Man who ‘risked his life’ for dangerous skyscraper stunt slams ‘embarrassing’ amount he was paid

An American rock climber has made headlines around the world for taking on a dangerous stunt that risked his life, all while people at home watched along on TV.

And now, an ethical debate has broken out about the amount he was paid, with the daredevil himself branding the figure 'embarrassing'.

For those who missed the news, 40-year-old Alex Honnold ascended the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan on Sunday (25 January) without any ropes or protective equipment - yep, you read that right.

The stuntman scaled the 508m (1,667ft) tower using his bare hands and the small L-shaped outcroppings as footholds.

Cheers erupted from the streets as he reached the top of the spire about 90 minutes after he started, making history and officially becoming the first person to free solo the building.

Meanwhile viewers from around the world tuned in to live on Netflix, as the nail-biting ascent was streamed on the platform with a ten second delay, just in case the worst happened.

Now, as we say, Alex himself has spoken out and revealed that he was paid less than $1million for, effectively, risking his life for entertainment, rather than a life-changing paycheck.

The rock climber is already known for his previous ropeless climb of Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan, but this took things to a whole different level.

Speaking to the New York Times ahead of the climb, Honnold was asked whether this stunt was his biggest payday, to which he reasoned: "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," he said. "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."

He clarified: "I’m not getting paid to climb the building. I’m getting paid for the spectacle. I’m climbing the building for free."

Pressed for the exact monetary figure, the 40-year-old refused to say as it's 'an embarrassing amount'.

Honnold reasoned: "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."

The interviewer was clearly keen to find out a ballpark figure though and asked him whether the sum was higher than $10 million, to which the climber responded: "No! So in that case, yeah, an embarrassingly small amount."

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

Reacting to the details social media, one Twitter user penned: "Alex Honnold was paid a paltry $500k to risk his life while the media made millions upon millions with zero risk. The society is so unkind and cruel."

While a second agreed: "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."

And a third and fourth wrote: "Netflix only paid Alex Honnold $500K?!?!?!??" and "Alex Honnold getting paid only $500k to risk his life while producers made more than that is a metaphor."

Tyla previously contacted Netflix for comment.