Alex Honnold Reveals “Embarrassing” Paycheck for Netflix's Taipei 101 Free Solo Climb

   Over the weekend, on Saturday, Alex Honnold. made history by climbing the Taipei 101 in Taiwan. The climb took a little over 2 hours, and he climbed the 508-meter skyscraper without anything. The event was broadcasted live on Netflix, and there were many people watching, but I thought it was interesting how many people overlooked it. Obviously, watching an individual climb something very cautiously can be repetitive, but the sheer amount of second-hand anxiety for the guy was felt by everyone watching. This was history, and we have never seen someone scale and conquer a skyscraper without ropes. Furthermore, there has been news that Mr. Harold, even though this was a life long goal of his, disregarding the money and attention, he had received a check for a lot less than he expected compared to other athletes who have been broadcast. I thought this was interesting because I'm wondering whether it's because the turnout of viewers wasn't as profitable or tNetflix didn't respect him enough compared to other sports. Alex at the end of the day never cared about the money, but Netflix definitely made money broadcasting his adventure, so I think he should at least get a sufficient cut for climbing a straight-up scraper. All in all, the suspense of watching him accomplish such a feat and inspire and promote other climbers and people in general to pursue their dreams was just a generational moment. I think that, although it may not pertain to our class, it gives us a sense of hope in a metaphorical aspect for challenging and overcoming systemic barriers.