BGT viewers expose Phantom's mindblowing magic trick as his identity is 'revealed'
One magician is going to want to wish he’d taken up a career in children’s entertainment after his magic trick was rumbled shortly after it aired on Britain's Got Talent.
During the latest episode, a hopeful candidate auditioned for the hit ITV talent show who you may already know, even if you don’t recognise his face.
Jack Rhodes, 27, took to the stage and introduced himself to judges - Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli - before revealing that he had been on the show before, and had even reached the semi-finals.
He said on stage before showcasing his magic: "I'm pretty surprised you don't recognise me, I might have been on before... you didn't see me. Do you remember the invisible magician, The Phantom? That might have been me..."
Advert
The Phantom was an act in 2022 who performed a series of magic tricks, but the magician in question was a voice-over.
Rhodes continued: "You didn't see me at the time because I'm like a gangly ninja, I can move undetected. I'll show you what I mean using these blank cards."
Targeting Cowell as his first victim of the night, he asked the producer to write down the first word that came to his mind on a blank card.
After revealing to everyone that he had chosen the word ‘cucumber’, he then wrote his own word whilst looking intently at the judge.
It was ‘minted’. Interesting choice.
The magician then put the ‘minted’ card in Tonioli’s hands, and claimed he was going to move undetected, however he didn’t move an inch.
Soon, the judges would find out that their cards had magically switched to the other person.
After promising to show the shocked judges and audience how he pulled off the trick, he enlisted an assistant wearing a scuba mask and obviously showed himself and the man swapping cards.
He then joked: "Alright, I'm lying, I'm lying, really, I'm lying, show them!" to which Simon and Bruno's cards suddenly spelt out "I'm lying."
He added: "I've been lying the whole time, at the start of this, I showed you a video claiming The Phantom was me, allegedly, but I posted another video, a prediction called: 'What Simon will think of...' uploaded six months ago."
The clip showed the word ‘cucumber’.
The magician then went on to make his scuba-man disappear in a box for the finale and received yes votes from the judges.
But fans of the show immediately took to X to state that they’d rumbled his card trick.
One person said: "#BGT when he shuffles cards like that there's an easy opportunity to slip something in".
Another wrote: "When he puts the card on top and turns it over, he turns 2 cards over and gives you the other one. It's in every children's book of card tricks."
And someone else pointed out: "Okay a bit of sight of hand… and then a read your mind trick. Nothing new #BGT #BritainsGotTalent."
Do you think they cracked it?
Topics: Entertainment, ITV, TV, Britains Got Talent
Britt Jones