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Alex Honnold Says Taipei 101 Climb Paycheck Was 'Embarrassing'

by Larry Leo

January 25, 202633 Comments

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Legendary rock climber Alex Honnold says the money he made free solo climbing one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world was shockingly low...

quote:
The legendary rock climber revealed his payday for scaling Taipei 101 -- a 1,667 foot, 101-story tower -- was "embarrassingly small," especially when compared to the massive contracts earned by mainstream pro athletes. The death defying climb, which aired live on Netflix, earned Honnold a "mid six figures" payout, according to the New York Times.

Despite the modest check, Honnold says the money wasn't the motivation. In fact, he admitted he would've taken on the dangerous climb even without a paycheck if he had permission from the building.

"If there was no TV program and the building gave me permission to go do the thing," Honnold told the paper, "I would do the thing because I know I can, and it'd be amazing."

The stunt took just over an hour and a half and added another jaw dropping achievement to Honnold's resume. He famously became the first person to free solo climb El Capitan in Yosemite in 2017.

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Filed Under: General Sports

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33 Comments

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Revorising•2 months

I love love love 2026. We have managed to complain about everything now.

CatsGoneWild•2 months

Yeah, I would complain if I made 500k in 90 min too…??

abitaman6363•2 months

He wasn’t complaining. He said: “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.”

Honnold said the Taipei climb payment was “embarrassingly small” given amounts other sports are paid and what his agent wanted. Basically seemed like Honnold didn’t care too much.

Dude just wants to climb. Glad he chased a dream and is getting paid to do it.

Tigers4Lyfe•2 months

@CatsGoneWild What a dumbass comment. You mean to downplay the fact that his life was at risk the majority of those 90 minutes, and not ever taking into consideration the number of eyeballs that were drawn to the event? Dumb fricking arse!

Strannix•2 months

F that guy

Show 3 more replies in this conversation

olgoi khorkhoi•2 months

I feel like supply/demand is at work here.

bapple•2 months

He didn't have to compete on a team, he didn't compete with another athlete, he didn't fill a stadium, etc. I agree, it's not an apples to apples comparison and I'm sure he was compensated fairly. If he wants more he could just demand more for his next climb.

Zzyzx•2 months

Very random this came out, i thought about this exact thing watching it.

Athletes get paid tens of millions of dollars and flop around on the ground like a pussy like Lebron and here this guy has a netflix special and is hanging off a building a thousand feet in the air with no rope and i thought “man he probably only made a million bucks”. It was even less. Crazy

Datbayoubengal•2 months

Yes because 1 guy climbing a tower for an hour and a half is so entertaining that you'd watch it 4-5 times a week for 5 months.

Shiftyplus1•2 months

"Despite the modest check, Honnold says the money wasn't the motivation. In fact, he admitted he would've taken on the dangerous climb even without a paycheck"

Maybe don't say shite like this in public if you want more money.

jamarr•2 months

he didn't say he wanted more money

Datbayoubengal•2 months

He definitely wanted more money. No point in even talking about how low the pay was.

SWAT•2 months

Synergy don’t be a dumbass the rest of your life.

BabyTac•2 months

Always refreshing to complain about something you chose to do for a price you agreed to. Guess he expected a tip.

Tigers4Lyfe•2 months

Tell me you are naive.

GaryHobson•2 months

why would anyone pay this idiot to climb a building in the first place

Funky Tide 8•2 months

Maybe because millions of people watched it?

St Augustine•2 months

When you compare it to how much they spend on other Netflix programming and the relative equivalent number of eyeballs it’s likely a steal.

jamarr•2 months

because it was awesome

DonJuanDaMiles•2 months

That’s basically a pretty high game check for an athlete. He did it once and got paid equally to a pro athlete for one “performance.” Shut up

ezride25•2 months

Some people work a decade for a check he earned in 90 minutes. Complaining about it is not the best look. .

Tigers4Lyfe•2 months

Were "some people" lives at risk?

ChEgrad•2 months

Well, I guess you can’t count practice time and training as work time? Watch Free Solo to see how much work and time went into that <4 hours.

TheWalrus•2 months

Gas station clerks? Cops? Yeah

NorthSider72•2 months

I guess everyone has a different level of embarrassing.

Clark14•2 months

What’s this clown complaining about, they used the to throw people in jail for this.

cypresstiger•2 months

Mid 6 figures is modest??

JackieTreehorn•2 months

Maybe he will fall next time.

bbeck•2 months

Attention seeker gets 500K for doing something nobody cared about to get attention

Tigers4Lyfe•2 months

Tell me you don't know the viewership this got.