One of the more interesting people I’ve been introduced to through my work in television is escape artist Dean Gunnarson.  Also, one of the nicest.

I met Dean in his hometown of Winnipeg on the Halloween anniversary of his first big escape.  It was a Houdini-like stunt when he attempted to free himself from a box lowered into the muddy Red River in front of 10,000 people in downtown Winnipeg. The escape failed. In fact, it nearly took his life.

Rather than being lowered horizontally into the water as planned, the trunk hit the water at too much of an angle, allowing too much water to rush into the box too soon. (There was probably a meeting with the crew later.)

One overriding thought ran through my mind during my interview with Dean and during the trip back across the border that day.  This guy is a little crazy. But it’s a craziness that has taken him around the world more than a time or two.

This past December, Dean successfully recreated the 1983 Winnipeg escape.  This time in shark-infested waters, as they say, of the Bahamas.

Dean and his Winnipeg crew are in the middle of production of a new reality series for Canadian television called “Escape or Die.”

Just this past week, Dean performed another outrageously  dangerous escape above the famed Fountainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.  Again, the “Escape or Die” cameras were rolling.

The first of 12 episodes are to be seen beginning this spring on the OLN network.  I can’t wait.