The Magicians- Episode 2

For the Second episode of the magicians, we had a magic ninja, a brass band, and a giant balloon among our magic props, and levitations, explosions and dancing galore. But how did our magicians fare and who avoided the forfeit?

How Did the Host Fare?

Darren Mcmullen was on top form this week, making several jokes about the performers and especially the guests. (I liked the joke about Craig Revel Horwood's (Lack of) Fans)

How Did The Magicians Fare?

Jason Latimer and David Hasselhoff ("TV Personality")

LIVE GRAND: Hasselhoff got into a box, and Latimer did a set of ring tricks. Hasselhoff appeared to get out dressed as a ninja, and accomplished a set of ring effects which Latimer did on a volunteer (All but the volunteer saw Hasselhoff). "The Ninja" then levitated to the ceiling, but we soon saw that Hasselhoff was in the box all along, with two assistants as well!  Despite my dislike of Hasselhoff, I liked this trick.

STREET LIVE: Hasselhoff and Latimer gave shirts out to four audience members at random. The shirts spelled the name of K.I.T.T, Hasselhoff's car from Knight Rider , then produced it from thin air! The trick was solid, if another monument to Hasselhoff's colossal vanity

LIVE CLOSE: In the world's Largest card trick, the two did a set of shuffles with four cards. The ones each spectator thought of were reversed in the deck. A bit hard to follow, and not particularly amazing

STREET CLOSE: Hasselhoff and Latimer predicted chosen cards with fire; Latimer with a fire blisters in the shape of the cards, Hasselhoff with ashes on the arm. A bit meh.

Barry + Stuart and Craig Revel Horwood (Strictly come Dancing judge)

LIVE GRAND: Barry and Stuart placed Craig In a Guillotine. The device appeared to chop his head off, but he was soon seen on the other side of the stage, head in tact (But with a neck brace on). Don't try this at home!

STREET GRAND: Barry and Stuart duct-taped Craig into a car boot and rolled it off a cliff. As You might have expected, he later turned out to be unharmed. They really hate him, don't they?

LIVE CLOSE: A chosen-card-on-tip-of-sword trick with a pirate theme and lots of bad dancing

STREET CLOSE: Craig got into a giant balloon, which Barry and Stuart passed a driving licence into. Very hard to figure out.

Pete Firman and Julia Bradbury (Countryfile host)

LIVE GRAND: Julia passed through a solid steel fan. The healing products theme was interesting, and the trick is great as it is, but the we-didn't-do-this-in-rehearsals patter is a bit old (Barry and Stuart did it Twice today)

STREET GRAND: Pete predicted a chosen song on the side of a drum, and made a whole brass band appear playing a chosen song. Interesting and hard to figure out

LIVE CLOSE: After some unconvincing animal-cracker mentalism, Pete extended the neck of a sheep drawing to get a giraffe. Very funny and clever, but a bit similar to Latimer's card trick last week.

STREET CLOSE: A levitation. I've seen it all before, but the ordinary baroom spin is interesting (Some methods of the trick are easier to get into a pub then others).

Were there any guests?

During the counting of votes, we were treated to a performance from Helt Magiskt contestant Mikael Halvarsson. He may have been my least favourite of that show's three magicians (I preferred Charlie Caper and Joe Labeno) but the trick he did was good. After some sponge magic, he made a volunteer's watch vanish and appear in a bag dangling below an RC helicopter

What was the forfeit?

Latimer and Hasselhoff had to do the forfeit, due in part to Latimer showing too much respect to his unpopular guest (Barry and Stuart's abuse of Craig gave the voters perfect wish-fulfilment), and the two had to walk across swords, lie on a bed of them, and have a melon sliced over their chests. Not for the faint hearted!

NEXT WEEK: A boxer, a TV host, and a Pussycat Doll join The Magicians