The escape, which was broadcast live in the U.S. on A&E and internationally on a number of outlets, began with Angel shackled to the sixth floor balcony of the Clearwater, Florida Spyglass resort.

According to producers, Angel was expected to escape from the shackles, pick a series of five locks closing the balcony door and make his way through a series of locked doors to a helicopter hovering over the roof of the resort. Angel would grab onto a ladder dangling from the copter, and make his last minute escape.

As viewers watched, Angel successfully opened the shackles, but was unable to unlock the fifth padlock on the balcony doors. He kicked in the window and jumped into the hotel room. Disposable cameras mounted inside the hotel then showed him picking the padlock on the hotel room's internal door, then one on a door to the stairs. He exited the front entrance of the resort just as the building collapsed in a series of explosions.

Some viewers speculated that he had previously recorded the footage shown as coming from the disposable cameras ahead of time, and that he had never intended to use the helicopter to escape. The theory was the helicopter was a distraction for viewers, who continued to watch it hovering until it flew away 30 seconds before the explosion.

When asked about the escape after the stunt, Angel told reporters that "I flipped it on you, didn't I? I thought (through it) pretty well." The show's host, Tim Vincent, said, "We did 48 hours of rehearsal, and I can tell you this isn't how we planned it."

Angel repeated Wednesday night that the Harry Houdini-style stunt would be his last dangerous one, since he hd promised his mother he would take better care of himself in the future.