The magician will now attempt to cheat death with the dramatic test of his super
human endurance.
This is the same experiment that was featured on a live nation wide
television broadcast by a street magician who is known for hanging upside
down,
living underground and pretending to freeze himself in a giant block of ice.
The magician shows the clock and lovely time keeper who will keep track of his
minutes underwater in this giant glass tank.
As always do not attempt this or any of the magician's dangerous illusions or
escapes. He is a highly trained professional with a team of safety
expert standing by.
He has been training with navy seals for the past six months to pull off his feat.
He's going to attempt to set a new world record for holding his breath underwater.
To do so
he's learned to expand his lung capacity and slow his breathing by putting
himself into a state of suspended animation
This trance-like condition will allow him to stay underwater without gasping
for air.
He makes his way to stairs that lead to a platform that surrounds the top of the
tank.
At the ready are two more assistants. They will closely monitor his safety and
alert the paramedics of anything goes wrong.
He takes a few deep breaths and concentrates on slowing his heart,
expanding his lungs
and plunges into the tank.
Hold your breath with him and see how long you can last.
He will not come up for air until time is up
He's attached his feet two weights that secure him to the bottom of the tank
until he slips into his hyper trance.
We'll see how long you can stay in this position.
Are you still holding your breath?
Note that the tank is definitely filled with water and he's not hiding behind a
phony glass wall.
The risk of drowning is very real.
Nearly a minute has gone by.
How many of you have had to take a breath by now?
The magician is slowly slipping into his state of relaxed consciousness.
That's a minute 30 seconds.
Let's jump ahead one minute.
The magician is now beginning to show signs of panic. It must be hard to relax
under water in that scary costume.
Two minutes 45 seconds anyone still holding their breath?
He seems to be releasing some air bubbles from beneath his mask. His
assistants are still at the ready in case he needs help.
I wonder if he's okay.
Another minute has gone by and the magician is still under water and going into his
trance.
Some more bubbles escape from the magician's mask.
He releases his feet and does the dead man's float inside the tank.
Note that his head and face are still under water. There is no way for him to
breathe. His assistants check to make sure he hasn't expired.
One of them places her hand on his neck to feel his pulse.
The other keeps her hand on his back. By touching a pressure point she can
monitor his body movements for any sudden jerks or contortions that would
indicate distress.
Outside the warehouse a mobile hospital has been set up in the event of the
worst.
Up above his assistants are still monitoring his movements for signs of
struggle.
So far no need to call for the paramedics who are standing by just out
of camera range.
He's not left the tank and there are no camera tricks but we will jump ahead for
the sake of time.
Magician is halfway toward his goal. He's past the 9-minute mark on the way to 18
minutes plus.
the state of super measured breathing and extreme relaxation is working.
There is a serious risk of permanent damage if enough oxygen does not reach
the brain.
However the assistants don't see any reason to break his trance and pull him
out of the water.
Another minute has gone by. The magician has not moved a muscle.
Let's hope this dead man's float doesn't have deeper implications. Ancient mystics
were alleged to hold their breath for days using the same method of
corpse-like stillness though ancient stories are prone to be exaggerated.
The current world record is just over 15 minutes. On TV a certain street magician
went for 17. The mask man wants to top that. He's got just over six more minutes
to go.
Regulating his metabolism by fasting and living in an oxygen-rich environment for
the last 24 hours has helped prepare his body for this challenging stunt.
His heart is pumping ever so slowly in maintaining his breathless trance.
Let's jump ahead again he's past 16 minutes now the goal is now within reach.
Can he make it?
I don't dare ask if any of you watching have been able to hold your breath this
long.
I gave up after the first five seconds then again I have the perfect excuse.
I get paid to talk about what's going on.
But you don't need me to tell you that the magician has not moved.
He is suspended in the water in his state of suspended animation.
We can see all the way around the tank.
17 minutes he's already beaten the other guy.
Let's see how much longer you can go if in fact he's going to make it out alive.
17 and a half minutes! Again this is one shot that had been edited only for time.
I can't take much more of this.
Another half minute has passed.
He's beaten the record by a full minute! Will he go for two?
He's not making a move.
Maybe he doesn't know how long he's been down there? Or maybe he stopped breathing.
18 minutes 45 seconds.
No one can last that long.
He's alive.
Get him out!
18 minutes 51 seconds.
A new worlds record.
But he struggles to the platform. His body is completely drained of strength.
He's gasping for air barely able to stand under his own power.
The assistants appear helpless to offer him support because he's told them in
advance that he wants to do it alone.
A little wobbly.
But there he is.
The new worlds record holder.
Unless of course...
it's just one big trick.
We just saw the magician take a death plunge into a large glass tank and hold
his breath for more than 18 agonizing minutes. Setting a world record and
duplicating a famous illusion is to survive this test on live TV.
How did he do it? It's much easier than he tries to make it appear.
Here are the secrets.
Cleverly hidden inside this pedestal supporting the clock is the first
secret.
an oxygen tank
You didn't really think he could hold his breath for that long did you?
Magician enters the tank and secures his feet to the weights.
He really is holding his breath but after a short time he needs the help of
a breathing tube that is concealed under his collar.
See it runs from his collar around his neck to a valve behind his head.
Magicians without masks use smaller tubes that are undetectable under the
water and behind the glass. At the start of the trick the tube isn't connected.
So how does he get oxygen from the tank?
The next secret is concealed by this beautiful assistant.
Another tube is hidden in your palm.
It runs under her costume, up her arm and down her back.
Tricky little devil.
The tube continues down to the oxygen. When the girl is in position on the
platform.
The tube is carefully hidden from view beneath this pad.
It goes through the grating and along the back side of the water tank. It runs
all the way down the tank to the floor, where it eventually connects to the
concealed oxygen supply.
When the magician rises up in the dead man's float position
he's signaling his assistants that he's running out of air. This is when the girl
secretly attaches her tube to the one under his collar.
Once it's connected the assistant operating the clock secretly reaches
down and starts the flow of oxygen allowing the magician to breathe easily
under the water.
All he has to do is float face down and breathe normally.
When the record time is within reach the girl at the tank
turns off the air, signaling to the magician that it's time to come out of
the water.
The audience thinks the assistants are quickly helping him out of the tank but
from this angle
we can see that the girl is detaching her concealed breathing tube before she
gives him a hand.
The magician climbs out of the water and throws in some dramatic struggling.
His theatrics convince us that he is gasping for air after his punishing
ordeal.
But it was all one big trick and we know the secrets.