the first walk and 1:17 for the second walk.

According to Nielsen, a company that measures what people watch on television, radio, computers, and other devices, 5.84 million people watched the first walk, including 2.16 million people 25 to 54 years old. Of the 6.72 million who saw the second walk, 2.55 million were age 25-54.

Discovery says the event generated 22 million Twitter tweets.

Cleanup all but finished All of the wires across the Chicago River – the main wire and the stabilizing wires – were down by 4 a.m. on Monday. The wires between Marina City’s towers were down by 10 p.m. Monday, according to Discovery. The main wire, made especially for the Chicago stunt, was on a spool and by midnight, ready to ship back to Sarasota, Florida, where Wallenda and his team are based. Shortly after midnight, Wallenda himself was on site, says Discovery, to make sure everything was cleaned up. (Left) The main wire is unreeled from a large spool onto the Dearborn Street Bridge on October 30.

Larger equipment that was brought in by helicopter on October 26 will be taken out the same way this Saturday. A helicopter lift is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Wacker Drive will be closed between State Street and Clark Street. Dearborn Street will be closed between Lake Street and Kinzie Street.

It took four days to set up the wires. Preliminary work started on Wednesday, October 29, at 9 a.m. The main wire was strung over the river on Thursday. The wire between towers went up late Thursday and early Friday. Vertical wires that helped stabilize the main wires were installed on Friday and Saturday. After final adjustments, everything was ready on Sunday afternoon.

So far, the City of Chicago has no estimate of how much the event cost us. Those expenses will be reimbursed by Discovery.

Discovery declined to comment on how much the production cost. According to Wallenda, he is paid a flat fee to cover his own expenses but Discovery pays for the overall event. Discovery is the second most widely distributed cable channel in the United States, reaching 86 percent of households with television.

Ideas for future stunts but no immediate plans

For his next stunt, Wallenda wants to recreate what he says is the greatest walk of his great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, “my inspiration behind everything that I do.”

In 1970, Karl Wallenda, then 65 years old, walked 1,200 feet over Tallulah Gorge, a valley in Georgia. 600 feet up, Wallenda stood on his head twice.

“I want to do that walk with him,” said Nik Wallenda (right) on October 31. “I’m hoping with technology – it was all filmed – and there’s a way that I can actually walk the wire with my great-grandfather. I get chills thinking about it.”

Howard Swartz, vice president of production and development for Discovery, says there are no immediate plans to cover such an event or anything similar.

“As these projects come up, if they make sense for us and they’re right for us, then we’ll pursue them,” said Swartz (left). “As you can tell, there’s a lot logistically that has to go into these. There’s a lot of preparation, there’s a lot of work that needs to go into it, so it’s case-by-case but these don’t come around that often.”

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