To start things off tonight the magician is going to face the razor-sharp
surgical steel teeth of this industrial buzz saw.
As he is soon find out the saw blade is real and the teeth are incredibly sharp.
Ouch!
That's gonna leave a mark.
The magician sets the blade in motion
and commands it to rise to the top of the tower.
Remember the old saying what goes up must come down?
So for safety's sake the blade stops before the girls walk underneath.
The assistants of wield a large coffin-like box beneath the blade.
Let's hope this doesn't become the magician's final resting place.
The lid is raised and he steps inside.
Taking a moment to get himself comfortable in this very uncomfortable
situation.
This is probably a good time to remind you not to attempt this.
The magician may be giving away the secrets but he's a trained professional.
With the front of the box lowered we can see that he's held in place by a wide
steel band in handcuffs.
He's not going anywhere.
From the time the blade begins its descent our magician has only 30 seconds
to escape.
First he's got to contend with the handcuffs. Shouldn't be too tricky.
Only 20 seconds left. This isn't going well.
The assistants are under strict orders not to stop the blade, but will they obey?
The blade is now just inches away.
Will he escape in time?
Nope, guess not.
Well this is a first and we've still got an hour's worth of tricks to expose.
Too bad he didn't save this trick for his big finish. Could have killed two birds with
one stone or one giant blade. Looks like the masked man has finally met his end. But
I think we should see some proof that he's really cut in half.
thank you the girls separate the box so long magician.
It was nice knowing you. The danger in this illusion is about as authentic as
it gets.
Complete with a very real very sharp industrial saw and the handcuffs?
Well they're real too.
You can see that there is no way to escape this deathtrap not within 30
seconds and that's really the magician strapped to the table.
So is the magician really being sliced in half by the razor-sharp teeth of the
giants saw? No,
he still has more secrets to expose starting with this one.
The first secret of course is in the box the girls wheel under the stage.
When we see him get into the box and supposedly lie down,
he's actually slipping his legs down into a secret compartment.
The table legs are Hollow
and large enough to fit a person or half of one.
As you can see from the back there is plenty of room to slide his legs inside
the compartment.
With the help of some handy steps like the rungs of a ladder.
His upper body remains visible on the table.
So what about the other side?
We saw his whole body on the table.
The legs look real. The secret here is that a body double has climbed into the
box before the illusion began. His legs stay on the table while the rest of his
body hangs upside down in another secret compartment.
The doubles legs are the ones we see secured by the stocks.
The magician is in the front half, the double is in the back. And that steel
band
cover the gap.
With the body double in place before the illusion begins the audience has no idea
they're about to be duped.
But how did two men make the illusion of one body so convincing? When the steel
bands are lifted away we can see the space between them.
When the bands are in place they cover the gap.
The audience has no idea they aren't looking at the magician but that is a
real saw blade and it is the magician's shirt being torn from his body.
There is real danger here so to ensure the magician's safety
There is a gap between the two halves of the table allowing room for the saw as
it is lowered.
Wooden partitions on each side protect them from harm.
When the two sides of the table are pulled apart it looks as though the
magician has been sliced in two.
Now you know how it's done.