This year, all six finalists gave two performances, A "Repeat" performance, and a final new performance. For the sake of convenience, We will cover the "Repeat" and final performance separately, and follow each with an outline of the judges comments and the competition.
THE REPEAT PERFORMANCE
What Did Collins Key Do?Being a magician, Collins chose not to openly repeat any of his previous tricks Instead, he chose to "Go Full circle" and do the close-up magic that got him into the Live Shows in the first place. This time, he did a card trick utilising the two female judges, Heidi and Mel B. He had the two judges each sign a chosen card, and lined them up together. He then got them to put the two cards between their teeth (Heidi's was biting down on one end of the pair, and Mel B on the other). After some banter about this arrangement, Collins "Melted" the two cards together whilst they were still held between the judges' teeth. The two cards became one, with the signed face of Heidi's card on one side, and the signed face of Mel B's card on the other. It wasn't one of Collins' best performances, but it was better then his previous two. The trick itself was possibly the most creative trick Collins has done to date, and it was simple enough to be performed without running too far over the time limit. Unfortunately, there was a little too much of the annoying banter from the judges (mostly revolving around the prospect of Heidi and Mel B being within a few centimetres from kissing each other) that marred Collins' Top 12 performance, and he stumbled at a couple of points, in particular when he paused to line up the two cards.Furthermore, from a technical perspective, it was a fairly simple trick, relying on a number of common card sleights. However, the judges were full of praise. Howard noted his lack of experience, but felt that he did a good job. Mel B called it his best performance to date, and Howie and Heidi were as impressed with Collins as ever.
What was the competition like?
The other five competitors all gave "Repeat" performances that showcased their strengths. Jimmy Rose chose to give another performance of his self-penned song "Coal Keeps the Lights On". Kenchini Ebina added lasers to the Matrix-themed routine he performed in his audition, whilst Cami Bradley repeated the performance of Cher's "Believe" that turned her from another generic female singer into this year's Dark Horse. Forte did a powerful version of "The Prayer", which they previously sang in the Vegas rounds, and Taylor Williamson added special effects to his semifinal routine, after a number of comments poking fun at the fact he had to repeat material.
The Final Performance
What Did Collins Key Do?
For his Final performance, Collins went back to the on-line theme of his first Live Performance, and the Audience participation of his Semi Final performance. For this trick, Collins had 26 audience members come on stage, each holding a piece of paper with a random Hashtag written on it. He then got Howie, Heidi and Mel B to each choose a photo each from a set of photos of the volunteers holding their chosen hashtags (Taken when they arrived in the theatre). When they had each chosen a photo, Colins played a video of a prediction he had made the previous day, which predicted both the volunteers (Who were identified by the clothes they wore) and the Hashtags they were holding up. As the grand finale, he revealed that all the sheets of paper had a different letter on their back, and the letters on the back of the sheets held by the volunteers spelt out his surname. It was probably Collins' best performance to date. The delivery was slick and energetic. Collins kept it short, but managed to address (if not completely disprove) the allegations that he was using actors. The multiple reveals added to the trick instead of complicating it, and the trick was original and spectacular. The judges loved the performance. Mel B and Heidi gave it a standing ovation, and Howard and Howie praised the clarity and coherence of the trick.
What was the competition like?
Overall, the second round of performances wasn't as good as the first. Cami Bradley turned the Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand" into a power ballad. Jimmy Rose played it safe with a cover of a Garth Brooks song. Taylor Williamson did a routine about his love life, with a central joke (About Heidi leaving her lederhosen in his room) ripped off from Series 4 finalist Grandma Lee. Kenchini Ebina incorporated a large number of characters (All played by himself, as usual) in a precision dance routine similar to those of Mitsi Dance School from earlier in the series, but wasted too much time establishing the characters. Finally, Forte sang "Caruso" , their voices as powerful as ever.
Verdict
In my opinion, Collins managed to prove that he deserved to be in the final. He listened to the criticism of the judges and viewers, and delivered two energetic and creative performances. His chances of winning are moderate. He has the obsessive support of his teen fanbase, but acts like Taylor Williamson and Kenchini Ebina seem to be more popular. Furthermore, Collins' inexperience has probably turned off a lot of viewers. However, his successes have probably inspired a large number of fans to take up magic as a hobby- Hopefully, we shall see some of them follow in his footsteps next year.
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