I'm pretty sure it was a prop glass - you can sort of see him removing the divider with the hankie he uses to cover it.

I'd have to watch the cards again to see how he did it so I will concede that one wasn't obvious on first watch But it'll either be a prop or slight of hand.

BIB. So not real magic then? Wow.

The secret didn't matter it's how entertaining he was that matters.

The problem was that he tried to cross mind reading with magic in a very shoddy way and he is obviously more comfortable with close up than stage. You've got to forgive him being nervous but he's done nothing different to any other average magician and all his tricks were standard :

e.g http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/2693

http://www.magicshop.co.uk/p22383/To...duct_info.html


There just doesn't seem to be anything innovative or different about the guy.

Do you get a kick from trying to be a smart ass and posting how tricks are done?

Lol yeah, doesn't leave a lot of other options

I know this wasn't aimed at me but...

I know how most tricks are done but once in a while one of two things happen. Either someone comes up with a new trick I can't work out or I get fooled by some one using a trick I should have worked out but so original/slick/innovative is their presentation that I think it's something new. That is where the 'real' 'magic' is. The bar has been raised so high doing old, bog standard tricks with a nervous, boring presentation just isn't going to cut it anymore. Explaining how a trick is done in this case isn't being a smart arse - it's pointing out the bleeding obvious. Plus I think more critism was about his presentation rather than the (lame) trick.

The only lame part was trying to connect the words on cards to big reveal.All the individual tricks are fine ,presentation less so.
Paul Daniels made a career from a trick with a cup and a ball and can hold audiences mesmerized even now.

Well I think you'll find that other than posting a link to where you can buy these tricks I've revealed nothing.

So calm down !

That's kind of the point - he is very slick and (much as he isn't my cup of tea) a great showman. At the time he was big I don't think so many people knew how the tricks were done which helped - certainly no Internet, no Penn & Teller, no Masked Magician. If he was starting out now he'd have half the battle won - great stage presence - but he'd need better material

As for this guy, he fluffed most of those tricks. The gold fish one wasn't slick - you could see him (presumably) moving the divider in the glass. You could see his shoe had come off. I'll give him the Ice one - he just about managed that. And the helicopter, well, Not good

I love magic - but I want it to be good. I want to be conned. I want to be perplexed. I'd love to be amazed. I want to get swept away in the whole show - or I want to laugh. This fella didn't do any of that, Could he in normal circumstances when not nervous? I hope so. He seems a nice chap and does make a living at it (though I have seem some truly rubbish magicians that still get hired) so I think we are probably seeing him at his worst.

Ye that makes sense now you say that. I could not see him reach to grab anything which
you could sort of see with the ice and a divider in the glass would work. His hand action
also looks like him removing it. I do understand why some don't want to know how it's
done or even get annoyed by people trying to work it out but I love that part.

I just noticed that I am replying to StressMonkey and I am a Bonobo.

Meanwhile eggshell and egghead1 seem to be arguing. Gotta love DS.

Lol Yep

Yeah but he started it !!!!!....... or something.

Yes, I felt a bit bad for him because it wasn't a good performance.
With a magician one of the most important aspects of the performance is stagecraft, and that's where the act seriously failed.

I was really impressed with the card trick in his audition (even after subsequently finding out how it was done on the internet afterwards).

On the semi final, however, his whole routine fell completely flat even before he'd finished dealing the cards out to the panel, when it fast became obvious the cards were just being forced.

A handy glass of water standing by to 'magic' up the goldfish, a flame used as an obvious misdirection prior to the ice cube and leaving Amanda till last with the helicopter served only to underline the point further.

The build up to the helicopter reveal was a big snooze fest where the only mystery became just how much longer is it going to take to wheel it out and drop the curtain.

I'm looking forward to the female magician on Fridays show, her audition tricks were very well performed.

Disgusting cruelty to goldfish, drinking water contains chlorine & is not suitable for goldfish.

I thought the helicopter was the most ridiculous thing. I mean how could the panel claim to be surprised?
And he just kept on an on asking the panel what card were they thinking of - it's like he forgot to insert 'look at your card and think of it'. I'd have been inclined to think of some random card.
He was so rubbish and it's immaterial if it's 'just nerves'. All the performers would have been nervous. If you can't overcome your nerves to give a good performance - forget it.

Everything is animal cruelty on here...

He also called Simon 'Sir' and Simon replied 'Simon'.

I know we shouldn't always compare but I watched the magician who won AGT last year and he is fantastic and has great stage presence in comparison to this guy.

Huh?! One poster asked whether it was a projection of a helicopter, I told them what it actually was. So thanks for being so unnecessarily patronising when I didn't actually make any comment criticising his inability to get a proper full-sized helicopter into the studio for his act.


As said, I didn't make any comment about what I expected him to produce.

With regards to the pack of cards and the goldfish, I'll probably get more criticism if I explain how he did it. And others seem to have done so already anyway.

Other magicians would magic up the glass of water, not ask for one! He did a much better trick on this morning, bended a fork, he just waved it in his hand and all the prongs became bent out of shape,

Something I noticed,regards judges "amazement" ,yesterday Cowell said "Ive stopped watching rehearsals" whereas Alesha Dixon said she had seen rehearsals(that day at least)plus having a helicopter prop backstage cant be easy to hide.

With much of his style it is down to sleight of hand. At that level he was actually pretty good.


Years ago I worked with someone who had, at one time, been a professional magician, specialising in close-up work.

Once or twice we managed to persuade him to show us some tricks, (not a very hectic work schedule!). He did some of the standard stuff , palming small items and so on. Flipping a coin between his fingers while turning his hand Cutting a piece of string and showing that it wasn't actually in two pieces and so on. OK, all bog standard tricks, but, and this is my point, he was in extreme close up, with a highly critical "audience".


We knew what he had done, but we did not see him do it. He was really brilliant - so sleight of hand does entertain. Knowing how it is done is one thong, seeing it being done is a totally different thing.

Oh, one last point. We never, ever, ever, played any form of card game with him!

As has been pointed out, the card box "trick" is just an off the shelf item you can get from a magic shop for around £20.

The ice block is the same, something you can buy from most magic stores.

The glass with the fish in had a mirror, which he lifted out when removing the covering silk.

The shoe was exposed by the poor camera placements.

The helicopter trick was nothing to do with the magician.

All round a massively amateurish show, with nothing new whatsoever. No innovation, nothing.

You could train a person do do what he did, and probably better (as he dropped cards and fluffed his lines 5 times) within an hour.

Looking forward to your scintillating performance on BGT 2016.

Lol.

You're improving btw