The Magic Circle

The 90 minute spectacular threw down the gauntlet to every aspiring magician in the UK to perform their most mystifying trick to fool Penn & TellerMagic Circle members Ali Cook, Michael Vincent and John Archer all featured on ITV1’s prime-time TV show ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us’ on January 7 and John Archer is on his way to join the duo in their Las Vegas show as a result

Hosted by Jonathan Ross, the 90 minute spectacular threw down the gauntlet to every aspiring magician in the UK to perform their most mystifying trick to fool Penn & Teller. The Las Vegas legends had no prior knowledge of either the performers or the planned trick. They sat in the audience just like everyone else, watching every move the guest magicians made.  They promised that if any magician managed to fool them they would win a five star trip to Las Vegas to perform as the opening act in their world famous show at the Rio Hotel & Casino.

Prior to the show Penn said: “Nothing would give me or Teller more pleasure than to hand over Vegas tickets to someone – anyone – who has the nerve to stand in front of us, monkey with us, leave us baffled and ultimately blow us away with their brilliance. That would be a dream. We SO want that to happen! Magic is always evolving with different performers constantly innovating. We believe there are performers out there who can do it so we've sent out this challenge. And if they can fool us we're taking them to Vegas to perform!”

Only two of the featured magicians managed to fool Penn & Teller and one of them was Magic Circle member – and previous Magic Circle Stage magician of the Year – John Archer.  John performed a very funny routine in which audience members were offered a free choice from a bunch of envelopes, one of which contained £100 in cash.  Penn & Teller racked their brains to find a solution but eventually had to admit defeat and issue the Las Vegas invitation.

Congratulations John!.