DAVID Blaine's starvation stunt has provoked quite a reaction in Britain, but it wasn't quite the one the illusionist had in mind.

Far from people coming to gaze in awe at the star's latest death- defying escapade, Blaine has become a figure of fun on the banks of the River Thames.

The Perspex box, which the magician is living in for 44 days without food, has been pelted with eggs, fruit and even golf balls since he started his feat last Friday.

Unimpressed passers-by have taunted Blaine by waving burgers and hot dogs at him, and pointing laser pens towards his eyes. Blaine's girlfriend, Manon von Gerkan, cleaned up his box after the last egg attack and said she had found it "quite bizarre".

Things have got so bad that police are now "monitoring" activity around the box.

London must seem a long way from home for the New Yorker. Blaine's previous stunts, which have included balancing on a 100ft pole for 36 hours and being encased in ice for three days, attracted widespread support and wonderment back in the US.

So why are we Brits unimpressed by Blaine's latest feat?

John Peake, deputy editor of TV Quick magazine, says: "I think people think he's so intense it's almost laughable. When he appeared on GMTV and refused to answer any questions, people wondered whether he was playing some mind game or just being a bit odd. I think most people thought he was odd."

Peake says the Brits have a "Why do it?" rather than an American "Why not do it?" attitude when it comes to such things.

He explains: "Who wants to spend 44 days in a glass box? He did that standing on a pole for 30 hours thing - who knows if he actually did it? Who really cares? A man sitting in a box is boring and he should expect everything he gets. He's so full of himself."

Blaine said at a Press conference before his starvation stunt that he was willing to die for his art and wanted people to see "human suffering on display". These dramatic statements from the 30-year-old haven't played well with many people on this side of the Atlantic. As Peake explains, many of us simply don't believe that the showman really is risking his life with the stunt.

"We need to be shown that this is for real, that he really is just drinking water. He's an illusionist after all - how do we know what's really going on? I'm sure a lot of people probably want him to fail. There's that very British thing where we like to build them up and knock them down."

Richard Arnold, GMTV's TV critic, says the problem is that 44 days just isn't long enough to amaze us - because it's been done before.

He says: "It would have been more interesting if he had done it in the height of summer when temperatures were hitting 100 degrees - now that would've been interesting. Hunger strikers have shown it can be done anyway. He can survive with water alone - no one really believes he's at risk. It all seems a little bit pedestrian. We've got better things to worry about than about him swinging from a crane."

Far from being embarrassed by the British reaction to the stunt, Arnold says he's "delighted" with our egg-throwing antics and thinks it simply reflects how we refuse to be blown away by hype.

He also points out that the British love losers rather than winners. Losers, it seems, are more loveable than cocky winners and maybe Blaine bashing is just part and parcel of our ingrained dislike for show-offs, extroverts and high-flying achievers.

Arnold admits he's finding the whole spectacle rather amusing and says he may be tempted to go and chuck something at the Blaine box.

"I might go down and help make some omelettes with Mr Blaine - it looks like fun," he laughs.