Elle Duncan Gets Crushed On Social Media For Yapping Through Alex Honnold Climb

Alex Honnold has once again proven he's superhuman.

The adrenaline junkie — who became famous when he scaled Yosemite's El Capitan without ropes in the 2018 documentary Free Solo — climbed Taipei 101 on Saturday with the whole world watching. At 1,667 feet, Taipei 101 is the world's 11th tallest building. Honnold scaled the skyscraper without any ropes, harnesses, nets or parachutes.

And he did it live on Netflix.

Which is certainly a risk for the streaming service, considering a fall would mean certain death for Alex. Fortunately, it didn't come to that.

View of American climber Alex Honnold climbing the Taipei 101 tower facade without rope or harness in a free solo ascent.

(Photo by Jimmy Beunardeau / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images)

I'd been looking forward to this event ever since they first announced it back in October. But I was curious to see how Netflix would handle such a high-stakes event. How do you plan a live broadcast around something so unprecedented and so dangerous?

Well, turns out, you call WNBA analyst Elle Duncan and WWE Superstar Seth Rollins. 

They were joined at the desk by world-class climber Emily Harrington, so at least someone knew what she was talking about. And former NASA engineer Mark Rober joined as a sort of roaming sideline reporter. Well, sidewalk reporter.

Honnold wore an earpiece and a microphone throughout the climb, which was incredible to witness. Imagine being 1,000 feet in the air and just casually chatting with the Netflix broadcast team. And these parts of the broadcast were actually pretty cool. Viewers saw how calm and collected Honnold was during this absolutely terrifying feat, and we got to hear straight from the source how the climb was coming along.

Look, I know this man has scaled the world's most insane rock faces, so climbing a building with thick ledges, plenty of footholds and places to rest was probably child's play for him. But I was stunned at how many distractions they allowed during this climb.

Aside from the thousands of people watching and cheering from the ground, Honnold also had to deal with people watching him through the skyscraper windows — waving, taking selfies and holding up signs that said things like "Godspeed" and "see you at the elevator."

In one particularly diabolical move, Netflix had Alex's wife Sanni waiting for him in a 60th floor window.

Like, Hey babe, how's it going? Please don't fall and leave me widowed with two small kids!

And, of course, there was Elle Duncan yapping in his ear. And that's where social media really took issue with the broadcast.

Elle never stopped talking.

Social Media Just Wanted Elle Duncan To Take A Breath

I will show Elle a little bit of grace here. After all, there's not really a precedent for how to broadcast live while a maniac climbs a 1,600-foot skyscraper and could fall to his death at any moment. It's also a tall task to fill an hour and a half of air time while he does it.

But judging from the comments on social media, people would have preferred listening only to Alex than having the folks at the desk chattering nonstop.

You get the idea. There are thousands of other posts expressing the same sentiment.

And they have a point. Most of the "commentary" from the broadcasters was simply them saying, wow, oh my gosh, this is crazy, wow. 

Riveting stuff.

It was cool, though, during the brief moments when Emily Harrington jumped in to talk strategy and technique. As a climber herself and a close personal friend of Honnold, Harrington had some great insight. 

For example, when Alex went no-hands near the top of the skyscraper, she explained that his legs actually had a secure hold, and it was a strategy to help him rest for a moment before finishing the ascent. She also explained various climbing terms Honnold was using throughout the event.

But, in my opinion, the worst part of the broadcast came when Honnold finally reached the very top of the tower. 

To her credit, Elle did give him a few seconds to soak it all in.

It was at that moment, though, that Alex explained his comms were down. He said multiple times that his earpiece wasn't working and that he could no longer hear the broadcast team. Yet Elle just kept on asking him questions that he couldn't hear and wasn't answering. It was awkward and, if we're being honest, really took the moment away from Alex.

This was the point the producers should have cut her mic.

Still, even with all the yapping, Alex Honnold's Taipei 101 climb was a feat to behold. And if you thought that was impressive, you should go watch Free Solo right now.

Don't worry — Elle Duncan isn't narrating.