Elle Duncan offered a candid look behind one of the most emotionally taxing live broadcasts of her career, revealing the extraordinary preparation and personal stakes surrounding Netflix’s Skyscraper Live, which featured famed climber Alex Honnold ascending Taipei 101 without ropes.
During an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show, Duncan described the event as unlike anything she had previously experienced on air, largely because the consequences were not theoretical.
“It’s not like anything I’ve ever done, ever,” said Duncan. “It was the first time that I was obviously covering something where there were real implications of death, like true ones.”
While live television often carries reputational risk, this assignment involved something far more sobering. She explained that moments before the broadcast, a producer described contingency plans if Honnold fell to his death on Netflix.
“It was the first time that someone five minutes poor broadcast, handed me a card that was like, ‘if this person falls off the building, here’s what you’re going to say, and then we’re going to get off air,'” she explained.
The gravity of that preparation stayed with Duncan throughout the climb. Unlike most sports coverage, there was no margin for error, no replay to soften the outcome. Every movement carried irreversible consequences, and Duncan said the reality of that danger fundamentally changed how she approached her role as host. The assignment required composure under circumstances where emotion could not be fully compartmentalized.
That challenge was heightened by the personal relationship Duncan had built with Honnold before the cameras ever rolled.
“I had built a rapport with Alex. I went out to his home. hung out with him and his wife. I played on the kitchen floor with his little daughters. I had built an affection for him,” explained Duncan. “We all knew he was in firm control of this. But anything can happen.”
The physical environment only amplified the tension. Broadcasting live from Taiwan introduced variables completely outside anyone’s control. Duncan cited concerns ranging from weather conditions which delayed the broadcast one day to the possibility of earthquakes. All of which contributed to an elevated sense of anxiety that never subsided.
“There was just a lot of anxiety. I think for me, when I went back and watched it, I was like, Oh man, I started out at a 10, and then I just stayed at a 10, like the entire the entire time,” Duncan said.
Skyscraper Live, which aired on Netflix, ultimately concluded without incident, as Honnold completed his climb of Taipei 101 safely. According to Netflix’s internalrankings for the week of January 19, Skyscraper Live finished as the platform’s third most-watched television program. The placement stands out amid heavy competition from scripted series, returning franchises, and global releases vying for viewer attention.
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