Alex Honnold got paid an 'embarrassingly small amount' after historic Taipei 101 climb

Alex Honnold made history by becoming the first person to climb a 101-story building in Taiwan—one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world—without ropes or other safety equipment. The pay, however, was just an "embarrassingly small amount."

The US daredevil sat down for an interview with The New York Times prior to his historic feat, where he briefly talked about his paycheck.

“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 (~P10 billion) contracts. Like, someone you haven’t even heard of and that nobody cares about,” he said.

NYT then asked if it would reach $10 million, to which he said, "No! So in that case, yeah, an embarrassingly small amount."

Honnold refused to disclose the exact figure. The Times, however, reported they were told by two people "with direct knowledge of the arrangement" that the American climber was paid in the “mid-six figures” or around $500,000 (~P29 million).

He would have done it for free anyway. “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," he said. "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."

Honnold scaled the 508-meter Taipei 101 on Jan. 25, watched by thousands of cheering and waving fans as he clambered up one of the world's tallest buildings.

Organized and broadcast live by Netflix, his "free solo" ascent took 91 minutes. He had the full support and permission of Taipei 101 and the city government. 

Taipei 101, which dominates the city's skyline and is a major tourist attraction, was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010, a crown currently held by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

This is not the first time Taipei 101 has been scaled.

In 2004, French climber Alain Robert, dubbed "Spiderman" for his ropeless ascents of some of the world's highest skyscrapers, climbed the building, though did so with a safety rope in a time of four hours. (with reports from Reuters)