Darcy Oake! Massive congratulations for getting this far. How are you feeling?
Overwhelmed. It's insane. It's been such a crazy experience, but I'm so thankful for
it. It's been amazing.
Can I ask you how it feels? I mean, you've done magic on some pretty big stages before,
illusions and slight of hand, how does it feel doing it in front of Mr. Simon Cowell though?
It's another ball game. It's crazy. To have him say those things after was just the most
rewarding thing. It's so hard to even explain, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it
but it was just such an amazing experience. It's so hard to describe, but it felt great, definitely.
You seemed actually very relaxed before you went on stage and also when talking to the
judges. Is that how you felt or were you just hiding your nerves well?
It's a combination of things. I've learned from performing that it's good to feel a little
bit of nerves but you don't want to let the nerves over take you. It's important to utilise
whatever emotions your feeling before and use them to make your performance better as
opposed to becoming distracted. You need to concentrate and just focus and change those
nerves into a different type of energy, I think.
Was it different from going on stage for a normal gig?
100%! It's like night and day. I was trying to tell myself it's just another show. It's
just a normal show, don't worry about. And you see like four judges illuminated in the
front row, just immediately like, 'No, that's out the window.' Totally different. Even if
telling yourself it's just a normal show doesn't work because they're
right there.
Did you have one judge that you were most eager to impress or any that you were most
scared of?
That's been a common question but, in all honesty, it was just trying to treat the whole
crowd as a whole. Because I feel like if you start worrying about one person that's there
in a room of 3,000 people, that's when you lose the connection with the audience. So
it was important to me to perform past the judges and remember there's a full theatre
of people there.
To be honest, I don't think you had much problem because as soon as you walked onto the stage,
I saw some lusty looks from Alesha and Amanda. Did you notice that?
I don't know. At the time, I don't think so. Not until I watched because at the time I
was like, one track mind. 'Must. Do. Good. Show.' Like a robot. But, no, I was trying
to be in the moment for sure.
So your act, the first act that we saw from you, was incredible. It was mind-blowing.
Can you let us in on it a little bit? What? How?
I can't do it. That's a life time of work and practice and techniques into, like, two
minutes right there so I can't give away those secrets.
Where do you keep those doves and do you have names for them?
Of course! Yeah, they're pets, they're pets. They have a nice aviary I guess you would call it?
Or something. They're in dove euphoria? I don't know, utopia? I don't know what the
word is. No, they're well cared for.
They're enjoying themselves?
They are, yeah.
Simon says that he thinks that you're the best magician he's ever seen on the show.
Does that put a bit of pressure on you? Do you reckon you can win it?
I haven't even thought about that. That's not in my immediate mind set. The fact that
he said those things, there's definitely a little bit of pressure but also a little bit
of reassurance as well, so it's kind of both. Like, he said those things, it's amazing so
it's like 'Yes, now I have to go deliver' but I feel like he wouldn't have said those
things if I didn't deliver the first time. I don't know, it's playing with me mentally.
I'm like, I don't know what to think about this. Like, let me just go do semi-final performance
and stop messing around my own head. It's such a unique situation to be in that it plays
with you a bit, for sure.
You don't want to over think it.
Exactly, and that's the problem, especially when it's- exactly, that's entirely it.
And it's live, you don't want to psych yourself out. I heard that taking your jacket off,
that was unplanned.
Yeah.
How did that come into the routine?
I don't know, they seemed to be enjoying it. Because, when I first walked out, a few people
started whistling, so then I got to that point in the act and I was like 'Oh, I'll just take
off my jacket' and I did and people started screaming and, apparently it was a wise choice.
I don't know. What did you think?
Well, you know, I think it went down pretty well, especially with the female audience.
I've got to say, whenever I hear a whistle, I take my jacket off.
Right, exactly. I just kind of associate the two. Like, 'Someone's whistling? I better
take my jacket off!'
Exactly. Why Britain's Got Talent? Obviously you're from Canada. Why this show in particular?
It's the biggest one. Like, all of these style of show, like the Got Talent shows and the
reality competitions, like, all originate here. And they get the most viewership, they're
the biggest ones and I wanted to come do the biggest one and there's no point in me going
to do a smaller, less viewed version when I can come do the original one. And, honestly,
at the time my mind set was that 'Okay, if I go do Britain's Got Talent and I get X-ed
off and it goes horribly wrong then maybe my friends won't see it.' But that was, like,
the stupidest thing to think because this show is global. Like, literally, it's watched
around the world. Like, 'Yeah, just don't go on YouTube,' you know? No, it's the biggest
one and I wanted to do it because of that.
Talking about YouTube, it's got an incredible number of hits. What did you make of that?
Seeing the amount of coverage you were getting? What were you twitter followers doing? Did
you have any crazy messages from fans?
Yes, that's been the funniest part so far. But, yeah, it was crazy. It's over... 20 million
now? That number doesn't make sense to me. I don't know what that even means. That's
beyond my comprehension. But, yeah, my Twitter and Facebook and everything was getting some
steam and, yeah, you do get the occasional crazy message. Like, somebody messaged me,
asking me for my address and my phone number because they said they were in my city and
I was like 'Woah! Woah! Relax!' But the majority of people that have been reaching out have
been super nice and just like, 'Just wanted to say that I love your performance' and I try to respond
to, like, all of the sane ones. Like, all of the nice ones I'll sit there and reply
to, you know, because I'm extremely grateful to the support and the people that actually
go out of there way to find you online to message you to say they really liked it is
like something special to me. I never want to be one of those guys that's just not replying
to these people or anything. It's cool, I think there's something really unique about that.
Just don't give your address out. Just don't.
No, yeah, that was a mistake.
Let's look back a little bit. How did you get into doing what you do?
My dad accidentally did a magic trick and tried to play it off like it was on purpose,
like it was real, and he tortured me for, like, three weeks with it. Wouldn't tell me
how it was done, because it was an accident, there was no method to it. And it was just
that experience of being fooled and not knowing exactly how something was done that just captivated
me. And then I saw a magic special on TV that was more the theatre production extravagance
type thing and it was just a combination of all of that that got me really captivated.
And I feel like everybody starts learning, or everybody learns one of two tricks when
they were a kid. Like, did you ever learn a trick?
My dad's got this thumb that he puts on and, like, he always used to make us pull his thumb
and then, oh what did he do? Something came out of his thumb and then there was a thing.
Anyway, it was a thumb trick.
That's funny. I know exactly what you're talking about and, like, that's hilarious. It sounds
like he was using it wrong though. But yeah, no, everybody learns, like, one or two things
when they were a kid and then, after an amount of time goes by, if they grow out of it then
that's that, but I was just one of those people that just kept learning and just kept doing
it. I was fascinated with it and just kept doing and, yeah, here I am.
What's the limit? What's the ultimate dream in your industry for you?
Well, everybody would say, like a Vegas show or this and that but it's, like, in all honesty,
I just want to be able to keep working. Like, I'm so grateful that I can even do this right
now and that I'm here right now that, I just want to keep doing this and if I can just
keep doing that then that's that. My dreams come true. Like, it's not one particular thing,
like a TV show or a Vegas show or this and that. I just want to do magic and keep doing
it for a living. That's all I can ask for.
When it comes to the fact that you obviously have done quite a lot so far, also the fact
that you're Canadian, have you experienced criticism in the press yet?
Yeah, yeah. And I feel like there's a total difference between being professional and
being discovered. Like, professional can mean a number of things but when people hear the
word professional, it's like 'Oh, he's professional, he's making a lot of money in doing this and that'
but I'm out there trying to stir up gigs and trying to make a living out of it
but it's not glamorous by any means. A lot of times there's no work and sometimes there
is work and sometimes it's not work that's artistically rewarding. But trying to make
a living at it, you can't say no to a lot of stuff. If you want to be a magician performing,
it's like, I'm not in any position to say no to a gig that comes my way. So that's what
Britain's Got Talent's all about, is about discovering people. The fact that I'm Canadian,
I understand people are like 'Oh, he's not British. I want a Brit to win' which I get,
I'm not here to step on anybody's toes or anything, but I just saw the platform that
is Britain's Got Talent and what it's designed to do and wanted to come and do it. And, you
know, the fact that working as a magician, I think has maybe prepared me for this and
the fact that I'm Canadian is like, I mean, we're part of the Commonwealth, we have the
Queen on all our bills, isn't that enough?
You don't have to convince me. I think it's fine.
I feel like I do! You're the one saying all this.
I'm just asking the question. No, I think absolutely. Obviously, you're here in London.
What are you getting up to because I read on your Twitter yesterday, or maybe the day
before, 'I definitely shouldn't be here unaccompanied.'
That, okay, that's so funny that you should mention that because that- I fired that off
quickly and what I meant to say was unsupervised. Unaccompanied? Total wrong word. I'm getting
all these messages, like 'I'll accompany you' and I'm like 'Oh, that's not what I meant
to say!' I was trying to play it like unsupervised, like, you shouldn't just let me run free in
the city, not unaccompanied. And, as soon as I read it, I was like 'Oh no! This isn't
what I meant to say.' But, you know, it was too late to erase it at that point, so.
What have you been getting up to?
Just running around unsupervised, basically, like a child. No, I've been here for, like,
two days now and just trying to get, you know, used to the time change and I wanna make sure
I'm fresh and crisp for the semi-final performance, so. That's why I wanted to get here a little
bit early and adjust and not just show up and be like 'Oh, okay, it's time to perform.'
And depending on what happens, how long will you stay?
Depending on what happens, I don't know. Maybe, I... I don't know. I don't even wanna say
because I don't want to jinx it. We'll see, we'll see what happens.
We will see. Talking of being accompanied, are there any British celeb ladies who have caught you eye?
British celeb ladies?
Yeah, or any ladies in general.
Oh, that's what I was gonna say before! Some of the crazy messages. There was this one,
I don't know if they were British, but there was some girl that messaged me asking me to
send her some exclusive photos of myself in my room and all this weird stuff. No, the
thing about the British culture is that it's so fun. Like, that's the thing, it's like,
it's so much fun just walking around and you end up talking to people and people are having
a blast and it seems really positive and easy going and that's what I like about it here
especially. You can always get up to something.
- We're alright, we're okay. - Yeah, I like it.
Obviously your talent is to do illusions, magic, slight of hand. Do you have any hidden
talents? Anything secret?
Any secret talents, that's a good question. Like what? Like, what are you looking for?
Well, so far I've asked this question, I've had some good cooks, a couple that are good
at climbing over things, breaking bones, rolling tongues, beat boxing.
No, I can't top any of those!
Is there a talent you'd love to have?
I'd love to have... I'd like to be able to be an awesome, like, break-dancer! I feel
like that'd be cool, like, going to a club and just, like, kill it and then leave. That's
something I've always wanted to be able to do but, yeah.
Have a circle, like, form around you.
Yeah, but I wanna be the guy that just strolls in, unannounced. Boom, does his thing, and
then just leaves. Like 'who was that guy?' but, that hasn't happened.
You don't look dissimilar to Channing Tatum in his 'Step Up' days.
Yeah? Oh, Chan- I'm straight and I'm straight enough to know when I think another guy's
decent looking and I think he's a pretty good looking chap there. So I appreciate that.
Well there we go. Just finally, is there any slight of hand that you can show- Obviously
you do things on quite a big scale usually, is there anything you can show us for camera here?
You know what, I want to save it. I want to save it for the semi-finals.
No simple ones from when you were a kid?
No, I don't want to, like, diminish anything and just do something. Yeah, no, you'll have
to wait and see. You have to wait and see, yeah.
- Well, we wait with bated breath. - Perfect.
- We wish you the best of luck. - Well thank you.
- And congratulations for getting this far. - Oh, thanks so much. I appreciate it.
- Lovely to meet you. - You as well.