Britain's Got Talent 10: Semifinal 3 - Richard Jones

Magician Richard Jones was among the nine acts competing in the Third Semifinal of Britain's Got Talent yesterday. A soldier from Windsor, Richard wowed viewers at the auditions with a mentalism routine (below) where he read the minds of judges Amanda Holden and David Walliams. The presentation was slick, and the climax of the routine, where Richard made David's chosen drink (Hot Tea) appear from inside a can of Orange Juice, was impressive to watch. Richard's audition made him stand out as one of the favorites of this series, and meant that he was under pressure to provide a spectacular performance in the Semifinals.

Fortunately, Richard's performance (above) was a resounding success. As he did in his audition, Richard performed directly at the Judges Table, beginning his routine by giving Simon Cowell a metal container, and telling him to keep an eye on it. He then showed everyone a copy of Amanda's biography, and a photo of the four judges, before flicking through the book and telling Alesha Dixon to choose a page. Richard used the photo to indicate the chosen page, and told Alesha to remember the number of her chosen page, and the first word on that page. 

After this, Richard performed a smaller trick where he turned the receipt for Amanda's book into two banknotes- a ‎£10 note and a ‎£20 note. He then asked Alesha to tell the audience the number of the page she had chosen (Page 176). When she had done this, Richard took the metal container in front of Simon and opened it to reveal a glass bottle with a sheet of paper inside. After shattering the bottom of the bottle with no visible assistance, Richard removed the paper to reveal that it was Alesha's chosen page, which had vanished from Amanda's biography - the places where the page had been torn matched in both the book and the chosen page. Alesha was then asked to reveal her chosen word ("Bottom"), before Richard lit the top of the torn page on fire. Once the fire had faded, Richard revealed that the chosen word had been burnt into that page.

Although it this is a relatively familiar trick (America's Got Talent competitor Collins Key performed a similar one in 2013), Richard's version was pretty impressive. I liked the little touches he used, such as revealing the chosen page inside a bottle, and making matches appear from the side of his suit (the first match failed to light properly, which is why he produced two). There were none of the conspicuous errors which affected Jamie Raven's performances last year, and the presentation was confident and intriguing. Although Richard does not quite have the originality of Britain's best magicians, such as Dynamo and Ben Hanlin, he is very talented and definitely deserves his status as a favorite to win. 

The judges were full of praise. Alesha called the performance "fantastic". Amanda, who has been vocal in her promotion of Magicians this year, called Richard's central trick "The best magic trick in the ten years that we've seen on this show" and Simon called Richard a "Wizard". Richard's performance was so popular that he won the Viewer's Vote, ensuring that he will compete in the Grand Final, which will be held on Saturday. Hopefully, he can deliver another excellent performance, and possibly even become the first magician to win Britain's Got Talent.

However, Richard is not the only magician competing in the Britain's Got Talent Semifinals this year. Comedic Magician Christian Lee also made it through to the Live Shows, and is performing tonight. Will he be able to emulate Richard's success?