How much man who scaled skyscraper with bare hands was paid to 'risk his life' for dangerous stunt

A climber who scaled one of the world's tallest buildings without a rope or protective equipment has reportedly revealed the shocking sum he was paid.

American rock climber Alex Honnold, 40, ascended the Taipei 101 skyscraper on Sunday (25 January) without a single piece of safety equipment to help him.

The daredevil is known for his previous ropeless ascent up Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan, and this time he climbed up one corner of Taipei 101 using small L-shaped outcroppings as footholds.

Periodically, he had to manoeuvre around the building and clamber up the sides of large ornamental structures that jut out from the tower, pulling himself up with just his bare hands. PSA: don't look at the photos if you're afraid of heights, it's enough to make anyone's stomach turn.

The building has 101 floors, with the hardest part being the 64 floors of the middle section, the 'bamboo boxes' that give the building its signature look.

But, defying the odds, he did it - and cheers erupted from a street-level crowd in Taiwan as Honnold reached the top of the spire of the 508m (1,667ft) tower about 90 minutes after he started.

The free solo climber said afterwards: “It was like what a view, it’s incredible, what a beautiful day.

“It was very windy, so I was like, don’t fall off the spire. I was trying to balance nicely. But it was, what an incredible position, what a beautiful way to see Taipei.”

Honnold’s free solo climb of the building in Taiwan’s capital city was broadcast live on Netflix with a 10-second delay.

Understandably, this drew both excitement and concern over the ethical implications of attempting such a high-risk endeavour on live broadcast.

And now, adding to the ethical questions, Honnold has revealed that to do the stunt, he got paid an 'embarrassing amount' for agreeing to take part.

In an interview with the New York Times, the climber was asked how much he was paid, to which he responded: "I’m not gonna say. It’s an embarrassing amount."

He then added: "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 $170 million contracts. Like, someone you haven’t even heard of and that nobody cares about."

Let me explain to you how this works. The problem is Alex wanted to climb that building. The producers knew that. So most likely in negotiation they threatened him with another climber, far less known, who would do it for less. At the end of the day Alex had to decide whether or… https://t.co/IlVSRIGZ4U

— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) January 25, 2026

Honnold was then asked whether he was paid $10million, as a ballpark figure, to which he came back with: "No! So in that case, yeah, an embarrassingly small amount."

The publication added that 'Honnold will be paid in the mid-six figures for the climb, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement'.

Reacting to the figure, one Twitter user penned: "Alex Honnold getting paid only $500k to risk his life while producers made more than that is a metaphor."

While a second social media user quipped: "I will be Alex Honnold's agent pro-bono. The fact this man scaled a 1,700-foot skyscraper live on Netflix & got paid $500,000 is straight up criminal."

However, the 40-year-old made it clear he didn't do it for the money.

When quizzed about whether it was his biggest pay day, he explained: "Maybe. 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. 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."

Tyla has contacted Netflix for comment.